Free If I Should Die (Joseph Stark) by Matthew Frank Page B

wait, possibly still a futile one. Now, please step aside.’
    ‘I’m not here to interview him.’
    Maybe something in Stark’s voice betrayed him. The surgeon contemplated him for a moment, weighing him up, or weighing his words. ‘We’ve had to remove a kidney. The other is damaged but salvageable. We’ve realigned the right posterior tenth rib but there was local damage to be patched up. We nearly lost him on the table but he rallied.’
    ‘Will he live?’
    ‘For now. Whether he recovers is out of my hands. I suggest you leave your number with ICU and get some sleep, in which you appear deficient. Now step aside, young man. I have work to do.’
    When he got back, Fran said, ‘Maggie’s looking for you. I do believe she’s moved from huff to strop.’
    Before Stark could wonder why, Maggie stuck her head round the door. ‘Constable, there’s a
woman
loitering downstairs for you.’
    ‘I’m not “sweetie” today, then?’
    ‘Not while you’re entertaining
other women
. I’ve had it with your sort,’ said Maggie, suppressing her grin with limited success. ‘She’s been waiting ages. Won’t leave. You must’ve been a very bad man.’
    Stark reddened. The smirks of his colleagues didn’t help, especially Fran’s. He went quickly downstairs to the public entrance.
    Maggie’s ‘other woman’ was wearing a uniform. It wasn’t blue.
    ‘Corporal Stark,’ she said, without preamble or pleasantry.
    ‘It’s “Constable” now,’ he said flatly.
    ‘Captain Pierson.’
    ‘I’d guessed.’
    ‘Dial down the attitude, Corporal. The only reason I’m not standing here with a pair of Red Caps is out of courtesy to our civilian counterparts.’
    Perhaps she’d recognized his voice from the phone. Too bad. Stark was happy to match her spiky for spiky. ‘I don’t work for you any more.’
    ‘You’re not discharged
yet
, Corporal. Now, I trust you’ve kept this matter confidential.’
    ‘I
can
read.’
    ‘Have you, or have you not?’
    ‘I have.’
    ‘You still know how to follow
some
orders then. So, are you going to co-operate, as ordered, or not?’
    Her voice carried and the desk officers were paying far too much casual attention for Stark’s liking. He glanced at the cameras too. ‘Can we talk outside?’ he asked.
    ‘“Can we talk at all?” should be the question, given your obstinate refusal to return my calls.’
    ‘Please,’ said Stark, desperately, conscious that the desk officer was now grinning.
    ‘If you insist.’
    Peering between the canteen window’s vertical blinds Fran waited. As expected, Stark and his visitor emerged into view … The public lobby was altogether too public for a private conversation. So this was Captain Pierson. Stark’s lady friend was trim, attractive and possibly not Stark’s friend at all. Fran watched the conversation below grow more and more animated, heated, even. Right now she’d kill for one of those pointy dish microphones they always had conveniently to hand on TV cop shows. What was really going on here? Not a lovers’ tiff, surely nothing so banal. She could imagine Stark throwing taboo to the devil in some sordid affair with a senior officer, but she could equally imagine him stubbornly resisting advances. The problem was, she didn’t understand him. His momentary distress on hearing of the old boy’s decline was probably the first emotion of significance he’d manifested. It was good to care, but in a man so dammed-up, cracks might be evidence of worrying pressure.
    Maggie’s love rival turned and marched away. Stark just stood and watched her go. Intriguing. Of course the public lobby had CCTV, with audio. Perhaps she’d saunter down there later and find out whether the pair had said anything … 
important
that a dutiful supervisor should know.
    Stark stormed into the office, steaming. No one said anything, but to avoid the sideways glances and smirking he flipped through the forensicreports. Something struck him and he