saw Craig’s patient walking towards the exit. He didn’t look at all well, and he was squinting a little as though the light hurt him.
He appeared to stagger, and Katie was immediately concerned. She hurried over to him and helped him recover his balance. ‘You don’t look too good,’ she said. ‘Do you need to sit down for a while?’
‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ he muttered, and clutched his stomach. ‘The pain in my head is driving me mad.’
Katie alerted Hannah, who hurried up with a bowl and a cloth. ‘Have you seen the doctor?’ Katie asked.
The man tried to nod and winced as though the effort was too much for him. ‘He gave me a prescription.’
Katie glanced at the paper he held, and saw that it was a prescription for migraine medication. ‘I think perhaps you had better lie down for a while,’ she said. ‘You don’t look well enough to go anywhere just yet. I’ll see if I can get hold of Dr Marshall and let him know what’s happening.’ She was surprised that Craig had sent him on his way in this condition, but perhaps the man’s symptoms had worsened since then. She glanced at Hannah. ‘Would you stay with Mr Framley? Cubicle two is empty. Perhaps he should go in there and lie down.’
Hannah nodded, and Katie turned to hurry away and immediately found herself in collision with someone.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she began, struggling to right herself, her fingers meshing with a shirtfront and registering the hard wall of a man’s chest. His heartbeat was strong and steady. She took a faltering step backwards and started to lift her gaze. ‘I wasn’t looking where I was going.’
‘I guessed as much.’ The deep voice had a familiar ring to it, and when she stared into the face of the man she gave a startled little jump.
‘Drew? What are you doing here?’
‘I work here. As of today, I’m your new consultant.’ He looked at her assessingly. ‘You seem to be in a bit of a hurry. Is that because of Dr Marshall’s patient?’
She swallowed hard, trying to brace herself against the shock of seeing him here. ‘I just thought I would alert him to the fact that the man wasn’t very steady on his feet. There’s no problem. We can deal with it. I imagine you must have plenty to be getting on with.’
Her mind was racing. She was worried that something wasn’t quite right with the patient, but she didn’t want to get Craig into any trouble. She was also finding it hard to take in what Drew had said. He was working here? How could that be?
She pulled in a deep breath and stared at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be working here?’
‘Has it come as such a shock to you?’ he said. His mouth was taut, and he must have seen how much it bothered her that he was here. ‘I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out,’ he said, ‘but as it happens they wanted me to start straight away. Mr Johnson, the consultant who was here before me, has had to take some compassionate leave. Family problems, they said, but they don’t think he’ll be coming back.’
Katie had heard that her former consultant was in a bit of a quandary. His son had been involved in an accident, and he had made up his mind to go and stay with him for a while. He had talked of finding work as a consultant near where his son lived. She said quietly, ‘I heard that his son had multiple fractures, but as far as I know he’s going to recover.’
‘That’s what I heard, too.’ He glanced around. ‘As for Dr Marshall’s patient, I was just coming to take a look at him. I’m not satisfied that he’s well enough to be discharged.’
Katie was distracted. From the set of his jaw she guessed that he was unhappy with Craig’s diagnosis. She said flatly, ‘Given the symptoms he presented with, I’m sure Dr Marshall thought he was doing the right thing. Headache and sickness are common symptoms of migraine.’
‘Maybe.’ Drew wasn’t giving anything away. His mouth was set in a straight line and his eyes were dark as though he meant business. ‘I’m going to take a look at him now. If you’re not too busy, perhaps you would ask Dr Marshall to come and join me?’
Katie went and found Craig. She didn’t like the fact that Drew had taken it on himself to intervene, but he was in charge now, and he was ultimately responsible for the actions of his colleagues.
‘What’s wrong?’ Craig asked. He was in a cheerful mood, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the desk in the middle of the room.
She explained the situation. ‘I think your patient, Mick Framley, is unwell—at least, not well enough to go home just yet.’
‘He was going to call for a taxi. I told him he needed to lie down in a darkened room.’
‘I don’t think he can make it home on his own.’ She frowned. ‘The new consultant, Drew Bradley, wants a word.’
‘Does he?’ Craig grimaced. ‘I don’t think he likes me very much. I’ve already had one run in with him today.’
‘You have?’ Her eyes widened. ‘What was that about?’ They were already walking back towards cubicle two.
‘He seemed to be annoyed that I was talking to you. Apparently he thought my attitude was too casual and he wanted to know if I hadn’t any work to be getting on with. He said I’d left a patient unsupervised.’
Katie frowned. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.’
‘It wasn’t your fault. I think he was looking for someone to chew out.’
Was Craig right about that? Her own brother had said Drew could be ruthless, and she had tried to dismiss it, but now she was filled with doubt. It seemed unfair that Craig should fall foul of Drew this first day.
They had almost reached the cubicle by now, and Katie said, ‘I’m a little worried about Mr Framley. He was complaining of neck stiffness, and he was hypertensive, too. Perhaps you should do a CT scan.’
‘He didn’t have any neck stiffness when I examined him,’ Craig said defensively. ‘There were no signs that led me to think of anything other than migraine.’
‘It can be difficult to make an accurate diagnosis,’ Katie said, ‘but when you see the new consultant, be careful.’
‘I will.’ He pulled open the curtain of the cubicle and went in. Katie heard the murmur of voices, and guessed that he was talking to Drew. She hoped that he could put things right. She was beginning to suspect that Mr Framley was showing signs of a condition that was far more serious than Craig had guessed. In Craig’s place, she would be doing a CT scan and blood tests, as well as an ECG and chest X-ray. From the looks of things, Mr Framley could be suffering from a subarachnoid haemorrhage.
A moment later, a worried-looking Craig came out from the cubicle. He looked white-faced, and Katie said anxiously, ‘Can I help?’
He nodded. ‘He’s taken a sudden turn for the worse, and we need to intubate. I’m going to call for a neurosurgeon.’
Katie went to assist, and the team went into action. Drew called for all the tests that she had guessed would be needed, and a short time later Mick went up to Theatre. Katie hoped that
