by Ali Carter
As the massaging spray of hot water washed away the previous hour, she heard the muffled strains of the BBC ten o’clock news through the bathroom door.
At the point of attack Molly instantly realised she couldn’t breathe! The thick sweet scent was suffocating her. She had tried twisting around to see whoever, or whatever it was! Someone had come from behind the bench, but they were too strong! Oh God the killer… the killer was too strong! In gut-piercing realisation, her arms and legs flailed desperately in vain as she tried to pull the hand and cloth away from her nose and mouth! That smell! It was so pungent!
There was pressure on the back of her skull as they held it tight with their other hand against their body. Why couldn’t she hear herself scream? Her brain was screaming! Her hands tore blindly, haphazardly in frenzied panic! Incessantly, repeatedly she scrabbled at the assailant’s grasp, but nothing worked! She could feel the stickiness of the perpetrator’s blood beneath her nails, smell it as she scratched and clawed – a trapped animal fights for its life! For a few brief unyielding seconds every fibre in her body was strung taut against the strike, but resistance was futile! Where was Jenny?! Why didn’t somebody help her?! Anyone for God’s sake! Molly rapidly felt herself losing consciousness; muscles became heavy, no longer under her control, abandoning her at life’s vital moment. A brief upward glimpse of blurred black and gold brought nothing. Why is your face so… Dazed – she slipped swiftly into black.
“Don’t ‘ee be wurryin’ moi lover, th’ ambulance is a comin’.” Mary Tattershall cradled Molly’s head in her arms, stroked her damp hair as the aroma of whisky meth attempted to rival the chloroform. “Ol Mary’ll stay with ‘ee as long as it takes, as long as ‘ee needs me, oil be ‘ere – you’ll see…”
But the young girl could hear nothing of the old vagrant’s words. To all intents and purposes – Molly Fields was dead.
NINETEEN
Nobody could have been more surprised than Charlotte when the interruption had occurred. That damned vagrant woman was always hanging around the surgery, which unfortunately for her, just happened to be opposite the park. As soon as she’d heard the slurred protest, Charlotte had spun round to see a swaying bundle of alcoholic fumed rags – the stench of which had her retching in disgust. She was of course oblivious to her own abhorrent behaviour… but not to the fact that this was nonetheless, a bundle of rags that could see, talk and hear, despite the inebriation.
She’d instantly released Molly, who’d immediately slumped sideways unconscious onto the bench. Charlotte had then grabbed her blue nylon box, shoved Mary to the ground and run like a deer to the woods opposite. It had been a shock and a warning. Next time she would be more careful, she wouldn’t choose anywhere near work just because it was convenient for supplies.
Charlotte remained hidden until the ambulance had come and gone, before pocketing the mask and taking the long route back to where she’d left the car. Sitting comfortably inside now, composure regained, she pushed away the enormity of the risk she’d taken, and of what had actually just happened. The familiar hysteria seed began to sprout – and rise, the corners of her mouth began to twitch, and her mind began to re-plan as she rhythmically drummed her fingers on the blue box beside her. That one would have to be a double appointment…
Somewhere far away in the deepest recesses of her mind, Molly was aware of a screeching siren. It was faint, very faint, and she wasn’t sure if this floating tinny noised fuzziness was some halfway spiritual platform between death and heaven.
Everything felt heavy, lead ran through her veins and there was a kind of ‘tugging’ and a repetitive pressurised sensation somewhere. She didn’t know where, it was just there. Muffled voices struggled to get through the ‘mist’. Were they coming to greet her: grandparents, great aunties and uncles and other long ago relatives? Were they coming to welcome her to the other side, to guide her through the darkness? Or was she developing medium tendencies as well as psychological abilities? No, well… not if she was dead…
“Get her on to that damned stretcher – now! We’ve got less than fifteen minutes!” The two paramedics from Kirkdale General lifted her lifeless body swiftly and skilfully onto the stretcher and into the waiting ambulance. The flashing light circled slowly, throwing an intermittent shadowy blue hue across the playground apparatus.
“The oxygen mask Geoff, one band’s bust, it keeps sliding off her face!”
“Then hold the bloody thing on and keep that blasted saline drip in!” He thumped the back of the driver’s wall to alert him to get moving. As it pulled away the siren built up to full volume, the blue light revolving at speed.
“BP’s dropping – down to eighty over forty and falling – pulse 30, it’s gonna go Geoff, she’s gonna flatline, Geoff we’re gonna lose her!”
“No we are NOT! Charge her! I’m NOT losing this one!”
The ambulance defibrillator shot up to two hundred as Geoff Ransom hit the charge button, and his newly qualified trainee slapped the defib paddles on Molly’s exposed chest. Her body jumped like a bucking ram then fell back motionless onto the board. The oscilloscope beeped and ran a single line across the monitor.
“Again – dammit!” yelled Geoff! Sally Gordon attempted a repeat charge just as the speeding ambulance hit a large pothole in the road. The violent lurch sent her sprawling to the floor, her head smashed viciously against the metal. Blood poured from her temple and the pain made her release the paddles sending them flying out of reach under the stretcher.
Geoff threw himself across his colleague and scrabbled under the makeshift bed. His long rugby arms managed to grab hold of the wires as he yanked them back, ordering Sally to hit the button. She crawled back to the de-fib., her vision impaired by the blood running in her eyes, and brought both hands down on the control. Geoff slammed the paddles back down onto his dying patient and released the power. “Come on! Come on! You’ve got to make it!” A weak signal blipped faintly on the black background, their hearts and faces jumped together as they watched, prayed the peak would remain and repeat, but it was not to be. Their heads dropped as hope was dashed again and again, at every attempt the weak ripple fell to the floor into one long continuous screeching line. The siren of the ambulance screamed through the town as the driver expertly handled corners, traffic and red lights.
“She’s gone Geoff, we can’t get her back now.”
“Yes we can! We will! Charge her again – four hundred joules this time!” Sally responded to the increase without question, just as her training had taught her, and for one last time the paddles were brought down on Molly’s bruised body. The shock jolted her so violently she nearly fell off the stretcher, so grotesque were the current’s effects, Geoff thought he had surely killed her himself. They waited, tense, anxious seconds. There it was. They both heard it. The beep beep of the oscilloscope, they saw the peaks of the heart’s rhythm in luminescent green, like alien mountain terrain scrawling its way across the night. It wasn’t strong but it was a reasonable rhythm – it was there. Then…
“I’ve got a pulse!” exclaimed Sally, jubilant at its reappearance.
Both paramedics exhaled in exhausted relief and strangely, almost laughed with the stress of it all. Sally, however, at a similar age to her patient, couldn’t prevent the tears escaping as they mixed with her blood and coursed down her cheeks.
“Thank God…” sighed Geoff, his tense muscles relaxed for the first time since arriving on scene. He sank heavily against the side of the vehicle as Sally cuffed salty blood across her face and temple, and for the first time he realised her injured condition. Geoff pulled some gauze from the first aid box, blotted her tears and pressed it against her head wound with a smile, as the ambulance swung into the A & E forecourt of Kirkdale General.
Three nurses shot through the glass doors to meet the docked ambulance. Geoff and Sally had now checked her bag for personal details, and already rolled Molly ou
t with the help of the driver as everyone ran with the gurney into A & E.
They rushed through the hospital corridors past wards and turning heads, Geoff competently reported her name, age and medical condition whilst sprinting alongside. Once the information was conveyed, the paramedics slowed to a walk and left the doctors to continue on at high speed. Shoving the gurney through the first set of double doors, monitoring vital signs and radioing ahead to intensive care, they disappeared into the nucleus of the hospital.
Geoff stood gazing up the corridor after Molly, standing back to let doctors shoot past him as they headed in the same direction as the crash team.
“Well done,” said Sally quietly, “you’ve probably saved her you know.” She looked up at him and ran a hand affectionately over his back.
“Yeah… well, let’s hope so.”
“It wasn’t your fault Geoff… the last time. Even you can’t save them if they’ve run the perfect pill gauntlet.” Geoff delivered a half-smile appreciating her logic, took her elbow and steered Sally towards A&E.
“Come along, paramedic Gordon, let’s get you patched up!”
Her head was banging like a drum. It felt as though the Royal Philharmonic had been rehearsing in there all night! Molly opened her eyes to find a room full of people in white clothing.
“Jeez, looks like I made it to the good girls’ place then!” she quipped as she struggled to lift herself into a sitting position.
“You’re in Kirkdale General Miss Fields, and lay back down! Not heaven fortunately, or not, as you may decide after experiencing the dinner tray!” The girl in white approached her bed with a smile, pushed up Molly’s gown sleeve and strapped a blood pressure monitor on her arm.
“I’m Staff Nurse Bradshaw by the way, Clare to the well-behaved patients!” She winked wickedly. “The others are students,” she gestured to half a dozen people behind her. “But if you don’t feel like a party…”
“No, no that’s fine.” Molly smiled weakly.
“Let’s see how we’re doing today then, you’ve had quite a nasty experience you know. Do you remember anything abou–?”
“Anything at all?” interrupted a man in a slightly crumpled grey suit who’d slipped in unnoticed behind the group of students.
“Inspector?!” Clare Bradshaw turned abruptly from the bed. “I asked you to wait outside until I’d determined the state of my patient!”
“That’s okay, I’m fine, well… obviously I’m not completely…” Molly massaged her forehead with her spare hand – eyes wincing.
“Inspector Longbridge, will you please wait outside until I’ve finished my observations? You can see Miss Fields is in no fit state to answer questions!” Harry obliged and left. He decided a large caffeine shot was needed anyway.
Clare finished her obs., wrote them up on the chart at the bottom of the bed, and ushered the students out of the room.
“How do you feel about the police Molly? Do you think you could manage a few questions? They really need to speak to you if you can. I’ll make sure he’s not here too long.”
“Yeah I guess… I’ve got to get it over with. Send him in.” Longbridge though, she thought sighing to herself. Now I’m going to encounter an ultra-grilling if Andrew’s experience is anything to go by.
Harry Longbridge didn’t need a second invitation. Luckily the drinks dispenser was close by, and listening from the corridor was inside the door the moment the words were out of Clare’s mouth.
“Miss Fields, I’m Detective Chief Inspector Long…”
“Yeah I know who you are,” Molly interrupted. He glanced up at Nurse Bradshaw and Clare in turn raised her eyebrows at Molly to check if she was happy for her to leave. Her patient nodded affirmatively and Longbridge waited for her departure before he continued. Harry settled himself in the visitors’ chair and took a mouthful of the machine’s unappetising brown liquid, grimaced then placed the beige plastic cup on top of Molly’s bedside cabinet. He gathered his thoughts before opening his line of questioning, breathing in deeply then exhaling loudly as if he had bad news to deliver.
“I believe what happened to you Miss Fields, is very relevant to a current case we’re working on. You can’t fail to have heard about the murders in Kirkdale over the last few weeks.”
“I’m aware… very aware,” she replied, her eyes holding his.
“So what can you tell me about what brought you here two nights ago?”
“Two – two nights ago?!” exclaimed Molly. “I didn’t realise I’d been here forty-eight hours! Have my parents been inform– my friends… do they know?
“They would have been told, probably saw you when you were out of it. Look, don’t concern yourself with that now, I’m sure you’ll see them later. I don’t want to appear harsh but I need to know all you can remember about that night in the park. First off, why were you there?” Molly instinctively didn’t want to tell him why she was there. Safer to play the memory loss card, the last thing she wanted was for the trio’s private detective work to be discovered. Imagine what Longbridge would make of that, particularly where Andrew was concerned.
“Not much – not really, I… don’t remember much at all to be honest. Just recall sitting on the bench, don’t know why I was there. Suddenly someone held a cloth over my face. I smelt this awful perfume, heady, you know, like chloroform or something, and that was it. Bosh! I was a goner. Didn’t see a thing, well… not…”
“Not what? Not what Miss Fields? What was it you thought you didn’t see?” A pause…
“Well it sounds… stupid really.”
“Try me.”
“Well when I looked up, I saw a… a sort of swirly black and gold… mess. That’s all I can describe it as. Just those two colours all wound together. Then I passed out.” Harry eyed her suspiciously. Was she making this up? And if so why?
“I told you it sounded stupid.” She looked at the wall, arms crossed. He decided not to pursue the scepticism tack.
“That’s okay. If that’s what you saw… you were very heavily sedated, probably couldn’t make a thing out once the pad was over your face. The brain does funny things.” Didn’t answer why she was there in the first place though, he thought.
Just then Harry’s stomach began to rumble, it always began to rumble at crucial moments. He fished around in his jacket pocket and brought out a small bag of barley sugars. His brains would soon feel like they’d been chloroformed without one. Molly watched as he popped the sweet in his mouth, and just before he returned them to storage, extended his arm out to offer one. She declined. Longbridge shrugged, and replaced them into the sugary grey depths of his suit jacket. He continued – with difficulty as he swapped the cube from one side of his mouth to the other.
“You’ve yet to inform me why you were there alone at ten o’clock at night. Particularly with the dangerous situation we have at the moment. It’s hardly a safe and sensible thing to be doing, on your own, is it?” She flushed then dropped her head to concentrate on fiddling with the bedding. When she looked back up Molly answered him with a newfound coolness.
“I simply can’t remember Inspector. I’m sorry.” She began to massage the sides of her head trying to relieve the ‘pain’, then pushed the call button at the side of her bed. “I’m really feeling very tired now, I think I’d like to rest.” She spoke confidently, her tone practically dismissive. At that moment Nurse Bradshaw re-entered the room and held the door open with an arm extended pointedly towards the gap. There was no mistaking her body language.
“Thank you Inspector. Have a good day.” Harry Longbridge vacated the visitors’ chair and walked to the door where he paused and then turned around.
“If you should remember anything, anything at all…” Molly inclined her head. “You were nearly killed – three other women have been.” His face softened for a second, displayed just a trace of vulnerability, his voi
ce low, almost despondent. “Quite frankly Miss Fields – I need all the help I can get.” With that he thanked the nurse and disappeared into the hallway. Bradshaw closed the door on her way out.
Molly was now alone, staring at the space that just a few minutes ago had been inhabited by half a dozen people. The room felt isolated, and with the door closed, unconnected with the busy wards outside. She lay there determined not to feel either scared or pressurised, but hospital was the one place in the world she hated to be, and illness had nothing to do with it. It was the lack of familiarity, freedom of movement, her clothes and routines, and the feeling of having absolutely no control over what happened to her.
Molly now felt completely uptight and thought to herself – I wish I’d accepted that bloody barley sugar now!
“Surprise!!” The door burst open and what appeared to be a huge bouquet of talking flowers floated in its entrance. The blooms shifted to one side and behind them stood Andrew and Gina, beaming like two Cheshire cats. Molly giggled. Her parents had visited earlier after her sleep, but only these two could really lift her spirits.
“Hi guys, thanks for those they’re gorgeous!” Gina laid them on the side table, assuring her friends she’d get the nurse to find a vase before they left. Both of them gave Molly a big hug and sat either side of the bed, just needing to be close, to reassure themselves she really was okay. It was a good thing it was a room in the 3rd floor private wing otherwise they would most certainly have been turfed off it, and probably not allowed to bring flowers in either.
Once they’d both convinced themselves she really was mentally and physically okay, it was down to the serious stuff. Andrew picked up her hand and asked the most obvious question first. The one that Longbridge had wanted answered.
“So what were you doing there Molls?” Molly automatically glanced up at the door as if the police were about to burst in to take her confession. In the absence of such an inquisition she related the whole story. Her latest vision, how she’d received a text from Jenny to meet her in the park, the car breaking down and the actual attack, what she could remember of it. Andrew and Gina looked at each other, horrified at what their friend had been through, then Andrew suddenly realised something. In their relief that Molly was okay, nobody had thought of it.