‘His eyes are open, John.’
‘Good. Put him down here. He’ll get some air.’
Two men lowered him gently on to the gravel drive.
Angel closed his eyes. Next time he opened them, he saw the same two men putting Gawber at his side. He saw him blink and heard him cough. He smiled, and then his eyelids slammed shut like a prison cell door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
There was a hissing noise. A line of oxygen was blowing gently under his nose. He opened his eyes. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. He noticed an identity tag round his wrist and frowned. He looked up. He was on a bed surrounded by green curtains. He licked his lips. His mouth felt like a bag of feathers. He tried to swallow. It wasn’t easy … like swallowing a red hot piece of coke.
A curtain whisked open and a young nurse appeared.
‘Ah. You’re awake. How are you feeling? Got a headache? Got a pain anywhere?’ the nurse said.
‘Has my sergeant, Ron Gawber, been brought here?’ he croaked.
‘He’s in the next cubicle. Have you any pain anywhere?’
‘Is he all right?’
‘Have you any pain anywhere?’ she said again, wheeling up a blood pressure machine.
‘No,’ he croaked irritably. ‘Is he all right?’
‘Yes. You can have a cup of tea after I’ve taken your blood pressure.’
‘Can I see him?’
‘After I’ve taken your blood pressure,’ she said wrapping the plastic sleeve round his arm.
Angel took a deep breath and croaked as loudly as he could. ‘Are you there, Ron?’
There was silence.
The nurse said, ‘I think he’s gone back to sleep.’
The plastic sleeve began to inflate.
‘Ron,’ he bellowed. ‘Are you there?’
The nurse pulled a face. ‘You’ll have to keep still,’ she said impatiently.
‘Yes, I’m here,’ a small husky voice replied. ‘I’m all right, sir.’
It was Gawber. Angel’s face brightened.
‘What about Spencer?’ Angel said.
‘Keep still,’ the nurse snapped.
‘Don’t know about him,’ Gawber said.
Angel turned to the nurse. ‘There’s a man called Spencer. Is he in here?’
‘Don’t know anything about him,’ she said.
The machine stopped pumping air, clicked and the sleeve began to deflate. She noted the numbers on the dial and began to unwrap the sleeve.
‘Still a bit high. You’ll have to rest a bit. There’s a policeman outside, wants to see you. He can’t stay above a minute or so. Now, do you want a cup of tea?’
‘Yes, please.’
She wheeled the machine out through the curtain.
Angel whisked back the blanket that was covering him. He was pleased to find that he was fully dressed in all but his shoes. His tie had been loosened and his collar button undone. He leaned over the side of the bed, looking for his shoes when he saw White’s head sticking through the curtains.
‘Ah, Waldo,’ Angel said brightly.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes. Course I am. Did you catch them?’
‘No. Could only have been seconds behind though.’
Angel sighed and pulled a face.
White continued: ‘We searched the house. It was obvious they’d left in a hurry. There was a half-eaten meal on the table. The front door wasn’t even closed. I called the ambulance and the fire brigade.’
‘What about Spencer? The other man in the barn.’
‘Don’t know. He was in a bad way. Been taken to the burns unit. Was he one of the gang?’
Angel shook his head.
‘How did the fire start?’
‘Eddie Glazer. He intended murdering us.’
‘Damn well near managed it. Still, now that you’ve found their hideout and unseated them, they’ll be easier to catch.’
‘They’ll be more desperate, Waldo.’ Angel said grimly.
‘Aye, but they’ll be floundering round trying to find another safe place to hide. Eddie Glazer is wanted for murder. He knows that every copper in the country has seen his picture and is on the look-out for him. Your super should be chuffed with the news.’
Angel wrinkled his nose. Nothing much pleased Superintendent Harker. ‘That gang’s got to be caught!’ he said. ‘They’re armed to the teeth, desperate and very, very gung-ho. They could do a lot of damage.’
The nurse appeared with a beaker of tea. She placed it on the locker top, looked up at White and said, ‘You’ll have to go now. He’s got to get some rest.’
Angel caught White’s eye, then he looked at the young woman and said, ‘I need my shoes, nurse. Where are they?’
‘You don’t need those yet. Lie back and drink your tea.’
‘I want to go to the lavatory,’ he said tetchily.
‘Stay there. I’ll bring you a commode,’ she said and rushed off.
Angel’s jaw dropped.
However, by the time the nurse had arrived back wheeling an uncomfortable looking tubular metal chair, Angel and Gawber had found their shoes in their respective lockers, and were going down in the hospital lift with DI White.
‘Will you take us back to the rhubarb sheds?’ Angel said. ‘My car is there, and I want to see if the tracking device on Glazer’s car is still sending out a signal.’
‘Sure. I have to go there, anyway. I need to check on my men. I left them there securing the property.’
‘And can I borrow your mobile?’
White handed it to him. He phoned Ahmed and asked him to inform Don Taylor of SOCO that he wanted him to go over the farmhouse where Glazer had been hiding out. He told Ahmed that Taylor was to check in particular for any clothing or effects there that were bloodstained; essentially, he was looking for blood samples that belonged to the late Harry Harrison. Also to see what fingerprints he could collect that would identify Ox and Kenny, if they were on record.
He returned the mobile to White gratefully.
A few minutes later, White dropped Angel and Gawber off at the gate to the rhubarb sheds where he cordially took his leave of them. They gave him hearty thanks and waved him off as he turned round and drove away.
Angel was anxious to return to the scanner to find out the whereabouts of Glazer’s Mercedes. He dashed over to his car and unlocked it; Gawber sat beside him, picked up the scanner and switched it on. It showed that the battery of the miniature transmitter was very much alive and sending out a strong signal.
‘Looks all right,’ Gawber said.
Angel nodded approvingly.
Gawber checked the co-ordinates and then frowned. He said: ‘The car hasn’t moved, sir. I don’t think it has moved since we tracked it here.’
Angel pursed his lips. ‘They can’t still be here?’ he said. ‘The Merc must be in one of these sheds then?’ His face changed as he considered the possibilities. ‘That means they’re in another car?’
Gawber blinked.
‘We’ve got to find that Merc,’ Angel said. ‘Come on!’
He dashed out of the car, slammed the door and began to climb over the fence onto the earth trodden track around the sheds. Gawber joined him.
‘Doesn’t look as if many cars or trucks come in and out of here. We’ve only got to find recent tyre tracks. That’ll not be too difficult. How many sheds are there? Maybe twenty. We’ve just got to find recent tracks of a car leading out of a pair of doors, that’s all.’
True enough. It didn’t take them five minutes. The double doors of one of the sheds were locked with a sturdy padlock. The hasps were bolted through thin, old timber. A few kicks and some pulling away of splintering wood permitted them easy access. They dragged open the doors and saw that the shed was empty, but there were tyre tracks in trodden down earth.