A Long Way Back (Unfinished Business #2) - Barbara Elsborg Page 0,81
any relatives. His parents are dead. He lives with me. He’s my live-in helper.” Tay gestured at his wheelchair. He was hoping that might work.
“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anything other than that he is in this hospital. The police might be able to help.”
Tay knew a brick wall when he hit one. He wheeled himself away, unsure what to do. Go home and wait for Ink to call? But what if he couldn’t? The frustration of being in the chair ate at him. Tay wheeled himself further away from the desk. He’d thought about sitting there looking sorry for himself, but it was likely more than her job was worth to tell him anything. The better bet was to wait for her to go off shift and Tay would tell the next person he was Ink’s brother.
He’d sat there for almost an hour with a worsening headache, when two policemen came up to the desk. As they moved away from it, Tay wheeled himself over to them.
“Excuse me?”
They turned to face him.
“I was at Covent Garden with my friend,” Tay said. “He used one of my crutches to try and disarm the attackers. I was told he was stabbed, and I know he’s here in this hospital, but no one will tell me anything, whether he’s even alive and I’m…” Close to fucking tears.
“What’s his name?”
“Ink Farrow.” Oh God, and now I’m telling the police your name. I’m sorry, Ink.
“Sorry, we don’t know anything. Try contacting Victim Support.”
Tay gritted his teeth. He’d given them Ink’s name for nothing. Why had they even asked? Fuck! Behind him he heard someone talking to the woman on reception and at the words Covent Garden he pricked up his ears.
“I’m her father,” a guy said.
“She’s in the critical care unit on the third floor.”
Tay turned and wheeled himself after the man and woman. He braced for the woman on reception calling him back, but she didn’t. Tay went into the lift with the couple.
“Which floor?” the man asked.
“Three, please.”
They waited for Tay to get out of the lift first, and once he was out, he held back so that he could follow them. This time, he was going to say Ink was his brother. After the pair had moved away from the nurses’ station, Tay wheeled himself forward.
“I’d like to see Ink Farrow, please,” Tay said.
“Are you a relative?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Just down there. Second bay on the left.”
Tay wheeled himself down and when he saw Ink lying propped up in the bed with all the machinery around him, a bag of fluid hanging above his head, he gulped back a sob. Even up to this point, he’d been trying to convince himself everything would be all right. He wheeled himself to Ink’s side, took hold of his fingers and started to cry.
“He’s going to be fine,” a woman said and Tay turned to see a doctor standing at the foot of the bed.
“Are you sure?”
“Sure as I can be. He was stabbed twice. He had a small pneumothorax which, with rest, should heal on its own. The oxygen will help. The other injury was to his lower back. We’ve been able to rule out internal damage, but we’ll see how he does over the next twenty-four hours. The knife hit muscle. He’s been stitched. He lost a lot of blood, but he’s lucky the injuries aren’t worse. A couple of days in hospital and he can go home. He’s unlikely to wake for a few hours.”
“Thank you.”
When the doctor had walked away, Tay lowered his head to Ink’s hand and pressed his lips to his fingers. “Don’t you dare not get better.”
He stayed for an hour before he decided to ought to go check on Dog. Tay took the T-shirt Ink had given him out of the bag at the back of the chair and laid it on the bed. Ink would know he’d been there with him.
Chapter Thirteen
INK EMERGED FROM UNCONSCIOUSNESS SLOWLY. He could hear machines bleeping, quiet voices talking, and knew he was in hospital. Stabbed. His back hurt and his chest. He didn’t want to open his eyes. Not yet. It was safer to keep them closed.
Tay! Was Tay safe? His heart lurched and he opened his eyes just enough to see he was alone before he fully opened them. It was gloomy. Night time then. There was no one near his bed, but the T-shirt he’d bought Tay was on the pale blue cover lying over him. Tay