Undercover at City Hospital Read online

  ‘It’s OK, Celia,’ Bella said soothingly. ‘I’m just going to have a word with the doctor and we’ll be right back.’ Gesturing to the door, she walked outside and waited till he joined her, a quizzical look on Heath’s face, clearly surprised that Bella had pulled him out at such a sensitive time.

  ‘She’s very upset.’

  ‘Very,’ Bella agreed, nibbling on the skin around her thumbnail. ‘Extremely upset, in fact.’

  ‘Well, I guess that’s to be expected.’ Heath shrugged, his frown deepening as Bella’s eyes met his. ‘Why did you call me out?’

  ‘Because I think you were making things worse in there.’ She heard him suck in his breath, clearly irritated that this very new nurse was pulling him up. But as a tiny smile wobbled on her lips as she tucked back a strand of hair behind her ear over and over, Heath finally joined the party, a smile of his own starting, eyes crinkling around the edges as he waited for her to elaborate.

  ‘What am I missing, Bella?’

  ‘The sexy night attire under her coat for starters.’ Bella grinned, blushing as he did, too. ‘The romantic dinner for two, the fact she’s feeling impossibly guilty…’

  ‘They’re allowed to have sex,’ Heath said gruffly. ‘Just because they’re in their seventies—’

  ‘He’s a cardiac patient,’ Bella broke in.

  ‘So? Just because he’s got a heart condition it doesn’t exclude him from having a healthy sex life.’

  ‘Of course not,’ Bella agreed, ‘but you’ve seen the medication he’s on at home. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was having some difficulties with…’ Clearing her throat, Bella attempted to squash her embarrassment. ‘Maintaining an erection.’

  ‘I’m not with you, Bella.’ He gave her a rather wide-eyed look and made to go back to the room, but Bella stilled him with a sentence. ‘She’s an internet junkie!’ Heath was frowning now, two vertical lines appearing on the bridge of a very nice nose as Bella continued. ‘I’d suggest that Celia’s guilt has nothing to do with the eggs she put into his soufflé or the wine she served, but more to do with the little blue pill she served up instead of after-dinner mints.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Yes.’ Bella nodded, her smile widening as Heath blushed to his impossibly blond roots. ‘If you ask me, there’s a very good reason Celia’s feeling guilty, and you insisting that it wasn’t her fault isn’t exactly helping matters.’

  ‘Do you think she drugged him?’

  ‘Oh, please.’ Bella laughed. ‘I’d say she just nagged him to death more likely!’ As Heath opened his mouth, Bella got there first. ‘Pun entirely intended. Look, it’s just a hunch, but if I am right, maybe you need to alter your line of questioning a bit.’

  ‘Line of questioning!’ Heath gave her a slightly startled look. ‘We’re in Emergency, Bella, not down at the local police station!’

  ‘Of course,’ Bella responded quickly. ‘I meant—’

  ‘I know what you meant.’ Heath gave a grateful nod. ‘And you’re right, if Celia’s been ordering drugs from the internet, then my line of questioning was way off track. How the hell am I supposed to broach this with her?’

  It was more a statement than a question, and Bella watched as he raked his hand through his superbly cut hair.

  Danny was blond.

  At a totally inappropriate moment the thought popped into her head.

  There was absolutely no comparing the two.

  Danny had been the surfy, sporty type, with shaggy blond hair that had always been in desperate need of a cut, living his life in bathers and board shorts, whereas Heath was the epitome of cool sophistication. No doubt his wardrobe was full with variations on the superbly cut suit he was wearing now, just an occasional glimpse of subtle but expensive jewellery but wearing enough aftershave to asphyxiate from fifty metres.

  There was no comparison, Bella concluded, except for the fact they were both blond.

  ‘Hell, they never prepare you for this type of thing in medical school,’ Heath moaned, staring directly at her.

  And except for the fact they both had beautiful eyes.

  ‘Or nursing school,’ Bella agreed, heading back towards the interview room, frantically trying to clear these ridiculous thoughts from her head.

  ‘How did you work it out?’ Heath asked, catching her arm lightly and pulling her back. ‘I mean, how did you guess what was going on?’

  ‘Just incurably nosy, I guess.’ Bella shrugged but she lost her audience as a red-eyed Hannah brushed past, clearly in tears.

  ‘Hey!’ Heath called her back. ‘Jayne didn’t make you stay and write that report?’

  ‘No!’ Though visibly upset, Hannah forced a smile. ‘Just another stupid mistake I made last night—I left my car lights on.’

  Heath gave a groan of sympathy.

  ‘I’ve called the roadside assistance number but it would appear I’m not the only one. There’s a two-hour wait.’

  ‘Get a taxi,’ Heath suggested, ‘and then pick your car up when you come in for Ken’s outpatient appointment. Shirley on Reception can tell roadside assistance where your car’s parked.’

  Raking her hand through her hair, Hannah gave a nervous nod. ‘I guess. It’s just…’ Her voice trailed off, but Heath picked up the silence with efficient calmness.

  ‘You’re probably entitled to a cab charge. Why don’t you check with Jayne?’

  ‘I was just about to.’ Hannah gave a pale smile and started to go, and only then did Bella really understand. A cab charge might get her home but she’d have to pay for a taxi back, and if funds were short perhaps the twenty or fifty dollars it would take hadn’t been factored into this week’s budget, let alone a new car battery and callout fee. But it wasn’t Bella’s place to say anything. She was the very new girl here, so instead she stood in polite silence, pretending not to watch this exchange.

  ‘Hannah?’ Heath called her back. Maybe he had understood, Bella realized as he dug in his jacket pocket and pulled out a very flash-looking keyring. ‘Take my car.’

  ‘Sorry?’ Hannah looked completely dumbfounded as her weary face turned around.

  ‘You’re over twenty-five, I assume?’

  ‘Way over.’

  ‘Then take it.’ Heath shrugged. ‘Jayne’s pretty tied up, you’ll have to wait for ever for her to go into the office and find the forms. Just take my car.’

  ‘Heath—’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Heath groaned. ‘Just don’t smoke in it.’

  ‘I’ve run out.’ Hannah grinned, the first real smile Bella had seen from her breaking over her exhausted face.

  ‘Then there’s no problem.’

  And except for the fact that under all the bravado, both Danny and Heath were as soft as butter.

  As Hannah happily made her way off, jangling Heath’s car keys in her hand, Heath rolled his eyes heavenwards. ‘Why me?’ he groaned.

  ‘I’m sure she’ll look after it,’ Bella ventured, referring to his car, but that, it would seem, was the least of his problems.

  ‘I couldn’t give a damn about the car. Why, out of all the doctors in the building, do I get the geriatric nymphomaniac to deal with?’

  And except for the fact that they both made her laugh!

  ‘Is everything OK, Doctor?’ Celia jumped up as they entered, terrified eyes dragging between the two. ‘Nothing has happened to my Charlie, has it?’

  ‘No.’ Heath gestured to the chair and waited patiently as Celia sat down, clearing his throat and staring at the floor for an endearing moment before assuming a bland expression and looking down at the woman. ‘Now, Celia, for Charles’s sake, I really need to know what happened last night. I need to know about any medications he might have taken, anything unusual that’s happened recently…’

  ‘There’s nothing!’ Celia said quickly, too quickly Bella thought, and clearly so did Heath.

  ‘Celia, this is an emergency room. No one’s here to judge either you or Charles. We just want to gi
ve your husband the best treatment possible and to do that we need all the facts. So if there’s anything you can think of that might help, anything you’re holding back, now might be a good time to tell me about it.’

  ‘What about…?’ Celia gave a nervous swallow. ‘I mean, if I’d done something wrong…’

  ‘I’m a doctor, Celia. My only concern is to see Charles gets the appropriate treatment.’

  ‘And I won’t get into trouble?’

  Heath shook his head. ‘I just need the truth, Celia.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ‘CAN I grab you for a moment, Bella?’ Jayne clicked off the hands-free telephone as Bella came out of the interview room. ‘I need to check some pethidine.’

  ‘Sure,’ Bella replied easily, walking towards the drug room with Jayne.

  ‘How’s Mrs Adams?’

  ‘Better. Heath’s still in with her. She’s still upset, though. Oh, that’s what I came out for. Where do I get tissues? There aren’t any spare boxes in the interview room.’

  ‘I’ll get Tony onto it for you,’ Jayne answered, swiping her ID on the drug-room door and waiting for the access light to turn green.

  ‘The domestic?’ Bella checked. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll ask him. I actually want him to service the room while he’s in there, it looks as if a bomb’s hit it.’

  ‘I’ll speak to him about it,’ Jayne said, fiddling with the drug cupboard keys then giving a rather weary sigh as she opened it. ‘Remember to smile for the camera!’

  ‘So it is true, then?’ Bella asked innocently. ‘Drugs really are going missing?’

  ‘I’m afraid so. I’m sorry you had to find out that way but, with the way gossip spreads in this place, it’s just as well that you know and can understand why everyone seems to be acting a bit strange at times. No one likes being under suspicion and until they catch whoever is responsible we’re going to just have to live with it. It’s awful, isn’t it?’ Jayne added. ‘That’s why I came on a bit strong out there. We have to be more careful, have to,’ she reiterated. ‘It’s all very well for Heath to say I’m overreacting, but he isn’t the one signing his name at the beginning and end of the shift in the drug records.’

  ‘And there are really cameras in there?’ Bella peered inside, staring at the neat rows of drugs and pretending to try and locate a lens.

  ‘Not in there.’ Jayne laughed. ‘At least, not that I’ve heard. Up there.’ She gestured to a small black box on the ceiling. ‘It’s supposed to be hidden, but everyone knows it’s there.’

  ‘Gosh.’ Bella stared upwards, resisting a childish urge to wave to her colleagues.

  ‘Anyway, it’s nothing for you to worry about. Just make sure you check things carefully and don’t be rushed. It’s just common sense really.’ Pulling out a box of pethidine, she opened the drug book. ‘Pethidine, 100 milligrams. There should be nineteen ampoules.’ Swinging the ampoules around in the package so the drug name was visible on each, she waited patiently while Bella checked. ‘I’m taking one, which leaves eighteen.’ They both signed off the drug book and safely locked everything away then Jayne collected a kidney dish and syringe as Bella watched. ‘This is for a Mr Benjamin Evans, a forty-eight-year-old who was trying to put the roof on a pergola this morning and forgot to secure the ladder. He’s hurt his back.’

  ‘Ouch.’ Bella grimaced.

  ‘He’s had X-rays and Jordan, the registrar, has had a look. The damage is muscular, so we’re going to give him this and send him home in a couple of hours for a few days of bed rest.’

  ‘One hundred milligrams?’ Bella checked, looking at Jordan’s writing, surprisingly neat for a doctor.

  ‘He’s a big guy,’ Jayne responded, pulling up the drug into a syringe and placing it in the kidney dish. ‘And a bit of a baby,’ she added. ‘You’ll soon see.’

  Walking towards the cubicles, Bella didn’t need to be told twice who the medication was for—the groans coming from cubicle four spoke for themselves. But at that moment Jayne’s pager shrilled loudly.

  ‘Damn,’ she cursed, glancing down at the little bleeper clipped to her blouse. ‘I need to get this. Bella, go and tell him I’ll be there in two seconds.’

  ‘Sure.’

  He certainly was a big guy. Mr Evans practically filled the trolley, but Jayne’s rather mean description that he was a baby seemed a touch harsh, Bella thought as she introduced herself to the patient. He was in a lot of pain yet still he managed an understanding nod when Bella explained there was a bit of a hold-up with the medication.

  ‘It shouldn’t be too much longer, Mr Evans.’

  ‘Ben.’ He grimaced. ‘It’s my own stupid fault anyway. That’ll teach me to go climbing ladders.’

  ‘Just think.’ Bella smiled, happy to make small talk to keep his mind off the pain. ‘In a few weeks this will all be behind you and you’ll be sitting under your lovely new pergola, having a nice cold beer.’

  ‘If I ever get the roof on the damn thing!’

  ‘Sorry about that, Mr Evans.’ Jayne bustled in, waving the kidney dish and prescription chart as Bella checked the patient’s name band.

  ‘Benjamin Evans, ID number 1514103.’

  They both checked the name band and drug sheet, making sure the identity matched before turning to the drug order.

  ‘Pethidine 100 milligrams,’ Jayne confirmed, and Bella nodded. ‘OK, Mr Evans, just a small scratch.’ Swabbing his thigh, Jayne slipped in the needle and delivered the powerful drug, before carefully disposing of the needle and syringe in the sharps box on the wall. ‘Now, that should take a little while to start working, but once it does, you’ll be feeling a lot more comfortable.’

  “Thanks, Sister.’

  ‘You were very nice to her,’ Bella said a couple of hours later as Heath wandered into the staffroom, where she stood attempting to read the instructions on a massive vending machine and rueing the fact that the five-dollar note in her hand wasn’t going to fit into the coins-only slot.

  She meant it.

  After the initial discomfort Heath had guided the trembling woman through the event, listened as she’d told them how she’d bought the tablets from a ‘doctor’ on the internet, sure this would be the answer to Charles’s little problem.

  And he’d been wonderful, gently explaining to Celia that the tablets she and Charles had purchased could, in fact, be dangerous in the wrong hands, that Charles’s cardiac condition meant he wasn’t suitable for that type of medication. However, he’d gently said, it didn’t mean it wasn’t treatable, that with a sympathetic real doctor they could, when Charles was better, resume a fulfilling sex life.

  ‘And very well informed on erectile dysfunction too,’ Bella added with a cheeky smile, giving up on the vending machine and heading for the massive tin of brown powder that supposedly passed as coffee and pulling out a mug to wash from the overflowing sink.

  ‘I was about to buy you a coffee,’ Heath responded, not remotely fazed by the below-the-belt humour nurses lived by—police officers, too, come to that. ‘But if you’re going to be like that, I guess I’ll just have to watch you suffer.’ He fed a dollar coin into the machine and Bella listened as it whirred into motion, the delicious smell of coffee beans reaching her nostrils as Heath stood watching his cup fill, jangling his loose change in his suit pocket. ‘Are you going to take that back?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ Bella smiled, weakening instantly, the smell of coffee just too good to resist. ‘I think there’s algae growing in that sink. Doesn’t anyone ever wash up here?’

  ‘No,’ Heath said, and Bella could have sworn there was an edge to his voice. ‘But whenever I say anything, apparently I’m nagging.’

  ‘Says who?’

  ‘Jayne!’ Heath rolled his eyes. ‘Apparently, since my temporary promotion I’ve become picky, that if I were just a bit easier on the domestic staff they might stick around a bit longer. The place is falling apart and I’m not supposed to notice!’

  ‘Do you have change for a note?
’

  He rolled his eyes and fed a dollar into the machine then headed off, leaving Bella to make her selection. If she had just been a nurse the conversation would have ended there—the polite small talk made around the coffee-machine, a fifteen-minute break from outside activity definitely what was needed now—but, with her police ID burning a hole in her pocket, Bella consoled herself as she dragged him away from his newspaper that she had to do this, had to force a conversation, had to get to know him a bit better.

  She wasn’t flirting!

  Just doing her duty.

  ‘Thanks.’ Holding up her plastic cup, she sat on a couch on the other side of the room.

  ‘No problem.’ He flashed a perfect smile and promptly turned back to his newspaper.

  ‘My shout next time. Once I get change, of course.’

  ‘Fine,’ Heath responded without looking up.

  ‘It’s been a busy morning!’ Bella said brightly, wincing inside as Heath visibly sighed and put down his paper, clearly giving up on any chance of a quiet cup of coffee.

  ‘How are you finding things on your first day?’ Heath asked.

  ‘Great,’ Bella said eagerly. ‘Everyone’s been really friendly, except, of course…’ Her voice trailed off and she waited for Heath to jump in to seemingly instigate a conversation she needed to have.

  ‘This morning’s little altercation?’ Heath gave a tight shrug. ‘I’m sorry you had to hear that on your first day. Normally the department’s very friendly and easygoing, but things have been a bit tense lately.’

  ‘Why?’ When Heath didn’t immediately respond, Bella pushed harder. ‘Are there really drugs going missing from the department?’

  ‘Unfortunately, yes.’