“All your gear is in this cupboard.” Ben bent down beside her, opened the door and poked inside. “No bag. Only the clothes you came in in, I’m afraid. Did you leave the purse with someone?”

Snatches of events came back to her. She saw the two girls and felt the strap being pulled away. “No,” she said. “I think it must have been stolen. And my phone.”

“Can we call the police for you or is there someone else we can contact?”

Keely’s thoughts flitted erratically. She knew no one in Perth except for Marty, Mike and Steve.

“A friend, relative…?”

“Hello, our mystery woman is awake at last.” Another nurse bustled up. “You’ve been out to it for a while. Are you up to a few questions? My name is Pam. Your admittance details are very sketchy. Someone left this backpack and bag at the front desk for you. There’s a note.”

Keely answered Pam’s million questions, endured more checks from Ben then lay back exhausted, the note Pam had brought still clutched in her hand. She opened the scrappy bit of paper. It was from Marty.

Packed up your bag and checked you out so you don’t have to pay another day. Manager says you can come back if you want. They won’t let me up to see you and Steve has got a free ride for us so can’t hang around. We’re off south. Steve is going to teach Mike and me to surf. Hope you’re better soon and your holiday goes well. We might catch up again somewhere.

Marty.

The backpack was still beside her on the bed. She ran her fingers over the comforting shape of her jewellery making kit, squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears and let the dark cocoon of sleep wrap around her again.

The next time she opened her eyes a golden light was filtering through the windows and a different nurse was checking her over. This time her head didn’t feel so thick and she didn’t have to fight so hard to register her surroundings.

“How are you feeling?” the nurse asked.

“Okay.” Keely was glad the nausea that had plagued her for days was gone.

“Can you drink some more? We’d like to be able to get rid of this drip for you.”

She offered Keely a spare pillow with instructions to press it against her stomach then helped her ease into a sitting position. She passed Keely a glass of cordial and watched her drink it.

“Well done. Once you can tolerate some food we’ll be sending you home.” The woman smiled and moved off to her next patient.