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‘When he has finished his rounds. You have plenty of time to go and get cleaned up, he is taking his time.’ Ranjini leaned forward, laying her hand on Megan’s arm. ‘He is here now. Things will be better, you’ll see.’
‘I hope so.’
‘You do not know him as we do.’
Megan felt a tear prick at the side of her eye. This time she managed to blink it back.
‘You are very tired.’ Ranjini was looking at her, concern in her face.
‘We all are. But things will get better. I’m just going to count the boxes off the truck, and then I’ll go and have a shower.’
In the shower, her tears would be unnoticeable, even to herself. She’d towel herself dry and pretend that everything was all right. Pretend that she didn’t want to see Jaye’s smile because, now more than ever, it was impossible.
* * *
Triple-checking each box off the lorry and into the stockroom took longer than Megan had thought. By the time she’d cleaned up and changed her clothes, the word around the clinic was that Jaye was waiting for her in the office that Dr Clarke had recently vacated.
He’d tidied up a bit, putting all the papers that had been left scattered across the desk into a neat pile. A new pile of patients’ case notes had appeared and he was obviously working his way through it, a cup of tea at his elbow. When Megan appeared in the open doorway he looked up.
‘Come in, Megan. Shut the door.’
A chair was positioned on the other side of the desk, and the tray that was on the desk contained an extra cup and saucer. Jaye had obviously prepared for this interview, and Megan still felt completely unprepared.
‘Would you like some tea?’
‘No. Thank you.’ The pouring of tea was only going to prolong this agony. ‘You want to know why we ran out of essential drugs for the clinic.’
‘Yes. I’d very much like to know that.’ His face was impassive. Maybe he felt nothing. It had only been one kiss and he could be forgiven for that.
‘When I first arrived here, I did a thorough stock check. I sent a copy through to the London office.’
He nodded. ‘Yes, I looked that up when I saw your emergency requisition. It indicates that you had good stock levels.’
‘We thought we did. But one of the nurses came to me with a batch of medicines that had a current date on the outer box, but the packs inside were out of date. I investigated a bit more, and found a lot more like that in the stockroom. There were dressings that were covered with mould as well.’
Jaye’s brow was furrowed. ‘You’re saying that our suppliers are sending you old stock?’
‘No, b
ecause I looked up the records, and some of those boxes had been opened and checked before, and they were fine.’
‘So...?’ His gaze suddenly met hers. Searching, as if he wanted to turn over the darkest recesses of her mind. He’d done that when he’d kissed her, and she’d revelled in the way he’d seemed to want to gauge her every response. But now it felt like a searing condemnation.
‘So someone here has taken the new supplies from the boxes and replaced them with old ones. Probably drugs that have been marked out of date and put to one side to be destroyed.’
‘You’re saying that we have a thief. Working here in the clinic?’
‘I don’t know.’ Megan felt suddenly angry. Jaye was probing her but giving nothing back. She didn’t want any special consideration from him, but she’d bet her life he didn’t treat the rest of the clinic staff like this.
‘Make a guess.’ There was no humour in his face as he said the words.
‘Okay... On the same day this all came to light, one of the nurses left early, saying she was ill. She hasn’t been back here since and we’ve gone to her house and she isn’t there. She’s worked here a while and she was good at her job. I have no evidence against her, but it’s a coincidence.’
‘All right.’ He picked up his pen and started to scribble notes on the pad in front of him. ‘I’ll take it from here. Anything else?’
Yes, there was a lot else. The bad feeling in the clinic, the way that Dr Clarke had acted. The fact that this job wasn’t what anyone had promised, and now Jaye was here and treating her like the person he least wanted to see.
Okay. She hadn’t much wanted to see him either. But at least she was trying.
