‘Nothing really. Hey, can I have a cigarette?’
‘Bad girl,’ said Amber. But she passed one over anyway and they both lit up and sat smoking in silence for a few minutes.
Another shadow crossed their feet and they looked up to see Rick standing in front of them.
‘You a proper smoker now, Georgia?’
‘Nope. Another one-off.’
‘You know that several one-offs very quickly become a pattern and stop being a one-off, right?’
‘No lectures, thank you. Sit down, you’re blocking our sun.’
Rick sat down on Georgia’s other side and lit up one of his own cigarettes. ‘Well, you two are very lively,’ he said sarcastically. ‘What’s the matter with you both?’
‘Nothing,’ said Amber. ‘We’re enjoying some peace.’
Georgia’s phone started ringing and she gave Amber a guilty look for ruining the peace. She stood and walked away from Amber and Rick as she answered Luke’s call.
‘Hey,’ she said.
‘Hi, babe. Um, listen, I hate to do this over the phone, but I’ve got some bad news.’
‘Oh no, what is it?’
‘I came home from work early, ready to meet the locksmith and . . . we were too late — we’ve had a break-in.’
Georgia clapped a hand to her mouth. ‘A break-in? What do you mean? You mean like a proper . . .’
‘Yeah, a proper break-in. As in, the place has been trashed, things knocked over, broken . . .’
‘Was it her? Was it Cadence?’
‘Look, I guess we won’t know for sure until the police do their thing but, yeah, I’d say it must have been. The lock wasn’t smashed, so whoever did it let themselves in with a key.’
‘No! No, no, no. I can’t believe she’d take it this far. What did she steal?’
‘Honestly, it’s hard to tell. The place is such a mess.’
Georgia started breathing hard and fast again. In and out. In and out. In . . . in . . . in . . .
She caught herself and breathed back out. Slow down, Georgia, take it easy. But she couldn’t stop the thoughts. How long ago was it that she lost her keys at the movies? How many weeks? How many times had Cadence simply let herself into her home while she was out? And what about while she was home? Had she ever done it while she was there? While she was sleeping? Her breathing quickened again. In, out, in, in, out, in, in, in, out, in, in, in, in, in . . .
‘Georgia,’ Luke’s voice came sharp and urgent. ‘Are you okay? You don’t sound okay? Georgia!’
Next thing she knew, there were people gathered around her. Rick was taking her by the arm and leading her back over to the milk crates to sit down. Amber was taking the phone off her. She could hear her speaking to Luke, asking what had happened, reassuring him that yes, Georgia was okay, but that she was hyperventilating and they were taking care of her.
Ah yes, that’s what I’m doing. I’m hyperventilating. I’m a nurse, I know this.
But why am I hyperventilating? Surely this is an overreaction to hearing you’ve had a break-in.
‘Georgia,’ said Rick, ‘I want you to listen to my voice and we’re going to breathe together and slow things down, okay? Let’s go in through the nose . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . and out through the mouth . . . two . . . three . . . four . . .’
Georgia zeroed in on Rick’s voice, glad to have something to focus on. Something else to fill her mind so that she wasn’t thinking about Cadence being inside her apartment. She began to follow his instructions.
Eventually, her breathing returned to normal and Amber handed her the phone back.
‘What happened?’ Rick asked.
‘There was a break-in at Georgia’s place,’ said Amber. ‘Luke said it looks like it was Cadence, his ex. Apparently, she got a copy of Georgia’s key somehow.’
‘What? How the hell could she —’ Rick stopped at the look on Georgia’s face. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Not meaning to get you worked up again.’
Georgia shook her head. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. She took in a deep breath. ‘I’m feeling . . .’ — another deep breath — ‘much . . . better.’ Although in truth she was still feeling a little short of breath and light-headed.
‘This bitch has to be stopped,’ said Amber.
‘Couldn’t agree more,’ said Rick.
*
Georgia arrived home to find Luke already working to tidy up what he could.
‘Shouldn’t we leave it all exactly as it is for the police?’ she asked.
‘They’ve just left,’ said Luke. ‘Sorry, I thought Amber would have told you that I already had them on the way when I called you.’
He put down the broken pot plant he’d been holding and picked his way through the mess to reach her and pull her into a hug. ‘I was so worried when you started breathing like that over the phone.’
‘It was silly. I was overreacting.’
‘No, you weren’t. Who the hell wouldn’t have a panic attack after everything you’ve been through?’
‘I guess.’ Georgia pulled back and looked around her little apartment. There was something about the way her things had been deliberately destroyed that felt vindictive. Personal. Pages were ripped out of novels. Cushion covers were slashed. There was broken glass from shattered photo frames. Dirt from pot plants was stomped into the carpet. The intent was to inflict pain upon her. And even worse, it looked like Cadence had had fun while she was at it.
‘What did the police say?’
‘Well, obviously I gave them the full rundown on everything Cadence has been doing — the notes on your windscreen, the photos she emailed. Oh, and I accessed your iMessage through your laptop so I could give them all the messages. I hope that’s okay?’
‘Of course.’
‘And I did mention the nasty messages from Brett as well, just in case — I figured it was better that they knew absolutely everything. They agreed that Cadence is the most likely candidate. They think our idea that she stole your keys at the movies and made a copy is a fair assessment. But they’ll look into Brett too, seeing as he’s been hassling you.’
‘Okay, that all sounds good. So, what will happen with Cadence?’
‘They’ll give her a visit, question her. They said we definitely have grounds for getting a restraining order against her, so we’ll get that underway now too. Enough is enough. This needs to end now.’
The clean-up took them most of the night. In the end, the only thing missing was some of Georgia’s underwear, which felt so creepy that Georgia almost wished something valuable had been stolen instead. What was Cadence going to do with it? Wear it? Surely not!
It wasn’t until they were going to bed that Georgia remembered her parents’ offer to take her to Bali. But she didn’t want to bring it up with Luke right now. Maybe tomorrow would be a better time.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was no one’s fault when Georgia had to cancel on Amber and Rick yet again. Well, actually, Georgia supposed she could blame Barbara’s Pizza Shop for using dodgy prawns on their half-marinara half-vegetarian pizza. It was just unfortunate that Georgia had guaranteed her mates she wouldn’t bail on them this time. Not to mention the fact that she’d been looking forward to finally introducing Luke to them all. They might start to think he was a figment of her imagination.
‘I could take a photo of you vomiting into the toilet and send it to Amber if you like.’ Luke handed her a cool face washer and Georgia sat back against the tiled wall and wiped her mouth.
‘That’s disgusting.’
‘Taking a photo, or what you just threw up?’
‘Both. Why aren’t you sick? Not fair.’
‘I didn’t eat any of the seafood slices.’
‘Lucky bastard.’
‘Look, if you want, I’ll go out to the kitchen and eat one right now.’
‘Ha. Oh God, I’m gonna be sick again.’ Georgia went back onto her hands and knees and reached out to grab hold of the toilet bowl. ‘Go aw
ay please! Don’t watch me!’
‘I’m not leaving you.’
She felt his hand rub circles on her back. She threw up again, and as much as she hated the idea of him watching her like this, she had to applaud his dedication.
Half an hour later, when she was sure there couldn’t possibly be anything left in her stomach to throw up, Luke helped her undress and put her under a hot shower. He waited while she rinsed off and then, when she was done, he wrapped a towel around her and guided her through to the bedroom.
‘I’m not an invalid,’ she complained when he started to dry her body for her.
‘You’re weak,’ he said. ‘Let me help you.’
He helped her dress in her pyjamas, put her under the covers and then kissed her forehead. ‘Hey, listen, before you drift off to sleep, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you about . . . Well, actually, I need to make a confession.’
‘A confession? What for?’
‘You know how I said I logged into your messages so I could give all that info to the police?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well, I accidentally saw the message from your dad. The offer to take you to Bali. I was waiting for you to say something about it, but I have a feeling you don’t want to . . . because of me, because of my fear of flying . . . am I right?’
Georgia bit her lip. ‘Umm . . . maybe . . . I mean, I guess. It’s only that I feel bad —’
Luke cut her off. ‘You absolutely do not need to feel bad. You should go on this trip. It sounds awesome. And it also sounds like the exact thing you need right now. I really want you to go.’
‘Really?’
‘Hundred per cent. Now sleep,’ he said. ‘I’ll call Amber and make sure she knows you’re proper sick and not bailing on her for no good reason.’
‘Thank you,’ she murmured, already feeling sleep beginning to drag her down. ‘You’re so fucking sweet. Best boyfriend ever.’
‘I know I am. Night.’
*
On Wednesday morning when Georgia woke up and got ready for work, it would have seemed unfathomable that by that evening she would pretty much be out of a job. Of course at the time, she had no idea there was any chance of such a thing ever happening. All she did know was that she’d woken up with a killer headache and a sore stomach after the food poisoning the previous evening.
And maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe if she hadn’t still been feeling sick and groggy she would have noticed something.
But instead, at midday she was being called in to see her boss, and that’s when everything went sideways.
Georgia had always got along quite well with Denise, so it was disconcerting to see her looking so stern when she was summoned into her office. She’d been told to bring her bag with her.
‘I was told you needed to see me?’
‘Yes, take a seat, Georgia.’
‘Is everything all right?’
‘Hopefully it will be, but a serious allegation has been made against you. Some medication has been reported stolen and your name has been put forward —’
‘What? That’s ridiculous! I would never —’
‘I know,’ Denise cut in. ‘And I don’t like this at all, but the . . . informant was quite adamant, and I have to follow up. Listen, legally, I can’t ask to search your bag, not without going through the proper channels first, but I’m hoping you’ll agree to show me and then we can get this all cleared up.’
Georgia was already lifting her bag onto Denise’s desk. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘You can look through all of it. I have nothing to hide in here.’ She upended the bag, shaking the contents out.
She saw it before Denise did. Three small rectangular boxes. ‘Those aren’t mine,’ she said quickly. ‘I didn’t put those in there.’
Denise reached across to pick one up. ‘Endone,’ she said. She picked up the other two. ‘And Ritalin.’ She looked across at Georgia and there was blatant disappointment in her eyes. ‘These are all Schedule 8 drugs. Georgia, this is really serious.’
‘No, no, you don’t understand. Those aren’t mine. I don’t know how they got in there.’
‘It doesn’t look good.’
‘But if I knew they were in there why on earth would I tip everything straight out for you to see it?’
Denise shrugged. ‘The fact is, these are the drugs that went missing and now here they are in your bag. Like I said, it doesn’t look good.’
‘Denise, you know me. You know I would never do this. And anyway, how would I have done it? You need two people to sign them out of the Pyxis machine.’
‘These were taken from the surplus supply in the storage cupboard.’
‘Even better then — I don’t have access to that room. I can’t have stolen them.’
‘Okay, listen, we’re going to have to find a way to sort this out. To be frank, I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. The worst I’ve had was when someone was stealing Panadeine, and that was a slap on the wrist and we put the episode behind us. But with Schedule 8 drugs involved, it’s a lot more serious. I want to believe you, Georgia, I do, but the evidence is pretty damning. I think it’s better if you go home today. I’ll take you off the roster for the rest of this week and I’ll call you once I find out what happens next.’
Georgia started gathering her things back up from Denise’s desk, her hands shaking as she tried to suppress tears. She stopped and looked back across at Denise. ‘Who was it?’ she asked.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Who was it that said they saw me stealing the meds?’
‘I can’t say.’
‘But . . . but that’s not fair. Whoever it is, they lied. And they must have been the one to put the drugs in my bag as well. Maybe if I can talk to them, I can find out why they’re doing this to me.’
‘I’m sorry, but I promised them full confidentiality.’
Georgia finished packing up her bag. The three boxes of pills remained on Denise’s desk. On the way home, she bought herself a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Georgia had thought she was out of tears by the time Luke arrived home. But as soon as she recounted the story of what had happened, a fresh flood started up. He was the first person she’d told. There was a missed call on her phone from Rick, so she assumed he’d somehow heard — no doubt the rumour about a nurse being accused of stealing drugs was already flying around the hospital — but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to call him back. What if he believed the rumour? What if he was calling to have a go at her? She hadn’t heard from Amber but she knew it was her weekend with Violet.
Marcus was the one person she wanted to talk to. She’d decided this was enough of a reason to disturb him on his holiday. So, she’d sent him a text message, asking if they could please talk. But so far there’d been no response. She was trying hard to understand — it was his honeymoon, he had every right to ignore her if he wanted to. But she was just a tiny bit hurt.
She didn’t want to tell her parents or anyone else in her family; she felt too embarrassed about the whole thing. What if they thought she was guilty? What if her parents thought it was like last time? What if they thought she was having . . . problems again?
Luke sat on the couch next to her, an arm around her shoulders as he tried to console her.
‘This is ridiculous,’ he said for what was probably the third time. ‘Haven’t you been working there for two years? Why would they think you’d suddenly start stealing pills now? Surely they know you well enough.’
‘I know. But the problem is they were in my bag.’
Luke slapped a hand against his own knee in frustration. ‘But how was someone able to put them in there? Don’t you keep your bags in lockers?’
‘We do, but the lockers are so old that half are broken, and most of the keys have gone missing. They’ve never bothered to replace them over the years, and it’s never mattered because the staff room is locked so it’s only
other staff that go in there.’
‘Do you have any idea who’d want to set you up?’
‘No! There’s no one. I’ve never had any issues with any other nurses, and as far as I know no one’s ever had a problem with me.’ Georgia stood up and started pacing. ‘I don’t get it, I don’t get it at all.’ She stopped at Luke’s workout bench, mindlessly picking up one of his dumbbells and swapping it from hand to hand.
Luke stood and walked over to her. He carefully took the weight out of her hand and put it down. ‘I know that right now everything seems awful, but listen, it’s all going to work out, I know it is. There must be cameras they can check, right? Something to prove you didn’t do this and to figure out who the hell did. Because obviously someone does have something against you. Those tablets didn’t appear in your bag on their own.’
‘Maybe. I’m not sure. I can’t remember if they have cameras in the storage room.’ She looked up at Luke. ‘You really think someone at the hospital hates me that much?’
‘I don’t know, but there has to be some kind of motivation behind it. It’s not like it’s a funny prank. It’s a serious sabotage of your career. You’re sure you can’t think of anyone?’
Georgia stared down at her feet. Faces flashed through her mind. Nurses, doctors, colleagues, friends. Surely one of her friends couldn’t have done this to her? Could they?
She shook her head. ‘I really don’t know.’
‘And what about your trip to Bali? Do you think this will all get sorted out in time for you to still go?’
She hadn’t even thought about that. But there was no way she could go traipsing off overseas in the middle of this. She sat back down, put her head in her hands and started crying again. ‘I can’t go,’ she said through the tears. ‘I’m going to have to call Mum and tell her what happened, and it’s going to be so embarrassing and they’re going to be so ashamed of me.’
‘What? No way. How can they be ashamed of you? You didn’t do anything wrong. Oh babe, please don’t cry. I’m telling you, this is all going to work out. I’m sure of it.’
*
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