Dad turned and saw her too. ‘There she is!’ he exclaimed and pointed at Alex. ‘That’s the doctor who’s been sexually abusing our son!’
Maybe it was hearing the words said out loud that had such an effect on Mum, or perhaps it was just the sight of Alex in the flesh, but she let go of me and rushed straight up to Alex. I thought she was going to attack her.
‘Shame on you!’ she hissed. ‘And you came to my house? You have the brass neck to get one of your slapper friends to put you forward so you can come into my house to get at my child?’
‘We need to calm this down.’ The car park man stepped in front of Mum, looking down at her. ‘This is a very serious allegation you’re making here, and this isn’t an appropriate—’
‘Appropriate?’ Mum rounded on him. ‘Don’t you dare talk to me about what’s appropriate! You’re supposed to be able to trust your doctor with your children. She’s been preying on him for months!’
‘What? No, I haven’t! That’s a lie!’ Alex finally started to defend herself.
‘So you haven’t had sex with my son then?’ Mum demanded.
Alex hesitated and turned to me desperately. I stared back blankly, offering her nothing, not because I was taking a leaf out of her book, but because I was terrified.
‘You see!’ Mum exclaimed to the rest of the room. ‘She’s not denying it! She can’t, because it’s true. Well we’re not going to let you get away with this. I’m going to make sure you never get your dirty hands near another child.’ She pointed firmly at Alex, who melodramatically jerked her head back in terror as if Mum was holding a knife to her forehead.
‘That’s enough,’ the car park man said to Mum, and I realised he must be Alex’s boss to be assuming charge like this. ‘I’ve just had the police here and I’ll call them again if you attempt another assault on my colleague.’
‘My wife isn’t the one doing the assaulting.’ Dad was there like a shot. ‘You best get us a room where we can make our complaint properly. I assume it’s you who runs this place as you’re acting the big billy bollocks.’
‘Dad,’ I said quickly. Defending me was one thing; Dad would lose it completely if anyone insulted Mum and he might well become violent. I didn’t want that, for everyone’s sake.
‘Don’t worry, son, I’m dealing with it.’ Dad just held a hand up to silence me. ‘She’s not going to be allowed to hurt you again.’
‘Yes, he’s the one who runs it,’ Mum answered Dad, nodding at car park man. ‘He’s the doctor I saw last month.’
‘This is outrageous.’ Alex turned to Dad. ‘You’re making public allegations that are completely false, and which you can’t have any evidence of, because they’re not true. That’s slander, and I’ll sue you if say another word.’
‘You’re threatening me?’ Dad laughed in her face, and I remembered thinking they might be having an affair. Weren’t they way too similar to appeal to each other? ‘Did you hear that everyone? The kiddy-fiddler doctor says she’s going to sue me!’
‘I mean it, I’ll call the police if you continue this.’ Car park man was starting to get really aggressive with Dad now too. It was like watching two lions starting to prowl round each other. ‘We either discuss this privately or not at all.’
‘Jonathan – you know this isn’t true.’ Alex turned to me suddenly. ‘Why are you making this up? Is it because I said I’d tell everyone you tried to blackmail me into sleeping with you?’
And there it was. My gut tightened again. I knew she’d try something… some sort of lie to point the accusations at me instead.
‘Don’t talk to him,’ Mum rounded on her furiously; well prepared, after my warning that Alex would attempt to twist everything. ‘Don’t so much as look at him, love, all right?’
‘Please, Alex, don’t say anything more.’ Even car park man was now trying to shut Alex down. ‘Just go into my office and wait there, OK?’
‘Jonathan?’ She looked at me desperately, but I refused to engage with her, refused to let her play her games. At long last I’d finally managed to prevent her from having any more power over me, ever again.
She had no choice but to turn around to leave the room, everyone watching her. As she opened the door I heard one of the older patients tut and repeat Mum’s verdict with a muttered: ‘For shame!’
I felt sick with relief. They believed me.
Thank God. Everyone could see I was telling the truth.
* * *
Why did I choose Shahid Khan as a name? I didn’t. I just picked up a form off the floor and pretended to be someone else, so I could have the opportunity to safely ask her to leave me alone. I knew she wouldn’t be able to go crazy in a full surgery. That’s all.
Yes, I still have the pay-as-you-go phone. I can’t prove the messages on it come from her. That was kind of the point in the first place. I doubt very much she has hers any more. She’s not that stupid. But my phone definitely exists. The number is 07887— call it right now if you like? It’ll ring. It’s genuine.
I also want to make the point she was safe from me. I had no intention of going to the surgery to hurt her. I’ve told the truth. What kind of person would I be to have made everything up?
What kind of person could even suggest that I had?
Part 2
The Aftermath
15
Rob
Five days after the General Medical Council began to gather their statements, the first news story appeared. As Al was still suspended and there was no detail on the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Services website about the investigation at all, it was obvious that someone directly involved had leaked the story.
Admittedly, a whole room full of patients had heard that bastard Gary Day publicly accuse my wife of ‘sexually assaulting’ their son, but none of them would have known anything more than that. The level of detail that appeared in the press, however, was astonishing, and Alex fell apart.
‘Oh my god. Oh my god,’ was all she could say, over and over again, staring at one of the articles on my laptop screen, as we both sat at the kitchen table after I’d dropped the girls off at school. She’d been sleeping so badly she was pale as anything anyway, but looking at the accompanying photo of herself in a tiny dress outside the club in Ibiza, clutching a drink – helpfully lifted from Stef’s Facebook page – she went actually white. It was the first time I understood what seeing the blood drain from someone’s face really meant.
‘I look like an old slag, someone who does this sort of thing all the time.’ She put her head in her hands and stared at herself. ‘When in fact I had to buy something new to wear because I don’t even own any going out clothes any more.’
‘You don’t look like a slag at all. You look lovely,’ I said truthfully.
She didn’t hear me and turned instead to the headline:
40-YEAR-OLD FAMILY DOCTOR DISCIPLINED FOR AFFAIRS WITH PATIENTS IS SUSPENDED AFTER ADMITTING TO SEX IN IBIZA WITH 17-YEAR-OLD
She read aloud, then continued in disbelief;
A GP who married one of her patients after having an affair with him, has been suspended pending a full investigation into a second allegation of misconduct. Dr Alexandra Inglis, of Crowborough, East Sussex received a warning when her relationship with a married patient was anonymously reported to the GMC, but now Dr Inglis faces allegations of conducting a sexual relationship over a three-month period with a second patient, aged seventeen years old.
Jonathan Day, now eighteen years of age, has waived his right to anonymity. Day insists that while the relationship was initially consensual, after it ended, Dr Inglis encouraged Day’s mother to receive a home visit for a minor medical aliment, enabling Dr Inglis to gain entry to the family home where she is said to have ‘shoved’ Day’s girlfriend ‘violently’.