'Hey, you!' He marched up to Ellie and grabbed her arm, his fingers digging hard into her arm. 'I'm looking for Tina Williams and the kid. And don't tell me that they weren't brought in here, because I know they were.'
Ellie's heart dropped into her stomach. This must be Ken, Fiona's father. And she could see instantly why Tina was so afraid of him.
He looked like a bully and he acted like a bully:
'If you give me her details, I can check our records and see whether she's been in or not,' she said quietly, noticing that he smelt of alcohol.
'Don't mess with me, girl!' His fingers tightened on her arm and he jerked her closer to him. 'I want to know where she is, and I want to know if she's called the cops. There's a car outside. Is it for me?'
Ellie swallowed hard, completely out of her depth. 'If you let me go, I'll see what I can find out,' she repeated, working hard to keep the tremor out of her voice.
Why didn't someone come?
The corridor was normally heaving with people but now, just when she really needed someone, it was empty.
Intercepting her anxious look. Ken Foggarty gave a threatening growl and wrapped a muscular arm around her neck.
'They do know I'm here, don't they?'
Ellie gave a gasp and ripped at his arm with her hands. 'Let me go!'
'No way.' His arm tightened and for a frightening moment she struggled to breathe. 'I'm going to get what I want, and they're not going to stop me. Not if they want you alive.'
He looked around him, searching for something, and then he saw the double doors that led to the Resus room and gave a grunt of satisfaction.
Slamming a hand over her mouth, he dragged her bodily into Resus and flung her roughly across the room.
Caught off balance, Ellie smacked her head against a metal trolley and the world went black.
Five minutes later a white-faced Sean flung open the door of the small theatre where Ben was stitching a nasty laceration.
'I need to speak to you.'
Ben glanced at the wound. 'I've nearly finished here—'
'Now.'
Knowing his friend well enough to recognise that something was seriously wrong, Ben rose to his feet and made his excuses to his patient.
Outside he closed the door behind him and raised an eyebrow. 'Well?'
Sean licked dry lips. 'It's Ellie...'
'What about Ellie?' Looking into his friend's eyes, Ben felt a chill descend on him. He was seeing something in Sean's eyes that he'd never seen before.
Fear.
What the hell was he afraid of?
Sean closed his eyes briefly. 'Ken Foggarty has taken her hostage.'
It took a moment for the words to sink in and when they did Ben assumed he hadn't heard correctly.
'Hostage?'
The police reckon that he saw the police cars outside and panicked. He obviously managed to walk into the department without anyone seeing him and grabbed Ellie—he's barricaded himself in Resus and he's using her as a bargaining tool.'
'For what?'