‘It’s fine. I’m just relieved you understand that there is NOTHING going on between us, and what you saw was him forcing himself on me.’
‘I think that’s actually the point there, Alex,’ David said suddenly. ‘I made a massive assumption based on what I thought I saw, but he came to your place of work, and after you’d told him to leave he still hid behind your car and waited for you, threatened you unless you slept with him again, grabbed your wrist to restrain you and foisted unwanted sexual contact on you. Just because a woman chooses to have sex with someone once does not give said person the right to assume any kind of relationship or contact after that. And yes, he’s seventeen, but he’s also physically able to overpower you and old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. He knew it was wrong to try and blackmail you like that. Let’s formally document everything with Cleo on Monday morning, so that if he comes back and starts harassing you again, we’ve got a record of everything. Hopefully we won’t ever need it as evidence, but I don’t want to take the chance. I’m so sorry that I leapt to the conclusion I did and I didn’t immediately support and protect you, as I should have.’
‘It’s OK. I’d already told you I’d slept with him, plus you probably were thinking about the warning already on my record because of Rob. It’s easy under those circumstances to let your mind arrive at a conclusion despite the absence of proof.’
‘I’m still sorry I didn’t at least give you the benefit of the doubt. I should have known better.’
* * *
I took a deep breath as I pulled into my designated ‘doctor on duty’ space outside the surgery, and looked in the mirror, wiping a smudge of mascara from under my eye. At least I didn’t feel as if I was now walking into a room where I had to convince Cleo and David of my innocence, and David was right, if Jonathan was stupid enough to come back, I needed to have taken steps to defend myself.
I closed my eyes for a moment, and took a few deep, calming breathes, before climbing out and closing the car door. I shivered as I walked around the side of the building. I had made an error of judgement with my choice of clothes: it was actually much colder than it looked and my jacket was too thin, so I hastened briskly to the security keypad and punched my code in, before opening the staff door and stepping into the corridor. I gave an involuntary shudder as the warmth began to spread through my body: the surgery was always hot to the point of roasting. I walked down to my office, put my bag down on the floor, took my jacket off and hung it over the back of my chair, before smoothing my trousers and going in search of David and Cleo.
They were in David’s room and, as soon as I walked in, I knew that David had already brought Cleo up to speed. They both had a cup of tea on the go; she was clutching a notebook and pen – which already contained some notes – and inclined her head to one side, smiling sympathetically.
‘Morning, Alex.’
‘Morning.’ It was hard to know if it was appropriate to smile back. ‘Good weekend, both?’
‘Not bad, thank you,’ she said.
‘It was pedestrian, thanks,’ David replied, pushing his chair back and stretching his legs out. ‘Do you want a tea or coffee before we get started, Alex? I’ll make it.’
I shook my head. ‘No, thanks. I’ll have one in a bit. I’d rather just get on with it if that’s OK?’
‘Sure.’ Cleo nodded understandingly. ‘So, it might be best if you just tell me in your own words what happened on Friday when Jonathan Day came to see you for an emergency appointment while you were duty doctor?’
I cleared my throat. ‘OK, so at about eleven o’clock Jen buzzed me and said my next patient was a Shahid Kahn. She told me he was a temporary resident and—’ I stopped, interrupted by the sound of persistent dull thudding drifting up the hall. I paused and we all listened carefully, but there was nothing. ‘That he was a fresher,’ I continued, ‘who didn’t want to say why he needed—What is that?’ I broke off as the noise resumed again.
David frowned, got up and opened his door wider, leaning out into the corridor. ‘Jen? Bev?’ he called. ‘Are you there? Everything OK?’
‘It’s just some bloke knocking at the main door,’ Jen called back. ‘I think he’s gone over the road to Lloyds. Probably a prescription mess up, or something, I expect.’
‘OK, well, shout if you need us.’ David turned around, came back over to his desk but, in the process of sitting down while simultaneously picking up his mug, he didn’t manage to get a proper grip on the handle and promptly dropped the cup of hot tea in his lap.
‘Ow! Fuck!’ he exclaimed, leaping to his feet. The cup fell to the floor and bounced on the laminate, jerking the remains of the liquid in the air. Cleo jumped up out of the way, and I swung my legs to one side as the cup clattered to a stop, and David started to scrub, vigorously and pointlessly, at the front of the wet patch on his trousers with the sheet of tissue he’d already snatched off the patient bed behind him. ‘That’s really bloody hot!’
‘Are you all right?’ I said, concerned. ‘You haven’t scalded yourself, have you?’
‘I’m fine, thank you. Anyway, I’m not taking off my trousers so you can have a look, even with a third party present.’ He nodded at Cleo, who was bending to pick up the cup. ‘They’ll have you pegged as a medical Mata Hari at this rate.’
‘I hope not. She ended up in front of a firing squad, didn’t she?’ I replied. ‘Which would seem a little harsh, even for the GMC.’
David snorted. ‘Let me just sort myself out and we’ll reconvene in a minute, OK?’
We didn’t get the chance, however, because the man Jen had seen at the front door came back. It was Mr Daniels, one of our regulars who, Jen, having only been our receptionist for two weeks, had not yet had the pleasure of meeting. He had significant mental health issues alongside physical problems with his blood pressure and was convinced that the medication we’d prescribed was in fact poison because we couldn’t be bothered to work out what was really wrong with him. He’d been verbally abusive to Megan on several occasions and was now registered to Steven, a gentle but firm bear of doctor who, like Mr Daniels, was not far off retirement age. This had seemed to placate Mr Daniels initially, having ‘a man of experience’ looking after him, but, as ever, it was only a temporary fix and he was back with a vengeance. We ended up letting him in but then had to call the police when he refused to leave and started shouting obscenities at Bev while our curious patients gathered outside the front door waiting for the morning surgery to start.
‘Well, that ought to give them all enough drama to keep them busy while they wait,’ said David drily from behind the reception desk as the now full waiting room watched a bitterly protesting Mr Daniels being manhandled into the back of a police car. ‘Poor old sod, what a shitty start to a week.’ He sighed and, for a moment, I wasn’t sure if he was talking about himself or Mr Daniels. ‘Anyway, as we were. Alex, Cleo, can we conclude at lunchtime instead?’ I nodded, and Cleo gave him a thumbs up.
‘Everyone else,’ Cleo addressed the rest of the assembled staff squashed into the back room to see what all of the fuss was about, ‘can we have a brief meeting at one p.m. for five minutes, because we—’ she stopped as more shouting broke out beyond the desk. ‘For goodness’ sake! What now?’
‘That can’t be Daniels back again, surely?’ David said worriedly.