The Empress Holds The Key Jack Rogan Mysteries Book 2 Gabriel Farago

the Freedom of Information Act to get around this, but as you know, this will take some
time. In the interim, I have asked for his divorce file, which should tell us a little more.
Until I receive that, I’m afraid this is all I have been able to come up with. Strange, isn’t
it ...?
‘Inspector Gonski?’ Jana looked up. ‘The doctor will see you now,’ the nurse said. A
very tired looking young intern in a dark green operating gown was examining X-rays in
the far corner of the brightly lit room.
‘You’re the investigating officer, I take it? I think we’ve saved his eye,’ the doctor said
casually before Jana could contradict him. ‘He has some rather nasty injuries though,’ he
continued, ‘there will be permanent scarring, here and here.’ He pointed to the X-rays in
front of him. ‘He received a terrible beating; it’s one of the worst I’ve seen for a long
time. He had a bad fall as well and lost a lot of blood. There was considerable internal
bleeding, several broken ribs, extensive bruising, abrasions; his face is a mess.’ The
doctor looked at his notes and rattled off the injuries like items on a shopping list. ‘He’s
lucky to be alive. He could easily have broken his neck or his back during the fall. The
alcohol didn’t help either. You’ll have my full report in the morning.’
‘When can I see him?’
‘Not for quite a while, I’m afraid, perhaps in a few hours when he comes out of the
anaesthetic. Now, if you’ll excuse me ...’ The doctor reached for the pager in the top
pocket of his gown and hurried out of the room.
Jana returned to the hospital just before noon and was shown to Jack’s room. She had
made many a hospital bedside visit during her career and thought she’d be well prepared
for what was to come. She wasn’t.
At first, she couldn’t recognise him at all. The top of his head, the left eye and part of
his face were completely covered in bandages. A ring of dark bruises circled his other
eye, which was bloodshot and almost closed. Through a small gap between the bandages,
Jana could see that his head had been shaved. Several plastic tubes protruded from his
nose and various monitoring devices were connected to his right arm. A fine line of
small, neat, zipper-like stitches ran from the corner of his mouth along the jaw to his ear.