now, knew that even though he’d invited her in to discuss the possibility of going in as an undercover nurse, this particular interview was far from over, and that appearing too eager, too needy wasn’t going to help matters. Taking her cue, she headed for the door, the professional smile back in place. ‘No, thank you for considering me, Inspector. I’ll look forward to hearing your decision.’
‘One more thing, Constable Gray. Have you ever worked at Melbourne City?’
Bella shook her head. ‘I did my training in a suburban hospital.’
‘So no one at Melbourne City would know that you left nursing to join the police?’
‘I can’t say for sure,’ Bella admitted honestly. ‘There’s a big turnover in hospitals, people pop up all over the place. But my departure was fairly low key at the time. I guess there might be a few people who will recognize me, but they wouldn’t know that I’d joined the police.’
‘I’ll bear it in mind.’
The interview was definitely over now. Eddie picked up his pen and started to write, clearly assuming that the door would quietly close, but Bella stood there until he looked up, and from the frown that formed he was clearly slightly irritated to find she was still there.
‘I said I’d let you know, Bella,’ he sighed. ‘There’s nothing more to say until I’ve spoken with Detective Miller.’
‘But there is.’ Her voice was clear, the compulsive fidgeting that was so much Bella still now, and from her stance Eddie knew that what Bella was about to say was non-negotiable, that whatever was on her mind had already been decided. Putting down his pen, he offered her his undivided attention.
‘You said that if I get the role I would be going in as an RN?’
‘That’s right.’ Eddie nodded. ‘We could have put you in as a student or a nurse’s aide but Detective Miller felt you’d have better access to the critical patients and senior staff if you went in as a fully qualified RN with a certificate in emergency nursing. And given that you’ve got all the credentials, Bella, we may as well use them.’
‘Agreed.’ Bella nodded. ‘So long as you explain to Detective Miller that if I get the role, I will not compromise patient care under any circumstance. If I’m going in as part of the team, people will be depending on me…’
‘You’re a police officer,’ Eddie started, but Bella shook her head.
‘I’m a nurse, too. I want this, Eddie, you know how much I want this role, but unless we set down some ground rules, unless you and Detective Miller understand where I’m coming from, you might as well put a thick red line through my name. I cannot and will not compromise a patient in my care.’
‘I think you’re being a bit melodramatic here, Bella. You’re only going to be there for a couple of weeks.’
‘Have you ever done a shift in Emergency?’ Two spots of colour flamed on her cheeks, but apart from that Bella kept her temper firmly in check as Eddie shook his head. ‘Then take it from me, I’m not being melodramatic.’
Stepping out into the late afternoon sun, Bella dragged in a deep calming breath, but it didn’t work, her heart rate still skipping along way too fast, her brain still reeling from the unexpected carrot that had been dangled before her.
Boarding a tram, she took her usual seat at the back, only this time she didn’t eye her fellow travellers, didn’t play her usual game of people-watching, guessing who everyone was and where they were all going. Instead, she rested her head against the window and tried to quell the flurry of nerves that danced inside her; tried and failed to envisage herself back in an emergency room; tried and failed to envisage her detective application going through if she turned down the role on ‘personal grounds’. And yet…it wasn’t just nerves that were dancing as Bella stepped off the tram and walked the five-minute distance to her destination. It was excitement—pure, unadulterated excitement.
She’d be going undercover.
Undercover!
Using her own mind, her own people skills, working out clues—in fact, being everything that she wanted to be…
Except a nurse.
Stopping at the milk bar, Bella bought a magazine and chatted to Sandra, the owner, for a couple of minutes. After a very respectable pause, which the two women knew was just for effect, she decided to spoil herself with a bar of chocolate as if it were an occasional treat, not a daily essential.
‘How’s Danny?’ Ringing up the till, Sandra asked her usual question.
‘Good,’ Bella replied, just as Australians always did. Half the family could be being held at gunpoint and the answer would be the same.
Good.
‘How’s Danny?’ Bella asked Tania, the young nurse who was feeding him, putting down her chocolate and magazines on his locker and pulling up a chair before taking over the bowl of puréed mince and vegetables.
‘Good.’ Tania smiled brightly. ‘He’s just not very hungry.’
‘Still?’ Bella sighed. ‘He hasn’t eaten much all week.’
‘The doctor’s been in to see him, he couldn’t find anything wrong. He said we were to try giving him some nutritional supplements, there’s some in the fridge, I’ll go and fetch you one. Can I get you a coffee or anything?’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Bella shook her head, stirring the unattractive meal around the plate.
‘Maybe later—with your chocolate perhaps?’
‘Maybe later,’ Bella agreed.
Another pleasant but pointless conversation, another pretence at normal that, even after all these years, merely felt false.
‘How was your day, Danny?’
He didn’t even look at her, didn’t smile, didn’t shrug, and didn’t say ‘good’. He didn’t say anything at all, just let out a moan when Bella tried to persuade him to eat the shepherd’s pie.
‘Come on, Danny,’ Bella pleaded. ‘You have to eat something. If you don’t, they’re going to put the nasogastric tube down again and you know how much you hate that.’ Lecture over, Bella forced a smile, rued the fact that even after all this time, even though she came in just about every single day, the mere sight of him could still bring her to the verge of tears. That gorgeous, athletic body, atrophied now, his blond sun-bleached hair that she’d loved so much, crudely cut now, courtesy of the mobile hairdresser more used to elderly clients. But Bella tried not to let her hurt show, tried so hard, just as she always did, to carry on chatting as if the person sitting opposite her was as animated and as interested in life as her, carried on chatting as if it were her gorgeous, vibrant, sexy fiancé she was coming home to. ‘You haven’t asked how I am! Well, I’m good, actually. Really good, in fact. You’ll never guess what Inspector Miller called me into his office for today…’
‘WELCOME
