Chapter 15 Chapter Fourteen

The ambulance arrived by the time Jackson turned the corner from Lambeth Road to the entrance to the emergency department at St Thomas' Hospital.Every emergency parking spot is occupied.She glanced at Acland in the rearview mirror and asked if he had a valid driver's license. He nodded. "No one has asked to take it back yet." She pushed the car door open, "There is an employee parking lot on the side. Find the main entrance and follow the signs to enter. I just need a few minutes to see how the kid is...see if I can figure out his identity. If someone makes things difficult for you, let They look at this," she pointed to a medical priority sticker on the dashboard, "and tell them to call Trevor Monaghan or call me at this number." She took a business card from her pocket and handed it to him.

"Don't rummage through my stuff," Jock said firmly. "The black rucksack belongs to that boy...everything else is mine...personal." Jackson got out of the car. "You're safe in that regard," she said sarcastically. "I'm not in the habit of searching for plastic bags full of trash." She unlocked Acland's door and handed him the key. "It's easy for you to trust others." He said and got out of the car. "Why shouldn't I trust you? You're not trying to steal a BMW, are you?" He saw her open the trunk and quickly check Ben's backpack. "I haven't driven a car since I lost an eye."

"So what? You can see well enough when you climb that railing." She took out a tag from her bag, and there was a name on it: Mr. Ben Russell, and another in Wolverhampton. "I'll take this for now, but can you pull over and check his stuff thoroughly? We need home addresses, full names, and next-of-kin information." "Shouldn't this kind of thing be done by the hospital?" "It's faster that way." She pulled out her medical bag and slammed the trunk shut. "Take your bag to the front desk when you're done and have them call me or Dr. Monaghan." She stared at him for a moment. Jock was left alone in the car. Hopefully what I see when I get back is intact."

Akram wanted to tell her that he knew what she was doing—see if he could take responsibility, a responsibility he didn't ask for—but she left before he could say it.In any case, even though he realized and resented how easily Jackson could manipulate him, he reluctantly assumed the role. "Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" When Aklan got into the cab next to Joker, turned his head, and focused his good eyesight on the transmission, Joker asked him suspiciously, "Did I notice that?" People have asked for my opinion." Seeing that the car was automatic, Akram breathed a sigh of relief, "If you want to make yourself useful, help me get out of here. If there is something on the left that gets too close, just yell."

Ackland eventually made it to the employee parking lot safely, but more by luck than good judgment.Jock stared out the window religiously like an old girl who had never been in a car, but with complete lack of spatial awareness, and not once did he point out potential danger before the car passed. "Damn it, you almost hit a bollard just now." Ackland had killed the engine as he said this. "Thanks for warning me." "No need. You've done a good job." He took out the tobacco tin from his coat pocket, began to tear the shredded tobacco, and made his own cigarettes. "What's the next plan?"

"We all get out of the car so you don't keep polluting the doctor's car." "She is not an ordinary woman." Jock rolled the cigarette paper with his fingers, "It seems that she is very interested in you." "She's gay." The old man snorted amusedly, "Bad liquor doesn't quite rot my brain, young man. I have a few lesbian friends in the Docklands area - they tend to hang out to be on the safe side - but I've been with They drank some apple juice together. They took care of each other . . . a couple of them were schizophrenic who needed someone else's care." He paused, wet the rolling paper with his tongue, "This doctor is doing the same thing for you."

Akram got out of the car, went around, and opened the door on Jock's side, "She asked me to check the boy's backpack to see if she missed anything." Jock stared at him thoughtfully. "You'd better let me do it, young man. That kid doesn't like strangers rummaging through his stuff as much as I do. You think I don't notice, don't you? Have you started looking at these things in the alley?" Ackram ignored him. "I'm just looking for details about his relatives. You can watch while I check, if that makes you happier." But Jock is more interested in creature comforts, "I'm going to have a quiet cigarette and a drink in this warm place. Just show me what you found when you're done... and I'll tell you what's important What doesn't matter."

"Impossible." Akram reached out to Jock's elbow and pulled him up. "You can go under the wall and drink." "I don't take orders from you, boy." "My rank is higher than yours." Jock threw him away, "In my world, you are not." He suddenly entered into a state of war, "In my world, whoever has been in this game for longer will have more leadership...including Xiao Ben at a young age." Aklan paid attention to his fist, "You sure don't want to lead me, Corporal, I've become a despicable person since those Middle Eastern guys ruined my face."

"You're right," Jock agreed, "seen a guy like you...fucking around. Damn, the wall is the wall." He took a bottle of vodka from the other pocket, "I really As luck would have it," he explained, strolling away, "a girl gave me tenpence this morning... saying I reminded her of her grandpa." Aklan also thought about leaving, but he gave up the idea when he saw Jock resting under the wall beside the parking lot, unscrewing the vodka bottle cap with trembling hands.Maybe it was the corporal's desperate way of sucking on his liquor, maybe it was the fact that he looked much older than the 56 years he claimed, but the scene—Dickens's grim reality reenactment—burned Ackland's brain.He could not imagine that this man had once been a stout soldier who had marched and fought on the desolate ridges of the Falkland Islands.

He took Jackson's flashlight from the glove box on the dash, opened the trunk, and turned Ben's backpack upside down. The headlights were bright enough to see the contents clearly, but Akram kept the flashlight in the car. on your own purse to make out anything literal.At the sight of the adolescent lad's deplorable loot, Ackland felt the same embarrassment as Inspector Bill inspected his purse.Ben has more gadgets than Akland does—two cell phones, a digital camera, a Blackberry, four iPods—but he has fewer clothes than Akland does.Akram guessed that the gadgets were stolen—none of them had power, of course—and he picked out the cell phone and the Blackberry, which might have something relevant on them.

Several envelopes were forwarded to Ben Russell through the Whitechapel Relief Centre.Inside was a handwritten letter by a man named Hannah.Ackland took a quick look.I miss you so much..Dad is so happy since you left..He is so stupid..Always say out of sight, out of mind..I feel so sorry for your mom..I saw her in the city Well, she looked really sad... At the top of each letter was Hannah's address: Den of Hell, but the stamp on the envelope clearly stated that the letters were sent from Wolverhampton. In one pocket of his backpack, Akram found a photo of a smirking girl with straight blond hair, pale pink lips, and heavy eyeshadow.Scrawled boldly in felt-tip pen at the bottom of the photo—Love you baby—don't forget to write to me—and in pencil on the back: 25 Maybelle Gardens, postcode WV60AA.It didn't take Einstein to guess that it was a return address for Ben, however, Ackland suspected that it wasn't Hannah's address, that the "stupid" father wouldn't ignore a letter from London. He rearranged his backpack, put his phone, BlackBerry, envelope, and photos in the front pocket, and put the backpack on the ground, at his feet.He took one more look at the pile of luggage that Jock claimed was his, walked away from the car, and said aloud, "Are you sure you don't have any more of Ben's stuff? I remember when he came to the alley with more than A rucksack." "You're farting." Acklan gave him a hard look. "If you keep calling yourself a soldier," he said coldly, "I'll slit your throat. You've never done that in your whole miserable life." What makes you worthy to be compared with my comrades in arms." "I don't accept an arrogant lieutenant talking to me like that." Jock's tone was obviously more aggressive, maybe the vodka released his pent-up morale, "If you're looking for cash, he's in the belt Well... like me, the nurse probably has them in her pocket." "Nurses don't steal from children, Jock, and neither do you. Which of these bags is his? I'll go through them all if I have to." "Oh, God!" The corporal stood up from the bottom of the wall and walked towards him. "If you touch my things, I will take out your intestines." He threatened Charles, "It's that Rondy The bag...the one with the tobacco and the booze. It's not doing him any good, and is he allowed to smoke and drink in this nasty hospital?" Aklan pulled the Longdis bag and undid the plastic buckle. Inside were two hundred Phnom Penh cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey. "How could he have these things? You said he was only 15 years old." "Stolen." "Stealing spirits and boxes of cigarettes from shelves? No way." "Well, he bought it...probably from a pakis store. The pakis don't care who buys it as long as it's cash." "Where did he get his money?" "Stolen from a rich whore's handbag, I hope: those women are stupid as shit." Now his tone is contemptuous, "they chatted with friends outside the cafe, didn't wait until When it comes time to pay, they don't even know their bags are missing. All you need to do is divert attention - a partner pretends to beg - and when the bitches are all looking at the beggar, get behind them." "You're a real hero, Corporal." Jock shoved the lieutenant away with his shoulder, "This is an ugly world, boy, your rank and your medal mean nothing after you leave the army. The sooner you understand this, the better." Pass the Rondis bag, snap it back on, and push it back into the trunk, "There's nothing here that's good for this sick kid." "Has he got a duffel bag?" Jock coughed out a smoker's phlegm and spat on the ground, "I haven't seen it before." "are you sure?" The lieutenant's tone irritated him. "Are you calling me a liar? Take this rucksack." He closed the trunk. "I'll wait in the car until you're done." Akram pressed the remote control button on the key fob and locked the car door. "You wait at the bottom of the wall," he said without hostility. "I'd rather find my purse still there when I come back." .” He waited 20 minutes in the emergency waiting room for Jackson to come.He opened the front pocket of his rucksack and showed her the electronic gadgets. "How is he?" "He's going to live, but he'll be in the hospital for a few days." She sat down beside Acklan. "We got a Wolverhampton number, but no one answered. You found other something?" Ackland pulls out the photo, "I think it's his girlfriend." He flips the photo over to show her the address on it and explains why he thinks it's a friend's address and not her own, "If this It’s a commercial depository address, and it’s going to have a PO Box number, so people who live here must know her, and probably know Ben.” "Let me try. Where are those phones? Is there anything in them?" "No battery. Blackberry too." He paused. "And a digital camera and four iPods. I bet they were all stolen." "Without a doubt. I hope that means you didn't just dump Jock in my car and he'd pull out my seat in the blink of an eye...not to mention my CD player and radio." "He was sitting against the wall. The vodka got him fighting and he wanted to fight." "It's what the alcohol does. I think he's using alcohol to treat depression... most of them do. Sometimes the alcohol makes them sleepy... sometimes it motivates them to fight people. Where did he come from Got the vodka?" "Stole it, I suppose . "Payment in kind for a safe night," Jackson said matter-of-factly. "It's a dog-eat-dog world on the streets. How much does he charge to keep you?" "Not a cent." Jackson laughed. "Jock is a veteran. Chances are you'll wake up the next day and find most of your cash gone." She pulls her phone out of her backpack, chooses a Nokia, flips on the battery to see if the SIM card is still in there, "I have an emergency charger in my bag. When it comes to 'data protection laws', you Conscience? Should we try?" "Won't it be locked?" "We won't know until we try." Following in the footsteps of Jackson, Ackland became intrigued by the negative reactions she continued to provoke.He himself was used to attracting skeptical glances, but it was new for him to see others being harshly criticized, too.Even in the early morning hours, the emergency room at St Thomas' was busy, and he'd seen people pull faces and turn to look after her as she passed.Seen from behind, her boot pants and black leather jacket, thick neck and short hair made her look more masculine than anyone else, and he wondered how much of these reactions stemmed from confusion about her gender. She was on the phone as she walked, apparently indifferent to the attention she was attracting, "I have another address for you... 25 Maybelle Gardens, postcode WV60AA... I'm afraid there is no name... Not sure, but I suspect it's a Relative..probably someone who knows his girlfriend..yes..no surname..that is Hannah.If I leave his backpack at the Primary Health Care Trust office, can you make sure he gets it? Thanks." She dialed another number. "Any new messages for Dr. Jackson? Patel did it for me? Thank him for me. No, I'm still in the hospital...almost done...more than 10 more Minutes, but I can get out of here in two minutes if something happens. Goodbye." She stopped at the door of an office, entered the code for the electronic lock, and beckoned Aklan to go in together.She took a piece of paper and a pen from the table and handed it to Acklan, telling him, "Write 'Ben Russell' neatly on it in capital letters, and put it in the corner with the backpack." She took out the medical box from behind the door, opened it on her lap, "Okay, let's see what we can find." Akram saw her unpack the emergency charger. "Why don't you insert the SIM card into your own Nokia and read the information from there?" "I'm on standby, and the phone is on call." She connected the charger to the phone and waited with her fat thighs on the edge of the table. "It's usually relatively quiet around this time, and the busiest time is usually around midnight. And after 3:00 am." "why?" "Human nature and blood sugar levels. Parents check on their kids before they go to bed...Adults tend to be more anxious in the hours before dawn, when they are at their lowest ebb of the day and when people die most often. " Aklan finished writing Ben's name and moved his backpack to the corner, "I don't want to see it." "what?" "Seeing someone die in bed." "Then don't work in a hospital or a nursing home, or you're going to see this happen a lot." Jackson cupped his hand over his phone to check the battery level. "Very few people die at home these days, although most of us would rather To die in your own bed, not with an IV in a sterile environment full of strangers." "Maybe doctors shouldn't be working so tirelessly to keep people alive," he said dryly. Jackson stared at him for a moment. "Everyone? You mean we should let Ben die in an alley because lifelong insulin injections are going to cost the rest of us a fortune?" "No." "So, who? You?" She unplugged the charger and turned on the phone. "If you are looking for someone to blame because you are still alive, then blame your comrades. They could have abandoned you in the desert here, and save the medical staff time and the hassle of getting you back to normal, not to mention my decent dinner, if you and Jock hadn't insisted on getting the boy back." "Sorry." "I accept...you're right, the phone is locked." She handed him the pen again, "There should be a serial number under the SIM card." She opened the outer cover to remove the SIM card, read a series of numbers aloud, "Remember it?" Aklan nodded, "How do you know what to do?" "A policeman taught me." She moved to the chair and turned on the computer. "Okay, what I'm going to do next is seriously illegal. If you don't want to participate, you'd better wait outside the door." "Participate in what?" "In order to access the master password, I have to pretend to be the owner of the phone." She entered the URL and reached out to ask for the serial number of the phone. "I'll read it to you." "Then please keep in mind that everything I do will be recorded on the hard drive. You are assisting and supporting the theft of other people's data." Aklan shrugged indifferently, and read the numbers aloud, "Why did the police teach you to do illegal things?" "Daisy keeps forgetting the security code... including the burglar alarm." Jackson clicked the mouse, and the screen began to retrieve the data. She leaned back in her chair and waited, "This woman has a PhD in World War Poetry...can recite Rupert Most of Brooke's poetry, but couldn't remember a four-digit combination. I had to learn the tricks of all the security equipment in the pub. If she puts in the wrong combination, nothing works." "Why doesn't she set everything to the same password?" "Because she's a hopelessly idiot about mobile communications, and she's lost or stolen more things than your hot dinner. If her phone had the same four-digit number as our alarm, I'd The bar would have been ransacked months ago. Anyone could have done it." She nodded towards the screen, "Here, a usable master code." She reached for the Nokia and entered a set of numbers, " Success! Let's start with ICE." Akram looked over her shoulder and saw her enter the address book, "What is ICE?" "It's emergency mode. This mode recognizes the next of kin number so the police and paramedics don't have to call every name in the address book." She read a name, "Belinda Atkins. This listen It doesn't look promising...it's a London number." She typed in "Russell," but the only names that came up that started with an L were "Randall," "Rove," "Roddy," and "Rosh." "Try 'Atkins'?" Ackland suggested. There are five Atkins: Belinda Atkins, Gerard Atkins, Kevin Atkins, Sarah Atkins, Tom Atkins. "So whose call is it?" Jackson asked. "Obviously not Belinda, if she's a close relative." "Kevin's," Ackland said, "he's the only one who doesn't have a landline. Everyone else has two contact numbers. It's a good way to remember your own cell number." "Try it." She said, handed him her mobile phone, and reported the number. "If someone answers, you can just talk. I don't want to be woken up this late and told that my phone has been stolen." He pressed the "Call" button, and the phone in Jackson's hand immediately rang the ringtone "Flight of the Valkyrie" ". Jackson hung up. "I know the name Kevin Atkins," she said slowly, "but I don't remember where I heard it." "A patient?" She shook her head. "Elsewhere. I'm sure I've seen that name recently." She fell silent for a moment. "Damn! This is so annoying." Akram nodded and pointed to the computer screen. "Try Google," he said. Neither of them were prepared for what the Google searches turned up. BBC News/United Kingdom/London/Third victim beaten to death... The body of Kevin Atkins... Guardian Unlimited / Feature Report / The Kevin Atkins murder was a series of murders… Detective Superintendent Jones, who is in charge of the investigation, said... Sun Online——News: Chasing down gay men, suspecting homosexual murder... Police warn gay community to be vigilant after Kevin Atkins murder... Jackson couldn't believe it. "There's no way that kid would kill anyone. He's skinny. His adrenaline hits and his blood sugar levels go out of control." Aklan's reaction was extremely restless, "You shouldn't do this, I will be killed." Jackson clicked on the BBC news report and scanned it, "This news is four months old. More importantly, why hasn't the mobile service provider shut down?" Aklan turned around and pounded his fists together violently, "Who cares?" "If the police come knocking on the door, you might care," she said. "They're obviously still tracking the number ... and we've just given them the location." "Damn it!" "Calm down," Jackson said sternly, "it's Ben who's going to the front line...not you and me. The first question they'll ask him is, why is the victim's cell phone in his backpack?" "He'll say I put it in there." "Why would he do that?" "Because obviously I could be a scapegoat. I've been in the alley with him...Jones thought I had something to do with the murder." Jackson looked at him thoughtfully, "The kid won't know unless you tell him." Akram ignored her, "I can't even prove that the goddamn thing was in his backpack. I found it, and Jock was sitting against the wall." He started pacing, "Bad luck! Fucking bad luck !" "You were searched at the police station," Jackson reminded him. "You didn't have a cell phone with you." He turns around in sudden rage. "I've never had a cell phone with me," he snapped, "but that won't stop those bastards from accusing me. They'll never believe it was a coincidence. They'll say Ben was helping I hide things... our meeting was arranged in advance." After a brief silence, Jackson asked calmly, "Is that so?" Aklan was so angry that he was about to beat his chest, "I didn't even know Jock's name until he told you." "Does he know your name?" Akram shook his head angrily, as if the question was irrelevant. "And what about Jock? Does he know anything about you other than that you're a lieutenant?" "have no idea." "Then whatever problems Ben has, he'll have a hard time involving you," she said calmly, "he's so ill that he's in a coma, and I guess he won't even remember you being there... Not to mention describing you." She closed the window and turned off the computer, "No matter how much you mistrust the police, they usually don't fabricate evidence out of thin air... Also, a pre-arranged meeting requires a basic prior knowledge of another person, Things like names, identifiable characterizations...not to mention the means of submitting streams." This reasonable inference did not ease Aklan's anger, on the contrary it seemed to add fuel to the fire. "Don't talk to me condescendingly," he warned. "Then use your brains," Jackson murmured, reaching for the medical kit and placing it on his desk. "No one will be interested in you. It's the poor kid who's going to have a trial...just until he's recovered enough." Able to answer questions. And me, if I've erased anything important on the Atkins SIM." "You shouldn't have interfered in this matter." "Maybe yes, but the owner of this phone was murdered, so on balance, I've done a good thing." "If you had been detained for six hours, you might have felt differently." "I doubt it," she said coldly. "I don't panic as easily as you seem." Aklan slapped the table violently, "I told you...don't treat me with a superior attitude." Jackson shrugged. "You didn't give me a lot of options. If you want respect, you'd better find a better way of dealing with your fear than throwing out your temper." He looked aggressively into her face, "I know I shouldn't be in your car. Every time I trust a woman, I'm fucking taken in... I've had enough." She stared at him indifferently, "If you keep acting like this, I'm going to start questioning your behavior myself...are you going to back off...or are we going to play this game to the end? I'm not interested in making you intimidating." Reluctantly, Aklan straightened up and walked away, "I knew it was you who set it up. Last time I was arrested, your female companion did it very neatly!" Jackson stood up. "Daisy can't do this kind of thing. I told the cops you were coming... Before your anger rises, I want to tell you that we were only asked about the fight in the bar and whether we Know how to contact you. I had no idea you were involved with Walter Tardin until they brought you in for questioning, and neither did Daisy." "She made my arrest a feat. As soon as I got in, she referred me to the police." "She has no choice. You beat up one of her customers, and she has an obligation to protect the customer." Jackson shook his head at Aklan's gloomy expression, "What do you expect her to do? To prevent you from feeling wronged and endangering yourself interests? Do you think other people’s priorities should be yours? If you think so, you are thinking too strangely.” "I'm sure I don't understand what you're thinking," he retorted angrily. "Why did you come to me? If you weren't meddling, I would have left long ago. I don't care about this child at all. I should have Just call the ambulance and leave." "The phone would still be there, too, and it would still belong to Kevin Atkins," she pointed out. "If you disappeared at that time, you'd look more suspicious. You don't think Jock would say a guy with a blindfold on Was the lieutenant the third person who had been in the alley?" "The police won't get involved. It's all because of you control freak that we're in this mess. If you didn't intervene, the phone would still be in that rucksack, nobody would touch it, and the servers wouldn't be able to track it down. " "Would you rather be like that?" "yes." "Okay," she said suddenly, "then you and Jock had better disappear, and I can't expect him to be more enthusiastic than you to help investigate a murder." She pocketed her phone and opened it. Medical box, put the stolen mobile phone and used emergency charger in an envelope, close the lid, "You still have time, I have to drive from here to Southwark East Police Station, by then you may have left This hospital is far away. I won't mention you unless they ask me directly if you've been here." Aklan put on a brave face, "If the medical staff have seen us, what's the use?" Jackson brushed past him and picked up his backpack. "If the police had a call from Kevin Atkins, they wouldn't bother with the paramedics," she quipped. "The only thing they're interested in is the sick upstairs. boy. Maybe this is too complicated for you to understand?"