building. Jess had her own ideas of what he did then, augmented by the number of whisky bottles found in the hospital garbage since Lionel’s arrival.
He’d be well into his bottle for the night, she decided. Maybe it was safe.
She couldn’t stand not knowing.
It was all she could do not to tiptoe through the hospital corridors to Frank’s room. There was an elderly lady with a sprained ankle in the women’s ward and there was no sound there-but there was movement in the men’s ward.
Jess stopped and listened and then her face cleared as she heard a woman’s voice.
Geraldine.
Geraldine was one of the island’s two senior nurses. Middle-aged and competent, she’d elected to do night duty when Sarah started working. By the sound of it Geraldine was talking to Frank.
So at least Frank wasn’t dead.
Frank Reid was still an extremely sick man but his grey colour had receded a degree or two. He lay motionless against his mound of pillows but his eyes followed Geraldine round the room and they moved to the door and lit up when Jessie entered.
‘Jess…’
It was an exhausted whisper but it was so much better than last time she’d entered this room that Jess practically burst into tears.
‘Hey, Frank…’ She crossed to the bed and gave him a swift kiss. ‘How goes it?’
‘I reckon I’ll live. Geraldine’s bossing me into it.’
‘I sure am.’ Geraldine gave Jess a worried look. ‘Jess, this is awful. I’m feeling dreadful about it. Sarah’s told me what’s happened. I knew Frank was diabetic but assumed the blood-sugar tests were being done during the day. Sarah wasn’t confident of working nights on her own so we organised her to be on day duty when Dr Hurd would be around to support her-but arrangements seem to have gone badly wrong.’
In other words, Geraldine hadn’t been able to supervise Sarah and Dr Hurd had been incompetent.
‘It’s not too bad,’ Jess said swiftly, signalling Geraldine with her eyes to change the subject. This conversation couldn’t go further without discussing Dr Hurd-and Lionel was still Frank’s treating doctor. Jess smiled down at Frank. ‘It can’t be too bad, can it? Frank looks like he’ll live.’
‘And Harry, too?’ Frank asked eagerly. ‘Tell me, girl…’
It was a pleasant respite-to sit on the bed and describe Harry’s rescue to Frank and Geraldine. At the end they both stared at her, astonished.
‘Well, I never!’ Geraldine said roundly. ‘The Ogre of Barega turning out to be human. A doctor and a father, too.’
‘Yes.’ Jessie’s face clouded at the sudden remembrance of Paige. There was something there that wasn’t right. It was the child who seemed to be haunted-not the ogre.
Her eyes flicked up to Frank’s drip. The saline bag was almost empty.
‘How many litres has Frank had?’ she asked.
‘Three.’ Geraldine frowned. ‘I’ve another bag ready but Dr Hurd hasn’t left any orders. Should I put it up?’
‘What would you normally do?’
‘Ring and ask him.’
‘Then ring and ask,’ Jessie said steadily. There was no way that Jess could operate as back-up doctor. Unethical in the extreme and totally unworkable. She stood up and smiled a farewell to Frank. ‘I expect Dr Hurd will check you before he goes to bed, anyway. I’ll pop in tomorrow.’
She’d pop in during Lionel Hurd’s clinic times when he was safely out of the way.
The words weren’t said but each person in the room knew what Jessie meant.
Geraldine grimaced.
‘Only six more months until our proper doctors come back,’ she muttered. ‘They can’t come back fast enough for me.’
‘Or me either,’ Jess agreed.
Her long day was finally over.
Jess was more than ready for bed. She showered swiftly, checked her invalid animals one last time and headed for her pillows with speed-only to be stopped by a tap on the door.
Now what?
Jess’s flat was at the back of the vet clinic and Lionel’s flat was at the rear of the hospital, making four rather unequal quarters to the rambling medical complex.
The door being knocked on was internal-so it was someone from the hospital doing the knocking.
Lionel…
Jess pulled on a long robe and buttoned it to the neck. Lionel had knocked on her door after whisky before-and was a much friendlier proposition than the daytime Lionel.
She preferred his daytime aggression.
Jess opened the door an inch-and then pulled it wide. Geraldine.
‘You weren’t in bed yet?’ Geraldine asked, her face creased with worry. ‘Jess, I hate to disturb you but…’
‘Is there something wrong with Frank?’
‘No.’ Geraldine shook her head. ‘He’s still recovering. I put the next saline bag up, but I had to do it without orders. Dr Hurd hasn’t been back-and he doesn’t answer his phone.’
Jess frowned. As the island’s only doctor, Lionel Hurd carried a mobile phone with him wherever he went. Even if he was on the other side of the island he should still be carrying it.
Jess glanced at her watch. It was still only nine o’clock. She went to bed early because of her broken sleep with animal feeds-but the rest of the island should be still awake.
‘Maybe the phone’s not functioning.’
‘That’s just it,’ Geraldine fretted. ‘I thought I’d test it. I rang the number and then let it ring while I went to the doctor’s flat. I can hear it ringing out in his living room.’
‘Then he’s gone out without taking it,’ Jess said grimly. It broke all the rules of Lionel’s contract to do so-but the man was angry enough to do anything tonight.
‘Maybe he’s down at the pub.’
‘No.’ Geraldine’s face grew more troubled. ‘Jess, I think there’s something really wrong…’
‘You mean, he’s in trouble?’
‘No.’ The nurse hesitated. ‘When I couldn’t find him I rang Sarah at home, thinking at least he might have given her specific orders for numbers of saline units. One of Sarah’s boys reckons he saw Dr Hurd board this afternoon’s plane out to the mainland. Sarah thought he must be mistaken-but now I can’t find him…’
Jessie stared.
Today was Wednesday and on three afternoons a week a passenger jet left for Sydney. One of those afternoons was Wednesday.
‘He wouldn’t just leave.’ Jess shook her head in bewilderment. ‘Would he?’
Geraldine met her anxious look. ‘There’s a spare key to his flat on the master set,’ she said diffidently. ‘You have the master set, Jess.’
‘Y-yes.’
Jess didn’t want to use it. To use it was to confirm a nightmare.
The nightmare was real.
Geraldine and Jess opened the door of Lionel’s flat and were met by chaos. The flat had been turned upside down and it didn’t take more than a moment to see that most of the doctor’s belongings were missing.
‘He’s done a bunk,’ Geraldine stammered. She turned to Jess, bewilderment written across her face.
‘But why?’
Jess closed her eyes. ‘Geraldine, your husband’s on the island board of management, isn’t he?’
‘Yes.’
‘When Dr Hurd applied for the locum position…do you know if anyone verified his qualifications?’
Geraldine stared. ‘I guess…Maybe not. I mean, we were desperate. The last doctor had to go in such a hurry. But Dr Hurd…Well, why would he lie?’
Why indeed?
