She slumped into a chair. ‘They are about to bring him around. It’s a critical time. Anything can happen, and not all of the options are good.’

Joseph sat down beside her. ‘This must be hell for you.’

Nikki looked around the empty waiting area. ‘Put it like this, I’d never want to go through what I did with Hannah with anyone else, especially a loved one.’ She gave him a sad smile. ‘But right now, all I can think about is that little kid in there.’

‘How long does this procedure take?’

‘Not long. The anaesthetics they use these days are carefully patient targeted, so they can bring him out of sedation quite easily. It’s just that boys often fight for some reason, and they’ll want to know that he’s safe and calm before we see him. Luckily, apart from the bleed that they drained, they didn’t find any severe legions on the scan,’ Nikki paused. ‘But until they wake him up and do some tests, they’ll have no idea of how the damage will have affected him.’

‘Have they told you what other injuries he sustained?’

‘Broken nose. Deep laceration to the right cheek. Three broken ribs and a cracked sternum, plus extensive bruising to the abdomen and groin areas. And that’s without the head injury.’

‘Then dumped naked in the bushes, presumably to die.’ Joseph’s face hardened. ‘What drives some of these animals?’

‘Drugs.’ Nikki almost spat the word out.

‘Yes, I guess so. And alcohol, and hate, and abuse, and neglect.’

‘But mainly drugs.’ Nikki sank further down in her chair. ‘I know that back at the station the others think I’m obsessed, and maybe I am. But when you see the damage they do, the families ripped apart, and the abysmal waste of young lives, can you blame me, Joseph?’

‘No, I can’t. But whereas we see it everyday out on the streets, it’s far worse for you, because it’s hurt you on a personal level.’

‘It’s not just Hannah. Although, God knows, that was enough to drag the heart from any parent.’

‘Your “bad case”?’ asked Joseph tentatively.

Nikki nodded. ‘My bad case.’ She looked at her sergeant, and saw a face full of compassion. Not a condescending kind of pity, just a simple understanding, from one injured soul for another. ‘Why don’t you go grab us a coffee, and I’ll tell you about Emily Drennan.’

When Joseph had sat back down, Nikki leaned back, legs outstretched, closed her eyes, and allowed a chestnut-haired teenage girl to fill her thoughts. ‘Emily Drennan was highly intelligent, came from a good family with no money troubles, and was absolutely beautiful. She was the daughter of a local GP, and had secured a place at Durham University. But that was before she met the love of her life.’