Page 62 of The Stranger in Room Six
‘What are you now, Lady Belinda? A bleeding nurse as well as a husband killer?’
‘I’m telling you he needs looking at,’ I hiss. ‘My youngest daughter had a rash like that when she was small. It turned out to be sepsis. It can be life-threatening. He’s pale too and his breathing is shallow. The nurse might be off but there’s got to be someone you can call. Unless, of course, you want to risk being splashed across the headlines as the prison guard who wouldn’t get treatment for a dying child.’
The ambulance comes within an hour.
No one will tell me what has happened to Bradley, even though I keep asking. I am moved away from the MBU and put back on toilets. I find myself saying prayers I haven’t said for years.
On New Year’s Day, I am told by a grim-faced guard to report to the same governor I saw before.
‘Belinda. Sit down. I’ve got something to tell you.’
‘Please don’t tell me he’s died,’ I cry out.
‘Who?’
‘Bradley on the MBU. I told the guard to call an ambulance. He had sepsis. I was sure of it.’
‘So it was you? Well done. You saved his life, by allaccounts. If the guard hadn’t acted so quickly, the outcome would have been very different.’
I am crying with relief, even though it’s clear the guard has taken the credit.
The governor’s voice softens. ‘Belinda, that’s not why I called you here. I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.’
A cold knife flashes through me. I know what she’s going to say before she says it. In a way, I’ve been expecting something like this all my life. I’m the kind of person who needs to fear the worst so she can prepare herself for it.
But nothing has prepared me for this.
‘I’ve had a message to say your daughter has been seriously injured in a traffic accident.’
‘My daughter?’ I am staring at her; my mouth goes dry. I feel sick. ‘Whichone?’
Am I wrong in desperately hoping it won’t be my kind sweet Elspeth? But if it’s Gillian, my clever studious daddy’s girl of a daughter, it might be too late for us to make up.
‘Whichone?’ I repeat, stamping my feet.
The governor looks nervous. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know. The message didn’t stipulate. I wasn’t aware you had more than one daughter. We’ll try to find out. It may take some time owing to the Christmas staff shortages but –’
‘THEN FIND OUT!’ I scream, leaping to my feet and sweeping the papers off the governor’s table. ‘NOW!’
40
I don’t know how much time has passed.
The world is caving in, disguised as shrapnel fragments. Surrounding my body, my mind, my very self in a hideous whirlwind in which nothing feels right and everything wrong. Even Gerald’s death fades into insignificance. I’m hitting my head – no, slamming it – on the desk in front of me.
Alarms are ringing loudly. An officer runs in and pins me to the ground.
‘Which daughter?’ I yell. ‘For fuck’s sake, you must know.’
‘Let her go,’ says the governor. Her face is twisted with pity, which makes it worse. ‘I’m sorry, Belinda, but I don’t. The switchboard took the call and the operator has left now for the day.’
I’m aware of being helped back onto a chair. ‘Ring them,’ I pant, exhausted from my screaming. ‘You’ve got them down as my next of kin.’
As I speak, I wonder which one will pick up. Elspeth or Gillian. Whichever one is still able to speak …
‘We’ve already done that. Both are going through to voicemail.’
‘Then call my brother-in-law,’ I demand. ‘They live with him.’
