Shooting in the Dark

chair and took his own over to the couch. ‘Who was that?’
    ‘The hospital,’ she said. ‘Ralph’s been in some kind of accident.’
    Geordie was back on his feet again. ‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘Is he OK? Where is he? I’d better go.’
    ‘He’s not dead or dying, Geordie. They want to keep him in overnight.’
    Her tone must have got through to him because he sat on the couch. His face was a series of question marks. ‘What’s going on, Janet?’
    ‘Will you come up to his room with me?’
    ‘Yeah.’ He followed her up the stairs. ‘What kind of accident? Did they say?’
    ‘He was in a fight. He’s gonna be OK.’
    She lifted the mattress in Ralph’s room and showed Geordie the evidence. Geordie’s thinking was a transparent process; you could see the physical workings of his brain reflected on his face. He took the copy of Loaded and flicked through it, stopping at a page which had had some text cut out. He read the text, his lips moving as his eyes scanned the line. When he came to the missing words he filled them in, using his memory of the blackmail note as an aid. He picked up the roll of Sellotape and looked at Janet. ‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘Ralph?’
    ‘The scissors were up here, too,’ she said. ‘I took them downstairs.’
    ‘I don’t know what to do, Janet.’
    She touched his hand and he spread his fingers and let her take it. ‘That’s not everything, Geordie. Ralph’s been coming on to me since he arrived. Trying to get me into bed.’
    She watched him shake his head from side to side. Suddenly there were tears behind her eyes and one of them got away, slid down her cheek. Geordie looked up at her and wiped it away with his finger. ‘You should’ve told me.’
    She nodded her agreement.
    ‘What d’you want to do now?’
    ‘I don’t want him in the house,’ she said.
    ‘No. I’ll tell him he’s got to go. And I’ll talk to Sam about the blackmail note.’
    ‘Tomorrow,’ she said. ‘The hospital said he’s sleeping now, they don’t want him disturbed.’
    They were still sitting on the floor next to Ralph’s bed an hour later when Echo woke for her feed. Geordie went downstairs to check on the stove and the kittens and take Barney for his walk. Janet felt peace descend on the house like a physical presence. It was similar to the time she had the fever as a child. When it was at its height, she remembered, a cool hand had passed over her brow.
     
    There was an old git in the bed on his right who would have been better off dead. The other side was a guy whose face was swathed in bandages and he had some kind of metal contraption, looked like it was designed to keep the guy’s head on. The nurses were all ugly, ’cept for one who gave Ralph a bone every time she walked through the ward. Looked like she went to a gym and ate healthy. Maybe she needed a personal trainer?
    They wouldn’t give him breakfast until the doctor had been round, so he watched the rest of them tucking into bacon and egg and cornflakes, toast and jam. ‘More coffee, Mr Smithson?’ The old git packing it away like he had something to live for.
    Ralph sipped at a glass of lukewarm water.
    The doctor said he could go home. He’d have to take it easy for a while. He had a cracked rib but the other injuries were superficial. ‘You have someone who can look after you for a while?’
    ‘Yeah, my brother’s wife. I live with them.’
    ‘Lucky man. Light exercise. Nothing strenuous.’
    No change there, then.
    A nurse with a face like a robber’s dog told him he could get dressed but he wouldn’t be able to leave until his medicine came up from the pharmacy. ‘And there’s someone here to see you,’ she said.
    Sam Turner, not Geordie or the sexy sister-in-law. Warning bells went off in Ralph’s head, but there was nowhere to run.
    ‘We found the magazine, everything you used to write the blackmail note.’
    Just like that. Straight into it. No question of asking a guy how he felt after being half-kicked to death by a fucking psychotic pimp. ‘You been going through my room?’
    ‘Yeah. I’m thinking of turning it over to the police.’
    ‘What for? A joke? It was just a laugh.’
    ‘And all the harassing of Janet? Was that just a laugh?’
    ‘Harassing? What’s she been telling you?’
    Turner didn’t raise his voice. He took a slim wad of twenties from his pocket, put it down on the cover of the bed. ‘It’s all over for you here, Ralph. Janet wants you out of the house