02-Shifting Skin (2 page)

Jon put the paint tray back on the table, eyes drawn once again to the clot of congealing paint. A conversation with Carol Miller’s mum began playing in his head. He’d asked what her daughter’s state of mind had been like. How happy she was. The old lady had replied that her daughter had been unhappy with her weight ever since giving birth to Davey. She’d tried all sorts of diets but never succeeded in removing the two stone her pregnancy had left her with. At the time Jon had begun to screen out the answer, letting the mother ramble to a conclusion, his next question already lined up. But now he scrutinised her words more carefully.

The old lady had said Carol had tried Weight Watchers and a soup diet, but recently she’d returned from work having spotted something that had given her fresh hope.

‘Ali?’ he called. ‘Your mate Chloe’s ab cruncher. You said she’d sold it on the noticeboard at her hospital.’

‘Yeah.’ Her voice floated up from the front room.

Jon stared down at the classified section of the newspaper. Buffered up against the last column of the ‘Health and Beauty’ entries was the start of the ‘Personal Services’ section: ad after ad of massage parlours, adult saunas and escort services. He looked back at ‘Health and Beauty’, seeing the unwanted mountain bikes, exercise bikes, mini-steppers, rowing machines, power sliders and flexi steps. He smiled cynically at the two sections’ proximity: if attempts at making yourself look good failed, you only had to travel across the page and buy yourself a shag.

In the front room he crouched down to stroke his boxer dog’s ears. ‘This noticeboard, is it in the hospital reception or something?’

Alice put the torn-off corner of newspaper on the table. ‘No, it’s in the staff room of A and E, I think. I know all sorts of stuff gets pinned up there. It’s how she found her flat. One of the consultants was advertising.’

‘Do you reckon every hospital department has one?’

‘I’d have thought most would. Why, what’s on your mind?’ He made his voice sound casual, ‘Nothing much. It just started off a train of thought.’

‘About this case you’re on?’ Her voice had dropped a notch. The previous year, Jon’s hunt for the Chewing Gum Killer had placed his family in extreme danger. The nature of his work was an area they both still skirted round nervously.

Jon nodded and stood up. ‘I just need to pop out. I won’t be long.’

Alice’s eyes slid to the clock on the video. ‘Half past eight at night? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?’

But the thought was an itch he couldn’t ignore. ‘I’ll be back in no time.’

She let out a long sigh and Punch glanced up, sensing her frustration as it billowed across the room. ‘Well, at least wash the paint off your hands.’

He stood at the kitchen sink, one hand under the stream of water, watching the curls of red snaking down the plug hole. So far his delving into Carol Miller’s life had revealed very little. She hadn’t been seeing anyone since her husband had disappeared two months after the baby was born. The grandmother had found herself looking after Davey a lot more than she had planned – Carol’s income had plummeted and she’d been forced back into midwifery as a locum, filling in last-minute staff shortages at Stepping Hill hospital’s maternity ward. Usually that meant weekends and evenings.

Although she still had the terraced house in Bredbury, the rent was getting harder and harder to meet. The grandmother had been expecting Carol to ask about moving back in very soon. Until, that is, she turned up in a Belle Vue park with large portions of her skin cut off.

He dried his hands on the tea towel, pulled a jacket on over his old rugby shirt, then tucked his warrant card into the breast pocket. On his way to the front door he paused at the door into the front room. Punch’s big brown eyes watched him dolefully. Alice kept staring at the magazine on her lap.

‘Want anything from the shop at the garage?’ he asked.

‘No thanks.’

‘OK, I won’t be long.’ He bent over the arm of the sofa and dropped an awkward kiss on the top of her head.

He pulled up in the car park of Stepping Hill hospital twenty minutes later, then followed the signs directing him to the maternity suite.

The front doors were locked; a notice instructed him to buzz the intercom if the time was outside normal office hours. A camera stared down at him from its wire cage above the door. Jon got his warrant card out, held it towards the lens and pressed the button.

His arm was beginning to ache by the time a crackly voice said, ‘Hello?’

‘DI Spicer, Greater Manchester Police.’ He pushed the door but it remained locked.

‘Yes?’ the voice said.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Jon muttered under his breath before looking up and saying, ‘I’m investigating the murder of Carol Miller.’

‘Oh.’ The lock buzzed open.

The foyer smelled fresh, the painted walls almost pristine. He wondered if the maternity ward they would be going to for their baby’s birth at Withington hospital would be so recently decorated.

A sign by the lifts told him that reception was on the third floor. As he waited for the lift to arrive blue light began to flicker across the walls around him. He turned to see an ambulance pulling up in the emergency bay outside. The driver jumped out and jogged round to the rear of the vehicle. Seconds later the back doors were thrown open and a gurney was wheeled out. The mouth of the woman lying on it was drawn tight and Jon could hear her moans, low and guttural, through the glass. Two male paramedics started pushing her towards the doors, the woman’s partner flapping along behind, a large bag hanging from his arm.

As they wheeled her into the foyer the lift arrived. ‘Hold the doors!’ one of the paramedics called. Then he looked down,

‘Nearly there. Keep breathing and don’t, whatever you do, start to push.’

Jon had stepped into the lift and he kept his finger on the button with two arrows pointing away from each other.

‘Cheers, mate,’ one of the paramedics said with a smile. ‘This pair of charlies’ – he nodded jovially at the couple – ‘didn’t want to bother anyone by coming in early. Waited until her contractions were nice and close. A bit too close, though!’

Damp hair plastering her forehead, the woman was deaf to his attempt at humour, eyes tightly shut, focus directed entirely inwards. The moaning began again and Jon saw a glance of concern flit between the two paramedics. He wondered if he could jump back out of the lift, but the doors were sliding shut.

Jon looked at her partner, searching for clues as to how he should handle himself when it was his turn. The man began to brush strands of hair from her forehead and Jon thought what a futile gesture of comfort it was. But what else could he do? He was no more part of the process, no more able to share in what she was going through, than the rest of them. Jesus, thought Jon, everything about parenthood scares me shitless.

‘God,’ she growled. Her tone was masculine, like someone straining to lift a barbell in a gym. She began a shallow and desperate panting and her eyes snapped open, the look in them giving Jon the impression of a wild animal in pain. Her eyes settled on him for a second before shutting again, and somehow he felt guilty for being a man.

At last the lift came to a halt and the doors opened. A midwife was waiting for them and the group sped off to the nearest delivery room. Jon found himself alone in a corridor plastered with thank you cards and badly taken snaps of women lying on beds, tiny babies clutched in their arms. He leaned closer for a better look, alarmed at the lines of exhaustion on so many of the new mums’ pale faces. Except for the pride shining out from their sunken eyes, they looked ideally suited to a hospital ward. And the babies. So small, so fragile. Dough-like features as if their faces had not yet formed, and some with plastic nasal tubes taped to their tiny cheeks. Not for the first time he looked at his thick fingers with their network of nicks and cuts from rugby matches and thought he was the last person on earth suited to this sort of thing.

‘Can I help you?’

Guiltily he dropped his hands to his sides and looked at the bird-like woman who had appeared silently at his side. ‘DI Jon Spicer.’ He started fumbling for his ID, uncomfortably aware that he was wearing trainers, paint-flecked tracksuit bottoms and an old rugby shirt beneath his jacket.

‘I just spoke to someone on the intercom about—’

‘Yes, I heard. I’m Sister Cooper.’ In order to meet his eyes she had to bend her head back. ‘They certainly breed them big in the police nowadays.’ Her eyes snagged on the bump in the bridge of his nose before dropping to the club badge on his chest, where they found an explanation for his injury. ‘Rugby player?’

Jon nodded, never sure whether the admission would bring a knowing smile or a wary look.

Sister Cooper smiled. ‘So was my husband. He’s confined to criticising it from his armchair nowadays.’

‘Oh well,’ said Jon. ‘I suppose you get to spend more time with him at the weekends now.’

‘More’s the shame,’ she rolled her eyes theatrically. ‘Always under my feet, he is. Like a lost puppy, now he doesn’t play.’

Jon laughed.

‘Please.’ She waved him on down the corridor and into a staff room. A couple of other midwives were sitting on the padded blue seats that lined two sides of the room. ‘Do you need to speak in private?’

The midwives had obviously been tipped off he was coming and were already beginning to stand. ‘No, that’s fine,’ said Jon, gesturing. ‘Please don’t get up. I just need to check something.’ He moved a copy of the local newspaper out of the way and took a seat, aware of the fact that his towering form didn’t exactly encourage a relaxed atmosphere. ‘I was talking to Carol Miller’s mother and she mentioned Carol was trying to lose a bit of weight. She said Carol had come back from work excited about discovering a new way to regain her shape. I’m interested to know if you have a staff noticeboard where people advertise things for sale.’

‘It’s right behind you.’ Sister Cooper pointed above his head.

Jon craned round and saw a noticeboard plastered with pieces of paper. He stood up and started to scan them.

Salsa lessons. Spanish teacher. Thursday evenings
.

Panasonic video camera
.

Income tax and preparation of accounts
.

Garden maintenance and lawn-mowing services
.

Britax Excel
3
in
1
travel system
.

‘Did she mention anything to any of you?’ he asked over his shoulder.

One of the midwives said, ‘Yes. Is there an ad for a rowing machine up there? One time she was talking about how effective rowing machines are for burning off calories.’

All three of them joined him and they began searching through the notices together. Within two minutes they’d checked the entire board, but without success.

Jon was about to give up when Sister Cooper announced,

‘Here you are.’ She was lifting up a large sheet with a photo of a Nissan Micra for sale. Beneath it was a plain postcard.

York Sprinter Rower. Computer screen showing strokes, time, distance, calories. Cost £
139
, will accept £
80
. Never used. Call ext.
241
and ask for Pete
.

Jon removed it, hoping none of the women had seen the extension number. ‘I just need to borrow this. Thanks very much for your help. I won’t take up any more of your time.’ Hoping his exit wasn’t too abrupt, he started for the door.

‘DI Spicer?’ It was Sister Cooper’s voice. He turned round.

‘How are Davey and the grandmother? Are they coping?’

‘Social services are helping out. Apparently there’s a cousin as well. . .’ His voice fell away.

Sister Cooper gave a tight smile and Jon retreated from the room, a woman’s shrieks following him all the way to the end of the corridor.

Outside he walked round to the hospital’s main reception and approached a woman behind the desk. Discreetly he placed his warrant card on the formica surface and asked if there was a list of internal phone numbers he could look at. She opened a drawer and removed a clipboard with several sheets of A4 pinned to the front. He traced a finger down the columns, searching for extension 241. Eventually he found it within the section headed

‘Porter’s lodge.’

Chapter 2

She found herself lying on the kitchen floor, blood clogging the vision in her right eye, cheek pressed against the fake marble tile. There was a piece of pasta beneath the cooker and she wondered whether the small brush in the cupboard under the sink would be able to reach it. He hated mess. Her face was one big blot of pain. Bottles clinked in the front room.

What’s happened to our marriage? she thought. It was good once. It was normal. If only we still had Emily, things wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Slowly she got to her knees, feeling as if the weight of her skull had trebled. Drips of blood fell onto the floor with a steady ticking sound. Reaching up, she curled her fingers over the edge of the sink and got stiffly to her feet. The J-cloth smelled faintly of sour milk as she dabbed the blood from her eye.