“I guess I still have some things to learn,” Elizabeth thought to herself. Perhaps she had not been putting enough focus on the human factor in her investigations and stories. But that was something to think more on at another time. She printed out the revised article and walked over to George’s desk.
He was sitting there, reviewing another story and marking it up with a red pen.
“One award winning fluff article,” Elizabeth said, dropping the printed story on his desk. George didn’t even turn around.
“See that wasn’t so hard right?”
“True, plus it got me another story.”
“Another story?” George said with suspicion. He put down the article he was reading and gave her his full attention.
“Yeah one of the patients there has stomach cancer. He’s got an interesting story and wants me to tell it for him.”
“Doesn’t sound like your kind of thing. What’s your angle?”
“Honestly I couldn’t say no when he asked.”
“I can see how that might go down. Well we could do something for one of the weekend editions if it has legs. I hope you didn’t promise to publish it?”
“No, I just agreed to write it.”
“That’s fine, we’ll see how it ends up,” George said, turning back to his work. Elizabeth started to walk off but heard him speak once more.
“Hang on Liz, I got something else for you,” George said, rifling through some papers on his desk. He handed her a page of paper. Elizabeth read it carefully.
“Hang on, a celebrity interview? What the hell George?”
“Mary is sick, I need someone to cover it.”
“This is fluffier than the nurse piece.”
“Which should make it easier right? Celebrity stories play their part in the success of this newspaper.”
“Fine.”
“Good, just think of it as an opportunity. You can ask her some hard hitting questions,” George said, before dismissing her with his hand. Elizabeth turned and left, clutching the paper in her hand. She grumbled to herself and walked back to her desk.
“I better find out what her latest movie is,” Elizabeth said with a sigh and sat down at her computer. The first few posts she found suggested that Lucy Margot was starring in a science fiction epic called Solar Quest. But what really caught her interest was a different story altogether. Lucy was also a Cancer survivor.
“Did George know when he gave me this?” Elizabeth thought. Maybe it was a coincidence, but it was strange that she should tell him about Dean’s story and then she gets this interview. She dug a little further into that angle.
There was another nugget of interest. Lucy was treated as an outpatient of Royal Monterey Hospital.
“Now that’s intriguing,” Elizabeth said softly. It wasn’t going to be hard thinking up questions for Lucy, the trick would be weeding out the few she could actually ask.
“Dean is going to laugh when I tell him about this,” Elizabeth said to herself and chuckled. She felt better about the interview. There would be a purpose to it and the potential to get a lead on the hospital. She had a feeling that something was going on, and one way or another she’d get answers.
5
More Routine
Nathan opened his eyes to see a doctor hovering near the bed, reading a chart. It looked like the same doctor that had visited him yesterday.
“Oh don’t mind me Nathaniel, I’m just looking over your observations from last night.”
“It’s Nathan. How am I doing? Looking good?”
“Nothing bad. But nothing to suggest a change.”
“Did you look into my perhaps doing these observations from home, Dr Malberg?” Nathan said, looking directly at the doctor. Dr Malberg stared back at him blankly for a second, before regaining his composure.
“I’m afraid I didn’t have an opportunity to do that yesterday. It will have to wait until our next staff review.”
“When is the next one?”
“I think next week, I’ll check for you.”
“Thanks,” Nathan said still watching the doctor closely. Dr Malberg resumed reading the chart, returned it and then left the room.
“He never intended to talk to his colleagues,” Nathan said to himself with certainty. It was clear that they had no plans of letting him go. That much was obvious. But he couldn’t figure out why he had no progress and why he had to stay.
It all started months ago, when he was feeling a bit lethargic and had a reduced appetite. He visited the local medical clinic, and the doctor ordered a routine blood test. When the results had come in, they said he had to see a specialist in the hospital to review his blood test. The doctor couldn’t give him any additional information.
So Nathan had turned up to his appointment, and the doctor had given him a long explanation of why he was there with technical terms, but not actually explaining what had them so worked up. What was clear, was that he needed to do another test. So they gave him something to drink, and then he blacked out.
When he awoke, he was in a hospital bed and felt extremely weak and lightheaded. And in a nutshell that had been his experience since. Lots of excuses, lack of explanation and a series of ailments that kept him bedridden. But the thing that rankled the most, was the mind numbing routine. The same irritations on a daily basis. The reporter was a ray of hope.
He thought about whether to ask about her again. But he didn’t want to draw unwanted attention. There was a good chance that she got his message, so she would come find him. She had to. Nathan’s inner dialogue was interrupted by the door opening.
“Good morning Nathan, how are we today?” Robin said with a smile.
“Better now that you’re here.”
“You’re such a sweetie.”
“It’s true, the night shift are terrible.”
“Don’t be so harsh on them, nobody gets a permanent assignment so they moonlight between all the wards. They don’t get the luxury of dealing with the same patients all the time,” Robin said. Nathan sat up more in the bed, wincing at the effort.
“Sorry, I just get frustrated I guess.”
“I can understand. You’ve been here for a while.”
“With no end in sight.”
“I’m sure something will come through. Keep your spirits up.”
“I’ll try. Anything new for you today, got something to cheer me up?” Nathan said. He was fishing for news about the reporter and the article, but trying to keep it low key.
“No not really.”
“What about that story in the paper?”
“Oh, I’m not sure. I’ll have to check. Maybe you can look for me?”
“Sure, I’d love to.”
“Great I’m so flat out. I’ll grab you a newspaper,” Robin said before leaving the room.
“She’s lying,” Nathan thought. She had been so excited about the article, he could not believe that she hadn’t already combed the paper from cover to cover. But why should she lie about that? His thought process was interrupted by Robin entering once more.
“Here you go love. I’ll pop back in at lunchtime. Fingers crossed!”
“I’ll let you know if I find it,” Nathan said. He smiled at Robin until she left and then turned his attention to the newspaper. He was curious to see if there was an article. Something about Robin’s behaviour was off. But he had only just caught it. What if there were other things that he hadn’t been paying attention to?
Nathan shook his head, pushing the thought away. He focused on the newspaper, carefully scanning each article. Within five minutes he had looked through the entire paper and there was no article.
“So either she knew it wasn’t coming today and lied about it, or she had already looked and lied about it,” he said to himself. He had no proof, but he just knew. Now he had to think about her possible motives. But it wasn’t clear, he didn’t know what she had to gain. So he decided to hold that line of thought and wait until he had more information to work with
.
Robin appeared at lunchtime as promised.
“So am I famous?” she said as she entered the room.
“Not yet.”
“Maybe tomorrow then.”
“Did the reporter mention when it would be ready?”
“Only that it might take a few days.”
“Ok well I guess we’ll keep checking,” Nathan said. He wanted to ask more pointed questions, but held back. He didn’t need to alienate his biggest supporter here at the hospital.
Lunch was a piece of lasagne with a few steamed and wilted vegetables. He ate the food mechanically, the broccoli reminding him of rubber. Once done he turned to the small tub of yoghurt, hoping it would save the meal. It was good, but too miniature to make a big impact.
In the afternoon Robin left again and Nathan was left with the night shift. After a thirty minute beeping session from his equipment a young nurse entered the room. She had long blonde hair and didn’t look more than twenty years old.
“Hello there, sorry about all the racket,” she said. Nathan accepted the apology and the genuine smile on her face.
“That’s fine, glad you’re here,” he said. The nurse walked over and checked the machine. Then she looked over at his left arm, where the drip was connected.
“Hmm that doesn’t look good, let me check the notes,” she said walking over and picking up his folder.
“You’ve had that cannula for days now, we need to change it.”
“Fair enough. Can I at least have your name before you stick another needle in me?” Nathan said, trying to keep his spirits up.
“Ha-ha good one. Yeah I’m Nancy. I’ll turn this off and come back with what I need.”
“Thanks Nancy,” Nathan said, watching her leave. She had a friendly manner, and had turned off rather than silenced the machine which was a nice touch.
“I shouldn’t be so judgemental,” Nathan thought to himself. It was easy to get carried away when what should be small things take up a lot of attention. Nancy returned within five minutes with a small tray containing medical supplies.
She carefully removed the current needle, and put a cotton bud over the small dot of blood that surfaced. She then used a piece of tape to secure the cotton and provide pressure.
“Halfway done,” Nathan said.
“Yeah that was the easy bit,” Nancy said. She walked around to the other side of the bed and inspected his right arm. She examined and felt his arm up and down, judging a good spot to put the needle in. She rubbed the spot with a bit of alcohol and started to insert the needle, but then stopped immediately.
“I didn’t get it,” she said. Nathan just nodded in response. It was a common thing in his experience, nurses had trouble getting the vein correctly. He waited patiently for her next attempt.
“Sorry,” she said as the second attempt also failed. Nathan winced at the pain but said nothing.
“Oops,” she said at the third attempt. Nathan looked at her, and could see the nervous concentration on her face. He didn’t say anything, for fear of making the situation worse.
The fourth failure really stung, and Nathan let out a little grunt. His arm was becoming tenderer with each successive attempt. He could see Nancy becoming flustered and trying to calm herself.
“Should I say something? Ask for another nurse?” he thought to himself. But with his luck he would get her again, and she was quite young and would probably take it personally. So he steeled himself for the next try.
Half an hour later the cannula was in. Nathan had stopped counting the attempts, happy that he could be left in peace. He felt like his right arm had been beaten soundly. Nancy had apologised on her way out, but Nathan didn’t respond. He just wanted to sleep it off. He dozed briefly, not really sleeping.
Dinner came, and he mechanically shovelled down the macaroni and cheese. His right hand was too sore, so he had to use his left. It was a struggle, but he persevered. He tried to savour the custard pudding but his heart wasn’t in it. So he put himself to bed, hoping that the day would end.
He was out for a long dreamless sleep. When he awoke it took a moment for him to remember where he was. The pain in his right arm brought back vivid memories of the previous day’s events.
His right arm was good enough to handle the porridge for breakfast, and he left the doctor alone and asked no hard questions. He was hanging out to see Robin.
When she finally popped in he saw her clutching a newspaper in her hand. Nathan’s spirits lifted when he saw it.
“Are you famous today?” he said.
“You could say that. One of the girls spotted it for me,” Robin said, her face beaming. Nathan pondered the probability of any of the nurses seeing that before Robin did.
“Could I take a look?”
“Sure I brought you this copy,” Robin said. She left the newspaper on his tray table. Nathan started leafing through it immediately.
“Everything looks good here I’ll pop in a bit later,” Robin said. Nathan nodded but didn’t look up. The newspaper was his key concern. He resisted the urge to rapidly flip through. He methodically scanned each page, making sure he missed nothing. Sure enough, towards the end he spotted the story.
TWENTY YEARS OF SERVICE FOR SUPER NURSE
The first thing he noticed was the name of the reporter: Elizabeth Edmonds. He didn’t know her, but committed the name to memory. It was a comfort to put a name to the person who he was pinning his hopes on. It also reinforced that she was real, and had visited the hospital. The details of the story were not of much interest. But it gelled with his experience with Robin. Towards the end of the article were some very intriguing bits.
There were quotes from some of Robin’s patients.
“She got my message. She came back!” Nathan said to himself in shock. Well she could have done it all the first day, but it was just too coincidental. And Robin had acted strangely yesterday, surely because she knew that Elizabeth the reporter was coming back.
“They are keeping things from me. Keeping me hidden and not letting me go,” Nathan thought to himself. From the article Elizabeth had spoken to two other patients of Robin, called Tom and Dean. He memorised those names too. How many patients had Robin talked to before volunteering those two?
Nathan’s mind was running fast, trying to consider all the possibilities. He could deduce that Elizabeth had gotten his message, come back to talk to the patients and been given two names which were not him. Robin had not mentioned to him that Elizabeth was coming back to talk to patients, because she knew that Nathan would ask to be included. It perfectly explained Robin’s behaviour and also why he had been left out. It also suggested that he had been left out purposefully.
But then his heart sank - he had missed his chance. He had created an opportunity but not managed to capitalise on it.
“If she’s a good reporter, she must know that something else is up. If she got the message, surely the interviews she did weren’t satisfactory,” Nathan thought. She had to know that neither of the people she interviewed had left her the message. But he was out of options, he couldn’t rely on the same trick again.
He scanned the article again, looking for something else that might be of assistance. But that was it. He could confront Robin about not being given the opportunity to talk to the reporter, but she was under obligation to explain herself. The best thing he could do was act on the information he had obtained. Which meant locating either Tom or Dean.
“Since they talked to her, they mustn’t have the same restrictions as me. Maybe they could pass on a message. The trick though is getting myself mobile,” Nathan said to himself. For all he had been told, there was no reason that he couldn’t move around. They were probably counting on his lethargy and the lack of use of his muscles.
“I can’t just sit here and wait to be rescued. I need to take action,” Nathan thought. It was time to start training.
6
The Interview
Elizabeth woke just before her
alarm and turned it off. It was unusual for her to wake this early, and to beat the alarm as well. It was probably down to her nervousness, or excitement at her interview with Lucy Margot.
Initially she had been rather put out at the task, but through her preparation she had been caught up in it. Lucy was actually a well-spoken person, and would be of interest even without the potentially fruitful link to Royal Monterey Hospital.
“Just don’t turn into one of those breathless star struck types,” she said to the mirror as she completed her makeup. She had never met a movie star before, and all the articles she had read suggested that Lucy had a very strong presence. Which in itself wasn’t an issue, Elizabeth had gone toe to toe with some big personalities like the previous Mayor. But the whole thing was just enough outside her comfort zone that she wasn’t as sure of herself.
She had left early enough to skip the worst of the morning traffic, parking underneath The Grand.
“Work can pay for this,” Elizabeth thought, balking at the parking rates. The Grand was the oldest and most prestigious hotel in the city. Its aged sandstone was distinctive and made it look like an old castle. There was a story doing the round that it was originally called something else, like ‘The Grand Palace’ but the last word had been dropped as nobody ever bothered to say it. Elizabeth thought that the story was plausible.
Her interview with Lucy would be held in the penthouse suite, famed for its luxury, antique furniture and elite guest list. Elizabeth had an hour to spare, and her stomach reminded her that she had skipped breakfast. She took the lift up to the main lobby and marvelled at the giant chandelier dominating the space. She crossed the floor and stepped into the hotel restaurant Petit Grand.
She was led to a sun drenched corner and sat down at a table. She ordered a cappuccino and perused the menu. She decided on Eggs Benedict and put the menu aside. Rifling through her bag she retrieved her notes and started leafing through them.
Lucy had finished shooting Solar Quest without incident and at some point after that she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Her public relations agent had recently announced that she was in remission, which neatly coincided with her promotional tour for the movie. Not only was the timing great, but only three months had passed since news of her diagnosis.
The Secret Patient Page 4