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His smile lit up his face. All right. But I ll be back tomorrow.
Good.
He kissed me again and waved as he left the ward. I must have gone to sleep again
before Dad came back because the last thing I remembered was how much I loved Anton,
and wanted to be with him.
Chapter 9
Andy drove up two nights later from London to tell me the latest on the case. Piers
Montgomery had been charged with two counts of attempted murder and other offences
connected to the stalking. He d been picked out on the Tube CCTV and was almost
certainly behind that incident as well, but for now, the CPS were keeping their powder
dry on that one. His office at home turned out to be stalker central, and Anton wasn t
his only victim by any means. Every member of the department of Biology and
Environmental Studies had had their privacy violated over months, even years, and so
had a number of women and gay men around the university. His motive was simply to
control and manipulate, and especially in the case of gay men, humiliate. He had no
interest in Anton sexually or romantically, but had wanted to force Anton to drop me just
to prove he could. At least one other victim of his harassment had been uncovered a
woman driven almost to suicide through anonymous notes and parcels sent to her house
and Andy said they expected more. It was one of the worst stalking cases the Met had
ever seen, he said.
One for the record books. Funny, that doesn t make me feel better.
Know what you mean, Andy said. Montgomery s not talking, his wife refuses to
believe any of it, and his parents are backing him all the way. This ll make you laugh
his old man s a locksmith.
Yeah, that s hilarious, I said dryly. He s lucky he s not facing a murder charge.
So are you, mate.
Any clue as to why he decided to do a stab and run?
Andy shook his head. Anton hovered by the door, but didn t come in. I didn t know
how much he d heard but I could tell him later. Nothing in the notes or his computer.
But I think he must have panicked when you turned up with Anton and started sniffing
around. Until then, even if we d released Khan, we had no particular reason to suspect
him. But you maybe got a bit too pointed for him. Maybe he really thought you d die and
he could come back without no one the wiser. But I bet we find he s got a bird on the
side, and he had his escape all planned.
Considering how he d managed to hide his activities from everyone in his life, that
wasn t a bet I d take. I couldn t remember what I might have said, unless talking about
his assistant had made him think it was but a short hop to suspecting him. Anton had
made that jump faster than me, but then his brain was a lot bigger.
Anyway, Andy said, I guess you re not coming back next week after all.
Sorry. I might be back by the Summer bank holiday if that s any use to you.
Take your time, Nick. Bloody hell, you ve been through the wars, though. You sure
Anton s not a bad luck charm?
My boyfriend fiancé, I reminded myself with a little burst of pleasure heard that
remark as Andy intended, and give him the finger. Andy just laughed, and changed the
subject onto what gossip I d been missing.
The hospital released me four days later. Dad collected me and drove me back to
Anton s house, cradled carefully on pillows with the seat reclined. Along the way, we
had a long chat about Mum and her attitudes towards the police. Dad told me that one of
Mum s brothers had fallen in with a bad crowd when she was only a child, and after a
couple of years of escalating criminal and anti-social activity, when he d been in and out
of juvenile detention, he d been shot dead while threatening the police with a handgun.
Mum hadn t told me anything about this. I thought her hate of the police went back to her
old CND days and later, protesting the poll tax and Thatcher.
Some of it does, Nick. But it s mainly her brother, Ken. She never got over that, and
neither did her Mam. Her mother hated the police for killing her boy.
But what were they supposed to do, if he had a gun and was waving it around?
I don t know. But you can see how it can warp a person s opinions.
You never told me, Dad. You should have.
She doesn t talk about it. I only found out a couple of years ago myself. I thought
he d committed suicide and that was why everyone went quiet when Kenny was
mentioned.
I m sorry about her brother, Dad, but she s been horrible to me, and about Anton.
Yes, I know. Yet she likes your Anton a lot. He was very nice to us these two times
you ve been hospital, and a considerate guest. I don t think she knows what to make of
you. Sheila and Tricia, well, they did what your mother hoped they would, getting
married, settling down in good jobs. Then you came along and decided to do the one
thing she hated, and wouldn t back down. I can t explain her to you, son, and I don t
expect you to forgive some of the things she s said. But she does love you, and you have
put her through a lot these last few years.
Do you think marrying Anton will make a difference?
Could do. I m chuffed about it. We ll have our own David Attenborough in the
family.
I grinned. Dad always liked Sir David. He doesn t know if he ll keep filming. After
all this, I mean.
His decision, but I wouldn t blame him. Nasty, nasty business. Can t fathom
someone doing that to anyone. Nowt so queer as folk, eh?
No, there isn t. What about Mum?
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