Free The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks Page A

left in the centre of the table. ‘Speaking of which …’
    ‘Yeah. Go ahead.’ Gazo pushed the bowl towards him. ‘Help yourself.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    Saul reached for a handful of chips. He ate them like someone interested only in refuelling, his jaw working mechanically while his shadowy gaze lingered on Cadel.
    Fiona said, ‘So how did the surgery go?’
    ‘It went okay.’ Though he was talking to his wife, Saul didn’t look at her. He continued to study Cadel’s face. ‘I was just speaking to the surgeon, and she seemed pretty happy. No nasty surprises, she said. It could have been a lot worse.’
    Cadel swallowed. ‘But – but the head injury …’ he stammered, before his breath failed him.
    Saul laid a hand on his shoulder.
    ‘They don’t think it’s anything really bad,’ the detective avowed. ‘Head wounds always bleed a lot. The MRI is standardprocedure – just to be on the safe side. They’re more concerned about her broken leg.’
    ‘Can they fix that up?’ Gazo queried, and Cadel had to shut his eyes for a moment. He would never, ever forget the sight that had greeted him at the bottom of those stairs in K17. One look at the strange angle of Sonja’s leg had made him sick to the stomach; he’d been retching in a corner when the paramedics had arrived, only minutes after Sonja’s fall. He couldn’t remember much else about the scene: just her torn skin, her damaged leg, and her bloody face. He couldn’t even remember what he’d done to help, though he was sure he hadn’t done much. Shock had rendered him useless. It was Gazo who had phoned for an ambulance, and Gazo who had talked to the paramedics – while Judith had stamped around, wringing her hands and threatening to sue the university for constructing such a dangerous flight of stairs.
    Luckily, the campus and the hospital were right next door to each other. Sonja’s trip to the Emergency Department had therefore been mercifully quick, involving little more than a couple of left-hand turns. By the time Gazo had found a parking place near the hospital’s main entrance, Sonja and Judith were already somewhere inside.
    After that, it had just been a matter of waiting.
    ‘Her leg’s fine, now,’ Saul declared. ‘That’s what the surgery was for. She’s in a splint at the moment, but they’ll put a cast on her when the swelling’s gone down a bit.’
    ‘How …?’ Cadel began, before trailing off. He didn’t know how to phrase his next question. How would Sonja’s bone ever heal, if she couldn’t stop jerking around?
    Saul’s grip on him tightened.
    ‘You don’t have to worry,’ the detective insisted. ‘It’s a broken leg, that’s all. The people here are used to dealing with broken legs.’
    ‘But she has cerebral palsy!’ Cadel blurted out. At which point Fiona seemed to grasp what was troubling him.
    ‘They’ll be able to immobilise her somehow,’ she said. ‘I guarantee, Sonja’s not the first person with cerebral palsy who’s ever broken a bone.’
    ‘Here’s Judith.’ Saul nodded towards the staircase. ‘She’ll have a better idea of what’s going on.’
    Judith didn’t look well, even from a distance. Her skin was mottled with patches of red and grey. There were smears of dried blood on her embroidered jacket. She moved heavily, crossing the room and lowering herself into a chair as if her knees were about to collapse beneath the weight of her ample form.
    After a moment’s silence, Gazo cleared his throat.
    ‘So how’s Sonya?’ he inquired. ‘Is she awake yet?’
    ‘No.’ Judith’s retort was crisp, to say the least. It made Saul frown.
    ‘Does she know what happened?’ said Fiona.
    ‘Oh, I think we all know
that
.’ Judith’s scowl was aimed directly at Cadel. ‘I think we all know what
happened
.’
    Cadel’s heart skipped a beat.
    ‘It was Cadel’s little
project
,’ Judith went on, causing the detective’s frown to deepen.
    ‘No!’ cried Cadel. ‘It