The woman took another step back. ‘Enjoy them while you can, then!’ Her laughter was nervous now, awkward. He revelled in her discomfort for another few moments before moving away. He didn’t have time to linger. He knew Sharon Evans had never arrived at the start of visiting hours yet – her mornings were busy – but things change. She couldn’t be sleeping well at the moment and any normal routine was surely long gone. He had made certain of that.

He reached up to shift his trilby a little as he stepped through the queue for the foyer coffee shop, emerging to pick his corridor. He was sure he had worked out the location of every CCTV camera on his route but that didn’t stop him being careful. All the cameras were up high, which was why his eyes chased the floor, concealed under the brim of his hat.

He reached the stairs. There were two flights that twisted back on each other, then another walk down a long corridor. Still no one was taking any notice of him. He passed a man in overalls who looked to be clinging on to a floor polisher. Medical staff too, in various coloured scrubs, one of whom opened the secure door to the ITU ward as he approached. She was on her way out. She took a quick look at him, her eyes flashing up from his smart shoes to his bunch of flowers, smart tie and subtle smile. She held the door for him.

‘Thanks,’ he said and watched as she continued on her way out. She didn’t look back and he let his breath go.

He was inside.

The door fell slowly shut behind him under its own steam. A moment later and the locking system clacked loudly. This was the first time he had gone beyond that door and he needed to take a moment to assess. He had been able to walk the route right up to that door but he couldn’t come in here. Not until now. He was only going to be able to come in here once.

Straight ahead he could see a curved desk against the left wall. The monitors and scattered paperwork identified it as the nurses’ station. There was no one at it. He couldn’t see anyone moving at all.

He took the syringe out of his pocket. It was fully extended, its belly blurred with a clear liquid. More than enough. It would be quick. Callie Evans’s breathing was going to slow to a stop almost as soon as he injected her. The woman who also had a daughter in here had told him how Callie was improving – ‘out of the woods’, she had said, and she wasn’t being as closely monitored as some of the others. Two cheap bunches of flowers and some words of support were all it had taken to get the woman talking, to get all the information he needed.