‘Well, it’s very much still under wraps. There’s a couple of articles saying an incident occurred in Portobello Market and that the police were requesting that anyone with any information contact Fulham station urgently. And a man’s in hospital. They don’t even say if he’s alive or dead.’
‘That it?’
‘Yep. It’s not on any news channels either. The woman who found him is in a safe house but I think it’s mainly to keep her from gossiping about it. With the victim alive and still unidentified, they need to find out who he is before revealing any information. The only update I have is that he is in a critical state and still in an induced coma.’
‘Which hospital is he in?’
‘St Mary’s is probably the closest to Fulham, isn’t it? Anyway, thanks to you, I’m having a drink with Morrison tonight, so I should get more details. I’ll let you know. Bye.’
Joining Maggie in the kitchen, he repeated what Laura had just told him. ‘What about fingerprints? Surely they could identify him that way?’ she said.
‘Only if he has a criminal record. But Laura might have more details after her drink with the detective in charge.’
Maggie raised an eyebrow. ‘You should be careful. I hope you’ve told her to keep all this under wraps. The last thing you want is people knowing you’re asking about Adam Border.’
‘It can’t be him,’ Jack snapped.
‘You don’t know for sure, Jack. And don’t get tetchy with me. I’m only trying to look out for you.’
‘Sorry, Mags. I just hope to God it isn’t him. I mean, it could be the thug running the shop... he was a nasty piece of work. I asked him about the cross last time I was there.’
Maggie banged down the cutlery box. ‘Shit, Jack, how many times have you been in that shop?’
‘Not that many,’ Jack said, trying to sound reassuring. ‘First when I recognised him, then again when I met up with him. Oh, and a third time, I went in with an excuse of looking for Adam. And the fourth time, when I went to buy the rug with Marius, I stopped there to buy a frame.’
Maggie couldn’t believe it. ‘Is there CCTV in the shop?’
‘I don’t know. But, if there’s cameras, the investigating team will have the footage by now.’
‘Well, Jack, you’d better stay well away from there from now on. I mean it. The most important thing is to find out from Laura who the victim is; it will at least tell us how worried we should be.’
Jack was about to reply when Penny walked into the kitchen, putting a stop to their conversation, and soon everyone was sitting down to eat. Charlie was bouncing away in his chair as usual, but Hannah was very subdued as she looked at her mud-stained shoes drying on the radiator. After lunch, Jack and Maggie cleared the dishes and made a pot of coffee as Penny took Hannah to her room to watch TV.
‘I could make a few enquiries for you,’ Maggie said, trying to mollify Jack. ‘I know the top guys at St Thomas’s and could check if your victim is there. If not, I could try St Mary’s; I think I used to work with a surgeon there.’
‘Could you do that?’
‘If it makes you less anxious, of course. You take Charlie up to Penny for a sleep and I’ll go into your office.’
Jack picked up Charlie with a smile, then made a face when he smelt the awful stench coming from his nappy. After guiltily handing his smelly son to his mum, Jack hurried to his office. Maggie was on the phone, so he sat and listened. ‘That’s really useful, Ken. I appreciate it. It’s just that I like to be ahead of the game... Oh, totally overloaded. My concerns are that if we have an emergency, we’ll be understaffed... Yeah, I know. We even ran out of oxygen in Resus last week with all the COVID cases.’
She continued to listen, then thanked whoever Ken was before hanging up. ‘He’s not been moved to St Thomas’s, so he must still be at St Mary’s. Let me see if Gareth Thomas is still the top dog there.’
‘Are you sure this is all right, Mags? I don’t want to get you in trouble.’
‘I won’t. I am doing my due diligence and basic risk assessments for work.’ Maggie smiled as she picked her mobile again. She was enjoying playing detective. A moment later, she had the information they needed. ‘He’s there. In intensive care, in an induced coma. He has serious facial injuries that will require a massive amount of plastic surgery, but he’s way off that yet. At the moment he’s in a sort of face-cage that holds his bones together. From what Gareth said, it’s doubtful he is going to survive as he also has internal injuries. He’s in a side room with an officer outside his door round the clock. Gareth’s leading his case... he’s a loveable rogue sort of a guy, but a brilliant surgeon.’
From the sound of the injuries Maggie had just described, it felt like whoever attacked him didn’t intend for him to survive.
‘Nailed to a fucking cross... What sort of person does that?’ Jack’s question was rhetorical as there was no valid answer. He just hoped to God Adam was neither the victim nor the attacker.
‘Someone full of hate, that’s for sure,’ Maggie said. ‘Gareth described his face as being obliterated. Cheeks, nose, eye sockets, jaw... all smashed. Oh, he said something else too: he said that the victim’s palms and fingers had been burnt.’
Jack shook his head. ‘No wonder they’re keeping the details out of the press! Burnt fingers means no prints I guess.’ Out of nowhere, Jack leaned forwards and gave Maggie a kiss. ‘I love you, Mags. You’re amazing. Who else has a wife happy to chit-chat about art forgery and obliterated skulls.’
Chapter 19
Maggie was lying on the bed, reading the last few pages of Eric Hebborn’s The Art Forger’s Handbook. She was shocked when she read that the renowned forger had been murdered in Italy. No one had ever been charged with his murder, and there were rumours that the Italian Mafia were responsible, as he had sold many fake masterpieces to prominent Mafia-connected individuals.
Maggie was so engrossed in thought that she jumped when Jack walked in and clapped his hands. ‘The painting is complete. It should be dry by the morning. Let’s have a takeaway. Chinese? Peking crispy duck and those lovely fried prawns?’
‘Sounds pretty good to me.’
‘I’ll check with Penny and see if Princess would like some fried rice and crackers.’
Maggie put the book down and got off the bed. She could hear Jack laughing upstairs as she went to splash cold water on her face. She decided not to mention what she’d just been reading about, not wanting to puncture Jack’s good mood. But she couldn’t help thinking about Adam Border.
The family evening was relaxed, with Marius joining them to play poker, using dominoes, marbles and the cards from the Happy Families pack instead of money.
Later, Maggie left them to go and settle Hannah and Charlie. After reading them a story and giving Charlie his night feed, she rejoined everyone in the kitchen. Penny was eagerly counting her winnings, having won the biggest pot yet. Jack and Marius shared a smile, having just let her win. They were about to play another hand when Jack’s mobile rang. He picked it up from the table — Laura.
Jack quickly showed Maggie the screen. ‘Sorry, guys. Got to drop out of the next hand.’ He went to his office and sat at his desk. ‘Hi, Laura.’ She started talking but he was having difficulty making out what she was saying. ‘Are you pissed?’
‘Not as much as Morrison,’ she said.
‘He’s such a cheapskate. I thought he might offer to buy me dinner, but he only bought a bag of peanuts all evening. He ordered double vodkas every time it was my round and got me singles when it was his! After the fourth round, it was just tonics for me but not him, so he was well pissed.’