AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He unlocked the car doors. ‘I think your Mrs Carne has had more falls since David saw her. But she isn’t ready to confess.’ He slid into the car while Alice gaped at him from the pavement.
‘But why?’ It seemed simple to Alice. ‘If she’s falling then she should tell us and we’ll try and solve it.’
The engine gave a throaty roar and he drummed long fingers on the steering-wheel while he waited for her to get into the passenger seat. ‘Life isn’t always that simple, is it?’
She climbed in next to him and fastened her seat belt. ‘So why wouldn’t she tell us?’
‘General practice is very like detective work, don’t you think?’ He glanced towards her. ‘In hospital you see only the patient. At home you have the advantage of seeing the patient in their own environment and that often contains clues about the person they are. About the way they live their lives.’
‘And what clues did you see?’
‘That her whole life is contained in that house. There were photographs of her parents, her as a child, her husband. There were cushions that she’d knitted on a sofa that I’m willing to bet belonged to her mother. The garden had been planted by her husband.’
Alice tried to grasp the relevance of what he was saying and failed. ‘But that’s all emotional stuff. What’s that got to do with her illness?’
‘Not everything about a patient can be explained by science alone, Alice.’ He checked the rear-view mirror and pulled out. ‘She doesn’t want us to know she’s falling because she’s afraid we’re going to insist she leaves her home. And she loves her home. Her home is everything to her. It contains all her memories. Take her from it and you erase part of her life. Probably the only part that matters.’
He was doing it again, Alice mused, delving deep. Refusing to accept people at face value.
She stared ahead as he drove off down the quiet road and back onto the main road. ‘Take a left here,’ she said absently, her mind still on their conversation. ‘Aren’t you making it complicated? I mean, if Edith is falling, we need to find the reason. It’s that simple. The rest isn’t really anything to do with us.’
‘The rest is everything to do with us if it affects the patient. You’re very afraid of emotions, aren’t you, Alice?’ His voice was soft and she gave a frown.
‘We’re not talking about me.’
‘Of course we’re not.’ There was no missing the irony in his tone but she chose to ignore it.
‘So now what do we do?’
‘I want to check on a couple of things. Look at the correspondence that came out of her last appointment and speak to the doctor who saw her before I go crashing in with my diagnosis.’
‘Which is?’ The wind picked up a strand of hair and blew it across her face. ‘You think you know why she’s falling?’
‘Not for sure, no. But certainly there are clues.’ He eased the car round a tight corner, his strong hands firm on the wheel. ‘Her heart rate is on the slow side and her blood pressure is low. What do you know about CSS?’
‘Carotid sinus syndrome. I remember reading a UK study on it a few years ago.’ Alice sifted through her memory and her brow cleared. ‘They linked it to unexplained falls in the elderly. It can result in syncope—fainting. Are you saying that you think—?’ She broke off and Gio gave a shrug that betrayed his Latin heritage.
‘I don’t know for sure, of course, but it’s certainly worth considering. It’s important that elderly patients who fall are given cardiovascular assessment. Do you think this happened in her case?’
‘Not to my knowledge. We’ll check the notes and, if not, we’ll refer her immediately.’ The wind teased her hair again and Alice slid a hand through the silky strands and tried to anchor them down. ‘Well done. That was very smart of you. And all that stuff about her house and the way she was feeling…’ She frowned, angry and disappointed with herself. ‘I wouldn’t have thought of that.’
‘That’s because you work only with facts and not emotions, but the truth is that the two work together. You can’t dissociate them from each other, Alice. Emotions are a part of people’s lives.’ He gave her a quick glance, a slight smile touching his mouth, a challenge in his dark eyes. ‘And she was definitely in love with her husband.’
She tipped her head back against the seat and rolled her eyes upwards. ‘Don’t let’s go there again.’
‘You heard the way she talked about him. You saw the look on her face. Do you really think she didn’t love him?’
‘Well, obviously you’re going to miss someone if you’ve lived with them for over fifty years,’ Alice said tetchily, ‘and I’m sure they were best friends. I just don’t believe in this special, indefinable, woolly emotion that supposedly binds two people together.’
‘You don’t believe in love at first sight?’
‘Nor on second or third sight,’ Alice said dryly, letting go of her hair and pointing a finger towards a turning. ‘You need to take a right down there so that I can pick up some dinner.’
He followed her instructions and turned into the supermarket car park. ‘Listen, about dinner. You cooked last night. Perhaps I ought to—’
‘No need. I’ve got it. Back in five minutes.’ She slammed the door and braced herself for her second least favourite pastime after cooking. Shopping for the ingredients.
Later, wondering whether his taste buds would ever recover, Gio drank yet another glass of water in an attempt to quench the fire burning in his mouth. ‘Alice, tomorrow it’s my turn to cook.’
