Stray Bullet by Simon Duringer Read Free Book Online Page B

me, he thought.  My name is … my name is … Oh, Christ!
     
    A moment later, Dr Stone entered the room with Nurse Stevens in tow.
     
    “Ah the patient is awake! Well that is a good start. Right, well, Mr Walters…” he began, perching on the side of the bed. “I must inform you that you’ve been in a terrible incident and your body has been through an ordeal, so some things may seem a bit strange to you for a while”.
     
    “Doc…” he paused, feeling his next statement might sound stupid.  “I don’t remember my name.”   He winced.
     
    “I see. Well that’s not altogether unusual for somebody who has been through such a trauma. But more often than not, patients can be expected to make a full recovery. Just relax as much as you can and let’s try and work backwards and hopefully we can find a starting point to work from. What is your first memory?” asked the doctor reassuringly.
     
    Harvey thought back for a moment.  “My mother’s name is Jessica.  I can’t think of my Dad’s though.”
     
    “Okay…” Dr Stone frowned. He continued with his line of questioning for several minutes before announcing, “Well, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve not got full blown amnesia, Harvey, which is good. Tell me, do you remember your wife’s name?”
     
    “What? I’m married? Christ, I wonder what she’s like. Wait… I think she’s called Chloe.”
     
    “Well, close. That’s your daughter’s name,” said the doctor, looking at the get well card by the flowers. “I guess you haven’t read this yet.” He passed Harvey the card.
     
    “Blimey,” he mumbled reading the card. “I feel like I’ve got married and had two kids, all in one evening…!”   He looked up at the doctor.  “Doesn’t it strike you as kind of odd, that her husband is lying in bed having been shot and she’s not here?”
     
    The doctor shot a glance at the nurse whose eyes dropped to the floor. He turned to take the clip board off the end of the bed. Staring at the board he sheepishly replied,
     
    “Well I’m sure there is a good reason. After all you’ve been unconscious. There was not a lot that she could have accomplished here.”
     
    “She has called a couple of times though,” interrupted the nurse.
     
    “Anyway, it’s getting late. You should try to rest and we’ll continue on in the morning. I think your boss will be visiting you too.”
     
    “What’s his name?”
     
    “Inspector Bickley. Don’t think on it more tonight though. Simply try and get some rest… goodnight,” he said as he turned to leave.
     
    “I’m going off duty now,” added Nurse Stevens. “But if you need anything during the night, press that button and Nurse Hawkins will come and see you,” she said tucking his sheets making sure he was comfortable. “Goodnight.” she added with the weary smile of someone attempting badly to hide the fact she was clearly overworked.
     
    “Thank you, goodnight,” he responded.
     
    Harvey lay in his private room and looked around at his sparse surroundings. There was a hand basin and mirror in the corner, and a television suspended from the ceiling. But, apart from that, it was just a typical hospital room. The bed with a mechanism to allow its resident to sit in a number of different reclining positions and a couple of panic buttons to call the staff. He had a table upon which was a hospital vase with flowers from his family, lovingly arranged by the nurse who had become accustomed to the task. There were bags dangling by his bed pumping various different types of medicine via intravenous drip into his arm. He looked for a remote control or some method of turning on the television but couldn’t see any, short of getting out of bed and doing it manually. In the end he opted to sleep hoping that he might dream and recall some of the detail of his recent past.
     
    It was mid-morning the following day by the time Harvey’s mother arrived at the Royal Devon & Exeter