would stop attending the clinic if they thought there was a chance that the authorities would be contacted.
‘So what’s the problem?’ she asked gently. ‘If the drugs have been working, why have you had such a bad attack tonight?’
‘Because I haven’t taken my tablets for the past couple of days,’ Danny admitted. ‘I…um…lost them.’
‘Lost them?’ She stared at him in surprise. ‘But I thought you always kept them in your pocket so they’d be safe.’
‘I do. I mean, I did…’ He tailed off and she shook her head when she realised what had happened.
‘Did someone take the drugs off you, Danny?’
‘Yes,’ he whispered, biting his lip.
Natalie tried to hide her frustration although it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Life on the streets was tough and drugs of any description were a valuable commodity. Several of the youngsters they’d treated recently had experienced the same thing and it was starting to look as though their patients were being targeted deliberately.
‘Did you go to the police and report what had happened?’ she asked without much hope.
Danny shook his head. ‘They’d have beaten me up again if I’d done that.’
‘Again? Are you saying that the people who took your medication beat you up as well?’
‘Yes. They kicked me about and that’s why I gave them the tablets. I think they might have busted one of my ribs because it’s been really hurting.’
‘And I don’t suppose you had anyone look at it, did you?’ Natalie said wearily, and he shook his head. ‘Right, I need to check you over but first of all I want you to put that oxygen mask back on.’
She helped the boy replace the mask then unbuttoned his shirt, grimacing when she saw the yellowing remains of bruising down the left side of his chest. He’d obviously taken a severe beating because she could tell how much it hurt when she gently explored the area. He’d definitely broken a rib—possibly two—and she wished she could get hold of the thugs who’d done this to him.
She buttoned his shirt again and looked sternly at him. ‘You’ve got at least one broken rib and you should have come to the clinic if you didn’t want to go to hospital.’
‘It hurt too much to walk,’ he mumbled through the mask.
‘I bet it did.’ She looked round when Helen appeared. ‘Young Danny here has a broken rib. Apparently, someone beat him up and took his medication off him. That explains why he’s in such a state tonight.’
‘That’s the third time this week it’s happened to one of our kids!’ Helen exclaimed angrily. ‘What is the world coming to?’
‘I shudder to think. Anyway, I think he should be checked over by a doctor—’ She broke off when Danny suddenly interrupted her.
‘I don’t want to go to the hospital! They’ll give me another thumping if they think I’ve told on them.’
There was genuine terror in his voice and Natalie frowned. ‘Is that what they told you would happen?’
‘Yes. And they meant it, too. They’ve given other people a real going over when they thought they’d told on them.’
Danny looked exhausted when he’d finished speaking and Natalie realised that it would do more harm than good to try and make him reconsider. She drew Helen aside while they decided what they should do.
‘Is there any chance we could keep him here overnight? I know we don’t usually allow anyone to stay in the clinic but Danny’s far too ill to go back on the streets tonight. I’d feel much happier if he was in hospital, of course, but we can’t force him to go if he doesn’t want to.’
‘I suppose we could bend the rules just this once,’ Helen agreed reluctantly. ‘Although obviously we can’t leave him here on his own. He seems a nice enough kid but you just never know, so someone will have to stay here with him.’
‘I’ll stay,’ Natalie offered immediately.
‘Are you sure? It’s not even your night to work…’
‘That doesn’t matter. It was my decision to keep him here so I should be the one to stay with him.’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, I’ve nothing better to do so I may as well be here as at home.’
‘Fair enough, although it’s not what you’d call a fair trade, is it?’ Helen grinned when she looked blankly at her. ‘A night in the clinic instead of a night of passion?’
Natalie laughed dutifully. It wasn’t worth explaining that a night of passion hadn’t been in the offing. She found something more suitable to wear than the red evening gown and changed in one of the empty cubicles. The clinic was open until midnight every day of the week and there was a steady stream of youngsters needing attention until they shut up shop.
She said goodbye to the others then went to check on Danny. He still didn’t look well and once again she tried to persuade him to let her phone for an ambulance, but he was adamant that he didn’t want to go to hospital. In the end she had to bow to his wishes, although she made up her mind that if he hadn’t improved by the morning, she would have to reconsider.
She went into the next cubicle and lay down on the bed, fully dressed, and dozed until it was time to check on him again. That set the pattern for the night and she was glad when morning came. The clinic opened again at eight and she had everything ready when the day staff arrived.
Danny seemed a little better thanks to the drugs and a night spent in a proper bed so Natalie handed him over to Sam Cummins, one of their volunteer doctors, then changed back into her evening dress and went home, to find Rafferty sitting on her doorstep. She took a deep breath as she got out of the cab because if the expression on his face was anything to go by, he wasn’t in the best of moods either.
Rafferty had gone straight home after Natalie had driven away in the taxi and had spent the night pacing the floor of his flat. The thought that she was meeting some other guy had been more than he could bear but how else could he explain why she’d refused to tell him where she was going? By the time dawn broke, he had been almost beside himself with frustration and had known he had to do something to rectify the situation. Maybe it wasn’t too late for them to work things out? Maybe they could find a solution to their problems if they tried hard enough? Maybe…
To hell with maybe, he’d thought grimly, heading for the door. He was going to see her and get this sorted out!
He took a taxi to her home and rang the bell, unsurprised when he didn’t get an answer. He sat down on the step to wait—she would have to come home at some point. This area of London was one of the most exclusive parts of the city and he sighed as he looked at the expensive houses surrounding the elegant, tree-lined square. He’d worked hard to reach his present position as chief of surgery at one of London’s most prestigious teaching hospitals, but even on his salary, he couldn’t have afforded to buy a property here. Only the very rich could afford to live in these houses and it was an unwelcome reminder of the difference between his and Natalie’s lifestyles. How could he hope to make their relationship work when they were worlds apart?
The
