Jo started running in the direction of the exit, but there were too many options. The hospital was huge. It had about forty exits. She raised her radio and pressed to connect, summoning assistance to help with the search, still running down corridors and flights of stairs, with no sense of where she should run, knowing that it was useless because she was looking for a man in a porter’s uniform, a man well-practiced at disappearing, who could move through the hospital—and through the world—without being seen by anyone.

CHAPTER

37

NOW

Joanna

Monday, December 24

THE HOSPITAL LIFT security tape made grim viewing. Thrupp joined Harper and Atkinson in the CCTV monitoring station, the DI having made his way across town on blue lights the moment he heard what had happened.

The first part of the footage showed an apparently unconscious patient being wheeled into the lift by the porter. The porter then stood facing away from his charge, so that he didn’t see the patient’s fist uncurl, revealing what he had stolen from the trolley, unaware of the length of tubing being unraveled, until it was looped around his neck and pulled tight. During the struggle, “Gregor” managed to use an elbow to press the emergency stop button to halt the lift between floors. The porter collapsed, lifeless, and the next moment, the patient grabbed the smaller man under the arms, dragged his limp body up on to the hospital bed and started removing his clothes.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Thrupp.

“How long do you think he’s been lying there, pretending to be in a coma?” said Joanna. She knew then that when she’d spoken to him that morning, he would have heard every word. “I’m going to see right inside your brain,” she’d said. Her face had been inches from his.

On the screen, now wearing the porter’s uniform, “Gregor” had removed the protective helmet he’d been wearing and was fitting it on the porter. He took the other man’s glasses and used them to inspect his reflection, tidying his hair under the uniform cap before putting the glasses on as a final touch, then releasing the emergency stop mechanism. A moment later the lift doors opened, and he maneuvered the bed out confidently, as if that had been his job all along.

Thrupp turned to Jo. “He can’t have gone very far. I’ve mobilized all the patrol vehicles and officers we can spare. Let’s hope he collapses from blood loss—after all, the man does have a head wound.”

Joanna said, “I think he’s stronger than we imagine, sir. You saw what he did with that porter. He’s cunning too.”

“More than you know,” said Thrupp. “I’ve got a confession to make, in fact.”

“Oh? What’s that, sir?” Jo and Atkinson exchanged a micro-glance.