The Elusive Doctor Page 10

  After they’d absorbed the sad tidings one of them clomped slowly up the stairs to see his father, while the other took his mother in an awkward embrace.

  ‘Has anybody told the “squire”?’ he asked.

  His mother nodded tearfully. ‘Yes. The young doctor has phoned Keith. He’s on his way.’

  ‘I’m going to leave you a prescription for a sedative, Mary, just in case you need it,’ Rob said as they prepared to leave. ‘And there’s one other thing. An autopsy is usually carried out when the cause of death isn’t known. In your husband’s case we do know what killed him. It was the Parkinson’s disease, but his death was hastened by the fall.

  ‘I don’t think that the coroner’s office will ask for an autopsy, but if you were willing to let one be performed so that the findings might be used in the treatment of the disease it could be arranged,’ he said gently.

  ‘Obviously you don’t have to make a decision at this moment,’ he added quietly. ‘Think about it and let me know. We’re going to leave you with your family now, but if there’s anything at all that we at the practice can do, be sure to let me know.’

  As they drove to their next call, with the morning now well spent, Nina said hesitantly, ‘I imagine you’re feeling that you could have done without that?’

  He smiled. ‘It’s all part of a day’s work, Nina. It might have been better for the Blackmores if Bettine had answered the call, either in the guise of daughter-in-law or GP, but as it was they got me.’

  ‘Us.’

  ‘Yes, my apologies…us.’

  ‘And none of it bothered you?’

  ‘The old man’s death bothered me. It’s always sad to lose a patient but, as his wife said, it’s a relief, too. He was in a very bad state. As for the rest of it, presuming that you’re referring to the Bettine business, I don’t give a damn. I thought I’d made that clear to you on a previous occasion.’

  ‘You made a lot of things clear to me on a previous occasion,’ Nina said, grasping at the opportunity to push to one side the polite reserve she’d been fretting behind for weeks.

  ‘Yes. I believe I did.’

  ‘Oh! So you haven’t forgotten?’

  ‘Of course I haven’t forgotten! It isn’t exactly easy, working with you and keeping my distance at the same time.’

  ‘So why do you?’

  There was a lay-by ahead and he pulled into it, saying as he did so, ‘I can’t carry on this sort of a discussion while I’m driving.’

  ‘Why not?’ she snapped with the aggression still in her.

  Incredibly, Rob was smiling. ‘Supposing I want my hands free.’

  ‘Huh! That’ll be the day but, then, I’m forgetting. I’m not the one with the touch-me-not complex, am I? I’m not allowed to make advances to you, but if the mood takes you…!’

  ‘How do you know that the mood doesn’t take me a hundred times a day?’ he said, his good humour changing to gravity. ‘That I’m continually reminding myself that I’ve already been involved in one nine-day wonder and that I don’t want to drag you into another.’

  ‘Why don’t you let me be the judge of whether I’m prepared for that to happen? And if it was merely a nine-day wonder, what’s the problem?’

  ‘The problem is that you’re young, very beautiful and somewhat scatty. A natural-born risk-taker…And I’m not. Not when it comes to those under my jurisdiction.’

  ‘So how would it be if I changed my job? They’re advertising for a waitress at the Gun and Target.’

  ‘And waste all that talent? Come here, Nina.’

  He reached across and, putting his hand under her chin, turned her face to his. ‘I’m going to regret this, I know. It would be so much easier if you played hard to get.’

  When his lips took hers all the misery of the last few weeks was wiped out. His kisses were as strong and demanding as the man himself. Yet the hands that were holding her had the safest touch she’d ever known.

  He released her at last, and as his hands fell away and his mouth left hers Rob groaned, ‘We’re miles behind with the calls, Nina. What am I thinking of? I told you I’d regret it!’

  ‘Yes, you did, didn’t you?’ she said lifelessly. ‘You’d better start the car.’

  ‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ he protested, his eyes on her set face.

  ‘No? Then how did you mean it?’ And as he opened his mouth to speak she held up her hand. ‘Shush! You’ve said enough.’

  When they got back to the practice Bettine had just returned from her rounds. Judging from her expression, the Blackmores hadn’t been in touch.

  ‘Have you got a minute?’ Rob said as Nina went into the kitchen to put the kettle on.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Bettine said gushingly.

  ‘I have some bad news,’ he told her, taking her to one side.

  ‘Nothing’s happened to Miles…or Keith, has it?’ she asked quickly.

  ‘No. It’s your father-in-law. He had a bad fall this morning and Mary called us out, but he had died before we got there.’

  ‘Oh, no!’ she cried and flung herself, weeping, into his arms.

  As Nina came out of the kitchen with a steaming brew Rob was patting Bettine’s shoulder gently and murmuring words of comfort.

  Nina was ashamed to admit it, but she was angry. If Bettine was flopping about in anybody’s arms it should have been her husband’s, not putting on a big show of emotion for Rob’s benefit.

  She’d only been part of the Blackmore family for a matter of weeks, certainly not long enough to be prostrated with grief, and she’d forfeited any right to seek solace in the embrace of the man that she herself loved to distraction.

  Why, for goodness’ sake, wasn’t he gently but firmly telling her to go to her in-laws, instead of drooping all over him and wetting the front of his shirt?

  Rob had seen her expression and his eyes were saying, All right, calm down. I’m merely offering the same comfort I would to anyone suffering a bereavement.

  But it wasn’t anyone, was it? It was Bettine, and with a toss of her russet crop Nina went into her room and closed the door.

  It had barely had time to settle on its hinges before it was opening again to admit Gavin. He nodded in the direction from which he’d come. ‘What’s all that about?’ he asked. ‘Not young Miles, is it?’

  ‘No. Her father-in-law has died. We were called out to him this morning, but when we got there it was too late.’

  ‘And so either Bettine was very fond of him or she’s missing Roberto’s attentions more than somewhat,’ he remarked. ‘What to you think?’

  ‘I think your second theory applies.’

  ‘And you’re not happy?’

  ‘Er…no.’

  ‘You still fancy him, don’t you? That’s why I can’t get a look-in. You know that you’re wasting your time, don’t you? After the Bettine affair I’m surprised he didn’t go into a monastery. Rob Carslake is somewhat cheesed off with your sex.’

  ‘All right!’ Nina snapped, with the memory still rankling of the weeping Bettine in Rob’s arms. ‘You don’t have to lay it on with a trowel.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE next morning, as Nina and one of the practice nurses were waiting for patients to turn up for cervical smear tests, Barbara asked from behind the reception counter, ‘Does anyone know where Dr Carslake is? He has an appointment in fifteen minutes with a rep from one of the big pharmaceutical companies.’

  Gavin and Vikram were both around. Bettine had rung in to say she would be in later, and Rob had finished his morning surgery half an hour ago, but now he wasn’t to be seen.

  ‘I believe he went up to the flat,’ Vikram said.

  ‘I’ve rung through on the internal phone and there was no answer,’ the receptionist said, ‘but the phones are playing up this morning. I’ll have to get on to the phone company.’

  ‘I’ll pop up and give him the message if you like,’ Nina offered, and before anyone else could pip her to the post she headed f
or the stairs, thinking as she did so that this was going to be a first, seeing the inside of the flat, providing, of course, that she wasn’t kept standing on the mat.

  Rob was familiar enough with her home, but in all the weeks she’d been working at the practice she’d never set foot in his, and, needless to say, she was curious.

  He’d nodded briefly in her direction before surgery and there’d been a note on her desk to say that he felt she was now competent enough to do her own visits.

  After reading it, she’d experienced a longing to be back on their more friendly footing, and if running errands for Reception would do the trick, then errand girl she would be.

  ‘Yes, what is it?’ Rob asked when he opened the door to her, with an excited Zacky barking in the background.

  ‘Can I come in?’ she asked.

  He stepped back. ‘Yes, of course, though I can’t think what you might want of me.’

  She was sorely tempted to tell him what she wanted of him, but it wasn’t the right moment, and with a tight laugh she said, ‘You obviously haven’t got “Welcome” written on your mat.’

  ‘Can we get to the point, please, Nina?’

  ‘Yes. Reception asked me to remind you about an appointment with a pharmaceutical rep.’

  ‘I see. Phones not working?’

  ‘No, as a matter of fact, they’re not. Barbara is getting on to the phone company.’

  ‘That’s all we need. A doctor’s surgery without telephone communication! Thanks for the message.’

  Nina was only half listening. She was looking around her, taking in the spartan accommodation of the flat above the surgery.

  He saw her expression and almost smiled. ‘What is it? Were you expecting something more luxurious? If you were, you’re doomed to disappointment as the rest of it is no better than this, I’m afraid.’

  The furniture was good, solid stuff, but old. The polished wooden floors were attractive in their own way, but they would have looked drab without the scattering of brightly coloured rugs.

  The paintings were the only things of class, vivid watercolours of local scenes and people that were so vibrantly alive she caught her breath.

  ‘Whatever the decor of the flat lacks, the paintings make up for it,’ she said. ‘Who’s the artist?’

  ‘Moi,’ he said with an exaggerated continental-type bow.

  ‘You!’ she breathed. ‘You’ve painted all these, Rob? What a talent!’

  He laughed. ‘I’m glad you approve of something I’ve done.’

  ‘I approve of everything about you,’ she said softly, ‘except—’

  ‘When I start fussing over my ex-fiancée? Your expression was something to be seen. What did you expect me to do? Push her away? Make light of a death in her husband’s family? The least I could do was offer some comfort.’

  ‘I knew you were going to bring that up,’ she said stiffly, ‘and I’m sorry that I made my feelings so obvious.’

  ‘You certainly did,’ he agreed. ‘How do you think I feel when I see Gavin hovering around you? But I don’t make a public announcement of my disapproval.’

  It was her turn to break into what he was saying. ‘You’re about to warn me that he’s bad news? That the golden-haired Gavin isn’t to be trusted?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘I’m aware of the fact.’

  ‘And yet you’re still prepared to let him hang around you?’

  ‘Maybe. At least he does want my company.’

  ‘And you think I don’t?’

  ‘That’s how it looks.’

  ‘Yes, well, looks aren’t everything. You’re old enough to know that.’

  He then took the wind out of her sails by saying suddenly, ‘Are you going to the fair?’

  ‘Fair?’

  ‘Yes, the September fair. It arrives in one of the fields at the back of the village on Friday night and stays until Monday.’

  Nina’s eyes sparkled. ‘I’ll have to ask Gavin to take me,’ she teased.

  ‘No need for that,’ Rob said calmly. ‘I’ll take you myself…on Saturday night…if you’re free. It’s one way of making sure that you don’t get carried off by gypsies.’

  ‘You mean like the lady in the story of the raggletaggle gypsies? Except that she went of her own free will.’

  ‘No. I mean as in the story of Nina Lombard who isn’t cut out for caravan life.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. If the gypsy was handsome enough I suppose I could get used to it,’ she said with the sparkle still in evidence, but now it was there because they were friends again…and unbelievably Rob was going to take her to the fair!

  He reached out and touched her face gently and she became still. ‘Forget the people of the road, Nina,’ he said softly. ‘There are enough of us here who would like you to share our caravans, but circumstances get in the way sometimes.’

  ‘There’s no reason why they should,’ she told him, looking him straight in the eye.

  As he opened his mouth to answer, Barbara’s voice intruded. ‘The ladies for the smear tests are all here, Dr Lombard,’ she called up the stairs, and with a sigh Nina went to carry out yet another part of a GP’s busy schedule.

  For the rest of the week Nina was totally happy. Saturday was like a beacon shining on her horizon. This would be their first proper date, she kept telling herself.

  Eloise was watching her. Nina had told her that she was going to the fair with Rob, so she knew the reason for her young stepdaughter’s high spirits and prayed they weren’t going to be the forerunner of a fall.

  Nina’s father hadn’t been let into the secret. His reactions were often difficult to cope with. The last thing Nina wanted was for him to ask Rob what his intentions were, and he would if the mood took him.

  Yet if he did do that, embarrassing though it might be, her dad could be doing her a favour, as she would like to know what his intentions were, too. He’d made them quite clear on a few occasions and then out of the blue he’d offered to take her to the fair.

  ‘Shall I call for you tomorrow night?’ Rob asked as they saw off the last patient on the Friday.

  Did he guess that she didn’t want her father poking his nose in? she wondered. Or was he just as anxious as she that the weakening of his resolve shouldn’t be made public, if ‘weakening’ was a word one would use in connection with the man who was quick enough to diagnose what she was suffering from, but not as quick to sound out his own heart.

  ‘No. As the surgery is nearer to where they’re holding the fair, I’ll call for you,’ she volunteered. ‘What time do you suggest?’

  ‘Half six to sevenish? It will be dark by then.’

  As she drove home, the thought of strolling around the brightly lit fairground in the dark autumn night with Rob was all she could think of.

  It was only later, as she lay dreamily watching a yellow moon through her bedroom window, that it occurred to her that his comment that it would be dark by the time they got there might have something to do with the fact that he still wasn’t happy about being seen with her outside the practice.

  She pushed the thought away. If that was the case, why had he made the arrangement? If Rob was dubious about them being seen together, she certainly wasn’t. What was more, she would sort out the brightest clothes in her wardrobe for tomorrow night so that she would be seen.

  When Nina arrived at the surgery the following evening, Rob had just got back from walking Zacky and he said with a rueful smile, ‘This young fellow didn’t like all the racket that’s going on around the fair. He was almost as jumpy as on Bonfire Night.’

  As Nina bent to stroke the quivering animal he said, ‘You look positively dazzling!’

  ‘Do I?’ she asked mock-innocently. ‘Is that a compliment or just a mere statement of fact?’

  ‘A bit of both,’ he replied calmly. ‘They’ll be able to turn off the lights when you get to the fair.’

  ‘Very funny.’

  Tight emerald green trousers and
a tangerine-coloured tunic, offset with a multicoloured scarf knotted stylishly at the neck, were providing the effect she wanted, and with gold sandals on her feet and a matching bag there was no way she would go unnoticed among the crowd at the fair.

  In contrast, whether by accident or design, Rob was dressed in a dark brown shirt and jeans, and Nina thought whimsically, The moth and the butterfly went to the fair on a beautiful autumn night…

  He was watching her face. ‘What’s the joke?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Hmm,’ he murmured dubiously. ‘I don’t believe that! But the plan isn’t to stand chatting all night, so let’s be off.’

  As was the way with fairs, the spectacle that had been erected on the field on the outskirts of the village had attracted far more people than the residents of Stepping Dearsley. Young and old alike had been drawn to the cluster of rides and sideshows as if by a magnet.

  Rob had been right about the noise—it was deafening. Yet it was exciting, too, in its own raucous way.

  If he hadn’t wanted them to be on view, he’d brought her to the wrong place, Nina thought as they strolled among the jostling crowd. They were being stopped by people who knew Rob all the time, and it wasn’t surprising.

  Who was better known in the village than Rob Carslake? The people in the post office maybe, or the local bobby, but after that came the practice—and Rob Carslake was the practice. She’d had no need to dress up like a beacon. His popularity and the very nature of his function among them meant that he wouldn’t go unobserved.

  He won a coconut and presented it to her with a boyish grin, and as they moved around, with Nina holding it in one hand and a mass of pink candyfloss in the other, she found him watching her with smiling intentness.

  Looking up at the big Ferris wheel towering against the skyline, he said, ‘Shall we?’

  ‘Mmmm,’ she replied, ‘and then I’d like to go on the Dodgems, the Caterpillar and—’

  He’d taken her arm and was propelling her towards the ticket box. ‘One thing at a time, my sweet.’