The Aladdin Trial

by Abi Silver

  ‘What happened next?’ Judith asked.

  Jane continued in an unsteady voice.

  ‘Steven was desperate. He had not lost a patient on his watch and he didn’t want to be blamed. And I felt I should share responsibility as I had left him alone. But if we told what happened it would expose the flaws in our system, the one David and I had been operating so successfully, treating many more patients, faster, with less staff and far better outcomes. We were saving lives using Aladdin – more than we had anticipated at the outset – and improving quality of life; I didn’t want to jeopardise that.’

  ‘And Aladdin?’

  ‘If we shopped Aladdin that would be very costly for the Trust after its investment, each one costs upwards of a million pounds – funds which we can’t afford to waste. I didn’t want it to be my fault, my misjudging which was the more needy patient, that caused the whole project to be scrapped and patients to die on the waiting list, or from mistakes that surgeons make every day.

  ‘So I persuaded Steven that rather than make a big fuss, we should talk to Aladdin’s manufacturer, which we have now done, like I said, to remedy the software issues and quietly issue some guidance to nursing staff on keying in the quantities into Aladdin for future reference. We didn’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.’

  ‘And what about “the baby”, poor Mrs Hennessy?’ Judith asked.

  ‘I told Steven that I would find a way of hiding his involvement in Mrs Hennessy’s death. It wasn’t easy because they were expecting her in recovery. But we had operated in one of two overflow theatres as the others were all full and she was the last operation scheduled in there that day. So I told the recovery nurses that she was a bit slow to come around, and that Steven and I would keep her in theatre and look after her until she did. They had no reason to doubt what I said.’

  ‘Did no one come in?’

  ‘No. Those two theatres are only used when we are really stretched. But we left her hooked up to a couple of tubes and switched the monitors back to the display mode. If anyone had come in, she would have appeared asleep. We also used some warming devices – they’re rather like mini fan heaters – to keep her warm until we could decide what to do next.’

  ‘Did she ever return to the ward?’ Dr Wolf asked this time.

  ‘No. Steven went up to the ward and made some notes in her medical log, so that it would look as if she had returned, listing the painkillers you asked about. Around 9:45, we wheeled her back up to the ward. We used the service lift out the back, but we didn’t see a soul.’

  ‘Who decided to drop her off the building?’

  ‘I did,’ Jane replied, shakily. ‘I realised early on that if we just put her back into bed we would be found out, so I had the idea of dropping her body from a height. We were helped by her room being on the top floor so that it would be seen as a suicide or a terrible accident and the trauma of the injuries would cover anything else up. We turned the covers back on one side of the bed so it would look like she just climbed out herself. I never imagined for one moment that the police would think it was a murder.’

  ‘But when Ahmad was arrested, you stayed silent.’

  ‘You can’t blame me. I was hardly going to own up then. I decided that if it looked as if he was going to be convicted then I would speak up. But you did your job very competently and he wasn’t.’

  ‘That’s very convenient for you to say now, after the event.’

  ‘I was in a difficult situation.’

  ‘Of your own making. And I suppose you are a doctor with, what, a decade of training, and my client was only a cleaner! What about when Lottie rang to find out where Mrs Hennessy was?’

  ‘I told her she was with the physiotherapist,’ Steven piped up.

  ‘Weren’t you suspicious?’ Judith asked Lottie, who hung her head. ‘And you told us you saw Mrs Hennessy, when that wasn’t true.’

  ‘I persuaded Nurse Li to say what she did,’ Jane intervened. ‘And I pretended it came from Hani. I knew she would accept what he said without questioning. And she knew she should have been in theatre so I was doubly sure she would co-operate. She didn’t know what we did though. We waited till she was occupied with another patient to throw Mrs Hennessy off the fire escape.’

  Hani Mahmood gasped and shook his head repeatedly from side to side.

  ‘But Dr Wolf, you lied too. I asked you how Mrs Hennessy was after her operation? You said she was “fine”. I remember the exchange vividly,’ Judith continued.

  David remained wide-eyed, standing in the centre of the room.

  ‘Dr Wolf?’

  ‘Jane. How could you do this? If you’d asked me I would’ve helped you. We would have found another way of dealing with this. Not this.’

  ‘Dr Wolf. Can you answer my question? Why did you lie to me? Why did you lie in court?’

  ‘As far as I knew, Mrs Hennessy was “fine” after her operation. Don’t you see? I had no part in her death or cover up. OK, I didn’t do the surgery and I asked Steven to go up and see Mrs Hennessy post-op and to up her pain relief if she needed it. He told me he had. I didn’t want to admit that I delegated, that’s all. A tiny white lie in the scheme of things.’

  ‘You pretended you operated on her when you were never there. You confirmed the state of her health afterwards when you never even saw her. These were significant events you lied about.’

  David continued to stare accusingly at his wife.

  ‘I did it for the best!’ Jane shouted at him.

  ‘Best for whom? Hardly for Mrs Hennessy,’ Judith replied.

  ‘We couldn’t bring her back. We tried. We were trying to salvage something.’

  ‘So when Lucy asked me to persuade you to remove the Aladdin forms, that was all a pretence?’ Hani asked. ‘You and Lucy had already planned everything together.’

  ‘Lucy didn’t know about how Mrs Hennessy died. She was just “risk-averse” and didn’t want Aladdin mentioned in court.’

  ‘How did you know I would agree?’

  ‘Lucy didn’t give you much choice, from what I remember.’

  ‘Yes. That’s true.’

  ‘What did she say to you, Dr Mahmood? That you’d get the sack if you didn’t toe the line?’ Judith asked.

  ‘Pretty much,’ Jane said. ‘I didn’t mean to deceive you, Hani, but I thought that was the best way to keep you quiet. And it worked. And David. You would never have gone along with it, I knew that. So it was better to keep you in the dark too; I’m sorry. Aladdin is a great addition to our hospital workforce. Its importance cannot be underestimated. We did this for patient care; nothing more. We knew we were risking our own positions.’

  ‘But Lucy challenged you in the review meeting, about taking that call. She embarrassed you. Why did she do that, if you were working together?’ Hani needed to understand it all, how he had been taken in so entirely.

  ‘Yes. That was a bit of a surprise, I admit. She wanted to keep me in line too. To make it clear that it would be easy to make me a scapegoat, if the Trust wanted. I don’t blame her.’

  ‘Why didn’t the high level of anaesthetic get picked up on the post mortem?’ Judith asked.

  ‘Probably not enough blood left for any meaningful testing,’ Jane said. ‘I had hoped that would be the case. And there was no reason to carry out those additional “toxicology”-type tests you would have to do anyway to detect it, given the obvious “cause of death”. Our pathologists and laboratories are frantically busy. Why manufacture extra work when things are so clear-cut?’

  Judith strode around the room, circling all its inhabitants, finishing next to Inspector Dawson.

  ‘Inspector Dawson, I believe you need to take Dr Bridges and Dr King into custody then. Am I correct?’ she asked soberly.

  ‘You are,’ he replied. ‘And the rest of you need to be available to answer questi
ons at the station tomorrow morning. For tonight, you are free to go. But please don’t think of taking any holidays for quite a while.’

  65

  ‘That means Joe Hennessy is off the hook then, doesn’t it?’ Judith and Constance were breathing the evening air with relief as they stood outside the railway station awaiting Judith’s taxi.

  ‘I suppose it does. God, I hope Dawson can get him for something though. He’s so dodgy.’

  ‘He’s going to be a father now. Maybe that will sort him out.’

  ‘I doubt it. What did Dawson say? “Once a scumbag always a scumbag”.’

  ‘A very astute assessment from our illustrious partner in solving crime.’

  Judith’s taxi pulled up at the kerb. ‘Are we finished now? Are you satisfied?’

  ‘Yes. I think we’re finally done.’

  ‘Do you know what I’m going to do when I get home – after a pot of coffee and a long bath, that is? I’ll need all my strength for this one.’

  ‘No?’ Constance laughed.

  ‘I’m going to call my mother!’

  Judith blew an air kiss in Constance’s direction as she clambered into her cab.

  ‘You sure I can’t drop you somewhere?’

  ‘No. I’ll walk. I could really do with some fresh air after police stations and hospitals. Speak soon.’

  ‘Last time you said that it was three months before we spoke.’

  ‘You were the one who went all reclusive. Your fame went to your head.’

  Judith giggled. ‘Will you come and have dinner with me and Greg one evening? I promise not to talk about work.’

  ‘That would be lovely, thank you.’

  ‘Greg’s idea, not mine,’ Judith quipped. ‘I hate having company.’ Constance threw back her head and laughed out loud as Judith’s taxi sped away.

  On a whim, she walked back along the street to the twenty-four-hour newsagent and bought herself an ice cream. Then she strolled up the nearby avenue of trees and sat down on the bench overlooking the pond and ate it greedily, enjoying the cool sensation on her tongue. She allowed herself to savour the last morsel before taking her phone out of her bag, switching it on and waiting to review her messages.

  She had a WhatsApp from a number she recognised.

  ‘Hi Sis. I’m in town next week. I’ll call you, J.’

  Constance shrugged. She wouldn’t hold her breath. Sometimes Jermain did what he said, more often not. Next she dialled up her voicemail and heard a familiar voice.

  ‘Hi Con. This is Mike. I miss you. Sometimes I’m really stupid, you know. Well I’m sure you do. And I get stuff wrong. I saw you on the news. You were really great. Can we have a drink some time this week? Tomorrow night, eight o’clock, usual place? I’ll have a red carnation in my button hole.’

  Constance’s eyes filled with tears as she deleted the message. She wiped them away with the back of her hand as she replaced her phone in her bag and walked purposefully towards the Underground station.

  Acknowledgements

  My thanks go to all the team at Lightning Books: to Dan Hiscocks for his continued support and belief in my abilities, to Scott Pack for his incredible editing skills and guidance, to Hugh Brune for his enthusiastic sales campaign, to Simon Edge for his marketing expertise, to Shona Andrew for the fabulous cover design, to Clio Mitchell for copyediting and typesetting, and to Kat Stephen for proofreading.

  I must, of course, also acknowledge the enormous contribution of my parents, Jacqie and the late Sidney Fineberg, both inspirational teachers, who encouraged me and my sisters to spend all our waking hours reading.

  Particular thanks for their specific input into The Aladdin Trial, at various stages of its journey towards the final draft, and for answering my endless medical and forensic questions fully and comprehensively, must go to each of: Dr Liam Brennan, consultant anaesthetist, Dr Suzy Lishman, past president, Royal College of Pathologists, Dr Stuart J Hamilton, Home Office registered forensic pathologist, Professor Naomi A Fineberg, psychiatrist, and Dr Carmel Bergbaum. Thanks for an invaluable contribution on Syrian food, locations, names and language must go to Dr Abduljabbar Murad, and to Louise Lemoine for relevant background to the refugee crisis.

  Finally, a huge thank you goes to everyone who has reviewed The Aladdin Trial and my first novel, The Pinocchio Brief, for taking the time to read my books and share their views in a variety of ways; including in radio broadcasts, space in some of our most prestigious national publications, for hosting me on their blogs and websites and for taking the time to post online reviews. Their support has provided me with the confidence to continue writing and, without their backing, I would not have been able to reach such a wide audience; I am forever indebted.