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‘May we speak to Curtis Jones?’
‘Umm, he’ll be on the ward right now. Can I give him a message to—?’
‘We need to speak to him,’ Kim insisted.
‘Okay, please take a seat,’ she said, nodding towards a sofa as she reached for the phone.
Kim stepped away to offer privacy but didn’t sit down.
‘They’ll send him down,’ she said, replacing the receiver.
Kim moved back towards the desk. ‘Has he worked here long?’ she asked casually.
‘Around three years. He’s wonderful. The patients love him.’
‘And the staff?’ Bryant asked.
‘Oh yes,’ she said with a smile that seemed to have discovered some of its vitality. ‘Every ward sister requests him for post-op care. Nothing is too much trouble. He takes such good—’
She stopped speaking as the ting of a lift arriving sounded along the corridor.
The unmistakeable sound of Crocs on floor tiles headed towards them.
Kim guessed Curtis to be around five feet ten with sandy blonde hair that was cut in a short but fashionable style. He was dressed in matching navy tunic and trousers. Two pens peeped out from his chest pocket. His arm was outstretched, and Bryant shook his hand.
His smile was warm if a little puzzled.
Kim stepped away from the desk, and he followed.
‘We’re here to talk to you about Eric Gould.’
It took a second for the name to mean anything to him. ‘Isn’t that Teresa’s boyfriend?’
Boyfriend not fiancé, she noted.
‘He was, but he died earlier today.’
‘Wh-what?’
‘Did you know the man, Mr Jones?’
‘Curtis, please,’ he said. ‘No. The first time I heard his name was when Rufus told me the real reason Teresa broke up with me.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’m not sure how this helps, but after three years together, she said she wanted some space. I got it, even though I had no wish to end it. I thought we were happy.’
He raised his shoulders in a shrug, and Kim caught the sight of some ink beneath his watch. She guessed they’d had matching tattoos. She had to wonder if he knew that Teresa no longer had his name on her wrist.
‘I was on the cusp of asking her to marry me; I was so sure.’
And another man had managed to put that ring on her finger.
‘It must have hurt that you had such different views of the relationship.’
‘Of course. Little did I know she’d already met Action Man and she was introducing him to her parents two weeks after the breakup.’
Ouch, Kim thought.
