‘I need to go.’

‘Stay,’ Ben said urgently. ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘There’s no outstanding surgery?’

‘Not as far as I know, but-’

‘I’m sorry Ben,’ she faltered, looking down at Henri. Maybe she was thinking she should stay. But her gaze moved to Ben and her shoulders straightened. ‘I have to go. Now. Please, look after him. Pieter, will you talk to his father?’

‘Of course we will,’ Pieter said, and he put his hands on Lily’s shoulders and propelled her out of the room. ‘You go,’ he said. ‘And find him safe.’

Who was she worried about?

He couldn’t follow. It was a complex wound and dressing it took time. Then he worked out antibiotic doses and started them running through the drip. Then the moment he walked out the door he was clutched by a man who turned out to be Henri’s father.

‘Is he…?’

‘He’ll be fine,’ Ben said gently. ‘As I’m sure Lily told you. You can see him in a minute. Just take that shirt off first, will you?’ He grimaced at the gore over the man’s clothes. He’d carried his desperately injured son to the hospital and it showed. ‘You’ll scare Henri into a relapse if he sees you like that.’ Then, as the man’s terror didn’t fade, he took him by the arm and led him into the theatre. Henri was still coming round. There were tubes going everywhere, but his breathing was strong and steady and colour was seeping back into his face.

‘He’s not quite awake,’ Ben said. ‘Change your shirt and you can sit with him while he wakes.’

‘His mother,’ the man muttered.

Ben thought, Uh-oh, and braced himself for another tragedy. But it seemed none was coming.

‘His mother’s in Sydney,’ he whispered. ‘My daughter’s won a scholarship to boarding school there. Our daughter’s very clever, you know. She’s fourteen and she’s…’ He broke off and buried his face in his hands.

‘Let me give you something to help the trembling,’ Ben said, even though all he wanted to do right now was find Lily.