Sarah thanked the porter and turned back to the hospital again, this time climbing the stairs to the second floor. A pair of orderlies were transporting a patient along the corridor, the patient uttering oaths about what he considered to be rough handling. Beyond them she saw two women in aprons and caps hurrying towards a door at the end of the corridor. They disappeared through it before Sarah could reach them.

It was roughly where the porter had described, but with nothing to identify it, there was no way of knowing what lay beyond. She was about to knock when the door opened again and a young nurse emerged dressed in a plain cotton gown and the same apron and cap as the previous two women.

Behind her, Sarah could see half a dozen nurses sitting and standing inside the cramped space. It did indeed look like a store cupboard. There was no window, though in its favour it did seem warm and snug.

‘I think you might be in the wrong place, ma’am,’ the nurse who had opened the door told her. ‘The wards are back there.’

Sarah drew some confidence from being addressed as ma’am.

‘I think that I am in exactly the right place,’ she said. ‘I’m not here about a patient. I am attempting to locate a nurse who used to work here by the name of Mary Dempster.’

‘Never heard the name,’ the nurse said, then turned and asked the room: ‘Somebody here asking after a Mary Dempster. Anybody remember her?’

A heavy-set, stony-faced woman stepped forward.

‘What do you want with her?’

Sarah fought off an urge to turn and retreat, instead stepping fully inside the room.

‘I need to ask her some questions regarding her care of a patient.’

‘A fool’s errand,’ the woman told her. ‘Even if you find her, you’re unlikely to prise any truth from her.’

‘That’s unfair,’ said a red-haired woman standing against the wall. ‘You never took to her because the patients liked her more than they liked you.’

‘The patients like an enema more than they like you, Gertie,’ chimed another, prompting much laughter.

‘Merry Mary, they called her,’ the red-head went on. ‘She was always cheerful on the ward. Small wonder they were going to like her more than Grumpy Gertie.’

‘She was a snake,’ Gertie said, fixing her eyes on Sarah and ignoring the rest. ‘She got my friend dismissed for a thief. And all the time it was her that was stealing things. Or have you forgotten that, Mhairi?’ she demanded of the red-head.

‘I am told she works privately these days,’ Sarah said. ‘Might there be any way of discovering who she is working for now?’

‘Why don’t you ask Nora, there?’ said Mhairi. ‘She was Mary’s little sweetheart after all.’ She laughed, a scoffing, almost snarling quality to it.