by Liz Lawler
The nurses told her that he had yet to look at his abdominal stoma and averted his eyes when they changed his bag. It was still early days, she’d told them. Give him time. His eyes were dull and Meredith could clearly see that he was depressed. The fear of nearly dying had done him no favours.
‘You’ve been in the wars, haven’t you, Mr Jeffries?’ she said. ‘It’s bad enough having one operation without us lot scaring the hell out of you by putting a tube in your throat.’
He didn’t comment.
‘We have no idea what caused that reaction in you. It says in your notes that you’re not allergic to anything.’
He gazed at her bleakly. ‘I’m not, apart from shellfish. I had a reaction once to shellfish in the Seychelles. I’ve never touched the stuff since. It ruined the honeymoon.’
‘And you never thought to mention this before? Have it listed as an allergy?’
‘What’s the point? I’m not going to be served it here, am I? That happened five years ago. And like I say, I have never touched the stuff since.’
‘Was it a bad reaction?’
He nodded. ‘Bad enough. I was covered in hives. My lips blew out like a Mick Jagger cartoon. My nose doubled in size. The doctor had to give me a shot. I spent the week in bed while poor Anna had to make do on her own. I looked like something from a horror show.’
Meredith stared at him, pretending to look stern. ‘It sounds as if you had a very serious reaction. You should really have mentioned it and have it recorded in your medical notes.’
He shrugged glumly. ‘Well, you can do that now, can’t you?’
‘Didn’t the doctor tell you to see your GP when you got home, and that you may need to carry an Epipen?’
She could see him becoming distressed by all the questions. His hands were fidgeting with the blanket, and his eyes were beginning to well. She felt guilty for badgering him. She placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. ‘Sorry. I don’t mean to upset you,’ she said, her voice gentler. ‘And as you say, we’re not likely to give you shellfish here.’
‘Soup,’ he said. ‘That’s all I want at the moment. And Anna brings it in fresh.’
Meredith kept her expression even. ‘You had some yesterday, I hope, before all that happened? I don’t suppose you felt like eating afterwards.’
‘Yes, she fetched me some and fed it to me like I was a baby. She’ll be in soon.’
An image of the immaculately dressed woman came to mind. ‘She’s a smart-looking woman, your wife.’
A smile cracked his face. ‘That she is. I’m lucky to have her. My first wife died while I was building up my business, and after that all I had was my work until Anna came along. I had been lonely as hell. All the money in the world doesn’t make you happy unless you have someone to share it with. And now she’s stuck with an old codger like me.’
Meredith smiled. ‘I’m sure she doesn’t think that.’
He looked sceptical. ‘My problems with my bowel started not long after we were back from the Seychelles and since then it’s been one hospital appointment after the other, one operation after the other. It’s no fun for her. She should have married someone younger, in good health.’
‘I’m sure she wouldn’t swap you,’ Meredith teased.
‘Maybe not,’ he sighed.
Meredith straightened his top cover. She moved over to the sink and washed her hands. While drying them she stared around the room, her eyes discreetly searching for the camera. It had been installed while Mr Jeffries was having an X-ray. She searched hard and was reassured that she couldn’t spot it.
Mrs Jeffries arrived at that moment and Meredith appraised her. She looked much younger than her husband. She wasn’t quite a trophy wife, but she was still a good fifteen years younger than him. Though to be fair, Neil Jeffries looked much older than his fifty-one years. His medical condition had clearly taken its toll.
Mrs Jeffries moved over to her husband’s bed. Her scent was fresh, her hair was glossy and straightened and she was wearing designer clothes. The navy summer trousers topped with a plain white T-shirt and silver accessories were worn by someone who considered their image carefully. She leaned over her husband and kissed him. ‘Hello, darling.’
Meredith acknowledged her with a polite smile.
Mrs Jeffries’ green eyes swept over the anaesthetist, clearly dismissing her as unimportant. ‘I meant what I said yesterday,’ she said crisply. ‘I don’t want that nurse near my husband.’
Meredith made no comment, addressing her patient instead. ‘I’ll check on you again later. Try and rest now.’
*
‘She’s very keen to make us believe that Emily caused this,’ Meredith said to Dalloway, in the privacy of his office.
Barrows was already in the office when Meredith tracked Dalloway down. Back on day shifts, the woman looked rested after some sleep. Meredith was happy to share her opinion with both of them. They needed to know what was going on.
Dalloway nodded. ‘I agree. The woman witnessed a drug discrepancy caused by Nurse Jacobs and is using it to fuel blame.’
Meredith sat down. ‘Her husband may have just given me the real cause. Soup.’
Barrows frowned. ‘You mean food poisoning?’
‘Not exactly,’ Meredith replied. ‘You were right. He does have an allergy not listed. Shellfish. He had a severe reaction five years ago. He tells me the only thing he’s eating is homemade soup, which his wife brings in for him.’
‘But she wouldn’t have had time,’ Barrows protested. ‘She was in that room in less than a minute. She couldn’t have given it to him that quickly, surely.’
‘Well, it may only have taken a spoonful to cause a reaction. Or she may not have gone back to his room to give it at that time. She may have gone back to take the evidence away.’
Dalloway gazed at Meredith, looking appreciative. ‘So, she would have fed him while in the presence of Shelly. Shelly would have witnessed it.’
‘Witnessed what?’ Meredith said back. ‘A wife feeding her husband?’
‘But if he’d reacted sooner, she would have been caught out,’ Barrows pointed out.
‘And all she would have to say is she forgot about his allergy,’ Meredith said in a persistent tone. ‘Five years ago she had known he had an allergy, but it was a long time ago. She made him a fish soup and completely forgot about it.’
‘She also has an opportunity to blame someone else,’ Dalloway remarked. ‘I spoke to Shelly. She said she’d just given him a bladder washout via his catheter, hence the urinal in her hand. Mrs Jeffries could say Shelly used the wrong solution to irrigate his bladder.’
‘Ridiculous,’ Barrows argued. ‘The connector on those irrigation bags will only connect to a catheter. And they’re stored in the sluice, not in the treatment room.’
‘It still doesn’t stop her suggesting it,’ he countered.
Barrows stood up. ‘I’m regretting letting that man install a camera. We could all be in serious trouble. A camera hidden in his room without his permission is an invasion of his privacy. While he expects to be exposed to our eyes while in his presence, he doesn’t expect us to be watching him through a camera while he uses a commode.’
‘We can always remove it, if you’re that concerned,’ Dalloway replied.
She stared at them both frankly. ‘I just don’t like the fact that Mr Burge has something on us.’
Dalloway stood up. He came around his desk and placed a hand on Barrows’ shoulder. ‘Leave Gary Burge to me, Nina. You get on with what you do best. Keep looking after our patients the way you always do. If she’s going to try anything again, we have a duty to stop her. Calling in the police at this stage is going to create all sorts of problems. We have nothing really to give them yet. And I don’t want their presence alarming everyone. All we need is a headline citing us in a scandal and the award we’re up for will be snatched from our hands. Funding and interested parties for future developments will be turned to dust.’
&nb
sp; She sighed wearily. ‘I no longer care, to be honest with you, Rupert. This whole recent business has fairly worn me down. Emily Jacobs did us a good turn bringing this to our attention, if it’s true. She certainly didn’t imagine this.’
He squeezed her shoulder. ‘I know that, Nina.’
‘I’m very spooked by all of this. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Maybe you could do with some time away.’
Her eyes closed briefly. Then she seemed to pull herself together. She moved from under his hand and put a little distance between them. She straightened her uniform, her manner unapproachable. ‘That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we won’t have any further visits from the police.’
She closed the door behind her as she left the office. The silence was loaded. Then Meredith broke it. ‘Christ, she’s repressed or depressed. Take your pick. I can’t wait to get back to California and a happy life again.’
‘We shall miss you, Meredith,’ said Dalloway.
Chapter Thirty
Emily’s entire body felt tender. She had lain curled in a tight ball throughout the night, trying to block out the fear that she wouldn’t be freed. Nurses had checked on her throughout the night making it impossible for her to forget where she was. Supposing Dr Green decided to keep her longer? Or decided that she needed long-term care? The patients around her looked no worse than she did, but like her, they were all being kept here. She could shout all she liked that she was different, that she was not mentally ill, but Dr Green needed to make up his own mind about her and she didn’t have a clue what he thought. In the meantime, she was trapped. After breakfast she would go back to her room to be away from all these strangers. She couldn’t stand to be thought the same as them.
She looked up as she heard a shriek. Molly was holding her arm as if in pain and Gems was on his feet looming over her.
‘I only wanted to help you,’ she cried. ‘You hurt me.’
‘Don’t touch my things,’ he roared.
Emily jumped up. Molly needed to back off. Gems pulled back an arm, then swiftly, straight-armed, fist clenched, shot it forward and punched her face.
Molly toppled backward, howling and clutching her face, blood streaming through her fingers.
Gems followed her, his body language suggesting his intention to attack again.
A siren sounded and Ben was suddenly running to the rescue along with another male nurse. Two security personnel followed them. All four men gathered around Gems, blocking his escape. Molly lay on the floor crying as she was comforted by another female patient.
Gems slumped, his shoulders dropped, his arms hanging loose. ‘She made me,’ he cried. ‘She touched my things.’
He was led away quietly, without resistance, by the second male nurse and the guards, and Ben was left to deal with Molly. His voice was kind and reassuring. ‘Come on, Mol, let’s get you cleaned up and assess the damage.’
‘He shouldn’t be here, Ben,’ she wailed. ‘He’ll kill someone one of these days.’
Holding napkins to her nose with one hand, she held onto Ben’s arm with the other. Emily could hear him soothing her each step of the way, and heard the buzz and click as locked doors released their locks and they were able to walk through them and out of sight, leaving a silence behind them. Emily and some of the other patients stood looking at each other in the aftermath or stared at Molly’s blood on the linoleum floor. If Gems had hit Molly any harder, he could have knocked her out and done some serious damage. She wouldn’t be having a check-over in any treatment room then; it would be a blue-light job to A&E.
Breaking away from the group, Emily went and found some paper napkins. She came back and placed them over the small pool of blood, watching snowy-white tissue turn to red. The staff had come running so quickly, she thought, staring up at the blue covered cameras. They were watching them all the time.
Chapter Thirty-One
Nina Barrows knocked on the security office door and was relieved when it didn’t open. Gary Burge was taking a break from his new spying duties. He had been switched from night shifts to day shifts to suit visiting times. Mrs Jeffries had left the building a half hour ago after visiting, and it was assumed that she’d be gone a while and would come back at teatime. Gary was at the end of a mobile should he be required to come back immediately if she did reappear. Nina had a key to the office and wanted to move in and out of it without being caught. She wanted to check something that she was beginning to question.
She let herself in and shut the door behind her. Gary had made himself comfortable. On the desk he had a kettle, some mugs, coffee and powdered milk. Two pot noodle tubs sat side by side with an open bag of marshmallows and a tube of Pringles. A dirty pillow was on the chair, and she shoved it to the floor. She must remember to put it back afterwards.
She sat down and pulled the wheeled chair close to the desk. There were now two monitor screens, the one that was there before and the second one that Gary was using to watch Mr Jeffries’ room. The patient was asleep by the looks of it, his eyes closed and hands resting on top of the blanket.
She glanced away. She hadn’t come in to take over from Gary. It was the hospital computer she was there for. She hoped the file she was looking for was easy to find. She clicked the ‘start’ button and then ‘documents’ and was relieved to see in the video library the files were named and dated right back to when the hospital first opened. She scrolled slowly, hesitantly, and then faster as she realised she was still only in January of last year. Concentrating and watching the months of this year moving up the screen, passing May she slowed right down as she neared the date she was looking for. Four videos were named on that date: Nash, Austen, Allen, Sulis. She clicked on Allen Ward.
Ten minutes later Nina sat back in a daze. She had replayed what she had seen twice to be doubly sure that anxiety wasn’t making her eyes deceive her, and now there was no doubt. Cameras that everyone had forgotten were there, had recorded events that in most eyes would seem unimportant, normal happenings. Unless you knew what shouldn’t be there. In her long career in nursing she had never been faced with a situation like this, and the burden of knowing the seriousness of her find was like a giant weight bearing down on her narrow shoulders. All their futures would change if this video was discovered. The hospital’s reputation would be in tatters. Her simple, ordinary life, as she knew it, would be over.
She had come prepared to find answers to worries that were beginning to niggle. She had come to reassure herself that there was nothing to fear. She had everything to worry about now. If Emily Jacobs had already discovered this file – or Gary Burge for that matter – it was only a matter of time before two and two would be put together. Nina had to make a choice about where she stood when the ship went down.
She clicked the file closed. She picked up the pillow and put it back on the chair. She stared at the computer, aware of all that it held. She could simply break the damn thing or even steal it. She could walk out of here and pretend everything would be alright. But Emily Jacobs had a determination in her and Nina didn’t think that would ever go away. She was like the detonator of a time bomb set to go off and cause unlimited damage. And the clock was counting down.
*
The sun had almost gone down and the sky was red outside her bedroom window. Emily was surprised at how long she’d slept. She had crawled into her bed after breakfast and lain there ever since. Dr Green had requested no further session with her, today and that troubled her. He’d said they were going to chat some more. But maybe he was in no hurry to see her. She’d given him much to think about. The seventy-two hours would be up by tomorrow, but somehow she couldn’t see her stay ending there. He would look to label her with some disorder, possibly even suicidal in light of her telling him that she’d wanted to die. She had given him plenty of reasons to consider keeping her longer.
An ache in her breast made her get out of bed, and in the bathroom mirror she saw a redness and swelling around the scar. She touche
d it and felt heat. Taking the towel she wet it with cold water and held it against her. She was run-down, that was the problem, and suspected she would need some antibiotics. She also needed to eat. She had barely touched food since being there, any appetite gone. Taking the towel away, she settled her jumper back down. She needed to think her way out of this situation and find a way to prove what she had seen. She could not stay locked up. That was not an option.
Only Gems was sitting at a table when she made her way to the dayroom. He had more scrabble pieces of bread in front of him. She quietly took a knife and buttered some of her own. The metal trays that would have earlier held food for supper were empty and clean and the warming lamp over them was switched off. Snacks of fruit and bread were all that was on offer. She wondered what his mood was like and how often he reacted the way he had this morning. Molly’s words hinted that he was dangerous and had lost control before, and she was reminded of Molly’s conviction that one day he would kill someone.
Emily picked up her buttered slice and palmed the hard, plastic knife in her hand, feeling its smooth and rounded contours. She wondered if she could turn this into a weapon. She walked over to his table and waited till he looked up. ‘I like the red car on your windowsill,’ she said.
Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked back in the direction of the rooms.
A full five minutes passed before he came to his doorway. Emily was sitting on his bed, broken pieces of bread scattered around her, butter smeared on his hand gel from where she had touched the plastic container. Without looking, she knew the books were a heaped pile, his footwear spread across other parts of the room. The yellow and blue cars were on the floor beneath the windowsill, and in her hand she held his red car. She played with the wheels of the small toy to tantalise him. At the foot of the bed she had placed the knife and now waited to see how he would react.