Double Noose

by Jay Sharman

  Nicki stood up and walked back towards her chair. She whispered, ‘Listen Julian, you find an excuse and come to see me tonight. I will be waiting for you in my flat.’

  Before Julian could answer her, Nicki left the room. Julian just kept on shaking his head in disbelief.

  As the evening approached, Julian was in a dilemma, whether to go to Nicki’s flat or not. He decided to go to the seminar but after ten minutes he made an excuse to Gina. ‘Darling I am not feeling well. I think that I better go home.’

  Gina put her hand on Julian’s forehead and asked ‘What is the matter Julian? If you are not feeling well, then I will also come home with you.’ Julian bent sideways to pick up his medical bag and said, ‘No Gina, you better stay here and listen to the lecture and make notes. Then I can also read them later.’

  Gina looked into her husband’s eyes and said, ‘Are you sure Julian that you will be able to look after yourself?’

  He replied, ‘Yes, I will be fine. If there is any problem, then I will call you.’

  Julian put his hand on his tummy and silently walked away from the lecture room, without disturbing anybody else.

  Nicki opened the door and gave a big hug to Julian. She said, ‘I have been missing you Julian. Why have you been ignoring me?’

  Julian was speechless but then started to pull himself away from her. He said, ‘Nicki, you know that I am a married man, and Gina is always with me.’

  Nicki held Julian’s arms with her hands and said, ‘Julian, I am finding it difficult to pass my time without you. I want to spend more time with you, but you need to do something. Julian, you need to tell your wife about us. I know that you love me as well.’

  Julian put his arms around Nicki’s neck and muttered, ‘Yes, I am also falling for you, that is why I came to see you. Please do not put any pressure on me and just leave it to me.’

  Nicki took Julian to her bedroom to make love. Afterwards Julian washed his face as he did not want to leave any lip stick marks there for his wife to see. After implanting a kiss on Nicola’s lips, he dashed to home to reach there before his wife came back from the seminar.

  After he got there, Julian quickly changed his clothes and jumped straight into bed and within fifteen minutes his wife also came back from the seminar.

  Gina went straight to the bedroom, stood near Julian’s head, touched his forehead with her hand and asked, ‘My poor Julian, how are you feeling now?’

  Julian turned his head towards his wife and said, ‘Hi Gina, you come home earlier. Did the meeting finish early?’

  Gina took her hand away from her husband’s forehead and whispered, ‘No, not yet, I phoned home two or three times but you did not answer the phone, so I got worried. Your body feels quite normal now with no sign of any temperature’

  Julian opened his eyes with a smile on his face, he found the glare of the light too bright for his eyes, he said, ‘Yes, I must have gone to sleep, but I am feeling better now after I took some paracetamol.’

  Gina sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on his face and asked, ‘Julian, is there something wrong? I have noticed some changes in your behaviour in the last few weeks.’

  Julian held his wife’s hand and whispered, ‘No, I am fine. Just I feel stressed up at times.’

  Gina said,’ You work too hard, maybe you should share some responsibilities with me. I know my list is always full, but I still can see more patients of yours.’

  Julian took his hand away from his wife and said,’ So you think that you are more popular doctor than me. Why do you have to tell me that?’

  Julian tried to hold his hand again and said, ‘No I do not mean that. Being a female doctor, lots of female patients prefer to see me. That is all, ok go to sleep now.’

  Chapter 9

  After that week the meetings between Julian and Nicki became more frequent. Julian had to make more excuses to stay with Nicki. Julian’s mind was more focussed on Nicki and his work suffered as a result. More patients complained about his erratic behaviour and absent mindedness. Julian was lucky that no patient made any formal complaint against him, but his list declined as more and more patients opted to see Gina.

  One evening, when Julian reached home late after seeing Nicki, Gina confronted Julian by shouting at him. ‘Where are you coming from so late at night?’

  Julian looked to the ground and muttered, ‘I went to the gym and then one of my friends suggested that we go to see a movie.’

  Gina smirked as she asked ‘Julian, did you take your fitness bag with you?’

  ‘Yes, I did.’ replied Julian.

  Gina opened the door of the cupboard and said, ‘You are lying Julian, the bag is here in your cupboard and have you got your movie tickets?’

  Julian did not have much confidence to look into his wife’s eyes, he muttered, ‘No, I threw the movie tickets away in a dustbin.’

  Gina laughed as she closed the door of the cupboard, ‘How convenient! The fact is that you never went to these places. You are lying again.’

  ‘What are you trying to say?’ demanded Julian.

  Gina said as she stood near her husband, ‘Julian be honest. You have changed so much in the last few weeks. You are having an affair. Aren’t you Julian?’

  ‘No, that is not true.’ Julian replied as he stamped his foot on the floor.

  Gina said, ‘Julian, I hired a private detective last week to check your movements and he followed you to Nicki’s house a few times and took your photograph with her.’

  By this time Julian’s body had slumped and his face became pale with few drops of perspiration on his face. He took few deep breaths as he did not know where to hide himself. He gathered some courage and asked, ‘How did you know that? But our relationship is just a friendship and nothing else.’

  Gina raised her voice, ‘Julian, you do realise what you are doing. You are having an affair with your patient which is against medical ethics and against the rules and regulation of General Medical Council.’

  Julian looked away from his wife and said, ‘Gina, there is nothing between me and Nicki.’

  Gina turned Julian’s face with her hand towards her and shouted from the top of her voice, ‘Julian, first you commit a crime and then you deny that. If I report you to the General Medical Council, then you will be struck off from the register and you will cease to be a doctor. Is it worth the risk?’

  Julian did not know what to say as he continued to look at the floor with his hands folded in front of him. Gina continued with a smirk on her face. ‘I have photographs of you and Nicki in uncompromising positions. That evidence is enough for the General Medical Council so what do you want to do Julian?’

  Julian put his hands to cover his face, as he tried to hide his guilt and embarrassment.

  ‘Do you love this woman?’ asked Gina.

  ‘I don't know.’ replied Julian. ‘I know that it was a mistake, but please don't report me to General Medical Council. I will be completely devastated. Please forgive me. I promise that I will break all my connections with her.’

  Gina sat on the edge of the bed and muttered, ‘You should have thought about that before you hurt me, that is one crime but to hurt the confidence and confidentiality of patients is a bigger crime. I will have to ask you to leave the house immediately.’

  Julian folded both his hands in front of his wife and pleaded, ‘You can't do that to me. I have nowhere to go. I will move to another room, as I still have full right to live in this house.’

  Gina said, ‘I am not that cruel, but I want you to move to the next bedroom tonight and then make other arrangements to live somewhere else tomorrow. Julian You are finished now, and our marriage is finished as well.’

  Julian took his clothes out of the bedroom and moved to the next bedroom. He phoned Nicki to explain about the events of the day. Nicki said, ‘Olin, Do not worry. You will not be homeless. You can move with me. My flat is small but enough for us’

  To that Julian suggested. ‘I need to
be near Gina as I am worried that she may report me to the General Medical Council, which will mean the end of my career.’

  Nicki kept her cool, and said, ‘Do not worry too much about that, General Medical Council can't probe that we met in the surgery. Anyway, leave everything to me. I will take care of everything. Are you in surgery tomorrow?’

  ‘Yes, I am.’ replied Coin. ‘Why do you want to know that?’

  Nicki took a deep breath and whispered ‘Do not worry about anything. I will tell you tomorrow when I see you there.’

  Chapter 10

  Next morning Nicki arrived just when then the surgery had just finished. Julian was surprised to see Nicki entering his room without any knock.

  Julian’s heart almost stopped, and his tongue protruded outside his moth. He turned his chair towards her and asked, ‘Nicki, what are you doing here?’

  Nicki sat on the empty chair and whispered ‘We need to talk to Gina about us. There is no point in hiding the truth. Also, while I am here, can you give me an injection of steroids for my shoulder pain?’

  Julian looked at Nicki’s shoulder, it was stiff and her arm could not be raised above a certain point of the shoulder. He said, ‘Yes Nicki, you have a frozen shoulder. If your problems started quite recently, then this steroid injection will help you. You do not have appointment with me. No, I am just joking.’

  Nicki stretched her arms in front of him and said, ‘It has been hurting me for the last two weeks. The pain is quite bad. Please hurry up and inject me.’

  Julian took the steroid from the small cupboard and then injected it into her shoulder without causing any pain or discomfort to her.

  After finishing the injection, Julian threw the needle in the bin, but in a rush left the used syringe by the side of the bed. Nicki got up from the bed and suggested, ‘Ok, let us go and to talk to Gina.’

  Julian asked while washing his hands in the sink, ‘Are you sure that this is a good idea – we may end up causing more problems for both of us.’

  Nicki held Julian’s hand and pulled him towards her, ‘No, come on let us go, Julian.’

  Julian reluctantly followed Nicki, who knocked at Gina’s room, but no reply came from inside.

  Julian suggested, ‘Gina may have already left for a home visit. Let me open the door and check her myself.’

  Julian opened the door slowly. He saw Gina’s chair facing the wall and could only see her head from there.

  Julian called, ‘Gina, are you busy doing something?’ Julian got no reply.

  Julian decided to walk near the chair, where he saw Gina’s head tilted to one side, lying lifeless. ‘Oh my God, Nicki, Gina is not breathing. Come here and help me. Let me give her resuscitation.

  Nicki rushed towards Gina and she saw her in the chair with her mouth wide open and pupils dilated. She covered her own mouth with her hand and whispered, ‘Oh my God Julian, I think that she is dead.’

  Julian shouted, ‘No she cannot die like that. I just talked to her only an hour ago.’ Julian felt her pulse and heart beats but could hear nothing.

  He shouted, ‘Come on Nicki, give me a hand. I want to put her on to the bed. No Gina, you cannot leave me like this.’

  Julian with the help of Nicki removed Gina from her chair to put her on the bed. He shouted, ‘Can you call the ambulance? Hurry up, she needs to be rushed to hospital.’

  Nicki went to pick up the phone, but then she saw a letter lying on her desk addressed to the police station which Nicki read as follows,

  “I have discovered that my husband is having an affair with one of his patients. I had threatened to report him to the General Medical Council, which in theory could put my life in danger. If anything happens to me, then you would know who is responsible for my death”.

  Julian left Gina on the bed to read the letter. He then started to compress Gina’s heart with his hands to revive her heart, he whispered ‘This letter has not yet been posted, so we will be ok.’

  Nicki stood behind Julian and said, ‘Julian, look at the date of this letter, it was written yesterday. That means that she may have already posted this letter, and this is just a copy for herself. No point in wasting your time to revive her. She is already dead. Come on, let us get out of here.’

  Julian looked at the dead face of his wife, then wiped drops of perspiration from his forehead with his hand and said, ‘If we run away now like this, then police will be more suspicious. She may had a simple heart attack as I can't see any injuries or foul play.’

  Nicki shrugged Julian’s shoulders and shouted, ‘Look Dr Dashwood, this is no time to be a detective. Leave her on the bed and get out of here now. Just believe me as I know what I am doing’

  Nicki gave hand to Julian to put Gina back into the chair and both of them left the room as quickly as possible.

  Julian asked, ‘Where are we going. I think that we should not run like this as it will make us look very suspicious. We have not done anything wrong. She may have died of heart attack.’

  Nicki started to drive away from the surgery in a hurry and shouted ‘Come on Julian, do not ask too many questions. let us get out of here.’

  Julian was busy putting his seat belt on and said, ‘Why are we running away? We will be under suspicion if we did that. The best thing is to go to the police station and explain to them about the whole incident.’

  Nicki looked at Julian when she stopped the car at the traffic light and said, ‘No Julian, the police are not going to believe you.’

  Julian said without looking at her, ‘Why should I worry, when I have not done anything wrong?’

  Nicki took a deep breath and muttered, ‘Your fingerprints are all over her body and you say that her body’s colour was different to that of natural death. That means that somebody injected her with a poison or drug. Where is the syringe that you used to inject my shoulder?

  Julian looked around and said, ‘Oh no, I might had left that syringe in Gina’s room by mistake as I think it was in my hand when I went to her room. We must turn back to get the syringe.’

  Nicki turned the car back to go to the surgery.

  When they arrived at the surgery, they saw an ambulance and police cars everywhere. Gina’s body was being moved by the ambulance crew to be taken to the hospital. The police had cordoned off the area and nobody was allowed to go inside the surgery. Nicki saw the police looking at the CCTV camera from outside the surgery checking its range and movements.

  Julian held his breath and said, ‘Now, the police will see in the CCTV recording us running away together in a car.’

  Nicki took a small tape out of her pocket. ‘Do not worry darling, I took the tape out when I went to Gina’s room so police would not know about our movements.’

  Julian asked ‘Where are we going now then? Shall we go back to my house, I need to collect some clothes and some money.’

  Nicki started to walk back to her car and said, ‘No Julian, the next stop for the police will be your house. You can always go back there during the night time. Do you have a surgery booked this evening?’

  Julian looked at the entrance e of the surgery and replied. ‘No today was my half day, so surgery is closed in the evenings today.’

  As Nicki started to drive towards her house, Julian’s phone started to ring. As Julian approached his phone to answer, Nicki took it away from him.

  She shouted, ‘Do not answer your phone yet. The police might be looking for you. Let us think that what we need to tell them. In fact, take your sim card out of your phone, otherwise police can trace your movements and find your location.’

  Julian grabbed the phone back from Nicki and said, ‘Let me first check that if any message has been left by the police.’

  Julian listened to the message and said, ‘You were right, the police are looking for me. They said they need to talk to me about an important issue and that I must call them back on a phone number left by them on my mobile phone.’

  Julian looked at Nicki, she looked very confident
and calm while driving her car. She looked very confident and calm and seemed to know exactly about the consequences of her actions.

  Julian took a deep breath, as he could feel a drop of sweat on his spine. He looked at Nicki and whispered. ‘I think that we should go to the police otherwise they will suspect that I have killed her and will issue an arrest warrant in my name.’

  Nicki looked at Julian, while driving. She whispered, ‘I forgot to tell you that I went to see Gina before I went to see you to clarify a few issues. We had an argument as she did not approve of our relationship. I had lost my temper and I rushed towards her to strangle her. I had hardly touched her neck when she lost consciousness. That is when I rushed to your room and asked you to inject me for my frozen shoulder.’

  Julian was alarmed and looked at Nicki in surprise. He shouted, ‘I think that you have killed Gina?’

  Nicki slowed her car down to look at Julian and said, ‘I don't know what exactly happened. I did not mean to harm to her. I just wanted to talk to her to clarify few issues, but she would not listen to me. I did not do anything. Anyway, let us go to my home and we can decide about our next course of action.’

  In the evening Nicki switched on the radio which gave the news of Dr Dashwood’s death “A doctor found dead in the surgery, under mysterious circumstances. Police are trying to contact her husband for further questioning”.

  Julian switched off the radio as he did not like what he heard. He looked at Nicki who seemed to breath faster and her hands were continuously twitching as she cleared drops of sweat from her forehead.

  He asked, ‘Nicki, why do you look so worried, did you kill Gina?’

  Nicki snapped, ‘Oh no, I thought you killed her that is why I was protecting you and asking you to stay away from the police.’

  Both of them looked at each other in disdain, as if mistrusting each other’s intentions and beliefs.