A Place of Hope (8 page)

As she lay fuming on her bed, she suddenly remembered recent media reports on TV about how older patients had been badly treated for years in one poorly run institution, some beaten regularly, and she grew depressed about her chances of escaping. Those people hadn’t, had they?

No, she mustn’t let the situation get her down. She must think positively.

Emily didn’t dare read the letter Rachel had brought till the middle of the night, and what she found astonished her.

A distant cousin of her father’s had died suddenly and had left everything to Emily, a house in Lancashire
and
some money. Penelope’s lawyer, a Mr Jeremy Tapton, had contacted her before but her nephew had said she was ill. Mr Tapton hoped she was now better, because he was unwilling to let her nephew finalize the sale of her inheritance until the lawyer had seen her in person, or George had obtained a power of attorney.

He’d be happy to come south to visit his client.

Emily hadn’t known Penelope Mattison very well, but this couldn’t have come at a better time. She needed a refuge and now one had turned up. ‘Thank you, Penelope,’ she murmured. George might be in her house, but she could stay in Penelope’s until she’d dealt with him once and for all.

He might know where to find her, because he must have opened the earlier correspondence, but it’d be inconveniently far away for him and she’d have this lawyer nearby.

When George came to visit her, she heard his loud voice, exchanged glances with Chad and hovered near the door of the day room, unashamedly eavesdropping on what he was saying at reception.

‘I’m going away tomorrow, Sister, so I won’t be here again until Tuesday of next week. I couldn’t leave without visiting my poor aunt, though.’

Pauline said something, but not loud enough for Emily to hear. It soon became obvious what she’d said.

‘Well, in future I’d be grateful if you’d keep your part of the bargain and keep that meddling neighbour away from my aunt. Rachel isn’t as good a friend as she pretends.’

‘I’ll certainly do that, but I’ll need you to sign an authorization for it. Are you going somewhere nice for your holiday, Mr Pilby?’

‘I’m spending a long weekend in Brighton. A reward from my employer for good sales figures. I haven’t been able to take it until now, because I’ve been too busy.’

‘How marvellous. Come into my office and I’ll find you a piece of paper for the authorization.’

The other rehab assistant came along the corridor just then. ‘Have you lost your way, Miss Mattison?’

‘
Ms
Mattison.’ She wasn’t going to give up correcting them on this. ‘Of course I’ve not lost my way. I’m avoiding my nephew.’ She realized from the way Chad rolled his eyes that it was probably the wrong thing to say and added hastily, ‘He’s such a bore.’

George came to see her shortly afterwards and insisted on going into her room to talk privately. She endured a scold about Rachel’s visit, then ten minutes of him boasting about being top salesman. He didn’t sound to be looking forward to the holiday he’d won, in fact, she’d guess he’d been postponing it. He wasn’t the sort to go on holiday to Brighton.

In the end, desperate to get rid of him, she said she had to use the bathroom.

‘I’ll say goodbye then, Auntie dear. I don’t want to tire you out. You’re looking rather pale. You should have a nice nap now. I’ll see you next Tuesday. Oh, and by the way, Rachel won’t be coming to see you again. I’m not having her upsetting you.’

‘Mind your own business, George, and don’t you dare tell Rachel not to come.’

‘You
are
my business now.’ He leaned forward, grabbing her wrist and holding it tightly, as he slammed her against the wall. He spoke in a whisper but his words were no less threatening for that. ‘And you’d be wise,
dear . . . Auntie . . .
to do as I suggest. As my mother does. If it comes to a struggle, you really are no match for me, physically or mentally.’

She was still staring at him in shock as he let go of her and left the room with a loud, cheerful farewell.

He’d just been threatening her. And he was such a big man, she’d felt extremely intimidated. Whatever happened, she didn’t intend to follow her sister’s example and let George get his hands on her life and money.

But why was he so certain he could continue to control her? What else was he planning?

And why did she think he couldn’t carry out his threat? He’d been controlling her against her wishes for the past few weeks, hadn’t he?

She and Chad were certainly seeing the dark side of the health system here. How was Pauline getting away with it? And why was she doing it?

She remembered the envelope that George had given Pauline. A bribe?

How much money would it take to persuade a trained nurse to behave so badly? Had Pauline been doing it for a while? Was she going to take off into the wide blue yonder when she had enough saved?

So many things to worry about.

But Emily wasn’t going to give up. And she wasn’t going to leave Chad behind. He had been such a comfort to her. She felt as if she’d known him for years.

Afterwards, she hoped . . . She could feel herself blushing at what she hoped for from Chad.

Emily waited until the middle of the night then rang Rachel, praying the battery on the mobile phone would last long enough. ‘Look, George is going away this weekend. Could you come and pick me and a friend up on Friday night? Well, Saturday really by then. About one o’clock in the morning.’

‘Of course I can.’

‘Wait for me in the northern car park.’ Chad had found a map of the campus near the lift and had figured that was the nearest car park.

‘Yes, I can do that and—’ There was a burst of static then nothing more from Rachel. Emily tried to dial again, but the phone was dead. Its battery must have run out completely.

She could only trust that her friend would be waiting for her outside the hospital the next night.

There was a knock on the door on the Thursday morning and when Rachel opened it, she found Emily’s nephew George standing there. She didn’t like her temporary neighbour, especially after what her friend had told her about him, and tended to avoid him. ‘Yes?’

‘Don’t try to visit my aunt again. Your visit upset her.’

‘No, it didn’t. She was glad to see me.’

‘I’m asking you
very politely
not to go to the hospital again.’

‘I shall definitely keep going to see my friend.’

He leaned forward, thrusting his face very close to hers. ‘I don’t want to have to get more forceful about this.’

She took a step backwards, suddenly afraid of the look on his face.

He smiled. ‘You’re beginning to understand how deeply I care about my family.
I
will look after them.
You
will mind your own business.’ He turned to leave, but stopped to toss back at her, ‘I hope you decide to be sensible. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. You’ll see what I mean.’

Then he turned and walked away, whistling cheerfully, stopping to talk to the neighbour across the street, with whom he’d struck up an acquaintance.

Rachel watched him chat for a while, then go back inside Emily’s house. She’d seen him look reasonably suave, in an expensive business suit, but today he had a swaggering bully’s walk, and his meaty hands were swinging free instead of clutching a briefcase. In fact, he looked like a caricature of a gangster. Emily said he was something in sales and was doing well. Amazing, that. Rachel would never buy anything from a man like him. No, he was connected to engineering, industrial pumps, perhaps. It wasn’t like shop sales. But still . . . he wasn’t a likeable man.

She shut the front door and locked it, her thoughts going back to her friend. She and Emily hadn’t had time to plan the escape in detail before they’d been cut off. She could only hope she’d heard enough to know she was supposed to pick Emily up from the northern car park of the hospital at one o’clock on Saturday morning.

When Rachel went outside the following afternoon, intending to go to the shops, she found that all four of her tyres had been slashed. She’d heard nothing, seen nothing.

She felt so threatened by this, she went inside and locked all the doors and windows. She was quite sure who’d done it, not at all sure how best to deal with it.

In fact, she felt out of her depth about the whole business of getting Emily free.

George’s car had gone, and she didn’t know when he’d be coming back, but that didn’t stop her feeling nervous.

If she got the tyres repaired before closing time, he might slash them again during the night. She didn’t have a garage to keep her car in, so it stood on the drive. And the drive was sheltered by bushes and trees, so anyone could creep up to the car without the neighbours seeing.

How was she going to help Emily now? They’d only have one chance for this escape, Rachel was sure.

After some consideration of the problem over a cup of strong coffee, she came to the conclusion that she had to find help. She simply couldn’t do this on her own.

As she prepared to escape, the most difficult thing for Emily was staying awake until after the late shift came on duty. Several times she found herself nodding off.

By midnight the bustle of changeover had died down. She waited until the night nurse had finished her first ward round, then got up and dressed quickly, shaping what she hoped looked like a sleeping figure under the bedding.

She put her dressing gown on over her outdoor clothing, in case anyone was monitoring the CCTV system. Maybe if someone saw her, they’d think she was just walking round the floor.

She saw a shadow on the floor of the corridor, approaching her room slowly, and stiffened. Please let it be Chad! She couldn’t bear to fail before she even started.

The shadow jerked and moved along the floor, coming closer and closer.

Not until the figure stopped outside her door could she tell that it was him. She let out a sigh of relief and went to join him, holding out her hand.

He took hers and gave it a slight squeeze. She felt better for the touch, so very much better knowing she wasn’t trying to escape on her own.

‘All right?’ he mouthed.

She could only nod, because her throat was suddenly dry.

They got outside the unit without any hassles, taking the stairs and using the code she’d memorized for the lock. To her huge relief the same code opened the outer door as well.

Suddenly Chad tugged her back into the shadows behind some bushes and put his forefinger across her lips. She didn’t know why, but stayed silent.

A security guard appeared, checking the outer doors and flashing his torch around.

When the man had moved past, Chad grinned, his teeth shining white in the moonlight. ‘I always did have excellent hearing.’

‘Thank goodness!’

Moving as quickly as they could, they made their way across the first car park, meeting no one.

‘I can’t see any security cameras,’ she whispered.

‘Neither can I. There must be some, though. I wish I knew where, so that we could avoid them.’

As they turned the corner into the small overflow parking area where they were to meet Rachel, Emily looked round eagerly. But to her dismay, her friend’s car wasn’t there.

‘What shall we do if Rachel doesn’t come?’ she whispered.

‘We press on regardless. You have enough money to get a taxi to her house.’

They found a sheltered spot against the wall of an outbuilding and waited, because it was a little before the agreed time still.

‘How are you feeling?’ she asked.

‘I’m fine. And you?’

‘Nervous.’ She reached for his hand.

Once she thought she heard the sound of footsteps in the distance, and glanced at Chad. He was listening, but after a minute or two, he relaxed and smiled at her, so whoever it was must have passed by.

She figured about ten minutes had passed. It felt like ten hundred!

Chad spoke quietly. ‘If your friend doesn’t come in a few minutes, we should set off walking. If we can find a phone box, maybe we can call a taxi. They often have a free call service.’

It might be late May, but it was a cold night and Emily shivered. She didn’t have anything warm to wear.

Chad was shivering, too. He put an arm round her shoulders and leaned against her. ‘Who’s supporting who?’ he muttered.

‘Whom.’

He chuckled. ‘Good at grammar, are you?’

‘Very.’

‘More than ten minutes have passed, surely?’

‘Yes.’

‘The map showed an exit at that corner.’ He pointed. ‘Let’s use it.’

When they got there, they found a barrier in place, with a strong metal pole shutting off the entrance.

‘No wonder Rachel wasn’t waiting in the car park. Maybe she’s parked down the road.’ Emily didn’t really believe that. If Rachel were here, she’d have come looking for her.

As Emily squeezed past the barrier, a man stepped out from the shadows. ‘May I ask what you’re doing here, madam, sir? You were seen on CCTV wandering round the car parks.’

She gasped in shock and for a moment couldn’t form any words. The guard was standing between her and Chad. ‘None of your business what I’m doing here. This is a public area.’

‘Oh, I think it is my business. Two people answering your descriptions have been reported missing from a locked ward.’ His voice took on a patronizing tone, as if he were speaking to an idiot. ‘You shouldn’t be wandering about like this, madam. The hospital won’t want you getting hurt while you’re in their care.’

‘We’ve removed ourselves from their care.’ Chad pushed past the guard to join her.

She knew they couldn’t run away from this man. Neither of them was in any condition to outdistance anyone, and he was much younger and fitter than they were. But when Chad’s arm round her back urged her on, she moved forward again.

They had to try.

The guard was already speaking on the phone. ‘Frank? I’ve got them. The woman sounds perfectly normal, I must admit, and he’s walking pretty well. I thought he was supposed to have difficulty moving around.’

‘I don’t have dementia!’ she exclaimed indignantly.