A Date with Death Page 2

‘Ok children share with the group.’ The sight of three grown men twice her size attempting to feign innocence made her laugh out loud. ‘Come on, what’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing.’ They said in unison. Nat looked hard at each of them, but it was Ryan that cracked first.

  ‘We kind of need to tell you something.’ The others made no attempt to stop him, happy to let him take the bullet they all knew was coming.

  ‘Ok. Spill.’

  ‘Erm…’ He looked at the other two for help, but each man stayed stubbornly silent.

  ‘Jesus Christ, will you just spit it out!’ Nat was torn between irritation and worry, they never normally had a problem talking to her about anything.

  Phil finally took pity on an obviously floundering Ryan. ‘My sister,’ he chipped in, ‘got a girlfriend.’ Unsure of where this was going but already not liking it Nat bit her tongue and urged him to continue. ‘She met her on this website and –’

  ‘No. No way. You can just stop right there. I am not desperate enough to sign up to a crappy dating website.’ The table went very quiet. Too quiet. She lifted her eyes from the cup in front of her and was met by three very guilty faces.

  ‘Please, tell me you didn’t.’ She said.

  ‘I tried to tell them it was a bad idea.’ Ryan grumbled. ‘Women are always a bad idea.’ He stared into his nearly empty mug.

  Barry cleared his throat as an uncomfortable silence settled over them. ‘We care about you, Nat. It’s been a long time since you had any kind of social life.’

  ‘Are you fucking kidding me right now?’ Her voice was steady and calm, a sure sign that she was angrier than hell. All three men had witnessed her wrath before and were all certain that they didn’t want to be on the end of it. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. An audible gulp came from one of them. ‘Delete it.’ The scrape of her chair against the cheap tile flooring put an end to lunch. ‘Now.’

  ‘Nat, wait! ’Barry pushed through the café door behind her. She was several strides ahead of him, but she could hear the effort it took for him to jog up the pavement. ‘Natalie! Stop!’ His voice was firmer this time. She stopped and shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her leather jacket. He pulled up alongside her. ‘Don’t be mad.’ Bending over he struggled to catch his breath. ‘Please, we’re just trying to look out for you.’

  ‘By prying into my personal life?’

  ‘You’d have to actually have one first.’ He straightened and looked her in the eye. ‘Come on, one drink with a person that you don’t actually work with. Where’s the harm in that? Ever since Stevie left you’ve not even looked at anyone else. It’s been nearly three years. It’s time to move on.’

  ‘I’m well aware of how long it’s been, thanks.’ A car passed them, stereo blaring and bass thumping. Nat visibly deflated. ‘I’m not going through all that again.’

  ‘So, you’re just giving up? Badass Nat Johnson is just going to roll over and become a crazy cat lady?’

  ‘Who said I’ve given up? Just because I don’t want long term doesn’t mean I don’t get what I need when I need it. And since when has my love life, any part of my life for that matter, been up for public discussion?’ Nat glared but when he didn’t back down her gaze dropped to the floor. ‘You were there when Stevie left me. She couldn’t handle being with someone who didn’t work normal hours and who is around the depressing shit we see. You saw what being dumped did to me. Why would I want to go through that again? Why put myself out there just to have someone leave me?’

  Barry’s face softened, and he smiled sadly. ‘It’s not always going to be like that.’

  ‘My dad left, then I lost my mum, Stevie left me…’ She smiled at him sadly. ‘It already is like that. It’s just the hand I’ve been dealt. Besides, we both know I’m married to the job.’

  ‘But –’ They were interrupted by the ringing of Barry’s phone. He pulled it out and flicked a stubby finger across the screen. ‘Hello?’ Nat waited patiently while he listened. ‘Ok, we’re on the way.’ He shoved the phone back into his pocket and pulled out his keys. ‘We need to get to the hospital. Gaz Shepherd was just rushed in.’ He shrugged at her questioning look. ‘Some kind of seizure in his cell. The fish apparently wasn’t the only thing he swallowed. Bloody idiot.’

  ‘Drugs?’ Natalie tugged open the car door and dropped into the passenger seat.

  ‘They seem to think so and since we were with him last, we get the pleasure of making sure he’s ok.’ Barry turned the key and gave her a sideways glance. ‘Oh, and before I forget, you have a date tonight.’

  2.

  Emily Shaw hated hospitals. She had done ever since she’d had her tonsils removed. At ten years old she’d awoken, confused and in pain, to a pillow covered in blood and an old man stood in the corner of her room having a wee. That had brought on her first ever panic attack and a lifelong aversion to hospitals. Aside from that, they were always so full of sick people and she was convinced that anytime she walked through the sliding doors she was going to contract some kind of plague. She shifted uncomfortably on the waiting room chair.

  ‘Will you relax?’ You look like you’re about to keel over and it’s not even you we’ve come here for.’ Fiona gave her a smile that quickly turned to a wince. The towel she had wrapped around her hand had turned a rather vivid shade of scarlet and beads of sweat had broken out across her top lip.

  ‘Sorry, I can’t help it. Hospitals give me the heebies, and why do they have to give you such hard bloody chairs to sit on?’

  Her best friend scowled. ‘I know, and they’re ugly. If they gave me a week and a decent budget I could do wonders with this place.’

  ‘I don’t think the NHS will stretch to employing an interior designer. They can’t even afford enough medical staff by the look of things. I mean, you’re sat here with your hand practically hanging off and we’re still god knows what number in the queue. You’ll probably bleed to death before we get seen.’

  ‘Thanks for the reassurance there, Em. You should’ve been a nurse with such a lovely bedside manner.’ Emily scrunched her face up apologetically as a little more colour drained from Fiona’s face.

  She really did have a talent for sticking her foot in her mouth. ‘I do look hot in a nurse’s outfit.’ Emily said quietly, eliciting a small chuckle from Fiona.

  ‘Did you manage to get hold of Kat?’ Fiona’s wife was a solicitor in the city, and the two of them were the closest thing to family that Emily had since hers had pretty much disowned her when she came out.

  ‘I tried while they were booking you in,’ Emily said. ‘She was with a client, but I left a message and told her you were fine, not to worry and that I’d call when you’d been seen.’

  Looking around Emily took in the crowded waiting room. She was surprised that so many people were here on a Tuesday lunchtime. Not that she expected there to be some sort of schedule for illness and injury. She shook off the thought and settled back in her chair. The waiting room really was hideous. Decorated in white and an odd shade of lime green that could probably induce nausea and vomiting even if that wasn’t what you were here for in the first place. The television screens around the room alternated between morning chat shows and various health warnings and adverts, none of which could hold her attention for very long. A little girl with blonde, almost white, ringlets wriggled impatiently on her mother’s knee. Her face was flushed, and her My Little Pony pyjamas clung damply to her tiny body. Emily caught her eye and the girl stopped fidgeting. Her small pink tongue shot out in Emily’s direction and she giggled.

  ‘Aww, look at you making friends.’ Fiona nudged her, hissing at the pain it caused in her hand. Emily’s reply died on her lips when the main entrance swished open and a couple rushed through. They were an odd pairing to say the least. The man dwarfed the woman who was striding in front of him towards the reception desk. He was wearing pressed trousers and a chunky olive parka, but the woman wore tight black jeans, boots and a leather jacket, which only added to the
‘don’t mess with me’ vibe she gave off. Emily watched them exchange words with the girl behind the desk. The petite, raven haired woman smiled briefly, and Emily felt a vague tug of familiarity. Did she know this woman? She was sure that she’d remember her if she did.

  ‘See something you like there, Em?’ Fiona broke into her thoughts and Emily turned to look at her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The hottie in the jeans and leather jacket?’

  ‘I’m sure I know her from somewhere.’ Emily frowned.

  ‘You’d definitely like to know her.’ Fiona’s eyebrows wiggled suggestively. Before Emily could fire out a comeback a male nurse stepped up and blocked her view.

  ‘Fiona Bromley?’ She nodded. ‘I’m Josh, and I’ll be looking after you today. Let’s take a look at that hand, shall we?’

  He led them through the emergency treatment area and Emily wasn’t surprised to find most of the cubicles occupied. Moans, groans and the occasional cry of pain filled the air around her, punctuated by the soothing voices of the staff. A child squealed from somewhere to Emily’s left and she winced sympathetically. The smell of disinfectant and something that Emily didn’t really want to think about invaded her nostrils and she cringed at the sound of someone being sick. She kept her eyes on Fiona’s slim back she trailed their mini convoy to their own cubicle. The curtain rattled shut around them. Fiona, elegantly attired in a navy blue fitted suit and her favourite pair of cream Louboutin’s, hopped up onto the bed clutching the tea towel that Emily had hastily wrapped around her hand before bundling her into the car.

  ‘So, what do we have here then?’ Josh asked. He looked young enough to be at school and Emily wondered if they allowed kids to do work experience in A&E.

  ‘I was cutting fabric and got a little distracted.’ Fiona looked pointedly at Emily, who suddenly found her shoes rather intriguing. ‘The shears slipped and sliced straight across my hand.’

  ‘She is very distracting.’ The nurse winked at Emily and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

  ‘She is when she’s doing her greatest Pussycat Dolls impression around the office.’ Fiona said. ‘Honestly, the girl can twerk like a pro. I keep telling her she should be a stripper but no, she’d rather do my filing.’

  Emily could feel the slow burn of embarrassment crawl up her neck. She hadn’t realised that Fiona had come in early and was in the store room cutting panels of fabric, when she’d danced her way in singing along with her iPod at the top of her lungs. Her screech of surprise had been easily drowned out by the epic flow of colourful language as her best friend maimed herself.

  ‘I’d pay to see that.’ Josh laughed before pointing at her hand. ‘But first I think maybe we should look at that.’ Fiona unravelled the towel, hissing through her teeth when she exposed the wound to the air. A large jagged gash crossed the palm of her left hand and oozed steadily with blood. It dripped onto the floor beneath the bed and Emily suddenly felt a little light-headed. ‘Ok, I think we should give it a clean and then stitch and bandage it. A few painkillers and you’ll be on your way.’

  Emily stiffened at the mention of stitches. She wasn’t great with that kind of thing, once having passed out after seeing an eight-year-old’s particularly gruesome Halloween costume. She wriggled in her seat.

  ‘You ok, Em?’ Fiona was watching her closely. ‘You look a little pale.’

  ‘Just concerned that I’m going to distract Doogie Howser over here and he’ll end up sewing your hand to your leg.’

  ‘I can multitask with the best of them,’ he grinned, ‘even for a sixteen-year-old.’

  ‘I think I’ll go and grab a coffee anyway. Won’t be long.’

  ***

  Nat shifted her weight and tried to find a comfortable spot on the green plastic chair. They hadn’t been in the waiting room for very long, but Nat was starting to get restless. Where the hell was the doctor? ‘What kind of an idiot swallows a bag of white powder not knowing for sure what it is?’

  ‘Gary Alfred Shepherd.’

  ‘Obviously, but he was in a pet shop for Christ sake. Why would there be bags of cocaine just lying around? And since when did he become a drugs mule?’

  ‘To be fair to him,’ Barry said, ‘the bag was in an envelope which was in a drawer. All very shady. I suppose he thought he’d swallow it and give himself time to find someone to buy it. Or in case he got caught.’

  ‘An envelope marked flea powder. Plus, if you were going to swallow a package of it then you’d make sure it was properly sealed beforehand, regardless of what you thought it might be.’

  ‘Nobody ever accused Gaz of being bright, and I’m sure that once they’ve finished pumping that crap out and popped some other lovely, legal drugs into him then that lesson will well and truly hit home.’ He smiled at her, but his gaze wandered over her shoulder and slowly morphed into a puzzled frown. Nat swivelled in her seat and watched a young woman dodge her way around people and scattered chairs towards the vending machines in the corner.

  ‘Know her?’ She asked.

  ‘She seems vaguely familiar.’ He scratched at his head like that would help.

  Nat turned again, studying the woman’s profile as she inspected the coffee machine. She was pretty, beautiful even. Her honey coloured hair fell in flawless waves around her shoulders and she wore a pair of faded skinny jeans and a white linen shirt. The woman pressed a couple of buttons but nothing happened. She tried again but the machine remained stubbornly unmoving. Nat turned back and caught sight of Barry’s surprised face. ‘What?’

  ‘I know where I know her from.’ He felt in his pocket and pulled out his phone.

  ‘Are you going to tell me? Was she on Crimewatch? Are you calling in for a huge reward that means both of us can retire to Aruba?’ He tapped a few times and held the phone out to her. The woman’s picture filled the screen. It had been taken candidly at some kind of formal event. The little black dress she wore hugged every curve and her hair had been elegantly piled up onto the top of her head. She was gorgeous. ‘Wow. You’ve been holding out on me, Cosgrove. Who is she?’

  He took the phone back off her and smiled widely. ‘She’s your date.’

  ***

  The coffee machine was playing silly buggers. No matter how many times Emily pushed the button the bloody thing refused to work. The display said that everything was full, and it had quite happily gobbled up her money but still stubbornly refused to give her coffee. She was contemplating kicking the crap out of it when a voice behind her made her jump.

  ‘Your money’s come out.’

  She spun, hand clutching her chest. ‘Jesus Christ! Are you trying to give me a bloody heart attack?!’

  The woman behind her bit her bottom lip to hide her laughter. ‘At least you’re in the right place if I do.’

  ‘Funny.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I could see that murder was your next move and thought that maybe I should intervene. Prison attire is definitely not flattering.’ The woman raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, her dark eyes smiling, and Emily recognised her from the reception desk earlier.

  The earlier pull of familiarity returned. Emily cocked her head to the side. ‘Have we met?’

  ‘Wow. Did you just use a line on me?’

  ‘What? No. I -’ Emily fumbled.

  ‘Relax.’ The stranger smiled. ‘I’m messing with you. We haven’t met, not in person anyway. I believe we’re meeting for a drink this evening, courtesy of a certain dating website.’ She held out a hand. ‘I’m Nat.’

  Emily blinked at the hand. Unable to process what was happening she raised her eyes to meet the twinkling ones in front of her. When she realised that she was leaving Nat hanging Emily gave herself a brief mental shake and took the hand in her own. It was warm and strong, and she felt a definite tingle before Nat let go. She cleared her throat and introduced herself, ‘Emily, but you already knew that.’

  Nat nodded. ‘Well, Emily, I hope everything’s alright?’

  It took
her a moment to remember that they were in A&E. ‘Oh, yeah. I’m here with a friend, nothing life threatening though. She’s being seen to, so I thought I’d grab a coffee.’ Emily could hear herself rambling. ‘Anyway, what about you?’

  ‘I’m here with work.’ Nat gestured over her shoulder to the man in the olive-green parka that Emily had seen her come in with. He was deep in conversation on the phone and Emily remembered from their brief online conversations that Nat was with the police. ‘Let me get you that coffee.’ Nat slid Emily’s money from the tray and smoothly handed it back while she slipped her own into the slot. Nat pressed the button she’d seen the young woman hammering and waited for the cup to drop and fill before handing it over. She was about to say something, but Barry was suddenly beside her.

  ‘Ladies.’ He smiled at Emily and then turned his attention to Nat. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt but the DI was just on. We caught a new case and we need to go.’

  ‘What about Gaz?’

  ‘They’ve cleared the pile-up from this morning and everyone’s back in so someone else gets the pleasure of his company now.’ He looked back and forth between them and lowered his voice. ‘This is a serious one. I’ll give you a minute.’ He bowed slightly in Emily’s direction and made his way to the exit.

  ‘Looks like I have to go.’ Nat said. ‘Are we still on for 8?’

  Emily was still a little stunned, especially since the pictures she’d seen and the chats they’d had didn’t really do justice to the woman in front of her, but she managed a smile and a nod. ‘8 it is, and thanks for the coffee.’

  ‘My pleasure.’ Emily watched Nat as she strode confidently across the waiting room. She seemed different in person. Smiling to herself she sipped her coffee and made her way back to Fiona.

  ‘You look very happy for someone drinking sludge from a hospital vending machine.’ Fiona was now reclining on her bed and the nurse was leaning over her hand. The look of concentration on his face was so intense that Emily was sure he’d have an aneurysm or something any minute now. She stared at him, certain that she was going to see him poke his tongue out in the adorable way that five-year-olds did when they coloured. ‘Emily. Em!’ Fiona flapped her good hand in front of Emily’s face to get her attention.