“We need an ambulance.Now.”
Chapter 20
Saga
Saga was pacing back and forth in the surgical waiting room, too antsy to sit like her companion. She’d put on her coat to keep the rest of the waiting room from staring at the blood splattered across the front of her dress. She’d removed her shoes an hour into their wait; at hour three, she took the few hairpins that had twisted the sides up and massaged the scalp beneath; and at hour four she gave up on pacing and sat down next to Avery, who had somehow remained rather motionless in her seat. “I suppose I should take heart in the wait. It means he’s still alive.”
“That would be the silver lining, yes.” Avery propped her elbows onto her knees and rested her chin on her clasped hands. “They should be able to contact you, you don’t have to wait here.”
“He has no family,” said Saga. “Well, no immediate family, anyway. It doesn’t feel right to leave him here alone.” She leaned her head on Avery’s shoulder.
“He’s not alone, Saga,” Avery reminded her gently.
“I don’t care how great their bedside manner supposedly is, a team of surgeons isn’t the same.” She yawned. “I don’t even know if there’s anyone I could call in this situation…”
Avery sighed deeply. “What are the chances his liver just failed and it has nothing to do with our case?”
“Acute liver failure is a rare occurrence. Current statistics range less than ten cases per million people worldwide, and even then it typically happens over a matter of days, not hours.”
“Extremely slim, then, I would imagine?”
“Slim, but not impossible. For all we know he’s been ignoring symptoms for the past few days. I actually overheard Doctor Campbell chide him about drinking at the funeral.”
“Miss Trygg?” A man in scrubs approached them. “I’m Doctor Iman, they told me you were the one who brought in Mr. Goff?”
Saga sat up, jolting out of her bleariness. “How is he?”
He frowned. “Stable, for now. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”
Saga pushed herself into a stand. “No, of course, anything I can do to help.”
“Elis has…” Dr. Iman’s eyes widened, seeing the bloodstain on Saga’s dress. “Miss Trygg, are you bleeding?”
Saga frowned. “Oh, no… I’m… It’s his. Hemoptysis.57 Before he passed out.”
The confusion on Dr. Iman’s face was apparent, and Saga clarified without further prompting.
“I just finished my first foundation year through Oxford.”
“And were you and Mr. Goff…intimate?”
Saga shook her head. “Our families were close, but I honestly hadn’t seen him recently until the other day. We were just having dinner to reconnect, but I noticed the symptoms…”
“If you hadn’t acted as quickly as you did, he would have died. He’s on artificial liver support; he won’t be mobile, but it should bridge enough time until a transplant can be found.” He shifted his weight, looking unsure. “Do you happen to know if he had gotten into anything…strange?”
Saga and Avery exchanged a look. This was it. “I know he hasn’t really been himself since his wife passed, but how do you mean?”
“We found foreign objects and substances in his lower abdomen, in place of his liver.”
Saga knew it was imperative she didn’t look like she was expecting this. “W-what foreign objects and substances?”
“We’ll need to run tests, but it looks like some kind of oil and plants. How they got there or how they didn’t cause an infection, I can’t be sure.”
And there it was. She had to keep up the ruse. He could not suspect she knew anything about it. “I don’t understand, are you saying his liver was removed?”
Iman shook his head. “That would be the strangest part. This would have had to be a recent surgery, yet I could find nothing that would suggest he’d been operated on previously.”
Saga bit her lower lip. “Is he going to be all right?”
