She nods. ‘As far as I’m concerned, yes. But you know, we’re only ever a few beats away from crazy all of the time. You never know, morning, noon or night, who is going to come through the door next.’The nurse scribbles some notes on my file. ‘Your temperature is fine, but your blood pressure is a little high. We’ll repeat this in fifteen minutes to see how you are.

‘For some people, it’s just being in a hospital that causes the jump. Your oxygen levels are coming up, so we’ll just get you to rest here for a bit. I’ll see if I can find that police officer you were with and let her know.’

‘My car was vandalised,’ I say, keen to let the nurse know I’m not one of the ‘crazies’ she speaks of.

She looks at me quizzically.

‘That’s why I’m here,’ I gabble. ‘My car, and then I had a panic attack and I’m probably okay and really it looks like you are all busy enough and I don’t need to be wasting your time.’

‘It’s not wasting our time. Don’t be worrying yourself,’ she says, her voice gentle. ‘Now, try and rest a bit.’

She pulls back the curtain on the cubicle just enough to slip out before she pulls it closed again and I’m left listening to a cacophony of noise all around me. Someone is screaming somewhere – in pain. They don’t want to be touched. A male voice, slightly slurred, shouts, ‘Don’t fucking touch me,’ while a doctor or a nurse is trying to soothe them. How that medical professional can keep their voice so calm is beyond me. My patience wouldn’t last long.

A baby is crying. A nurse or doctor is talking about how she is desperate for a cup of tea. There is lots of chat about test results and meds and X-rays. A whole world exists outside this cubicle and I want to get out and see it.

This area of A&E is too far from the resus ward or the family room for me to be in with any chance at all of seeing Bernie, or finding out more about what has happened to Liam. I don’t care if my blood pressure is raised – if I don’t get on top of this story quickly, it will only rise further.

DS King has not returned, so I pull off the blood pressure cuff and the nasal canula that has been feeding me oxygen and sit up. Rifling through my bag, I find my phone and slip it into my pocket. I’m going to go and investigate.