Davie jingled the change in his pocket. There was a bus stop nearby that went not too far from the hospital. If a bus came soon then Davie could be there within the next half an hour. He just hoped it would be soon enough.
He reached the bus stop at the end of the road and waited. The act of doing nothing was frustrating. Every part of his body urged for action but, with no other way of getting to the hospital, Davie had no choice but to wait. He concentrated on the noise of the heavy rain hitting the curved, tin roof of the shelter and sliding off in sheets. Somehow, the sound managed to calm him slightly – enough that when the bus finally arrived, Davie didn’t even notice.
“You getting in or what?” asked the bus driver, pulling Davie out of his daze.
Davie looked up, startled. “Sorry. Had my mind on other things.”
“Nothing bad I hope?”
Davie stepped onto the bus and gave the driver his change. “I would settle for bad, right now. Things are way beyond that.”
The driver frowned at him. “Well, keep your chin up lad. Got your whole life to look forward to.”
Davie moved to take a seat as the hydraulic doors pumped closed behind him. The bus was completely empty save for a couple of homosexual Black men on the back seat. They weren’t doing anything to draw attention to themselves – at least nothing that bothered Davie – but he could tell they were a couple by the way they were sat close and cuddling. One of the men, older, with short black hair and grey sideburns, nodded at Davie warily as he moved down the aisle. Davie nodded back to him and took a seat midway down. Maybe being gay was wrong – Davie knew plenty of people who would certainly think so – but there just seemed like so many other things to worry about in life than that. He didn’t know what could be offensive about something that caused him no harm at all. People were entitled to do whatever they wanted as long as they didn’t hurt anybody else, at least in his opinion.
I just wish my brother felt the same way, thought Davie as the bus headed towards the hospital.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Andrew parked his car at the very back of the hospital. It would take longer to reach Bex, but he couldn’t risk running into any police that might be at the entrance. Wardsley and Dalton may have been on his side, but they were not the only officers likely to be at the hospital and, as a man wanted for murder, Andrew was certain that a description of both him and his car would have been issued to the entire local force.
Andrew moved between cars, glancing left and right for any law enforcement. Sure enough, there was a plain-clothes officer at the entrance to A and E. Andrew could tell the man was police by the stiff way he was standing and by the constant tilts of his head. The man was speaking into a microphone on his collar.
Andrew stuck to the edge of the car park and headed around the side of the hospital to look for a less conspicuous entrance. There was a fire exit near the rear of the building and it was open – a member of staff standing in front of it with a cigarette. Andrew approached with his head down, not wanting to draw attention.
“Hey, man, you can’t come through here. Use the front.”
Andrew looked up and smiled. The man was wearing chef’s whites and obviously worked in the hospital’s canteen. Bex’s room wasn’t far from the canteen.
“You mind if I just sneak through? I won’t tell anybody.”
The man shook his head. “You need to use the front entrance, pal. What you doing around here anyway? And what the hell is with your face?”