‘No,’ Harry said, then quickly changed his mind. ‘Actually, yes, I am. Terribly so, in fact.’
‘You don’t look ill. Sweaty, yes, but not ill.’
‘Oh, I am,’ Harry said. ‘Horribly. Violently even.’
‘He is,’ Jim said, leaning in around Harry. ‘This is pretty urgent.’
‘You’ll have to wait,’ the receptionist said.
Harry gagged, then coughed, then fell forwards just enough to slap his hands loudly on the reception desk. ‘I can’t wait,’ he groaned. ‘If I don’t see Doctor Smith right now, then I won’t be responsible for the mess.’
The receptionist, for the first time, looked unsure.
‘I’ll paint the place,’ Harry said, groaning even louder than before, waving his hands at the walls rather expressively. ‘It’ll be everywhere! From both ends. The mess will be something to remember for generations! Hurry, man!’
The receptionist was on the phone immediately.
Harry groaned, gagged, groaned some more.
‘I’d hurry if I were you,’ Jim suggested.
‘Through the doors, follow the signs,’ the receptionist said, dropping the phone down and sliding his chair away from Harry and Jim. ‘That way!’
Harry offered a polite thank you and, with the rest of the surgery behind them rising in indignation, disappeared through the doors and onto find Doctor Smith.
‘Here,’ Jim said, pointing at a sign on the wall.
Harry followed and they came to a door partially open with the doctor’s name on it. He didn’t knock. ‘Doctor Smith?’
Inside the room, Doctor Smith, his shiny head reflecting in the cold, white light from the bulbs in the ceiling, was in the middle of getting his things together to leave.
‘I was told this was an emergency?’ the doctor said, and Harry caught the irritation in his voice. ‘That you’re very ill? I have another call to attend to I’m afraid. I can spare you a minute or two at best.’
Harry sat down and smiled. ‘Well, I’m not ill,’ he said. ‘But I’m a very good actor.’
The doctor didn’t look exactly impressed. ‘Look, I can’t just have you barge in! I’m not being rude, I promise, it’s just that police or not, it’s not fair on everyone else, is it? Can you come back later? I should be able to find some time at the end of the day. I’m assuming this is about the thing on Monday?’ He checked his watch. ‘Look, I really need to get going.’
Harry sat forward, folded his hands together, and stared across at the doctor. ‘This is urgent,’ he said. ‘And we really need your help. It can’t wait. I’m sorry. Two minutes, that’s all we need.’
Doctor Smith leaned across his desk. ‘I’m not sure what else I can help you with or about,’ he said. ‘You got the files I sent through, yes?’
‘PCSO Dinsdale here shared them with me,’ Harry said, ‘but it’s not about that.’
‘Then what is it about?’
Harry quickly explained as much as he could, then took the file from Jim and opened it at the page with the section that had been scribbled out.
‘What am I looking at exactly?’ the doctor asked, peering at the page in front of him.
‘These are school files,’ Harry said. ‘Logbooks, from the primary school at the end of town. And we have reason to believe that something happened on this date and I need to know what it is.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I do,’ Harry said. ‘Can you help?’
‘I’m not sure how.’
‘We think an accident might have happened,’ Jim said. ‘Thought here would be the best place to start.’
‘But that’s over forty years ago!’ the doctor exclaimed, glancing at his watch once again. ‘I mean, yes, we have records, but that’s asking an awful lot! Surely the school is the best place to find out rather than here?’
‘Already tried that,’ Jim said. ‘You’re looking at all the information the head teacher had available.’
Doctor Smith stood up and grabbed his coat from the back of his door. ‘Look, I have to go. Have a word with reception. Someone there will be able to help you, I’m sure.’
‘Emergency call out, is it?’ Harry asked.
Doctor Smith shook his head. ‘No, but it doesn’t do to be late. One of my regulars, you see. They can’t get down to the surgery, and sometimes, if there’s no one available to collect them and bring them in, I pop out to see them myself.’
‘That’s very good of you,’ Harry said, impressed.
‘I’m a doctor,’ the doctor said. ‘It’s my job.’
Harry and Jim followed Doctor Smith out of his room and through to reception.
‘Ah, Greg,’ the doctor said, leaning over to speak with the receptionist. ‘Can you help these two gentlemen, please?’
The receptionist looked over at Harry and Jim, barely able to conceal his irritation.
‘Yes, of course. If they would be so kind as to wait?’
‘No,’ Harry said, ‘we wouldn’t.’
The doctor then said, ‘And could you just grab me that prescription, please? Iveson.’
Harry snapped around to look at the doctor. ‘Who’s that you’re seeing again?’
‘Jack Iveson,’ the doctor replied. ‘Why?’
Harry looked across at Jim, then eyeballed the doctor. ‘He around the same age as John Capstick?’
‘Year younger I believe,’ the doctor said. ‘Why?’
‘I’m coming with you,’ Harry said, then looked at the receptionist. ‘Greg, you’re going to help PCSO Dinsdale, okay? Jim, as soon as you find anything out, you call me, understand?’
Jim gave a short nod. Greg managed to make his already furious face look even more angry. Then, before the doctor could argue, Harry was hurrying him towards the surgery door.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘You can’t just come with me!’ Doctor Smith said, staring at Harry through the open window of the Land Rover’s driver’s door. ‘A patient needs privacy. I can’t allow it!’
‘Look,’ Harry said, slipping the key into the slot and starting the engine, ‘I only want to speak to him, okay? So, you do your doctor thing, then I’ll do our police thing, simple as that. He will probably have been contacted by one of the team anyway, so he won’t too surprised.’
‘He’s rather ill,’ the doctor said, somewhat abruptly. ‘I’m not sure he’ll be able
