The Surgeon's Case

by E. G. Rodford

  “What are you telling me?” I asked.

  “They were going to discuss an audit the director had been preparing. I know because I helped analyse some of the data, although what I was given was anonymised, so nobody was named in it. He’d been working on it for weeks, which is unusual. I mean, he’s the director, doesn’t usually get his hands dirty with this sort of thing. Told me it was dynamite. Then, lo and behold, child pornography is found on his computer and he’s sacked? Too much of a coincidence. Too convenient.”

  “Have you seen this report?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “And you think your boss was set up?”

  “I know what you’re saying about appearances being deceptive but I’d have been less surprised had he been all those things you mentioned. Even if it was true, he was the director of information, for Christ’s sake, he would know better than to look at that stuff at work, never mind actually download it. Besides, you’d have to bypass the Internet filters set up by IT.”

  I sat back and studied Chris, whose pale face had reddened at his own outburst.

  “So what was he looking into?” I asked him.

  “Well, it started with all the surgeons, doing a comparative study of complications and readmission rates, which is quite normal, then that threw up something which meant the director focussed on one firm.”

  “Firm?”

  “Yes, a consultant’s team of doctors is called a firm, and although you might be admitted under a particular consultant, you’d most likely be seen or operated on by one of his or her team. I mean that’s how they learn, doctors. Anyway, that’s when things got all weird, became hush-hush, meetings held that weren’t in the calendar, no minutes taken.”

  “I see. And which consultant did the study focus on?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Here Chris faltered; this is where he felt like he was about to give away too much.

  “Mr Galbraith.”

  “So how did they discover what your boss was doing? Allegedly doing.”

  “I don’t know. I mean, there are filters on Internet access so it would be difficult to actually do it, I’m guessing.” I knew from my work with companies that Web access was sometimes limited for most staff, but often unrestricted for senior staff.

  “Did he leave his computer unattended at all?”

  “Yes of course, he was in meetings all the time, but they’re all password protected. Why, do you think someone could have put something on his computer?”

  “You’re the one who doubts he did it. How would you frame him?”

  26

  I DIDN’T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF CHRIS’S STORY. IT didn’t really explain why Galbraith had freaked out when he’d seen the newspaper article about the director being summarily dismissed. If he’d engineered the porn downloads to get rid of him, surely he’d have been pleased, not upset.

  But I had more pressing issues. I drove home, had a shower and changed. In the kitchen I took the steaks out of the bag, patted them dry with paper towel, oiled and seasoned them, then opened a bottle of red. I washed the salad leaves and made a dressing ready to pour over it.

  “What happened to your car?” Linda asked, when I opened the door to her. She was in a dark work suit.

  “She got caught in the middle of something,” I said.

  “She, is it?”

  “I know, crazy to think of a car as a she.”

  She gave me a friendly pat on the cheek. “Men and their cars.” We went into the kitchen where I poured her some wine.

  “I saw you made the front page,” I said, raising a glass.

  “Thanks, although it’s now a load of shit.” She drank deeply.

  “What?”

  “The missing girl, she’s no longer missing. She turned up.”

  “Oh dear. I mean, good, obviously, but I could see how that blows your story out of the water.”

  “Yeah, thanks for putting it in such stark terms.”

  “Sorry. Where was she?”

  “Camping with her boyfriend. She did go home after the open day for one night; her parents happened to be away at her grandmother’s for the night. The next day she and her boyfriend buggered off to Wales. She claims she left her parents a note.”

  I fired up the gas under the frying pan to get it up to temperature. You don’t want to put a steak in a cold pan, I know that much.

  “So what leads do they have on the identity of the dead girl, then?” I asked.

  “None, except she’s not a girl, she’s a woman in her early twenties. Just looks young for her age. I guess I wanted her to be the same woman. I was looking at the story rather than the facts.”

  “I’ve done the same thing. We look for things that confirm our beliefs rather than the other way round.”

  She pulled a face and poured herself more wine. “I thought I was better than that. It’s a sign of my desperation.”

  I cut a clove of garlic in half and rubbed it over the steaks, a little trick I’d picked up from Olivia.

  “Speaking of desperation, Stubbing came to see me today,” I said.

  “Oh yeah? She still got feelings for you?”

  I laughed. “Feelings, yes, but not warm and fuzzy ones, I can assure you.”

  “What did she want?”

  “Beyond harassing me I’m not sure. She did tell me that she was responsible for us getting together. Said she recommended me to you.” I laid the steaks together side by side in the hot frying pan. They sizzled and I let them be. I turned to look at Linda. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  She shrugged. “Didn’t think it was relevant. I think I asked her about you when I found out that my ex had hired you, thinking I could take out a restraining order against him. But she counselled against it, said it would just make him worse, which is what you told me.” She smiled and placed her hand on my arm. “Does it bother you that she brought us together?”

  “I guess I don’t want her, of all people, to be responsible for my happiness.”

  “Is this your tortuous way of saying that you’re happy?”

  “At this very moment I am,” I conceded, kissing her lips.

  “Don’t overcook my steak,” she said, pushing me away and laughing. “I like it pink in the middle.”

  “Don’t you worry, I know what you like,” I said, flipping the sirloin.

  Later, I left Linda asleep in my bed, had another shower and drove to Sandra’s.

  * * *

  Sandra took me into the kitchen when I arrived. Jason and Aurora were watching TV, some dreadful soap opera judging by the sound of the hammy arguments coming from the screen. Sandra had her youngest, Ashley, in his pyjamas on her hip, and he looked at me with half-closed eyes, his head on her shoulder as he absentmindedly fiddled with her hair.

  “I spoke to you know who…” Sandra said, pointing to the living room, “… about her and her boss. You know, like you asked?”

  “And?”

  “And nothing. She found the idea laughable, to be honest.”

  “But there’s something she’s keeping to herself, don’t you think?”

  “I agree. She’s afraid of something, either talking about it or whatever, but all I know is that it’s not what you thought.”

  Aurora, who’d started biting her lower lip ever since we’d got ready to leave Sandra’s house, couldn’t have been reassured by the state of the Golf when she saw it. She locked the passenger door as soon as she got in, unsurprising given her last experience in it, and when I sat next to her she had the briefcase on her knees and her hands screwed together tightly on top.

  I drove to the office with the aim of getting there half an hour early and I kept a wary eye out as best I could with the plastic sheet flapping in the window. I backed onto the office drive, the only car there. Once inside the building I locked the main door and we headed upstairs. I sat Aurora at Sandra’s desk and looked out of the window.

  “Can I have water, please?” Aurora asked, fidgeting in her chair. I went to
the shared kitchen and drank a glass myself before filling one for her. She sipped at it repeatedly, the briefcase flat on the desk in front of her. I went back to the window and looked out. This was the only way into the building, the back door having been converted into a fire exit to meet building regulations, and that was alarmed.

  At ten minutes to ten Galbraith pulled into the drive in his Porsche and parked underneath my window. He had the soft top down so I could see that he was alone. I looked to the street for a black Ford Focus but could see nothing, no cars parking after he’d arrived, nobody sitting in cars already parked. He disappeared from view and the buzzer went at the intercom near the door. Aurora knocked over her nearly empty glass and the remaining water dripped onto the floor from the desk. I put the glass upright out of her reach and went to the intercom.

  “Yes?” I said, pressing the speak button.

  “It’s Bill,” Galbraith said.

  “Are you alone?” I asked pointlessly, because it seemed like the thing to do.

  “Yes, of course.” I buzzed him in. Aurora looked like a deer caught in headlights. I opened the office door and smiled at her.

  “Aurora, it’s going to be fine. It will all be over soon. OK?”

  “Don’t go.”

  “OK, don’t worry, I’ll be right here.”

  I could hear Galbraith on the stairs and then on the landing. I propped myself against the front of Sandra’s desk, adopting a relaxed pose, facing the door, with Aurora sitting the other side of the desk behind me.

  Galbraith appeared, smiling a little too hard. He had an envelope in his hand and was dressed in a blue linen suit and open shirt with a scarf around his neck with matching cloth cap. His gaze flitted between me and Aurora and then settled on the briefcase.

  “Hello,” I said, as if he’d come to join us for a cup of tea.

  “Jolly good,” he said, which he followed with his pony-like whinny. I wasn’t sure what he had to be nervous about but between him and Aurora it was becoming contagious.

  “Right,” I said. “Aurora has got the briefcase here, as you can see. I’m assuming you have her passport and the severance pay we talked about?”

  “I have more than that,” he said. He held out a sealed envelope which I reached forward to take. Keeping my eyes on him I ripped it open and had a quick glance. It contained a printout with something handwritten on it and a wad of twenties thick enough to be one and a half thousand quid.

  “Where’s the passport?”

  He reached into his jacket and pulled it out, showed it to me then put it back. I wondered how he’d got the passport from his wife.

  “She can have the passport at the airport. That piece of paper in there is an e-ticket for a flight to Manila via Hong Kong. It leaves at two-thirty tomorrow afternoon from Heathrow, just forty minutes before my own flight to New York.”

  I checked the printout in the envelope. The details were as he stated. I passed the envelope to Aurora and she looked inside, awestruck; no doubt she’d never seen so much money.

  “How do we know that’s genuine?”

  “I’ve written the login and password on the printout. So you can log on to the Cathay Pacific website and check it yourself. I’ve entered her passport number as well.”

  I moved round to Aurora’s side of the desk and switched on the computer, then asked Aurora if I could look at the printout from the envelope again. I logged on to the computer and brought up the website. There were her details on the flight, seven hundred and sixty pounds’ worth. A passport number had been entered as ID.

  “Can I check her passport number against what’s in here?” I asked, holding out my hand.

  He smiled. “I gave you a photocopy of the passport, use that.” I went to my desk to retrieve it, then checked the number on it against what was on the website. It was the same.

  “Now, if I could have my attaché case,” he said.

  27

  “WHOA, LET’S HOLD ON A SECOND,” I SAID TO GALBRAITH, who had removed his cap and was smoothing down his hair. “You want to have the case back but don’t want to give Aurora her passport until tomorrow? You don’t think that’s unreasonable?”

  He thought about it. “Fine, she’ll get it as soon as I’ve had a private word with her,” he said, as if she weren’t in the room. “Now if you don’t mind giving us a minute, George.”

  Behind me, I heard Aurora take a breath.

  I smiled to keep things nice and friendly, saying, “That’s fine, but if you don’t mind you’ll have to do it with me here.”

  Galbraith pursed his lips and shook his head ever so slightly.

  “It’s personal. I just need to ask her a question,” he said.

  “Anything you say here stays in this room,” I said. Galbraith sucked air through his teeth and stared at Aurora.

  “Aurora,” he said softly. “I was good to you, wasn’t I? I helped you when Mrs Galbraith was sometimes too strict?”

  “Yes, Mr Bill,” she said so quietly I wasn’t sure he could hear her.

  “As well as a ticket to go and see your daughter I’ve given you a lot of money there, Aurora.” I heard her rustling through the envelope behind me.

  “Too much, Mr Bill. Thank you.”

  “I just want two minutes, Aurora. Mr Kocharyan will be outside the door.” He was almost pleading with her.

  “OK,” she said.

  I turned to her. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, it’s fine, Mr George.”

  I picked up the briefcase. “I’ll take this outside with me, if you don’t mind, since we haven’t completed the trade.”

  Galbraith nodded and made room for me to step out. “Two minutes,” I said, closing the door behind me. I put my ear against it but could hear nothing so stood against the wall, looking at my watch.

  Less than a minute later the door opened and Aurora was there.

  “He wants me to go with him,” she said, sounding scared.

  I stepped in and closed the door. Galbraith was standing by the desk looking determined. I moved so I was standing nearer him than Aurora.

  “I’ll take you to a hotel near the airport,” he said to her. “Mr Kocharyan has finished his business, he doesn’t want to look after you any more.”

  I put my hand up to silence Galbraith, saying to Aurora, “It’s fine. You don’t need to go with him.”

  “I have your things in the car,” Galbraith said. “Your clothes, the photos of your family from your room. I will take you to a hotel near the airport tonight and make sure you catch the flight tomorrow. I have to go there anyway.” His unctuous voice was like thick oil filling the room, making everything sticky and difficult to navigate.

  “I can go down and get your things for you,” I told her. “You don’t need to go with him. I will take you to the airport tomorrow.” I was suddenly aware of her as a young woman caught between the wishes of two middle-aged men. I couldn’t really tell Aurora what to do – she was an adult. But on the other hand this guy, who’d kept her isolated from any other influence, was clever and manipulative and I didn’t trust him one bit. I wished Sandra were here but she wasn’t so I decided to reach for a large dose of truth.

  “Aurora, Joshua told Mr Galbraith about where we were going to meet, and Mr Galbraith told the men that came to get you. Do you understand?” I pointed to him. “He told Joshua to call you and tell you to go early so those two men could find you.” She looked at Galbraith whose rictus face said it all. Then he exhaled a long breath and his face relaxed, leaving only fatigue visible.

  “You need to think hard about this,” he said. “Believe me when I tell you it’s best for both of you if she leaves with me now. I’m imploring you.” His tone seemed genuinely urgent.

  “Or what?” I asked. “What will happen if she doesn’t leave?”

  He just stood there looking as if he was about to burst into tears and said, “I’m sorry.”

  He took out the passport and handed it to me. I passed it to Aurora.
I handed the case to Galbraith. He took it distractedly, like it was something not very important he might have easily left behind had I not reminded him of it.

  “I tried,” he said, his voice low with exhaustion.

  “Tried what?” I asked, but he walked past me and Aurora and left the office. What the hell was he on about? A horrible thought crossed my mind. I strode to the window. I was relieved that I couldn’t see the black Ford Focus but then caught sight of a couple of glowing red lights below me, near the bike rack. Smokers. Then a smartphone screen lit up Leonard and Derin’s faces. Leonard put the phone to his ear and looked to the building.

  Galbraith was about to let them in and it was too late to catch up with him.

  My eye caught the lump of redundant fax machine under the window. I raised the bottom section of the sash window and picked it up, the pain in my shoulder shooting down my arm. I hefted it onto the window ledge and rested it there for a second, checking the anticipated trajectory. Then, just as the scene was lit by Galbraith opening the front door of the building, I launched the machine down onto the parked Porsche. For three long seconds my heart was in my mouth as I thought Galbraith might step under it but the lump of metal and rigid plastic crashed into the top of the windscreen and shattered across the inside of the car and across the drive like a small bomb. Leonard and Derin froze, then looked up. They ran into the building.

  I turned to Aurora, whose hand was against her open mouth. I took it and pulled her to the door. I could hear feet thumping up the stairs. I was on the third floor so I had time.

  “Lock the door, Aurora.” I showed her the lock. “Lock it,” I said, pulling the door closed behind me. I heard the latch snap in place as I ran down the hall to the top of the stairs where the fire extinguisher was, another requirement of office buildings regulation that I was suddenly very grateful for. I removed it from its wall fitting and charged down the stairs, releasing the safety seal as I went, the pain in my shoulder overcome by the rush of adrenalin. The narrow staircase and my elevation and momentum gave me an advantage as I met them coming up from the second floor. They were astonished to see me and even more astonished when I turned on the extinguisher, propelling foam into their faces. They raised their hands – Leonard was holding his Taser while Derin behind him waved his butterfly knife. I kept going, shoving the bottom of the extinguisher against Leonard’s chest, forcing him back onto Derin. Derin collapsed beneath his colleague. I slipped on the foamy stairs as Leonard waved the Taser wildly, triggering it so that it crackled and sparked across its terminals. As my feet gave way I slid down the stairs trying to keep away from the flailing weapon, ending up on my knees straddling Leonard who was half-lying on Derin. I dropped the fire extinguisher, reached for his wrist with both hands and bent his arm backwards over his head until the Taser made contact with Derin’s knife-holding arm. There was a horrible scream and the knife spun across the landing. Leonard released the trigger. His free hand wiped foam from his eyes then made a fist that connected with my lip. I didn’t want to let go of his other wrist so I had to allow myself to be pummelled as I smashed his hand against the wall. Luckily he was hitting me with his left hand from a prone position so although the punches hurt they weren’t immobilising. I worked my hand up to his little finger which I pulled away from the Taser, and kept pulling. Eventually it gave with a gratifying snap. He shouted and let go of the Taser. I grabbed it and rolled off them onto the landing, getting to my feet and running downstairs and outside.