The Serenity Ward did exactly what it said on the tin, it was one big ward with one bed in the middle looking out onto the view of a lake that looked like it had been neglected since the alleged crime they were looking into had taken place.
Both Sandra and Gerry wrinkled their noses at the that hospital stench, reminding them of various visits to hospitals over the years, but both agreed it was the exact smell of the hospital they all stayed in after the car crash and Jack's run in with Hanson which almost led to the downfall of UCOS.
They tiptoed towards the king sized bed when the mound of still body lay.
"Peter Solis?" Sandra said quietly.
"Mr Solis, you have a visitor" the nurse attending to his drip said shaking him slightly to wake him up.
"I'm Detective Superintendant Pullman and this is Gerry Standing, we are from the Met's Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad, we are looking into the possible attack planned on Television Centre in 1984, we understand you worked there then".
"Yes" the very frail man rasped without making any effort to sit up.
"A letter was found detailing the planned attack, originally when we had it scanned for finger prints and DNA it found no links and although there were no prints found traces of skin were indeed found. Originally because the flakes were so small we thought it was just one person's DNA but when we tested it against your colleague and Red Army Faction member Joel Handerley, it lead us to you, Mr Hayden Lyndhurst as were known back then" She explained.
"Alright, give a dying man a break" he croaked.
"I've not much time left I might as well tell you everything" his complexion was fading whiter every time he spoke, Sandra and Gerry both knew time was rapidly running out.
Sandra smiled at the nurse, her way of asking her to vacate the room, which she did promptly but looked offended by such gesture.
"None of this is really Joel Handerley's fault, he was new, young and impressionable when he became a Junior Scenery and Arts Supervisor, or whatever fancy name they gave to scenery painter and erector at that time. You see..." He stopped as he was beginning to choke on his words. He pointed to the jug of water on the bedside table indicating he would like a drink.
"Yes of course" Sandra said pouring it and holding out the glass towards him.
"I'm afraid I need a little assistance these days" he said taking the glass to show her how his hands did nothing but tremble terribly, casing the water to escape upwards and out of the glass.
"I'm sorry, there" she said refilling the glass and aiding him.
"That's better, thank you, Detective" he said shakily wiping his mouth with the bed sheet. "No where were we? Yes, we had established the group a good while before Joel joined the BBC and well he was the sort of person we needed, he came from a bad home, no family, brought up in a god awful care and several foster homes where he was abused and neglected, he hated the way the BBC focused its attention on Esther Rantzen and Children in Need when he never got any help himself."
"That's why you drafted him in, to give you someone one who would fit nicely in the frame when the BBC was blown to smithereens" Gerry clarified.
"Kind of, I mean we didn't originally set out with intentions of blowing up the dear old BBC, it just kind of came about".
"How" Sandra asked unconvinced, he may have been dying but there was little room for compassion while she needed answers.
"I gather you know why I had to have my identity changed?"
"Yes, we do".
"Well I had pervious run ins with some members of the IRA years before the bastards blew up my shop" he said, his breath shallow and his eyes rolling back and forth.
They gave him a little time before they continued to quiz him.
"Because of your connections to the Red Army Faction?"
"Yes, sir, you see there was rivalry, naturally, and well word on the grapevine was they were after us, well me, and word got round that they were planning on sending out a warning to us, in the form of an attack" he explained slowly.
"At your place of work" Sandra said, second guessing Mr Solis' explanation.
"Of course, two items on their hit list in one blast, how could they resist".
"Did they send the letter to you?" Gerry asked.
"Nah, the letter was from us to them, the only way we could have prevented their attack was to stage one ourselves. I thought I was carful covering my prints when writing the letter, that's why we got young Joel to send the letter, we made two copies, one for the BBC warning them of the IRA attack, which of course they ignored and one for them to try and scare them off".
"So you had no real plans to undergo this terrorist attack?" Sandra inquired.
"Not really, but we had to make it look as real as possible, hence the detailed plans, the access to weapons, which was almost identical to the IRA's plans but of course that was our downfall".
"How do you mean?"
"Well, Mr Standing, Danny Canister who was our leader if you like was really a double agent for the IRA , he was ordered to set up the group to get inside the BBC as an easy way of targeting the original 'dream factory' of course as I had form for upsetting them and as I worked there and joined the RA Faction how could they resist. Of course what they didn't bargain on was Mr Canister coming face to face to his biological son."
"Who Handerley?" Gerry asked on form.
"The very same, they had it out in public but when we all went home Joel and Danny had heart to heart, Joel of course was disgusted by who his dad was and what his plans were. I never found out if Danny wanted a relationship with his long lost son but he withdrew all plans of attacking the BBC".
"So what happened you went back to your everyday lives?" Sandra asked knowing this wasn't how the story must have ended.
"Danny left, no idea if it was the shock of discovering Joel or the fact he had let him down, I stayed in contact with Joel until I was diagnosed with heart failure, I never asked him if he stayed in contact with his father, strictly speaking I shouldn't have been asking him anything since becoming Peter Solis". He said his head falling hard against the pillow, his eyes rolling frantically into the back of his head and his whole body trembled before the heart monitors beeped a flat repetitive note.
"I think he's gone Gerry" Sandra whispered in shock.
"I'll go get the nurse" he replied rubbing Sandra's shoulders slightly to comfort her, as he could tell this had rather upset her.