Saving Alexander (15 page)

The receptionist looked at her computer screen and nodded. “Yes, Mr. Conway was admitted a few hours ago. But I think he’s still in surgery.”

Sage felt faint. “Where do I find the doctor?”

“If you take a seat in the waiting room, Mr. Sage, I’ll tell the surgical team you’re here and they’ll come and speak to you when they can.”

She motioned to the room at the far side of the emergency entrance and Sage nodded and made his way over. He sat down on one of the plastic chairs, heaving a shuddering sigh.

About ten minutes later Luke came in and sat down beside him. “Have you heard anything yet?” he said. Sage shook his head mutely.

Luke reached over, grasping the younger man’s shoulder. “Don’t think the worst, Sage. Be patient.” He stood up. “I’m going to get us coffee from that machine over there. Be back in a minute.”

Sage’s mobile rang. He looked at it distractedly, ignoring the glares from everyone in the waiting room and the cheery soul in the corner who tut-tutted and pointed to a sign that said “Switch off all mobiles.” It was Alex.

Sage closed his eyes and answered. “Hi. I’m at the hospital in Broomfield. My godfather was in an accident. He’s in surgery at the moment.”

“I’ll come down now to be with you.” Alex sounded horrified.

“No, you don’t need to come down here. Just go home. I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when I can and let you know what’s happening. Thanks for the call.”

He disconnected his call, switching off his phone. He didn’t want to see Alex tonight after he’d been to see Eric. He needed to be focused for Miles’ sake. It was more than an hour later when the doctor came out to give them the news on Miles.

“He’s stable now but it was a tough one. He’s sustained breakages to his ankle, his tibia, an arm and various internal injuries and cuts and bruises, which luckily aren’t life-threatening. He’s got a nasty gash on his head from where he fell but we think it will be fine. We’ll have to wait and see when he wakes up, which I don’t think will be for a while.”

“Can I see him?” Sage looked at the doctor, his face bleak.

The surgeon nodded. “He’s in recovery now. You can go in and visit for a short while. It’s unlikely he’ll know you’re there though.”

Luke nodded at Sage. “Go in and see him. I’ll wait here in case you need me.”

Sage nodded his thanks, following the doctor to the recovery room. He saw his godfather covered in various bandages and casts, pale and drawn, lying in the hospital bed. Sage felt an ache in his chest that threatened to overwhelm him. Miles was his rock, his surrogate father. If anything happened to him, he’d fall apart. He’d lost his parents and he couldn’t lose another father figure. He sat down beside Miles, reaching over and taking the man’s large, calloused hands in his.

“Miles? It’s Sage. I’m right here.” His voice caught as he leaned forward. “The doctor says you’ll be all right. Tough old bugger like you, of course you’ll be fine. I’m going to stay here with you for a while.” Sage swallowed, close to tears. “I was going to come down this weekend and bring Alex to visit the cottage. You’ll like him; he’s pretty special. He’s never ridden a horse before so I thought we could saddle up Tallulah and let her take Alex for a ride.”

Sage rambled on a while longer, telling Miles about what had happened at work, the underwear incident—which he knew Miles would appreciate—and generally filling him in on his week. Eventually the nurse came in, quietly asking him to leave for a while whilst they transferred Miles to his private ward. Sage waited impatiently for them to do that whilst pacing up and down the corridor. He was bone tired, his eyes gritty.

Luke came over, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Sage, the police are here. Because it was a hit-and-run they need to ask you some questions about Miles.”

Sage nodded. “Stay with him as they transfer him, will you? Come and let me know if anything happens.”

He walked out into the adjacent reception room where the police were waiting for him.

“Mr. Sage? Detective Sergeant Doyle and Detective Constable Merriweather from CID at Chelmsford Police Station. We wondered if we could ask you a little bit about Mr. Conway.”

“You can, but I was filming in London when the accident happened. I’m afraid I don’t even know what happened yet.”

“We can perhaps fill in a couple of the blanks, sir. Can we sit down?” The three men sat down and DS Doyle looked at Sage with compassion. “First let me say I’m very sorry about your godfather. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of what happened and find the bastard that did it.”

Sage nodded in agreement.

“An eyewitness said Mr. Conway was walking down the high street in Finchingfield when a car mounted the pavement and hit him at quite a speed. The car then backed up and drove off. All we can find out is that it was a white Ford Fiesta driven by someone in a hoodie —no one caught a better sight of the driver. We don’t even know yet whether it was a man or a woman. The witness said it looked as if it was meant to ride him over.”

Sage shook his head in bewilderment. “Who the hell would want to run Miles over? He’s one of the most popular people in the village. Everyone loves him. I can’t believe it would be anyone in the area. I don’t know anyone who drives a white Fiesta either, in case you were wondering.”

The policeman smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Sage. That would have been my next question. I’m afraid at this time we have very little to go on. We’re checking all the CCTV footage in the area to see if we can spot anything.”

He looked at Sage curiously. “Your godfather—he isn’t your uncle by any chance is he? Your father or mother’s brother?”

Sage shook his head in confusion. “No. Miles was my Dad’s best friend. Why do you ask?”

“The witness said the person shouted something out of the car window as he or she drove away. She said it sounded like ‘Carter’s brother.’ We thought perhaps your father’s name was Carter. Does that mean anything to you?”

Sage felt as if he’d fallen down a long deep rabbit hole and that at any time he could expect to see the manic figure of the white rabbit scurrying in front of him. “‘Carter’s brother?’” he said faintly. “That can’t be possible.”

DS Doyle frowned. “What does that phrase mean, sir?”

Sage leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “It’s going to sound crazy.” He muttered. “I can’t quite believe it myself.”

The policeman sighed in long-suffering patience. “Do you think you can explain it to us, sir, no matter how fanciful you think it is?”

Sage saw him look at his colleague with a slight rising of the eyebrows as if to say, “Actors! Bloody drama queens.” He scowled slightly. He’d do an Alex summary for them, see how they liked it.

“Just over a week ago, my co-star was involved in a letter-bomb incident on the outskirts of London. It so happens that this incident almost mirrors the first scene in the plot of a TV series we’re currently filming, called
Double Exposure
. The Central Middlesex police thought the attack was staged to reflect this opening scene. I’m the main lead playing a character called Carter West. The second major incident in the book is a hit-and-run accident involving Carter West’s brother. Except I don’t have a brother so it looks like someone targeted poor Miles instead.”

The policemen were staring at him in complete fascination as he finished.

DS Doyle narrowed his eyes as he observed Sage. “Let me get this straight,” he said slowly. “You think someone is staging scenes from a TV series in real life?”

Give the man a bloody cigar!

Sage nodded. “If not, it seems a helluva coincidence. I’m not a believer in coincidences, DS Doyle. Talk to your colleagues at Middlesex. They’ll tell you all about the first incident.”

“Might I ask what the next incident might be so we’re forewarned?” DC Merriweather leaned forward to ask his question.

Sage hadn’t thought that far. He took a moment to remember. “The next violent scene, if it follows suit like these ones, would be the main character—that would be me—getting kidnapped and beaten to a pulp by an underworld gang boss.” He smiled wryly. “Whilst I don’t fancy that idea, I’m sure you won’t let it get that far.”

There was silence as the policemen digested this bit of information. DS Doyle stood up and Sage followed.

“I think we have what we need for now, sir.” DS Doyle said, holding out his hand to Sage to shake. “I’ll speak to my colleagues at Middlesex as you suggest and see what they have to say. If we hear anything, we’ll be in touch. If you are correct and this is someone staging scenes from your film, can I ask you to be especially vigilant, sir? You never know with psychos.”

Sage nodded. “I’ll do my civic duty to be psycho-aware, Detective Sergeant.”

The policemen chuckled and departed. Sage went into Mile’s room to see Luke reading a magazine in the visitor’s chair. He filled him in on the conversation with the police.

Luke gazed at him in disbelief. “Sage, you need to be careful. If this is what you think, you could be in danger. We need to get you some sort of bodyguard or something.”

Sage laughed. “Jesus, don’t be so melodramatic! I don’t think anyone’s going to kidnap me, for God’s sake. I’ll keep an eye out for potential candidates though.”

He looked at Miles. “How’s he been?”

“No change. He seems comfortable enough though.” Luke looked at his watch. “Do you want me to take you home? I need to get off.”

Sage shook his head. “No, I’m staying here. I’ll see how he is in the morning before I go home. At least it’s the weekend. I’ll get a taxi if I need transport. Thanks for bringing me. I really appreciate it.”

“Try and get some sleep. You look knackered. I’ll call you tomorrow and see how you’re getting on.” Luke disappeared into the corridor.

Sage flopped down in the visitor chair, leaning back and closing his eyes.

A nurse came in with a smile and a blanket. “Here you go, Mr. Sage. That’ll keep you a little warmer. It can get a bit cool in these wards.”

He murmured his thanks, draping the blanket over his legs. The stress of the day slowly disappeared as he fell asleep.

* * *

It was six o’clock in the morning and the ward where Sage was still sleeping was dark with the only noise the hum of the machines attached to Miles. Alex watched Sage sleep as he sat in the other visitor chair. He’d arrived about an hour ago via taxi.

Sage had sounded so stressed on the phone and Alex wanted to be with him. He’d tucked the blanket up around Sage’s body, thinking the man looked so vulnerable when he slept, his black curly hair all tousled and his very kissable mouth relaxed in sleep. He was snoring softly.

Alex hoped he’d gotten his text about the visit to Eric. He was quite proud of himself. He’d only let him use the chamois flogger with no biting, and whilst the actual sex was still rough, as it always was with Eric, Alex had felt more detached last night. He’d kept thinking about Sage, about his smile and his strong, warm body that had enveloped him in his passion. Eric would never know it was Sage Alex had been thinking about when Eric had been busy with his fingers driving him to orgasm.

Alex knew Eric hadn’t been pleased with the new development. Melanie had been right in her original feeling that his principal was somehow more emotionally invested in their sessions that Alex had thought. That could be a big problem for Alex. Alex looked up as the nurse bustled in, then eased back into his chair.

“Good morning, dear.” The nurse smiled at him as she went over to Miles to take the obligatory readings.

At her voice, Sage woke up, peering blearily around the room, seeing Alex sitting in the chair across from him. His face lit up. “Alex. When did you get here?”

Sage stretched, grimacing at the sounds his bones made as did so and then stood up. Alex smiled at him, glad to see that he seemed pleased he was there. The nurse moved around the bed, checking equipment. Finally with a soft smile at the couple, she disappeared out of the room.

Sage went over to Miles, looking down on the sleeping man. “He’s got more colour than he had last night. I suppose that’s a good sign.” He reached down and tenderly stroked his godfather’s cheek before turning to Alex again.

“I got your message,” Sage said quietly, observing him with a brooding expression. “You don’t have to tell me when you’re seeing him. In fact, I’d rather
not
know if you don’t mind. At least that way I can bury my head in the sand and pretend you were simply out doing something else.”

Alex’s hands tightened at his words. “Of course,” he said quietly. “If that’s what you want.”

Sage nodded and Alex felt his eyes keenly watching him. He had the uncomfortable feeling Sage was trying to see if any evidence remained from last night.

“It wasn’t too rough, Sage.” Alex shifted in the chair. “I told you I’d try and tone it down and I did. Melanie would say it is a good sign.”

Alex saw Sage frown at the name and hurried to explain. “Melanie is my therapist.”

Sage nodded again, yawning then covering his mouth with his hand. “Sorry. That chair isn’t particularly comfortable and I don’t think I slept that well.” He looked at Alex wryly. “I’m not going to say I’m glad you’re pleased about the way last night’s ‘toning down’ went, because honestly, I don’t think I want to process it all right now. But I am glad you’re here. Did you go home first then?” he asked casually.

Alex wondered if he was really asking whether he’d gone home first to clean Eric off him. “I had a shower before I came here, Sage.” Alex gazed at him evenly.

Sage looked uncomfortable at him seeing through his question, wandering out into the doorway. “I’m going to try and hunt down some coffee. Do you want some?”

Alex nodded and Sage went to in search of his morning wake-up fix. Alex felt trepidation. Sage seemed a little different this morning. He hoped it was just because of his godfather and that he wasn’t having second thoughts about their arrangement. Miles stirred and Alex stood up, moving over to his bedside. Miles’s eyes opened and he looked at him with dark brown eyes that seemed fairly focused considering what he’d been through. For a moment he stared into Alex’s eyes and then Alex saw a faint smile float across the injured man’s face.