Page 48 of Watching You
Carlisle shrugged. ‘I can live with that,’ he said. ‘Take all the time you need.’
Connie waited until the heavy postmortem suite door had clicked shut, then pulled up a chair next to Vic Campbell’s head, gently turned his face in her direction, and sat down holding one of his hands in both of hers.
‘Not how you thought it was going to end, huh? All the drugs, the violence, gang rivalry, life on the edge, then your soul leaves your body on the floor of an elevator in the place where your life had already been saved once. No gun, no knife, just some sneaky fuck with a hypodermic who didn’t even have the guts to look you in the face as he did it.’
Connie gave his hand a squeeze and closed her eyes.
‘I’m so sorry. I knew people like you in my life before this one. I was in a hospital for a while too, only the doors there were locked and we were only allowed plastic cutlery. I’m guessing your experience was a little nicer than mine. But I was in there with some people who’d been messed up by narcotics and addiction. And by their parents. Christ only knows where those cigarette burns came from, but I think you spent every day with that gang just happy that someone had your back.’
She released his hand and stood, cupping his shoulders in her palms.
‘You never had a chance to show the world what you could have made of your life. I guess, if you had a few seconds where you truly believed you were dying, that was what you werethinking about. I’d have been wondering where I might have ended up, and who with, and all the other, better ways there were to die.’
She leaned over his face, not quite touching, mindful of Carlisle’s warning and slightly resenting it, as much as she knew that contaminating a body in a murder investigation was the very last thing she could risk doing.
‘I’m going to find the person who killed you. I know you did some shitty things in your life. I have, too. But the very least you should have had was the chance to put them right. You keep watching, okay? Stay with me. If I can’t get legal justice, we’ll see what kind of natural justice floats to the top. Sleep well.’
Connie wanted to leave him with a kiss on the forehead, forced herself not to, and had to be content with imagining it instead.
Vic Campbell, twenty-four years old forever, waited for resolution in the last place in Edinburgh that anyone wanted to call home.
Chapter 33
15 June
‘I shouldn’t have stayed off work so long,’ Lively grumbled. ‘Every time I switch on the news, there’s been another murder. And are you serious that there are no leads in the ones we already had?’
‘It’s not that there are no leads, it’s that the killer is leaving no trace. You can’t find something that doesn’t exist,’ Connie said.
‘Oh aye, your serial killer theory. I read all about that in the fuckin’ newspaper. How the hell did you get the Evil Overbitch to sign off on that one?’
‘Superintendent Overbeck gave me free rein to run this investigation as I see fit, so I didn’t ask her. But she isn’t going to be throwing me a tickertape parade any time soon. Now, what do you make of this?’
They were standing in the corridor, staring at the lift door Vic Campbell had entered before his death.
‘You have to be pretty ballsy to kill someone you think works in a hospital while they’re still in the building,’ Lively said.
‘Easy enough place to find a hypodermic syringe, though. Just find an empty treatment room and look in the sharps bin.’
‘Possibly. But gangs who run drugs have access to needles too. Someone must have known he was getting discharged. It might have been a rival gang member he’d never seen before who did it, which is why he didn’t panic when someone was right behind him stepping into the lift. It’s even possible someone in his own gang wanted rid of him and sent a stranger to do the deed. Who’s checking the CCTV?’
‘We’ve got four people on it, but the bulk of the cameras are situated on the ground floor at the exits and entrances. A&E is well covered because of regular issues with violent patients, and the car park has cameras to prevent theft. Up here, waiting rooms and wards have no CCTV for patient privacy and there’s nothing in the lifts until the alarm gets pressed. We’re obviously checking all the CCTV for the time period, but we’ve no point of reference as to who we’re looking for.’
‘Hey you two,’ Beth Waterfall called from the end of the corridor. ‘Do you really have to have that discussion so publicly?’
‘You should run,’ Lively said. ‘She’s cross with you and I don’t blame her.’
‘Wait … your surgeon friend is pissed at me? I have no idea what I did.’
‘In there, please,’ Beth pointed to a side room as she approached. Her words were uncharacteristically clipped.
They filed into the examination room and Beth pointed to a chair for Lively. He sat.
‘Woah … that’s impressive. You could offer yourself out as a man-trainer and make a fortune.’ Connie whistled appreciatively.
‘You live in my house, you follow my medical recommendations. He should still be in bed, but he insisted on coming in to meet you. I read your article, Dr Woolwine. A heads-up would have been nice.’
‘I promised the paper an exclusive,’ Connie said quietly. ‘Is there a problem?’
