Police Doctor

by Laura MacDonald

  Penny drew in her breath. ‘I’m not happy,’ she muttered. ‘Her ECG gave cause for concern and now her blood pressure is dropping.’

  Adele looked down at the woman on the couch who was about fifty years of age. Her appearance was pale, her breathing shallow and she appeared to have slipped into unconsciousness. ‘I’ll draw up an injection,’ she said. Turning away to the drug cupboards, she began taking out packs containing a syringe and drugs for heart stimulation but before she had the chance to even open the packs there was an urgent shout from Penny.

  ‘She’s arrested!’

  ‘The defib?’

  ‘It’s in the other treatment room,’ said Penny. ‘I’ll press the alarm button and someone will bring it.’

  ‘There’s no sign of a pulse,’ said Adele as she checked that the woman was lying flat and that her airway was clear. ‘We’ll start resuscitation.’

  Penny placed a gauze square over the patient’s mouth and Adele dragged a footstool to the side of the couch in order to give herself the necessary space to start heart massage. Together they commenced the resuscitation routine—Adele with her hands linked administering five thumps to the patient’s chest followed by a short sharp breath into her mouth from Penny, then five more thumps and another breath and so on.

  For a moment it was as if Adele had been transported back to her days as a junior doctor in Casualty where this routine had been something of a common occurrence on victims of road accidents who were brought in.

  While they were pausing to check for a pulse the door was flung open and Mary appeared with the mobile defibrillator, closely followed by Casey who must have heard the alarm bell and decided to investigate after all.

  ‘There’s nothing,’ said Penny.

  ‘Keep going,’ instructed Adele.

  ‘The defib?’

  ‘While they’re setting it up.’

  They resumed the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and the heart massage while Mary and Casey set up the defibrillator, then Casey moved forward with the pads.

  ‘Anything?’ he asked, and they all paused again.

  ‘Nothing.’ Adele shook her head and then, suddenly mindful that she was only the trainee, stepped from the stool in order to let Casey take over. He, however, calmly passed her the pads. Her gaze flew to his face but his expression was implacable. She was vaguely aware of a look of surprise on Penny’s face as if she, too, had assumed that Casey as the senior member of staff present would automatically take over.

  Gripping the pads tightly, Adele took a deep breath. ‘Stand clear!’ she ordered, and as the others stood back she applied the pads, producing the required shock.

  The patient’s body jumped and arched then Casey checked for a response. ‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Nothing. Try again.’

  Rapidly Adele repeated the procedure—the command and the application, followed by the moment of anticipation—and this time there was no disappointment for Casey said, ‘We have a pulse. Welcome back, Marion.’ Gently he smoothed his patient’s forehead, brushing her hair from her eyes.

  Amidst sighs of relief from Adele, Penny and Mary, Casey looked round at each of them. ‘Well done,’ he said quietly. ‘Thankfully we don’t need that procedure here very often but when we do it’s nice to know it works so efficiently. I take it…’ he glanced at Mary ‘…there’s also an ambulance on the way?’

  Mary nodded. ‘Yes, Lizzie phoned for one as soon as we heard the alarm bell.’

  Casey looked down at Marion again. ‘We’re going to get you into hospital, Marion,’ he said gently as her eyes opened and she looked up at him in bewilderment.

  ‘Hospital…?’ she murmured.

  ‘Yes, a little spell in the coronary care unit,’ Casey replied. ‘You had a cardiac arrest, Marion. Your heart stopped beating but fortunately Dr Brooks and Sister Rudge were on hand to make sure that normal service was resumed.’

  ‘We’ve let your husband know, Marion,’ said Mary. ‘Cheryl phoned him at work and he’s on his way here.’

  ‘So there you are, Marion, you’ve nothing to worry about,’ said Casey. ‘All you have to do is to rest and let others wait on you for a while.’

  The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and while Adele was giving details of Marion’s treatment and medical condition to the paramedics, Brian Kendry arrived and was shown straight into the treatment room by Lizzie.

  After Marion had been taken to hospital, with her husband following the ambulance in his car, Casey was called away to Frances Drew’s office to sign a batch of referrals and Adele found herself alone with Penny.

  ‘Well, that was a drama I could have done without on a Monday morning,’ said Penny as she set about clearing up.

  ‘It seems to have been all high drama in the last couple of days,’ said Adele. She spoke without thinking then immediately wished she’d been more careful as Penny looked up from the couch where she was collecting up the paper sheeting.

  ‘Did Casey get called out to certify that girl’s death yesterday? It’s all right,’ she added, catching sight of Adele’s expression. ‘I heard it on the news this morning.’

  Adele nodded. ‘Yes, he did.’

  ‘Was that where you went with him?’ Penny’s brown eyes narrowed slightly.

  ‘Yes, he asked me to. It…it was pretty harrowing,’ she added.

  ‘I dare say it was.’ Penny was silent for a moment then she said, ‘I’m rather surprised that Casey asked you to go. He’s an old hand at that sort of thing but, let’s face it, it’s all new to you and something like that…well…’

  ‘I have to get used to things like that,’ said Adele. ‘Especially if I want to be involved in police work. And, after all, I am a doctor.’

  ‘I know.’ Penny nodded. ‘But you have to admit that yesterday wasn’t your usual run-of-the-mill street brawl or pub punch-up, was it?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t,’ Adele agreed. ‘It was pretty ghastly if you must know,’ she added after a moment.

  ‘Did it affect you badly?’ Penny looked up.

  ‘Yes, it did, actually,’ she admitted. ‘I’m ashamed to say I needed a brandy afterwards to steady my nerves.’

  ‘Nothing to be ashamed of in that,’ said Penny. ‘I would probably have needed a couple if it had been me.’

  ‘Apart from the horror of it all and the sadness of that poor girl’s death in such a manner and in such a desolate, lonely place, it was also all the implications behind it that made me feel so bad.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Penny tore a length of paper from a large roll and placed it on the couch.

  ‘Well, for a moment there she reminded me of my niece,’ said Adele slowly, ‘and from that it’s only a short leap of imagination to thinking that it could have actually been her. And then I got to thinking of the girl’s family and how they must be feeling as they try to come to terms with it all.’

  ‘I know.’ Penny gave a little shudder. ‘It hardly bears thinking about.’

  They were silent for a moment then Adele looked round the treatment room. ‘This won’t do,’ she said. ‘I suppose I’d better go and get on.’

  ‘Have you finished surgery?’ asked Penny.

  ‘Yes, I’d just seen the last one when you phoned through, but I’ve no doubt Casey has something else lined up for me—either some house calls or helping him tackle the ever-growing mountain of paperwork.’

  ‘Not working you too hard, is he?’ asked Penny casually.

  By this time Adele had started walking towards the door but she paused and looked over her shoulder. ‘Not really,’ she said with a little laugh.

  ‘I hope he bought you the brandy.’

  ‘I’m sorry…?’

  ‘You said you were in need of a brandy last evening—I hope it was Casey who bought it for you.’

  ‘Er, well, yes…sort of.’ Suddenly she didn’t know quite what to say. Penny quite obviously thought they had gone to a pub on the way home but if she allowed her to go on thinking that and Pen
ny then mentioned it to Casey who would deny it, she would be made to look very silly. On the other hand, she wasn’t too sure she wanted Penny knowing that she had gone to Casey’s flat to drink brandy and she certainly didn’t want her knowing what else had taken place.

  ‘What do you mean, “sort of”?’ Penny wrinkled her nose. ‘Either he did or he didn’t.’

  ‘Well, we didn’t go to the pub,’ said Adele. Taking a deep breath and deciding there was nothing else for it, she said, ‘He gave me a brandy when we got back here.’

  ‘Really?’ Penny had turned away so Adele couldn’t see her expression. ‘Well, I suppose that was something.’

  ‘Yes, quite.’ Adele went then, suddenly unable to cope with any more of that particular conversation. The last thing she wanted was for Penny to think that she was trying to come between her and Casey, but as she left the treatment room she had the feeling that that was exactly what was starting to happen.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  DURING the next few days Adele found herself increasingly on edge whenever she was in Casey’s company. Whenever she knew she was going to see him, either to do a surgery together or to go on house calls, a kind of anxious tension would set in, followed by anticipation that seemed to build and build until it reached overwhelming proportions.

  She was at a loss to explain why this should be—she only knew it had something to do with what had happened between them the night of the police call. She wasn’t even sure why. Maybe it was quite simply because what had happened shouldn’t have happened and the forbidden element carried an added edge of excitement, but somehow she doubted it was only that. Deep down she knew it had more to do with how she had felt that night, how she had responded to Casey and of how little it had had in common with the way she’d felt about Nigel.

  Towards the end of the week Casey told her he felt she was ready to take her own surgeries.

  ‘You’ll be fine,’ he reassured her, catching sight of her dubious expression. ‘And don’t forget, at least to start with you’ll simply be taking extra surgeries which in theory should only consist of acute situations, urgent things that have just happened that need immediate treatment and can’t wait for an appointment.’

  ‘But we all know that isn’t always the case,’ she observed dryly. ‘There will always be the patient who uses the emergency surgery for an update or a second opinion on a chronic situation…’

  ‘True,’ Casey agreed, ‘and likewise there will be the patient who has put up with a condition for a long time then suddenly snaps and can’t bear it a moment longer. Don’t forget, you always have options in these situations. If, for example, you don’t feel able to deal with something that’s more complex than it first appears, you can give temporary relief and ensure that the patient returns to see his or her own GP at a later date.’

  ‘What about referrals?’

  ‘You can, of course, make referrals or if you wish you could leave a memo to the patient’s GP about the condition, leaving them to make the decision. You’ll find you’ll be authorising tests all the time—blood, urine, liver function, thyroid function and so on. In these situations, again it would be courteous to leave a note for the GP concerned, bringing them up to date with what’s happening with their patient.’

  They had been talking in the treatment room at the end of a cervical smear clinic, and as Casey finished Adele posed the question that had intrigued her since coming to Woolverton House. ‘Where will I take these extra surgeries?’ she asked, knowing full well there was no spare consulting room.

  ‘Good point.’ Casey nodded. Out of the corner of her eye Adele was aware that Penny had come into the treatment room. ‘The only spare rooms in the house are the rooms that are used as storerooms and neither of them is suitable at the present time so we’ve agreed that as one of the partners is off duty on a different day of the week, theirs should be the room you use. Does that sound all right to you?’

  ‘I suppose so.’ Adele wrinkled her nose. ‘I shall feel like a bit of a nomad but I guess it can’t be helped.’

  Penny, who had obviously come in on the conversation and had overheard, suddenly spoke. ‘What would happen here, Casey, if you took on another partner?’

  ‘As I wanted to do in the first place, you mean?’ he asked, looking over his shoulder at Penny.

  ‘Yes, that’s right,’ she agreed, leaving Adele to believe that she and Casey had discussed the situation at length, probably before her arrival. It suddenly made her feel vulnerable and uneasy.

  ‘Well, I imagine one of the storerooms would be converted,’ said Casey. ‘Failing that, I guess we might look at planning permission to build on, but I foresee problems there, with this being a listed building. Anyway, that would all be for discussion in the future, but that’s the situation at the moment. I’ve just told Adele, Penny, that I feel she’s ready to start taking her own surgeries.’

  ‘Well, that’s great.’ Penny smiled. ‘It’ll certainly ease the appointment situation—the reception staff will be delighted,’ she added. As Casey began to move towards the door, she said quickly, ‘Oh, Casey, don’t run away. Could I have a quick word, please?’

  ‘All right, but it’ll have to be quick.’ Casey looked at his watch. ‘I have house calls then a surgery.’

  ‘I know.’ Penny moved closer to show him some notes, and as she looked up into his face Adele slipped unnoticed out of the treatment room, leaving the two of them together.

  She still found it extremely difficult thinking of Casey and Penny as an item, maybe because there seemed to be so little evidence of it. Knowing Casey as she now did, Adele could imagine him being quite firm about them keeping their relationship very low-key while they were at work, but more strange was that there seemed no sign of very much happening away from work either. But Adele put that down to the fact that perhaps she’d simply not been around at the appropriate times and hadn’t seen the pair of them together.

  No doubt, she thought as she made her way back to Reception after leaving the treatment room, Penny would seize this opportunity to speak to Casey alone. Suddenly she found herself envying Penny, wishing that she could again talk intimately to Casey as they had done briefly before. She’d been interested in hearing about his family and his background and longed to know more, just as she’d found herself wanting to tell him about her own family and even about her failed relationship with Nigel. For a moment her envy of Penny threatened to spiral out of control as she imagined her and Casey sharing not only intimate details of their families and friends but also every other aspect of their lives, from meals and outings together to possibly holidays, and…sex. Of course, sex. She couldn’t imagine Casey being in a relationship and sex not playing an important part. There was something so masculine and intensely virile about him…She shivered slightly, goose-bumps standing up on her skin as she recalled that moment he’d pulled her into his arms. There had been an urgency about it—a sort of raw passion. But she had to stop thinking like this. Casey wasn’t hers and was never likely to be. Not, of course, that she even wanted him to be…Did she?

  Of course she didn’t, she told herself firmly as she walked into the chaotic mass of people that thronged Reception.

  At the end of that week was the dinner party to be held by Edward and Celia.

  ‘What will you wear?’ asked Cheryl as Adele returned a batch of notes to Reception after the final surgery.

  ‘I’ve bought a new top,’ Adele replied. ‘I thought I could wear it with my black evening trousers.’

  ‘What colour is it?’ asked Cheryl, leaning over the reception desk.

  ‘A sort of burnt orange,’ said Adele.

  ‘That’ll look nice with your colouring,’ Lizzie chipped in. ‘I’ve got a new top I’m wearing tonight as well.’

  ‘Are you going to the dinner party?’ Adele asked in surprise. She had understood it was only to be for the doctors but maybe she’d been wrong. A peal of laughter from Cheryl soon clarified the position, however.


  ‘Us? To one of Celia Fletcher’s dinner parties? You’ve got to be joking!’

  ‘I just wondered, that’s all,’ said Adele weakly, then with a surreptitious little glance over her shoulder, she said, ‘Why, what’s wrong with them?’

  ‘Oh, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with them exactly,’ said Cheryl. ‘Although, having said that, I can think of better ways of spending a Friday night…’

  ‘Too true,’ muttered Lizzie.

  ‘No, it isn’t that.’ Cheryl flashed a grin at Lizzie. ‘It’s just that we wouldn’t be invited in the first place.’

  ‘Oh.’ Adele frowned then asked, ‘Isn’t there any social-ising between the partners and the rest of the staff?’

  ‘Not really.’ Cheryl shrugged and shook her head. ‘They take us out for a meal at Christmas but that’s about it. We girls go out together from time to time—you know, for an Indian or a Chinese or something like that.’

  ‘I think that’s a shame,’ said Adele slowly. ‘I think there should be more social contact. There were masses of social events at the hospital where I worked.’

  ‘Adele’s right.’ Mary stood up from behind the computer where she had been sitting and from where she had obviously heard every word. ‘I think I’ll organise something—maybe a cheese and wine party would be nice. I’ll see what Rachel thinks.’ With that she bustled away towards the practice manager’s office.

  ‘Now see what you’ve done,’ groaned Lizzie.

  ‘Sorry!’ Adele chuckled, turning as Toby came out of his consulting room.

  ‘Have I missed a joke?’ he asked, blinking and looking round.

  ‘Not really. We were just talking about socialising and about tonight’s dinner party,’ said Adele.

  ‘Oh, Lord, yes,’ said Toby. ‘I’d forgotten about that for a while.’

  ‘Sounds like you’re not too keen on going,’ said Adele quietly as she fell into step beside him and they began to make their way out of the front of the building and round to the courtyard and the entrance to the flats.

  ‘Oh, it’ll be all right when we get there,’ said Toby. ‘It’s one of those things it’s difficult to drum up any enthusiasm over, but I have to say Celia really does go to a lot of trouble and she’s an excellent cook—the food is always superb at these dos.’