Judy looked at her in surprise.
‘Absolutely certain,’ confirmed Dr Peterson. ‘No doubt at all.’
‘I was there,’ said Judy. ‘At about quarter to one in the morning, as the lights were coming back on. I checked on each patient in that ward and I could see it immediately.’ She sighed and then spoke with a new urgency. ‘Who could’ve done this? And why? Why? It wasn’t her time.’
‘Quite,’ said Dr Peterson. He nodded and then looked sad.
‘It was the wrong time for her to die,’ insisted Judy.
Mary glanced at Judy. She was surprised at the passion in her voice: she couldn’t recall when she’d last heard Judy talk this way. For a moment, they looked at each other. There was a flurry of raindrops on Dr Peterson’s two windows and Mary heard a car stopping in the carpark.
‘Is it certain that the power-cut wasn’t the cause of her death?’ she asked.
Judy shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think so. She wasn’t wired up to anything vital, just a drip.’
‘What about the CCTV?’ asked Mary. ‘That would show who came near her.’
‘It doesn’t cover everywhere,’ said Judy. ‘It’s just for the corridors and entrances. And, anyway—’
‘—anyway, Bob says the power-cut knocked out the CCTV as well.’ Dr Peterson shook his head. ‘It shouldn’t, of course, the system is meant to be fool-proof. But these floods! There’s a gap of about thirty minutes in the CCTV records.’
Judy looked up. ‘Plenty of time for someone—’
‘Judy!’ warned Dr Peterson. ‘We agreed: no speculation. The police will want to go through all that. But—the thing that baffles me is: why? I just don’t understand it. Did she have any money?’ He looked at Mary.
‘She was a widow,’ answered Mary. ‘When her husband died, three years ago, she inherited about £60,000. But with her condition…’
‘The usual story,’ said Judy.
‘Yes,’ said Mary. ‘Her house needed to be adapted and then there was live-in care to pay for…’
‘And after all that?’ asked Dr Peterson.
‘Last time I asked, she had about £400 left.’
‘No property?’
‘She rented her house.’
Dr Peterson laughed grimly. ‘No one gets killed for £400.’
No? thought Mary. Maybe not. She realised that Judy and Dr Peterson were looking at her.
‘Her daughter, Miranda, took on more and more,’ said Mary. ‘Thanks to her, Mrs K only needed minimal support from professional carers. My main input was to make sure they knew their options.’
‘Did anything change after Mrs K was admitted onto our wards?’ asked Dr Peterson.