‘Do you have someone in mind for this role?’ asked Giordano.
Bannon gestured towards Steven Dunbar and said, ‘Dr Dunbar would be our man on the ground.’
Dunbar smiled and nodded. He watched the reaction of the Medic Ecosse people: their smiles were uncertain.
‘So there we have it,’ said Bannon. ‘The big question now is, do we have a basis for agreement?’
There were no dissenting voices, but everyone knew how much now depended on James Ross, and he was out of the room.
‘Why don’t we adjourn for lunch?’ suggested Giordano. ‘The food here is very good. I don’t think you’ll have any complaints.’
‘I never thought Bannon would have the balls to try something like that,’ said the man in front of Dunbar as they went out of the room.
‘Bloody criminal, the way they treated Ross,’ replied his companion. ‘Do you think they’re going to get away with it?’
‘I rather think that’s up to Ross. Without him they’re just another hospital.’
‘Or five-star hotel.’
‘D’you think he’ll resign?’
‘Depends on how much they’re prepared to back-pedal on the research cuts. He might feel obliged to move on as a matter of pride. It’s not as if he couldn’t work elsewhere. With his reputation he could get a position almost anywhere in the world. If you ask me, the Scottish Office are playing a losing hand here.’
‘No change there, then.’
‘I wonder why Ross came here in the first place,’ mused the first man. ‘If it’s research he’s really interested in, you’d think he’d have gone to one of the big medical schools.’
‘Good point,’ agreed the second.
‘Mind you, it could have been the food,’ said the first admiringly.
They had reached the dining room and were looking at what was on offer. Tables groaned under the sumptuous buffet that had been prepared for them.
Lunch was over by two o’clock. The meeting was scheduled to reconvene at two thirty, and both sides used the interim to discuss matters among themselves. Dunbar picked up what he could while circulating, coffee cup in hand. He fended off questions about his proposed role with skill and humour, saying that it was too soon to talk about such things. As yet no agreement had been reached.
As the meeting seemed set to reconvene he saw Giordano, who had been deep in conversation with Ross, move away and Bannon, looking distinctly nervous, walk over to take his place. He wondered if Bannon was beginning to have second thoughts about his intransigence. He positioned himself within earshot of the two main protagonists.
‘Nothing personal in this, Ross, you understand,’ said Bannon with a half-hearted attempt at a smile.
Ross gave him a look that suggested that politicians were akin to something he might find occasionally on his shoe. ‘Of course not,’ he said flatly.
‘I do appreciate how important your research work is to you, Doctor, and that you’ll probably need more time to consider your position, but I just wondered if perhaps you’ve come to any kind of decision yet in your own mind?’
‘Yes, Mr Bannon,’ replied Ross. ‘I’ve made my decision.’
THREE
As the days became weeks, the strain of constant travelling up and down to Glasgow, and guilt over excessive time taken off work, began to tell on Kate and Sandy.
‘I’ll have to resign,’ said Kate as they drove up to see Amanda on the Friday of the third week. ‘It’s not fair on the school.’
‘I’m sure they understand,’ said Sandy.
‘I’m sure they do too, but it’s too much of an imposition on them. They’re bound to be feeling the strain and they’re far too nice to say so themselves. I’ll have to make the decision.’
‘Maybe you’re right,’ conceded Sandy. He didn’t feel so bad because, although his two colleagues were covering for him during periods taken off in the daytime, he was taking on more evening duties to compensate. Both Charlie and Andrew had young families, so they were quite happy with the arrangement. Kate was not so happy. It meant that she seldom saw Sandy in the evenings.
‘I thought we’d have had her home by now,’ said Kate. ‘They said at the outset she’d probably be home within two weeks and we’d just have to travel up on dialysis days. I think something’s wrong. In fact, I’m sure something’s wrong and they’re just not telling us.’
Sandy glanced out of the corner of his eye at Kate in the passenger seat. She was biting her lip and nervously interlocking her fingers as she stared at the road ahead without giving the impression of seeing anything.
‘No doubt Grayson will tell us,’ he said. ‘He’s not one for gift wrapping anything and Clive Turner did say he wanted to see us today.’
‘Do you think our marriage will survive this?’ Kate asked suddenly.
‘Of course it will,’ replied Sandy, taken aback by the question. He took one hand off the wheel and reached over to squeeze Kate’s hand. He felt her grow tense. ‘What brought that on?’
‘We were always so close,’ said Kate. ‘But now things seem different. You don’t even tell me what you’re thinking most of the time.’
‘We’re both under a lot of strain,’ he said. ‘Too many other things on our minds, I suppose. I never knew continual worry could be so exhausting. It’s like being an overwound spring.’
‘If that’s all it is.’
‘Of course it is.’
‘I don’t want this to drive us apart,’ said Kate.
‘It won’t,’ said Sandy supportively. ‘We’ll soon get Amanda home and then we’ll get back to being just as we were.’
‘Apart from the dialysis.’
‘We’ll even get used to that in time, and when we get a home set-up it’ll be practically no bother at all. You’ll see. It’ll become part of our routine. So much so that we’ll hardly notice it.’
Kate smiled weakly and looked across at him. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
‘Come on, love,’ said Sandy. ‘I need you every bit as much as you need me.’
‘We have a problem,’ announced Grayson with characteristic bluntness as he spread his notes on his desk and moved his glasses to a more comfortable spot on his nose to read them.
‘What sort of problem?’ asked Sandy. His skin tingled in fear and anticipation. It was as if his every sense had suddenly been heightened. He was aware of every raindrop running down the window behind Grayson’s head as he waited for him to begin.
‘Truth to tell, we’re not very sure ourselves,’ said Grayson. ‘Amanda’s blood is becoming contaminated almost as quickly as we clean it. She’s been requiring much more dialysis than we anticipated. We thought things would settle down after a fortnight or so, but that’s not been the case, I’m afraid. We think it may have something to do with a tissue-degradation problem in her kidneys.’
Tissue degradation! The words echoed round and round in Sandy’s head. ‘You mean her kidneys are breaking up?’ he asked. His throat was tight and it showed in his voice. He had to swallow.
Grayson shrugged and said, ‘That’s our theory at the moment. Of course, we’ll have to wait until we get a full histology report before we can be absolutely certain.’
Sandy felt that he was listening to a garage mechanic tell him what was wrong with his car, rather than a doctor pronouncing on his daughter’s condition. What made a man like this become a doctor? It wasn’t the first time he had wondered this same thing. His job had brought him into contact with a number of people in the medical profession who he felt lacked any basic compassion for the sick. They didn’t see people in front of them, only cases,
