Webley places two fingers on the side of Parker’s neck and brings her ear to his open mouth.
‘There’s a pulse,’ she says. ‘Very slow and faint but definitely there. He’s alive, Cody!’
Cody starts to reach for his phone. ‘I’ll get an ambulance.’
‘It’ll take too long. He’s almost dead. We have to get him to a hospital now.’ She untucks the blood-soaked under-sheets and begins folding them over Parker’s body. ‘Help me!’
Cody dashes to the other side of the bed and helps to wrap the naked figure in the sheets. The detectives each grab an end of the makeshift parcel and drag it from the bed. It’s heavy, but Webley isn’t giving up on Parker now. She knows that she and Cody are his last chance.
Somehow, they manage to manoeuvre Parker down the stairs. They move as quickly as they can through the front doorway and out towards their car.
And all the while Webley is thinking, Please don’t die, please don’t die, please don’t die…
40
The Power of Love
– Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Cody strolls back to where he left Webley in the waiting area in Arrowe Park Hospital. She’s so wrapped up in her thoughts that she doesn’t seem to notice his approach.
‘Here’s the water you asked for,’ he says, offering her the bottle he bought from the vending machine.
‘Thanks.’ Webley takes it from him but makes no attempt to open it.
‘And I got some sandwiches. Tuna mayo or ham and cheese. Both a bit sad-looking, I’m afraid. Got a preference?’
She shakes her head. ‘I’m not hungry.’
Cody could eat a horse, but he’s not going to sit there stuffing his face if Webley doesn’t join him. He doesn’t want to appear uncaring.
He sits back down on the chair next to Webley’s, placing the sandwiches on the other side of him.
‘Any updates while I’ve been gone?’
‘Nothing.’
‘How much longer are they going to keep us waiting?’
Webley makes no reply, so Cody tries another tack.
‘How did you know?’ he asks.
‘Know what?’
‘About Parker. That he was still alive.’
‘I didn’t, not really. But that’s what Bobby was telling us all along.’
Cody blinks at her. ‘He was?’
‘Yes. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, running the conversation back through my mind. His first hint was when he said that Parker and me deserved a chance to get back together. At the time, I thought what kind of chance is that, with Parker lying there with his guts hanging out? It just seemed such a ridiculous thing to say. But what really got me thinking was when I asked about the finger and the appendix he sent me. He said something about them not being as poetic as Parker’s heart but certainly less final. When he came out with that, I thought it didn’t make any sense. What could be more final than ripping someone apart? And if he’d really done that, why not just send me Parker’s heart anyway? Bobby was giving us a big clue to the truth. He even emphasised it by putting the hearts of Oliver and Claire on show. There were other things he said, too. I didn’t twig at the time, but now they make a lot more sense.’
‘Such as?’
‘Oh, that stuff about Oliver and Claire not being all there, and me and Parker being much more complete. I even asked him what he meant by that – remember? He came back with some guff about us being two parts of a whole. It only came to me later that he was giving us another big clue. He was basically telling us that Parker hadn’t been sliced up, and that all that crap on top of him had been taken from the other two. That appendix I’ve got didn’t even come from Parker! And then when I told Bobby to stop trying to make me feel guilty for getting to Parker too late, he said he wouldn’t dream of it. What he was saying there was that I wasn’t late; I could still save him.’
‘Jesus. What a sneaky bastard.’
‘Yeah. But you know what? I’m guessing that in his head, he thinks it’s mission accomplished. He even said that he hoped I’d come to think differently about him.’
‘And do you?’
‘No. I think he’s the most evil piece of shit ever put on this earth, and if I ever get my hands on him I’ll rip out his own organs and make him eat them.’
That’s my girl, thinks Cody.
He lapses into silence, the sandwiches forgotten as he performs his own replay of the conversation with Bobby. Truth be told, he’s more than a little embarrassed at how much of the subtext he completely missed.
He also gives some thought to what Webley just said about the mission being accomplished. If Parker survives, then he will have Webley to thank for it. She was the one who spotted the clues in Bobby’s words. And Bobby was right about something else, too. Cody knows only too well the strength of a bond forged when a life is saved.
Along the corridor, a door opens. A female doctor in hospital scrubs marches towards them. Cody can sense the tension Webley suddenly radiates.
The doctor stops in front of them.
‘Are you the police officers?’ she asks.
‘Yes,’ Webley answers. ‘And I’m also Parker’s fiancée. How is he?’
