Sisters of Mercy by Andrew Puckett Read Free Book Online Page A

door swung shut behind him.
    An arm went round my shoulder — Gail. Deborah ran over to me.
    ‘ Are you all right, Jo? You’re bleeding, let me have a look …’
    ‘’ S nothing,’ I mumbled. ‘Cut lip.’
    ‘ I’m so sorry I left you with him … I didn’t think for a moment he’d …’
    ‘’ S all right. You did the right thing …’
    She took over from Gail, saying to her, ‘Coffee, with plenty of sugar. I’ll take her to the rest room.’
    She led me through, sat me down. I found my bag, took out a cigarette and guided it to my lips. ‘Sorry, Debbie, but I must.’
    She gave the ghost of a smile. ‘Well, under the circumstances, I suppose … let me have a look at your lip first.’
    She gently pulled it up. ‘Hmm. Fairly superficial. Try washing your mouth with Listerine.’ She put a hand under my chin. ‘Move your jaw around … does that hurt?’
    ‘ No,’ I mumbled.
    ‘ Good — nothing broken, then.’
    Gail came in with the coffee. ‘I put plenty of milk in so you could drink it straight away,’ she said.
    I took a mouthful and lit the cigarette. ‘Is everything all right in there?’
    ‘ Don’t worry about it. A couple of patients woke up, that’s all. Nicky and Jane are calming them down. I’ll go and check them now.’
    ‘ D’you want me to call the police?’ Deborah asked as Gail left.
    ‘ No,’ I said. ‘There’s no point. I’d only make a very bad enemy.’
    She looked at me curiously. ‘How d’you mean? I’d have said you already had one.’
    I told her what Viv had told me about Len Sutton.
    ‘ It’s my own fault,’ I said as I finished. ‘It should have occurred to me he’d do something like that. I didn’t take her seriously enough.’
    ‘ It sounds to me as though we should get the police,’ Deborah said.
    ‘ I’ll think about it. Please — can we leave it at that for the moment?’
    ‘ All right,’ she said doubtfully. ‘If you’re sure that’s what you want …’
    I had another coffee, another smoke, then washed my mouth with Listerine and felt almost back to normal. Except for the fact that Mrs Sutton made the eighth.
    *
    That thought nagged away at me all through the long hours of the shift, and as soon as I’d handed over to Viv at eight, I rang Stephen at his flat.
    ‘ It’s Jo. I’ve got to speak to you. I’m coming over now.’
    ‘ Can it wait till I get in? I’m on duty in half an hour.’
    ‘ No. Honestly, Stephen, I must see you now.’
    ‘ Ahh … all right.’
    About five minutes later, he opened the door and his eyes widened as he saw me.
    ‘ My God, Jo! What’s happened?’ My lip had ballooned after the attack and I had a livid bruise over one cheekbone.
    ‘ Let me come in and I’ll tell you.’
    He sat me down on his sofa and took the armchair opposite. I gave him all the facts, excepting what I’d let slip to Sutton.
    ‘ How absolutely appalling,’ he said when I finished. ‘I think you were probably right to be cautious about involving the police, though,’ he continued slowly, ‘if Sutton’s as dangerous as you say.’
    ‘ Stephen, the reason I was cautious is that I think Mrs Sutton was murdered. Like the others.’
    His eyes opened wide for a moment, then closed as he said tiredly, ‘Oh, my God, I thought we’d sorted all that out. All right. You’d better tell me.’
    My tongue touched my lips — lip, rather.
    ‘ She was getting better. She was over the worst. It was what … thirty-six? Forty hours since she’d taken the amitriptyline. She was young, healthy. There’s just no earthly reason why she should have had a heart attack then. We must get a post-mortem on this one, Stephen …’
    ‘ But you know as well as I do, Jo, that amitriptyline O/Ds can still be at risk of cardiac effects up to six days later … D’you know how much she took?’
    ‘ Er … 1500 milligrams, I think.’
    ‘ A hell of a lot, then. She could still …’
    ‘ But Stephen, a post-mortem would show us once and for