Simon Beckett - Whispers of the Dead

But then it was an old man’s head that lay on the pillow, grey-skinned and sunken-cheeked.

The heart attack had struck at the morgue the night before. He’d been working late, wanting to make up for the time lost out at Steeple Hill earlier that day. Summer had been helping him, but at ten o’clock Tom had told her to go home. She’d gone to change, and then heard a crash from one of the autopsy suites. Running in, she’d found Tom semiconscious on the floor.

‘It was lucky she was still there,’ Paul told me. ‘If she hadn’t been he could’ve been lying there for hours.’

He and Sam had been coming out of the Emergency Department as I arrived, blinking as they emerged into the bright sunlight. Sam looked calm and dignified, walking with the stately, leaned-back balance of late pregnancy. By comparison Paul seemed haggard and drawn with worry. He’d only found out about the heart attack when Mary had phoned him from the hospital that morning. Tom had undergone an emergency bypass during the night and was still unconscious in intensive care. The operation had gone as well as it could under the circumstances, but there was always the danger of another attack. The next few days were going to be critical.

‘Do we know anything else yet?’ I asked.

Paul raised a shoulder. ‘Only that it was a massive attack. If he hadn’t been so close to Emergency he mightn’t have made it.’

Sam squeezed her husband’s arm. ‘But he did. They’re doing everything they can for him. And at least the CAT scan was OK, so that’s good news.’

‘They did a CAT scan?’ I asked, surprised. That wasn’t a routine diagnostic for heart attacks.

‘For a while the doctors thought he might have had a stroke,’ Paul explained. ‘He was confused when he was brought in. Seemed to think something had happened to Mary instead of him. He was pretty agitated.’

‘C’mon, hon, he was barely conscious,’ Sam insisted. ‘And you know how Tom is with Mary. He was probably just worried that she’d be upset.’

Paul nodded, but I could see he was still concerned. So was I. The confusion could have been caused by Tom’s brain not receiving enough oxygen or by a blood clot from his misfiring heart. A CAT scan should have shown up any obvious signs of a stroke, but it was another worrying factor, even so.

‘Lord, I just wish I’d not been away yesterday,’ Paul said, his face lined.

Sam rubbed his arm. ‘It wouldn’t have made any difference. You couldn’t have done anything. These things happen.’

But this needn’t have. I’d been berating myself ever since I’d heard the news. If I’d bitten my tongue instead of provoking Hicks, the pathologist might not have been so hell-bent on having me thrown off the investigation. I could have taken some of the workload from Tom, might even have spotted the danger signs of the impending heart attack and done something about it.

But I hadn’t. And now Tom was in intensive care.

‘How’s Mary?’ I asked.

‘Coping,’ Sam said. ‘She’s been here all night. I offered to stay with her, but I think she’d rather be alone with him. And their son might be flying in later.’

‘Might?’

‘If he can tear himself away from New York,’ Paul said bitterly.

‘Paul…’ Sam warned. She gave me a small smile. ‘If you want to say hello I’m sure Mary would appreciate it.’

I’d known Tom would be too ill for visitors, but I’d wanted to come anyway. I started to go inside, but Paul stopped me. ‘Can you stop by the morgue later? We need to talk.’

I said I would. It was only just starting to dawn on me that he was effectively the acting director of the Forensic Anthropology Center. The promotion didn’t seem to give him any pleasure.

The clinical smell of antiseptic hit me as soon as I stepped inside the emergency department. My heart raced as it sparked a flashback to my own time in hospital, but I quickly quelled the memory. My footsteps squeaked on the resin floor as I made my way along the corridors to the intensive care unit where Tom had been taken. He was in a private room. There was a small window in the door, and through it I could see Mary sitting next to his bed. I tapped lightly on the window. At first she didn’t seem to have heard, but then she looked up and beckoned me in.

She’d aged ten years since I’d been to their house for dinner two nights ago, but her smile was as warm as ever as she moved away from the bedside.

‘David, you needn’t have come.’

‘I only just heard. How is he?’

We both spoke in a low whisper, even though there was little chance of disturbing Tom. Mary made a vague gesture towards the bed.

‘The bypass went well. But he’s very weak. And there’s a danger he might have another attack…’ She broke off, moisture glinting in her eyes. She did her best to rally. ‘You know Tom, though. Tough as old boots.’

I smiled with a reassurance I didn’t feel. ‘Has he been conscious at all?’

‘Not really. He came round a couple of hours ago, but not for long. He still seemed mixed up over who was in hospital. I had to reassure him that I was all right.’ She smiled, tremulously, her anxiety showing through. ‘He mentioned you, though.’

‘Me?’

‘He said your name, and you’re the only David we know. I think he wanted me to tell you something, but I could only make out one word. It sounded like “Spanish”.’ She looked at me hopefully. ‘Does that mean anything to you?’

Spanish? It seemed like more evidence of Tom’s confusion. I tried to keep my dismay from my face. ‘Nothing I can think of.’

‘Perhaps I misheard,’ Mary said, disappointed. She was already glancing towards the bed, obviously wanting to get back to her husband.

‘I’d better go,’ I said. ‘If there’s anything I can do…’

‘I know. Thank you.’ She paused, frowning. ‘I almost forgot. You didn’t call Tom last night, did you?’

‘Not last night. I spoke to him yesterday afternoon, but that was about four o’clock. Why?’

She gestured, vaguely. ‘Oh, it’s probably nothing. Just that Summer said she heard his cell phone ring right before he had the attack. I wondered if it was you, but never mind. It can’t have been anything important.’ She gave me a quick hug. ‘I’ll tell him you stopped by. He’ll be pleased.’

I retraced my steps and went back outside. After the oppressive quiet of the ICU the sun felt glorious. I tilted my face up to it, breathing in the fresh air to clear the smell of illness and antiseptic from my lungs. I felt ashamed to admit it even to myself, but I couldn’t deny how good it felt to be in the open again.

Mary’s words came back to me as I walked back to my car. What was it Tom had said? Spanish. I puzzled over it, wanting it to make some sort of sense rather than be further evidence of his confusion. But try as I might I couldn’t think what it could mean, or why he should have wanted her to tell me.

Preoccupied with that, it was only when I was driving away that I remembered what else Mary had told me.

I wondered who might have been phoning Tom at that time of night.

The pan has boiled dry. You can see the tendrils of smoke coming from it and hear its contents hissing as they start to burn. But it’s only when the smoke begins to cloud above the stove that you finally rouse yourself from the table. The chilli is blackened and hissing with heat. The stink must be intense, but you can’t smell anything.

You wish you were as immune to everything.

You pick up the pan but let it drop again as the metal handle stings your hand. ‘Sonofabitch!’ Using an old towel, you lift it from the cooker and carry it to the sink. Steam hisses as you run cold water into it. You stare down at the mess, not caring one way or the other.