"Do you want me to arrange counselling for you?" Lodders asked, after we turned off the news.
"I think I'll be able to cope." I replied. "Just, get out there and investigate without me."
"However will we solve the case?" Lodders laughed, climbing up. He bid me the best of luck getting better and then made his way out, gesturing Rachel in. Robin looked up and saw her walking in, ducking under the door frame.
"I should probably go." Robin said, making to leave.
"Only if you can come back at nine o clock, with my things. Bring them in a brown paper bag."
As Rachel stepped into ear shot, Robin mouthed, "Why?"
I nodded, widening my eyes in a manner that said, "Just do it," and then turned to Rachel smiling.
"Hey, how are you?" She asked, bending over to kiss me on the cheek.
"Good thanks."I replied. "Although, for reasons unknown, my shoulder does hurt."
Rachel laughed and sat down in the seat Robin had just exited. "Hi, Robin!" She grinned.
"Hello." Robin said, before turning around. "I was just going. See you later, maybe."
"I know what you said," I told Rachel, once Robin was gone, "but I still don't understand what's up with her."
Rachel sighed. "I'll explain it to you at some point when I have much more patience and will power! Now," she continued, reaching to her bag, "I bought you some grapes, but then I remembered you were allergic to them and, more to the point, I saw some adorable chaffinches, so I decided to feed them instead."
"Your concern is much appreciated." I smiled, leaning back.
When the radio controlled clock on the wall announced it was nine o clock, Robin rushed through the door, over to my bed and pulled the curtain around, so that nobody could see. I climbed out of bed, my right shoulder stinging, and opened the bag with my left arm. It stung slightly as I pulled each item out and smiled, before feeling terror spread through my face as I saw my beloved red and black top. The right shoulder had been cut off, leaving a large opened gap. "What in the name of all that is holy have you done to my shirt?"
"I cut a hole for your sling to go through." She replied, as if it wasn't a problem.
"But this is my favourite shirt!"
"It's not a shirt. It's a top." She protested.
"What does that matter?" I asked.
"Well, you can hardly accuse me for destroying your shirt if I haven't destroyed a shirt."
I sighed, knowing there was no chance I would win that particular argument. I knelt down and, struggling, pulled my socks on, before standing up and staring at Robin.
"What?" She asked.
"Aren't you going to exit the cubicle?" I asked.
"You sound like an air stewardess."
"The exits are there, there and there." I replied, sarcastically. To point to 'there' I had to lean my left arm over my sling, which caused endless pain, but a look of humour from Robin.
Whilst I recovered, I continued to stare, before saying, "Aren't you going to get out then?"
"Why?"
I grimaced, frustratedly, "I can't changed if in you're in here."
She widened her eyes in bemusement and scepticism. "Seriously?"
"Just get out." I insisted.
"You are such a child." She muttered, walking out.
"That isn't an insult." I replied, and then, happy she'd got out, began to change.
I whipped back the curtains and stepped out, pulling my jacket over my shoulders. "You look like a mob boss." She told me.
"Good you mean?"
She furrowed her brow.
I shrugged, causing pain, but still managing to say, "Vanity is my favourite sin."
"What's the plan, then?" She asked, packing my typewriter into the large grey case.
"I know that normally we wouldn't do kidnapping cases, but this time," I grinned, "it's personal."
"Now you sound like a mob boss."
I grinned. "We're going to run our own covert investigation, and hopefully find these perpetrators before they do something stupid."
"Right, have you got bail?"
"This isn't a prison." I said. "And anyway, I haven't been discharged. They're all too worried about me, which is partly why we've gone behind Rachel's back about this."
Robin's face lit up like something a lot more efficient than the Blackpool Illuminations. "Let's go then."
She carried my typewriter, due to it being so heavy, and we made our way into the corridor. I'd chosen nine o clock as our break out time due to that time being when I knew the nurses rotations best. "How do you know the rotations so well?" Robin asked.
"I spent a lot of time in hospitals when I was young with my sister." I explained, not wanting to go into further detail. It was still a bit of a sore subject. "As exciting as a heart monitor machine is, it got boring sometimes, so myself and my brother would go off and make notes on the rotations."
"You and your brother were weird."
"What do you mean 'were'?" I asked. "We still are."
We ducked into a doorway as a nurse passed the bottom of the corridor, and then darted out and down the stairs. We managed to sneak through the reception and into the car park and then we ran to the bus stop. After such a daring escape, it was a slight anti-climax as we waited twenty minutes for a bus to pull to a stop.
On the bus, myself and Robin went through our plan of action. "We need to get to the street that the Gazette is based on." I explained. "There's a selection of security cameras on it, and I'm sure at least one will have picked up the car. We don't need to track it, because I'm sure the police are doing that already. We just need the registration plate number. Then we can move out in general skills, deductions based on the size of the men there, their characteristics and the way they do things. Understand?"
She nodded. "I think we may be able to sort some of that already, I think."
It turned out Robin had a friend who owned a shop opposite, who also had security cameras. "Brilliant." I grinned.
Camilla, Robin's friends, had two important things. An awful name and a lot of cats, and I mean a lot of cats. "Have I seen this one already?" I asked, as a ginger tabby cat pursued my ankle.
"No. That's Benjamin." Camilla explained. "The other ginger tabbies you've seen are called Alexander, Chris, Dusk, Evergreen, Freud and Gabriel."
I rolled my eyes. I'd almost forgotten she had a cat called Gabriel.
"Well, they're all charming, aren't they?" Robin insisted, stroking the one I think was called Alexander.
"Yes, completely." I lied. I was more of a isolated book freak than a cat person. I gently kicked Benjamin away and said, "So, Camilla, can I have a look at the CCTV?"
"Sure." She said, gesturing towards a selection of TV screens. "The cameras all face the front of the Gazette Building, so the police have all looked at them various times."
I switched the button on, the video already fast forwarded to the correct time from the last police viewing.
"However, as I'm sure you can see, it doesn't show you what you want to see."
"I'm sorry?" I asked, staring at the screen, but she was right. The black car the eye witnesses had seen was no where on the screen. "That's curious." I said. "That's very curious."
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