one does, unless they’re driving. The back gates are five minutes from the school. The department’s senior secretary is preparing a map that we can append to all the appointment letters, and she’ll get some temporary signage as soon as we agree on wording.’
‘And access to the department?’
This must be new territory for Lucas. Seven years ago, Thea had usually been the one to back down, in the face of two years’ seniority in their studies and Lucas’s seductive charm. Things were different now.
‘There’s a stairway between us and the department. We have easy access to the X-ray department, and there’s a counselling suite next door, which I can annex for our use if we need it.’
‘You seem to have all the answers.’
Not by a very long way. But she knew her own hospital better than he did at least. ‘It’s agreed, then?’
A smile twitched at the side of his mouth, and Thea ignored it. ‘Yes. Agreed.’
Day Two
THE MEETING CONVENED at eight o’clock the next morning, with Lucas sitting at the head of the table as if he owned it. He was indisputably at the helm, guiding them through the long agenda with the minimum of fuss. When Lucas put his mind to something, Thea had never seen him fail.
‘My office.’ Michael gathered up his papers from the desk, murmuring the words as he walked behind Thea towards the door, and she followed him out of the room. Her professionalism had slipped just once that morning. Lucas had made a joke and she’d responded a little too quickly and with a bit too much bite. It wouldn’t happen again but Michael didn’t miss much.
‘Any concerns?’ Michael had closed the door of his office behind them and waved her to a seat.
‘I don’t think so. This is much as I’d expected—’
‘You know Dr West?’
‘Yes.’ Thea gave up the pretence that she’d been clinging to all morning. She supposed that it would all come out sooner or later anyway. ‘I know him. He worked at the hospital where I trained.’
Michael nodded her on. He obviously wasn’t done yet, and it was unlikely he’d let her out of here until he was.
‘We went out for a while. Two years, actually. I haven’t seen him since then.’
‘Hmm.’ Michael was obviously weighing up the information. ‘Ran its course?’
‘He had plans to work abroad. I’d only just finished medical school and had my two years’ foundation training still to do. I had my career to consider.’
Michael looked about as convinced as Thea felt that this was all there was to it. ‘Okay. I won’t pry any further into things that don’t concern me. All I really need to know is whether you can work with him effectively.’
Thea had been willing to put her career on hold for Lucas once. Once was enough. She wasn’t going to lose this job over something that had been over for seven years.
‘I always had a great deal of respect for Lucas’s abilities and I still do. I’m qualified for this job, and I want to do it well. I’m confident that the same goes for him.’
‘All right.’ Michael leaned back in his chair, a flip of his hand indicating that she was off the hook. ‘Go do it. Remember that my door’s always open.’
Lucas hadn’t failed to notice that Thea had followed her boss out of the conference room, probably responding from some signal from Michael. They’d been gone for ten minutes now, and he guessed that they were talking about him.
Fair enough. It was pretty much par for the course that everyone talked about an external consultant, weighing him up, deciding how capable he was. Lucas took it for granted and concentrated on proving himself. But this was different. He was half expecting to be summoned to Michael Freeman’s office and discreetly informed that Thea would no longer be working directly with him, as if he posed some kind of threat to her.
He waited. The half-open door of the conference room suddenly swung wide and Thea was in the doorway. ‘I’ve just spoken with Michael’s secretary. The microbiology results are in.’
There was an assurance in her face that said that something had been discussed and a decision made. Whatever the details, Lucas couldn’t help but applaud the outcome, because it had brought her back to him.
Responding to a silent alert, she consulted her pager. ‘Sorry, got to go. I’m needed up on the ward.’
‘Our TB case?’ When she nodded her assent, he picked up his papers and buttoned his jacket. He had heard all about the isolation procedures and the patient’s condition at the meeting, but he wanted to check on both. ‘I’ll walk with you.’
Lucas fell into step beside her, following her through the twists and turns of the hospital corridors. She was walking so fast that he had to lengthen his stride to keep up with her. ‘Microbiology?’ Lucas reminded her.
‘Ah, yes. It’s been confirmed as TB—a partially drug-resistant strain, which has markers in common with a known strain found in the Birmingham area a year ago.’
‘I’ll get the notes on which drug regime worked best there. The patient has contacts in Birmingham?’
‘Not as far as I know. We got some details from the wife, but I was reckoning on interviewing her more fully after we’d liaised with you.’ She smiled suddenly and the Thea he knew broke from the shell of the woman she’d become. Eager for the task ahead and ready to face its challenges.
After the bustling hospital corridors, the isolation suite was like an oasis of regulated calm. A nursing station gave access to four separate rooms, each entered via a small lobby. Dispensers at each door held protective masks, gloves and aprons.
Automatically, Lucas’s gaze flipped to the pressure gauge at the side of the door. In order to eliminate the spread of airborne particles containing mycobacterium tuberculosis, the room should be kept under negative pressure.
It was. The whole place seemed to exude a smug pride, telling him he could look as hard as he liked, everything was being done by the book. Quiet and efficient, even if the masks and aprons of the nursing staff did lend an impersonal touch.
And then there was Thea. She approached the man in the bed, who was coughing painfully and being supported in a sitting position by a nurse. Lucas could hear the scrape of lungs that couldn’t do their job properly screaming for air.
‘Hey, there, Derek.’ Despite the mask, Lucas could see her smile. It leaked out of her, in her posture, the way she touched the back of his hand with her gloved fingertips. Her eyes. It struck Lucas that if the last thing he ever saw was her eyes, warm and full of compassion, then he’d be a happy man.
‘Not so good today, I see.’ Derek was fighting for breath and so Thea voiced both sides of the conversation. ‘Okay, let’s have a
