Read Online Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary - Free Book Online

Rome?’
    ‘She’s just got back from the hospital. She’s in the dayroom.’
    Rome? The familiarity surprised him, but Ed had known Marnie for years, at least five years that Noah knew of. He was younger than Noah had expected. Thirty-ish, with the soft-focus look of a student midway through his finals. Dressed like a student, in decimated cords and a blue shirt with a fraying collar which rain had soaked to navy. His hair was drying into bedhead brown curls and he had brown eyes, cute in a through-a-hedge-backwards way. Noah preferred something edgier, but he admired the way Belloc was working the look. Ed was the least threatening man he’d seen in a long time.
     
    Marnie was waiting in the doorway to the dayroom, her face softening to a smile when she saw Ed. ‘Thanks for coming. How was court?’
    ‘Stuffy.’ He finished drying himself with the towel. ‘Good to get into the fresh air.’
    She straightened his wet collar. ‘Looks like you swam here . . .’
    ‘So what’s been going on?’ Ed’s eyes went over her shoulder, to the dayroom where the women were sitting. ‘You said an incident. That can’t be good.’
    Marnie walked Ed and Noah towards the office. ‘One of the women stuck a knife in her husband. We walked into the middle of it. It was lucky Noah was with me. He saved the husband’s life.’
    The office was a short, windowless room. Three of its four walls were partitions, drawing noise from elsewhere in the refuge. Little of the desk was visible under a litter of stained mugs, empty sweet wrappers and gossip magazines, celebrity cleavage shining from their covers.
    ‘Who did the stabbing?’ Ed asked.
    Marnie moved a copy of Heat magazine out of the way, so that she could perch on the edge of the desk. ‘Hope Proctor.’
    ‘Not a name I know. How long’s she been here?’
    ‘Three weeks.’
    ‘My last visit was a month ago.’ Ed looked apologetic.
    ‘I wanted to ask you about security here,’ Marnie said. ‘From the look of it, Hope’s husband walked in, armed, no one to stop him.’
    Ed was silent for a beat. Then he said, ‘He brought a knife in here?’
    ‘No one challenged him.’
    ‘What time was this?’
    ‘Ten, this morning. The door was on the latch. Is that usual, in places like this?’
    ‘Nothing’s usual, in places like this.’ Ed towelled his neck again. ‘I’d love to tell you trained professionals are in charge twenty-four-seven, but it’s just not practical in most places. There should have been trained staff on duty. The door should have been secure. There are panic buttons and they should be working. We shouldn’t have to rely on volunteers because resources are so stretched . . .’ He scratched a hand through his hair. ‘Where’s Hope now?’
    ‘In the hospital. Sedated.’ Marnie glanced at Noah. ‘DC Abby Pike’s with her.’
    ‘How bad is she?’
    ‘She’s bad.’ Marnie touched the side of her neck. ‘Shaken, ashamed. In denial. Nine years of abuse, a lot of it sexual. It was difficult, talking with her. She resented the questions . . .’
    Noah reached a hand for the wall, feeling sick. This was the man whose life he’d helped to save? A rapist and a torturer?
    ‘She’s blaming herself,’ Marnie said, ‘even so. She says Leo had the knife for her protection, can you believe that?’
    ‘That and a whole lot worse,’ Ed said. ‘About resenting the questions . . . It’s nothing personal. Keeping secrets is empowering, even if you’re the one getting hurt. Counterintuitive, I know, but I’ll bet she felt stronger before she told you anything . . .’ A frown pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Who else was here when it happened?’
    ‘Simone Bissell. Mab Thule. Tessa Stebbins and Shelley Coates. Ayana. And the supervisor, Jeanette Conway.’
    ‘Jesus,’ he breathed, looking shaken. ‘They all saw it? The stabbing? Mab and Simone and the others?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Ed had spent the day in court, Noah remembered. No wonder