Police Doctor

by Laura MacDonald

  ‘Yes, I think so…’ She attempted to stand up and as her legs threatened to give out, she would have stumbled if Casey hadn’t steadied her.

  ‘Hey,’ he said softly, ‘you’re not all right, are you?’ He continued to hold her.

  ‘I seem to be making a habit of this sort of thing,’ she said shakily. ‘Last time it was certifying a death, this time it’s…well, I don’t really know what you’d call this. All I know is that she frightened me to death.’

  ‘You say she had a key?’ Casey lowered his head slightly to look into her face.

  ‘Yes.’ Adele nodded. ‘She said she’d had one cut when she was living here.’

  Casey looked quite stricken. ‘We should have changed the locks. So what happened?’ Slowly he sat down on the sofa and drew Adele down beside him, all the while keeping one arm around her.

  ‘She came to surgery,’ Adele explained slowly. ‘I was the only one available so I told Cheryl I would see her. She was still fixed on the fact that she was having a baby—she wanted me to listen for the heartbeat.’

  ‘So did you?’ Casey’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Yes, but I told her I couldn’t hear anything,’ Adele replied. When Casey nodded, as if in approval, she went on, ‘But that seemed to annoy her. She walked out of the surgery. I was concerned about her state of mind so I rang Ruby Felton. Ruby said to leave it with her and that she would call at the hostel where Elvira is living and check that she’s taking her medication. I was happy with that but later after surgery when I came up to the flat I found that—’ her voice wavered as she relived that awful moment ‘—Elvira had let herself in.’

  ‘What state of mind was she in at that point?’ asked Casey.

  Briefly Adele told him about how Elvira had thought that this was still her flat, of how she wanted her, Adele, to stay there and deliver her baby and of how she had lit all the candles in the flat.

  He interrupted her only once. ‘Did she threaten you?’

  Adele took a deep breath then nodded. ‘Yes, when I tried to attract Toby’s attention out of the window. She’d followed me into the kitchen and she threatened to set fire…to my hair.’ She turned and looked at him as she spoke and saw the brief look of horror that passed across his features.

  ‘Did she have matches?’ His arm tightened around her.

  ‘No, a cigarette lighter.’ Adele shuddered at the memory. ‘I don’t doubt she would have done it but I managed to get her back in here and we sat for ages, but when I started talking about the baby again…you know, to try and humour her, she didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. It was pretty scary, I can tell you…’

  ‘I’m sure it was.’ Casey ran a hand over his hair in a distracted fashion. ‘Hell, it must have been a nightmare.’

  ‘It was…rather,’ Adele gulped. ‘And another thing, and I have to say this really freaked me out—she was wearing one of my tops.’

  ‘What?’ Casey frowned. ‘You mean she went through your things before you came up here?’

  ‘No.’ Adele shook her head. ‘It was worse than that. She’d been in here before and taken it. She was wearing it when she came to the surgery. At that point, even though mine had gone missing I thought it was just a similar one, but after finding her here and realising that she’d had a key all this time I knew it was mine and that she’d been here before. I…I don’t know how many times…but I tell you, it’s really scary, thinking back over and just wondering when she might have been in here.’ She paused, reflecting.

  ‘She said she would come here while we were working during the day,’ she continued after a while. ‘Presumably she couldn’t get in at night because the outer door would have been locked and bolted.’ She clenched her hands again. ‘That’s something, I suppose—the thought of her getting in here at night simply doesn’t bear thinking about.’ Falling silent again, she dwelt on the awful possibility of that then after a while she went on, ‘It’s made me wonder about other things. Like when I first moved in, I found food in the fridge. I thought at the time that it might have been Penny or Rosie but when I asked them neither of them knew anything about it. I guess that must have been Elvira as well. Goodness knows what other things she did. She probably went through all my things—my letters, my clothes, everything…’

  Casey, while continuing to hold her closely against him, had grown very quiet and when she turned towards him questioningly, he said, ‘Actually, I have a bit of a confession to make…’

  ‘A confession?’ She frowned.

  ‘Yes.’ He hesitated, as if uncertain how to continue, then he said, ‘It wasn’t Elvira who put the food in the fridge—it was me.’

  ‘You!’ She stared at him in amazement.

  ‘Yes.’ He nodded in an embarrassed sort of way. ‘I thought, well, I thought it would be by way of a welcome, I suppose. I guess I was feeling a bit guilty. I’d opposed the idea of a trainee and in the end I’d been forced into being the one to take on your training. I wasn’t too happy about that and I knew I would have to make a real effort if I wasn’t to let my attitude show…’

  ‘And there was me being really off with you when I first arrived,’ said Adele slowly, ‘saying you didn’t look like a doctor and telling you that you couldn’t park in the courtyard…’

  ‘Yes, you were a bit uppity,’ agreed Casey with a sudden grin. As always the smile transformed his features, giving a brief glimpse of the man beneath the tough exterior he presented to the world.

  While they’d been talking they’d gradually relaxed, moving farther back into the comfort of the sofa’s many cushions, and all the while Casey’s arm had remained protectively around her. It had felt good, warm and safe, and she’d had not the slightest desire to push him away, but now, as the terrors of her ordeal faded a little and the reality sank in that the danger was over, the incongruity of their situation finally hit her.

  Very gradually Adele began to ease herself away from him, but even though she succeeded in putting a little distance between them his arm remained along the back of the sofa.

  ‘I’m all right now, Casey,’ she said at last, a little uneasily. ‘I mustn’t keep you any longer.’ Really, there wasn’t anything she would have liked better—for him to stay there with her for the rest of the evening, or even the night. But, no, she mustn’t even entertain such thoughts, intriguing as they might be.

  ‘I’m not in any hurry.’ Casey leaned back on the sofa, stretching out his legs before him and linking his hands behind his head.

  ‘But aren’t you going to be late?’ Adele half turned and looked at him, surprised at his apparent lack of urgency. She wasn’t sure what time his date with Penny was but it had to be soon.

  ‘Late for what?’ He’d closed his eyes and he answered without opening them.

  ‘Well, your date,’ she said uncertainly, wondering whether in the heat of the moment he might have simply forgotten. Surely now he would leap up and beat a hasty retreat to his own flat to change into appropriate wear to take Penny to the restaurant she had been talking about earlier?

  ‘I wasn’t aware I had a date.’ He opened one eye and looked at her.

  ‘But I thought…I thought you and Penny had a date this evening…’

  ‘I can’t imagine why you would have thought that.’

  ‘Well, I thought…Penny was talking to the girls earlier about what she was going to wear for her date this evening.’

  ‘So why should you have thought her date was with me?’ He’d opened both eyes now and, lowering his arms and easing himself into an upright position, he stared at her.

  ‘Well, you and Penny are an item…aren’t you?’ Adele felt she was rapidly in danger of losing the plot.

  ‘Do you know,’ he said, ‘you’re the second person recently who was under that same impression.’

  ‘Am I?’ she asked faintly.

  ‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘Toby thought the same thing.’

  ‘Toby…?’ Suddenly this whole conversation seemed in danger of
spiralling right out of control.

  ‘Yes. Toby seemed to think that Penny and I had a thing going. I can’t imagine how these rumours start.’ He shook his head as if the whole thing was beyond him. ‘And then,’ he went on, ‘when I put Toby right he seemed not only amazed but utterly delighted. It appears he had wanted to ask Penny out but hadn’t because he thought she was seeing me. In fact, I think you’ll find it’s Toby who has the date with Penny tonight.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’ Adele stared at him but somewhere deep inside a little throb of excitement had begun. ‘I thought you and Penny were an item. I’ve thought it ever since I arrived. It was me who told Toby that you were—’

  ‘Ah, so it was you who started the rumour.’ There was a look of exasperated amusement on his face now. ‘But I have to say I can’t think why. Whatever gave you that impression?’

  ‘It was Penny herself who told me.’ Adele was thoroughly bewildered now. ‘The day I arrived she came in here to welcome me and she confided in me that you and she were a bit of an item. She said it was only early days but that she was hopeful that it was going somewhere.’ She paused and saw that Casey had grown very still. ‘So what was all that about?’ she asked. ‘Why would Penny have thought that?’

  ‘I can only think,’ he said at last, ‘that it was something to do with the fact that I took her out to dinner.’

  ‘You took Penny out to dinner?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It was by way of showing appreciation. She’d given me a hand when I moved in here—cooked me a couple of meals, that sort of thing—and I just thought it was a gesture, that’s all. I had no idea she’d misconstrued it. When Toby mentioned it, I just thought he’d been mistaken and when he said that he’d fancied Penny for a long time I told him to go ahead and ask her out. But now that you’ve said this I wonder if perhaps I’d better speak to Penny and clear up any misunderstanding.’

  ‘So there was never anything between you?’ asked Adele softly.

  ‘Of course not.’ He stared at her then in further exasperation he said, ‘Don’t get me wrong. Penny’s a lovely girl but she isn’t my type—it’s as simple as that.’

  Suddenly Adele longed to ask him just exactly what was his type but she didn’t quite dare and in the end she didn’t have to, for right out of the blue Casey suddenly leaned forward and said, ‘You’re my type, Adele.’

  ‘Am I?’ she said, delighted but startled by his bluntness.

  ‘I thought I’d made that only too obvious,’ he said ruefully. ‘In the end I backed off because I thought you weren’t ready for another relationship yet.’

  ‘And I kept you at arm’s length because I thought you were two-timing Penny,’ said Adele incredulously.

  ‘You mean…you, too?’ he said, his eyes widening.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she replied softly.

  A variety of emotions passed across his features and after a moment he said, ‘I couldn’t believe it when you turned up with Toby at Celia’s party, especially after you’d made it plain to me that you weren’t into relationships at the moment.’

  ‘You acted as if you were jealous.’ Adele raised one eyebrow.

  ‘Maybe I was at that,’ he said quietly, and suddenly the idea of him being jealous of Toby stirred some basic emotion deep inside her.

  They were silent for a while, each reflecting on what had happened, then Casey rose to his feet and, taking her hands, drew her up beside him. ‘I have a suggestion to make,’ he said.

  Adele looked up at him and her heart lurched at the expression she saw in his eyes.

  ‘What’s that?’ she whispered.

  ‘I suggest we start again—as if we’d just met. I’ll speak to Penny and make sure there are no misunderstandings. I want you to be sure you’re over Nigel and happy about starting another relationship, and I’ll have a word with Edward and make sure there are no ethical complications with a trainer and his trainee becoming an item. How does that sound to you?’

  ‘It sounds wonderful,’ she said simply. ‘Just let me know when you’ve sorted it all out.’

  Slowly he leaned forward and very gently touched her lips with his. It had none of the fire or passion of that last time but it carried tenderness beyond her wildest dreams and more than the hint of a promise of what might be to come.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  AT FIRST Adele could hardly believe it was happening. ‘We’ll take it slowly,’ Casey had said, and they did, allowing their initial attraction for each other to grow into a delicious awareness of one another. For Adele, the fact that Casey and Penny weren’t an item, and furthermore never had been, had come as a wonderful revelation. She was anxious at first as to how Penny would react when Casey spoke to her but she needn’t have worried.

  ‘She was fine,’ he told her in response to her worried questions. ‘She’d thought that maybe we could get together after the meal we’d had but she’d realised in the last few weeks that it wasn’t going to happen.’

  ‘What about her and Toby?’

  ‘Well, that does look as if it might be going somewhere. Toby’s leaping about like a two-year-old and Penny looks, well, I don’t know what the word is…’

  ‘Radiant?’ suggested Adele.

  Casey frowned. ‘Yes, I suppose you could call it that,’ he agreed at last. ‘Radiant.’

  Adele smiled. ‘And what about us?’ she asked softly. They were in Casey’s consulting room at the time. She was perched on the edge of the desk and he was seated alongside her in his chair.

  ‘What about us?’ he asked, reaching out and covering her knee with his hand. His touch sent shock waves through her body and she was forced to struggle to concentrate on what she was saying when really she would have liked nothing better than to slide along the desk and into his lap.

  ‘Did you tell her about us?’ she asked, ignoring the clamouring of her body.

  ‘Yes, I did,’ Casey confessed.

  ‘How did she take it?’

  ‘In my experience, those who are in love have nothing but generosity towards others.’

  ‘You mean she didn’t mind?’

  ‘On the contrary. She said she wasn’t surprised, that she’d suspected it might happen from the moment you arrived.’

  ‘Maybe that was why she warned me off on that very first day,’ said Adele slowly.

  ‘Yes, maybe,’ Casey agreed, ‘but whatever, we needn’t worry about that any more.’

  ‘And what about Edward?’ Adele leaned forward slightly. ‘Have you told him yet?’

  ‘Ah, yes, Edward. Now, that was a bit more of a worry.’ Removing his hand from her knee, Casey rubbed his fingers over his forehead, the gesture somehow both boyish and endearing.

  ‘Was there a problem?’ asked Adele quickly. ‘Did he object?’

  ‘Not object exactly.’ Casey shook his head. ‘In fact, when I first told him I would have said his initial reaction was one of delight, but since then he’s seemed a little more…well, guarded I suppose you’d call it.’

  ‘Has he said why?’

  ‘Not really.’ Casey shrugged. ‘He did imply that it mustn’t affect our work in any way and I suppose he does have a point there. Neither would he want too much gossip…’

  ‘Probably there will only be gossip and speculation whilst people don’t know for sure,’ said Adele slowly. ‘Maybe once they do know it won’t matter to them.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Casey agreed, then he added, ‘But perhaps at least for the time being it might be an idea to keep it lowkey whilst the others are around.’ He must have seen her look of disappointment. ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ he added hurriedly, ‘I would like to shout it from the housetops, but I don’t want anything to compromise your position here.’

  ‘OK.’ Adele nodded.

  ‘We’ll make up for it behind closed doors,’ he added softly.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she murmured. He looked faintly anxious and, reaching out her hand, she gently smoothed his forehead as if to eradicate the lines of tension. At th
e same time she smoothed his eyebrow which, as ever, was ruffled by the deep line of his scar. ‘Tell me,’ she said in the same soft tone. ‘I’ve been dying to ask ever since we met. How did you get this?’

  ‘How do you think I might have got it?’ There was a hint of amusement in his voice now as his brow cleared.

  ‘I thought probably in those wild days of your youth, in a fight between rival gangs, maybe over a girl…’

  He laughed, throwing his head back. ‘Nothing so romantic, I can assure you,’ he said.

  ‘Then how?’

  ‘I came off a motorbike. Years ago. Wet night, sharp bend.’ He shrugged. ‘These things happen. There, now, you’re disappointed, aren’t you?’

  ‘Not exactly. I just thought…’ It was her turn to laugh and that was how Cheryl found them as she tapped on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer—Adele sitting on the desk facing Casey, both laughing.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Cheryl looked from one to the other with barely concealed interest. ‘I just wanted some signatures.’

  ‘So much for keeping it quiet,’ said Casey ruefully after Cheryl had gone. ‘She couldn’t wait to get back to the others to tell them.’

  ‘Well.’ Adele slipped down from the desk. ‘From now on we’ll be models of discretion.’

  And they were. During surgery hours anyway, whether in their consulting rooms, in the staffroom, on house calls or if they both attended a police call-out. But when they were off duty it was a different matter as they spent more and more time together. Within a very short space of time Adele knew she was falling deeply in love with Casey.

  ‘Am I always to call you that?’ she asked one day as they walked together in the woods behind Stourborne Abbas.

  ‘I would prefer that you do,’ he replied.

  ‘So do I get to know the first name you so despise?’ She looked up at him from beneath her lashes.

  ‘It isn’t so much that I despise it,’ he said stiffly. ‘It was simply that I got fed up with people’s reactions when they hear it for the first time.’

  ‘And what reaction is that?’