where’s your mum? Couldn’t she come with you?’
There was silence for a second, then the girl muttered, ‘She’s not well herself…but she’s sort of used to it.’
Victoria looked puzzled. ‘Has she got a sore throat, too?’
Evie hesitated, then said slowly, ‘No—it’s not that sort of illness. I mean she’s OK really. Just finds it hard to get about.’
‘I see. Have you just come to this area then?’
‘Yes. We’ve only been here a little while.’
‘Well, I do need your mum to come in because we’ll have to ask her some questions about you and your general health—and she will need to register with us, too. Will you ask her to come when she feels up to it?’
Victoria printed off a prescription for antibiotics and handed it to Evie. ‘Now, it’s very important that you take this medicine properly—the instructions will be printed on the side by the chemist and you must finish them all. What school do you go to, Evie?’
‘Braithwaite Comprehensive.’
‘Well, I should take today and tomorrow off—after that, if you feel well enough, go back to school. And one more thing. I’d like to see you next week and just check that everything’s all right. Make an appointment at Reception. Perhaps your mum would come with you next time—really it’s better if I see her as well.’
The girl nodded, unsmiling. ‘I’ll come.’
‘You know, if your mother’s not well enough to come here, perhaps I could see her on a home visit…’
Evie’s head jerked up and she said sharply, ‘No! No, she wouldn’t like that—I mean, she’s not all that ill.’
Victoria frowned and looked gravely at Evie. ‘She does know you’ve come to see me, doesn’t she?’
A slight flush spread over Evie’s cheeks, and there was a moment’s hesitation before she spoke. ‘Yes…yes, of course… but she trusts me to do things myself.’ Then she added abruptly, ‘Thank you for seeing me,’ and almost ran from the room.
Victoria followed her and then went into the office to look out of the window as she retrieved her bike and disappeared down the road. There was something odd about this situation, something that didn’t add up, she thought uneasily. Why hadn’t the mother rung the surgery to say that her daughter was coming in, especially as they weren’t registered or known to the practice?
She started to pour herself a coffee from the percolator, then looked again through the window—she could just see Evie cycling down the hill to the village. Connor came into the room behind her.
‘That coffee smells good,’ he said, joining her at the window. ‘What are you looking at?’
‘Can you see that girl on the bike?’ she asked. ‘I feel worried about her… She came by herself and I’m sure the mother’s unaware that she’s been here.’
‘What’s the matter with her?’
‘She’s got a badly infected throat,’ Victoria replied as she handed a cup of coffee to him, then added pensively, ‘And she wasn’t very forthcoming with information about her mother—didn’t want me to contact her.’
‘Why should she want to come secretly?’
Victoria shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea—but I think I ought to pay the mother a visit—make sure things are OK.’
He nodded and sipped his coffee. ‘Good idea. When in doubt, best to find out. By the way, don’t forget we’ve a meeting at the pub tonight—about seven o’clock?’
‘I haven’t forgotten.’ She sighed, her eyes following the vanishing figure of Evie Gelevska.
CHAPTER THREE
THE sunny weather of the morning had changed and now rain was lashing down. By the time Victoria had dashed across the road from where she’d parked her car to the Swinging Gate, she was soaked, her hair lying in bedraggled rats’ tails against her collar. She stepped into the dark cosy bar of the pub and looked across the room, dabbing her neck dry with her scarf.
Connor was standing by the bar, talking to the landlord, but at that moment he turned round and saw her, surprised again when he looked across the room at the tall slender girl with the damp russet hair dripping onto her collar—nothing like the rather plump, bookish-looking schoolgirl he had known. The years had changed Victoria into a stunning, stylish woman.
He pushed his way through a knot of people and looked at her with concern. ‘You look a bit wet… Go and get a table by the fire and dry out. What are you having, before we get started?’
‘White wine, please.’
Victoria subsided into a chair and took off her coat, hanging it on the back of the chair. She watched as Connor made his way back with the drinks and sighed. He had a tough, no-nonsense look about him as he shouldered his large frame through the crowded bar, and she guessed he wouldn’t give way if there were any contentious issues to be discussed that night. She pressed her lips together—she could be just as stubborn as he could if she wanted, but she did so hope they could get through the evening without bickering.
He sat down, passing a glass to Victoria and having a slow sip of wine from his. ‘God, that feels good,’ he remarked. ‘I seem to have dealt with half the patients in the practice today. How was your first day?’
‘Interesting, but I feel exhausted.’
‘That’s natural in a new job.’
It wasn’t just the work, thought Victoria bleakly. The letter she’d received that morning had been hard to put out of her mind all day—her emotions felt as if they’d been through a shredder. She glanced at herself in dismay in the murky mirror on the wall opposite—her eyes had dark circles under them and her hair was wet through.
‘Heaven’s, what do I look like?’ She sighed. ‘I’m a complete wreck—I look as if I’ve just dived into a swimming pool.’
He looked at her damp hair clinging to her head as sleek as a seal’s, and her glowing, flushed cheeks and said shortly after a second’s perusal, ‘You look OK to me. Have some wine—that’ll make you feel better.’
‘I could do with it,’ Victoria admitted. ‘It took me ages to do the visits, even with an A - Z. I haven’t been back long.’
‘Perhaps you could do with a satnav,’ Connor suggested. He leant back in his chair and regarded her through narrowed eyes. ‘You know, you’ve changed quite a bit since we were at school. I hardly recognised you.’
‘Well, I don’t have braces on my teeth or glasses now, but if it comes to that, you’ve changed physically as well,’ she retorted.
His mouth twitched, eyes amused. ‘What are you trying to say?’
‘Just that…you’ve filled out, you’re not so skinny. Still pretty opinionated, though,’ she added boldly.
‘I’d
