‘Some. Lot of stuff goes off to other centres, some abroad, research labs. Depends.’
‘What sort of thing would they take from Mrs Palmer?’
He looked uncomfortable, looked away. ‘I don’t know if that’s…’
‘I’m sorry. Bit ghoulish, isn’t it!’ I giggled, trying to play up the chatterbox character. ‘Just thought with her being old perhaps they can’t use much.’
‘She had Alzheimer’s, didn’t she?’
I nodded. So did he.
‘They’ve got her down for the brain.’
Of course.
‘They’ve still no way of treating it, still trying to work out why it develops. Lot of research going on all over the place. Like AIDS,’ he said. ‘Whoever finds the cure, they’re going to make millions. Big bucks.’
‘Do they do that here as well?’ I asked. ‘I’m so nosy,’ I added, ‘but my mum always used to say, “Don’t ask – never know”.’
‘I think they do some here but this is going to some private lab they use in Cheshire.’
‘Malden’s!’
Suspicion clouded his face.
‘My cousin works there, research. What a small world, honestly! It’s always happening.’ I rattled on inanely. ‘I went on holiday last year’- Corfu – and who turns out to be in the next apartment but someone from primary school. Amazing. Well, I’d better get back.’ I must have come across as either crass or suspect but it didn’t matter. Lily Palmer was dead and Malden’s were expecting her brain. It just added to the stench surrounding the whole affair.
I returned to wait outside the anteroom. The smoker came in a couple of minutes later. He glanced my way. I grinned and waved like an old friend. He smiled weakly. I guessed he was probably regretting answering my questions but wasn’t worried enough to do anything about my snooping. Probably chalked me up as a typical nosy parker.
Agnes emerged from the anteroom pale but dry-eyed.
‘Has the nurse gone?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘It feels strange, leaving her alone with no one to watch over…’ She broke off for a moment, her hand crept to the brooch on her lapel and fussed with it. ‘That’s what we used to do, you know, when the bodies were laid out at home. You’d keep the candles lit and take turns sitting up with them. It was part of life. That sounds silly, doesn’t it, death being part of life, but it was. Not like this.’ She gestured at the corridor. ‘People wanted to be at home. There was always a neighbour who knew how to prepare the body, she’d come in and you’d help. It was so natural. Nowadays you never hear of it, do you? People would be shocked, wouldn’t they? It’s all left to the professionals now.’
When she finished she stood there, trim in her smart coat and slightly bewildered.