Page 38 of Dying Breath
The high-pitched voice that erupted from her mouth was one of pure panic – she was losing it. She knew that she needed to calm down and behave rationally, but right now she didn’t know how. Browning was holding Alison back so the paramedics could work on her husband.
One of the paramedics looked up at Mattie. ‘We need to get him to the hospital now but we both need to work on him – is there someone to drive the ambulance?’
He nodded. ‘Me, I’ll drive.’
The woman threw the keys to him. ‘Bring it over here, we need to get him loaded on now.’
Mattie ran to the ambulance, did the tightest three-point turn and drove as close to them as he could. Whilst one of the paramedics continued working on Tom, the other got the trolley out and then they loaded him onto it, getting him into the back of the brightly lit van.
Alison ran towards them. ‘What am I supposed to do? I can’t leave the children!’
‘Phone someone to come over – I’ll take you to the hospital as soon as they arrive.’
Lucy owed Browning big time for that offer.
The paramedics looked down at her. ‘Are you jumping in?’
Lucy shook her head, though she wanted to. She couldn’t leave – that would be all of her best detectives and her boss out of the equation. She did what Tom would have wanted her to do.
‘I can’t – I have to manage the scene.’
She slammed the doors shut and shouted at Mattie, ‘Ring me when you have news.’
He nodded, then, turning on the lights and sirens, began to blue-light it towards the hospital.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mattie was pacing up and down the family room in the accident and emergency department because he didn’t know what else to do. Tom was only ten years older than him; he was fit, ate much more healthily than Mattie and ran every other day. You just never knew the minute your time was up. He hoped he was going to be okay because he was one of the good guys. What a complete mess tonight had turned into. He also felt bad for leaving Lucy on her own back at the scene. Despite everything the pair of them had been through, he’d never seen her so visibly upset in public and he didn’t like it. She wouldn’t have been happy about the others seeing that she was human on the inside, either. The super-cool, calm person inside her, who was usually in charge of every situation, would be having a mini breakdown and giving her a hard time. As soon as Browning arrived with Alison he’d go back to the scene to help her.
Tom’s wife was a pretty awful woman and he wondered why the boss put up with her. He supposed they must love each other, but after tonight’s goings on he wondered if Tom would realise what a dragon she was and leave her. The door opened and Mattie was relieved to see it was Dr King, Lucy’s almost-bit-on-the-side. He was okay, for a doctor.
He stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
‘Oh, hi, Mattie. I didn’t expect to see you here. Are you Tom’s partner?’
Mattie stared at him, not sure what he meant.
‘Are you his next of kin – do you live together?’
Realising exactly what he meant, he shook his head vigorously.
‘God no, he’s my boss. His wife is on her way.’
The door opened and Alison ran in, followed by Browning, who nodded at Mattie.
‘Is he okay? Please, God, tell me he’s okay?’
Mattie looked at Stephen. ‘This is Alison, Tom’s wife, and this is Browning, one of my colleagues.’
Stephen stepped towards Alison, holding out his hand towards her, and she took it, clasping it tightly in hers rather than shaking it.
‘We’ve managed to stabilise him, but the next twenty-four hours are critical. He’ll be going into intensive care very shortly – by pure chance there’s a bed available. If he arrests again we might have to take him down to theatre and put a pacemaker in.’
She let go of his hand and held it to her mouth.
‘Hopefully he won’t, but I’m not going to lie to you: he’s very poorly.’
‘But he’s going to live?’
