He pulled at his lip as he scanned her from the top of her head to the tip of her toes and notched up her irritation. She really wanted to go home.
‘Doctor Saunders. Apart from a possible burst eardrum, I have no other injuries. Can I please go home?’
With a soft grunt, he clicked the pen – click, click, then one last time – click. He tucked it back into his top pocket. ‘I’ll check your ears in just a moment. There’s a lot of blood, all over you. Are you sure you’re not injured?’
Jenna ground her teeth and swivelled her attention to DI Taylor in the vain hope he might save her.
He squeezed the top of his nose between forefinger and thumb and grimaced. There would be no help forthcoming from him. Nor Mason, the coward. Her sister just stared straight at her, her tongue lodged against the side of her cheek.
As the doctor continued his long contemplation of her, Jenna wriggled her backside on the bed.
‘I suggest you change out of those clothes, into a hospital gown.’
Fliss whipped out a small, white cotton bag from inside her oversized handbag and jiggled it in front of the doctor. ‘I brought PJs and slippers.’
DI Taylor pushed up from the chair and held up a hand before she could move. ‘I’m afraid she can’t get changed yet. Jenna, you know the form. SOCO are on their way. They need to take photographs and bag all the evidence.’ He gave the doctor a tight smile. ‘I’m sure you’re familiar with the process.’ At the doctor’s blank stare, DI Taylor continued. ‘DS Morgan there…’ he inclined his head in her direction, gaze stony and hard, ‘…is what we classify a crime scene and we need a scenes of crime officer. It can’t be done by any Tom, Dick or…’ A look of relief flashed over his face as the door cracked open a mere few inches and their Chief Forensics Examiner peered through over the top of his half-moon glasses. ‘…Jim.’
Jim Downey sent her a soft smile as his astute gaze picked up every detail. ‘Jenna, I thought I’d pop in and check on you.’
Heart skipping with relief, Jenna sent him a smile of her own before a swirl of doubt circled. ‘Jim, I thought you’d be at the scene.’
He tugged the door closed behind him and stepped up to the bed. ‘I’ve been in contact with them. The scene is secure. PC Gardner is in very capable hands, so too is the suspect. Both very dead.’ His sad, serious gaze met hers, misty grey swirling with concern. ‘You are not. Currently, my priority is securing any forensic evidence here without visiting the scene first. We don’t want any cross-contamination and as my team had already arrived at the site, I volunteered to do this side of things.’
It helped to know this wasn’t strictly the case. He could have sent someone else to deal with her, but his concern was for one of his own. He’d never have left the scene to someone else if he had any doubt about the abilities of his team. The warmth of his concern spread through her chest.
Flustered, the doctor backed out of the door into the corridor. ‘I’ll come back… later. I’ll…’ he stumbled over his words, ‘I’ll be back.’
Jim slanted her a tight smile. ‘Was it something I said?’
‘No, Jim.’ DI Taylor shuffled himself past the tight confines of the room to plonk his backside back down in the high-back vinyl-covered chair. ‘He’s still at that new stage, thinks he knows everything, cocky as hell, and knows nothing. He’ll learn.’
Jenna’s thoughts jangled. New and cocky. They didn’t always learn. PC Gardner certainly hadn’t. He’d not been gifted the time to learn.
She swallowed as the conversation around her continued, oblivious of the pain touching each of her raw nerve endings.
‘Could do with improving his bedside manner I suspect.’
Jenna raised both hands to scrub them across her face.
‘Uh-uh.’ Jim stopped her mid move. ‘Not yet you can’t. Let me gather my evidence, Jenna, and then we can make you comfortable.’
She sat in silence. Comfortable would be a shower so hot it sluiced the skin from her bones.
Jim slipped his PPE on over the top of his own clothes and then snapped on two pairs of gloves. He took each item from his bag, one at a time, and placed them carefully on the side table.
He glanced up, pinning each of the onlookers with his schoolteacher stare. ‘This will take a while. I suggest you take a break. Come back later.’
DI Taylor and Mason both moved to the door together in a fast rush to obey.
Fliss never moved a muscle. ‘I’ll stay.’
Jim’s lips twitched. He started with the digital camera he removed from a plain black case.
‘You probably know all of this, Jenna, but I’ll walk you through it as we go along.’
As he snapped the first few frames, Jenna darted him a self-deprecating grin. ‘Normally I’d do my hair and face before a photo shoot.’
‘Hmmm.’ He came in close, angled around to the side of her, too far in his zone to take notice. ‘Blood splatter, this is the most important point. It proves you were standing where you say you were at the time, and the position of PC Gardner and the perpetrator.’
She shook her head. ‘Gordon Lawrence. I don’t think I have any of his blood on me. The angle from the second shot fired would have been wrong.’ She pictured Ethel in her mind. Totally wrong. ‘I don’t know for sure though. I was on the ground by then.’
Jim held still, his gaze conducting a long, slow assessment of her. ‘Can you slip off the bed and stand upright for me?’
Pain burned through her knees as she straightened her legs before swinging them over the side of the bed. She let out an involuntary grunt.
Over the top of his glasses, Jim’s steady gaze met hers. ‘You might want to mention that to the doctor.’
A sob stuck in her throat and her voice came out a croaky whisper. ‘I just want to go home, Jim.’
He reached out a hand, his long, thin fingers encircled her forearm as he gave a gentle squeeze. ‘I understand, Jenna. You, personally, need this finished. You, professionally, need to ensure everything is right.’
She ducked her head and blinked away the sharp sting of tears. ‘I know. I think I banged up my knees when I hit the ground. They’re just bruised.’
‘Anywhere else?’
‘No. I landed on top of Poppy. His daughter.’
Jim nodded his acknowledgement. ‘Okay. Tell the doctor. Now, turn.’
She did as instructed, her watery gaze meeting Fliss’s as she turned her back on him to stare directly at her sister. She mustered up a brave smile, but the edges of it wobbled and one fat tear trembled on the edge of her eye and then rolled down her cheek. She held Fliss’s stare and clenched her jaw. She’d get through it. She had no choice.
The click and whirr of the camera dragged her attention back. ‘I shouldn’t have anything on my back, Jim. Lee Gardner stepped in front of me.’ She closed her eyes and jerked them back open again as the image of PC Gardner’s head exploding filled her mind with hues of crimson.
‘Have you written up your notes yet?’
‘No.’ She shook her head and then held still for him to take more snapshots before she continued. ‘I’m ready to as soon as I get cleaned up.’ She held out both hands. Dried blood coated them.