101

Anders looks into the emergency doctor’s brown eyes and thanks her quietly. Her white coat is flecked with Bernie’s blood.

‘His nose bone has been reset. I’ve stitched up his eyebrow, but tape was fine everywhere else... He’s probably got concussion, so you’ll need to keep him under close supervision.’

‘We always do,’ Anders replies, glancing at Bernie on the monitor.

He’s lying on his bed, his face obscured by bandages. His mouth is half-open and his bulging stomach is moving in time with his breathing.

‘He says some really revolting things,’ the doctor says, then walks out.

Leif Rajama opens the security door for her. One camera shows him waving, and another how the doctor’s coat flaps as she heads up the stairs.

Leif comes back to the surveillance room, runs his hand through his wavy hair and says that he really hadn’t been expecting this.

‘I’ve read the journals,’ Anders says. ‘This is the first time in thirteen years that Jurek Walter has done anything violent.’

‘Perhaps he doesn’t like company,’ Leif suggests.

‘Jurek’s an old man and he’s used to having things his way, but he has to understand that that’s not going to work from now on.’

‘How’re we supposed to make him understand that?’ Leif smiles.

Anders pulls his card through the reader and lets Leif in ahead of him. They go past patient rooms 3 and 2, and stop outside the last one, Jurek Walter’s cell.

Anders looks into the room. Jurek is lying on the bed, strapped down. The blood from his nose has congealed and his nostrils look strangely black now.

Leif takes a pair of earplugs out of his pocket and offers them to Anders, but he shakes his head.

‘Lock the door once I’m inside, and be ready to sound the alarm.’

‘Just go in and do what you need to, don’t talk to him, and pretend you can’t hear what he’s saying,’ Leif says, then unlocks the door.

Anders goes in and hears Leif quickly lock the door behind him. Jurek’s wrists and ankles are fastened to the edges of the bed. Thick fabric straps are stretched across his thighs, hips and torso. His eyes are still tired after the emergency tranquiliser, and a trickle of blood has dribbled out of one ear.

‘We’ve decided to change your medication in light of what happened in the dayroom,’ Anders says drily.

‘Yes... I was expecting a punishment,’ Jurek Walter says hoarsely.

‘I’m sorry you choose to see it like that, but as acting Senior Consultant, it’s my responsibility to prevent violence in this ward.’

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