Blind Angel of Wrath (The Blind Sleuth Mysteries 2)

14 An angel resurgent

So, several weeks after she had disappeared from the face of the earth, Daisy re-emerged at St Mary's Hospital near Paddington. From that moment on, many people wanted to talk to her; they just couldn't wait to find out what had happened.

The first one was the surgeon who had carried out the operations on Daisy's ears in order to restore her damaged eardrums. Within a few days, when he had ascertained that the patient was recuperating well, he appeared at her bedside to interrogate her. Of course Daisy still couldn't hear a thing, her ears were swathed in bandages and the wounds still healing. But being an ear specialist, the man was used to such situations. Only, in this case it was not a sign language interpreter that he needed to charter, as he sometimes did, but a so-called "transcriber", a person specialised in the transcription of important documents into Braille.

The surgeon brought this lady transcriber along with him and presented his mysterious patient to her. Daisy raised herself and sat up straight. She knew that it was her doctor, his aftershave was familiar by now, and she identified the smell and the perfume of a lady she did not know. A bed tray was placed in front of her, straddling her lap, and the unknown lady placed a tape writer, a small Braille machine on it. Daisy fingered the familiar keys, three on the left, three on the right and a big one in the middle. "A tape writer," she exclaimed, "I haven't touched one of these for ages! We used them a lot at school to take notes or make corrections. We would put the notes between the pages of our Braille schoolbooks, and the correction strips we would paste on in our essays and so on... We were using those strips all the time. At home nowadays I only use the full-scale Perkins Brailler, of course..."

In the meantime the lady had taken place at a small table with another tape writer in front of her, and she wrote in Braille what the surgeon dictated. Then a little piece of embossed tape was placed in Daisy's hands to read.

WE DID NOT KNOW THAT YOU CAN SPEAK?

"Oh, but I talk to the nurses all the time, didn't they tell you? They always jump out of their skin the first time I talk to them, just like you did just now—most probably—but I really try to be gentle about it, I mean, I always know exactly when I haven't met a nurse before, I keep tabs on them, I know them by smell, so I say, 'Are you new? You smell so good!' But anyway, I found out pretty soon after my hearing was destroyed that I could—indeed—still speak. It is apparently something you never unlearn..." Daisy was feeling very chatty, she had an irrepressible urge to prattle...

Another piece of tape was put into her hands.

CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR NAME AND PARTICULARS?

"Oh, of course! My name is Daisy Hayes, born the twenty-first of November 1922 in Barnsbury, London. But you know, you could have found my name and particulars in my handbag, if only you had looked... I mean, I'm awfully sorry that you had to operate on me and all that without even knowing who I am..."

WE DO NOT SEARCH PATIENTS' HANDBAGS.

"No, of course, sorry! Now, please tell me something, Doctor. Have the operations been successful? Shall I be able to hear again? I mean, I really appreciate all you've done for me so far, of course. I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, I just want to know, that's all!"

YES. DON'T WORRY. IN DUE TIME YOU WILL HEAR AGAIN.

"Oh, what a relief! I can't tell you how glad I am. You know, my chatting may give you the wrong impression, but as a matter of fact it is awful for a blind person to be surrounded by complete silence all of a sudden... I can't even hear myself speaking—literally—while I'm talking! Anyway, is there something you wanted to ask me? As you've gone to the trouble of bringing along a friendly and competent transcriber, I'm assuming you too have something on your mind..."