Chapter Fifty-One
‘Damn, missed it,’ said Liam as we drove past a parking bay. He braked hard. ‘Hold on to your hairdo,’ he warned, as the vehicle went into reverse. ‘It’s going to be a squeeze getting into this one.’
‘Should I get out?’ I suggested. ‘Then you will have more space to open your door.’
‘Good idea,’ he said, as I reached for the seatbelt release. ‘You’re not just a gorgeous face.’
I gave him a quick smile before slipping out of the vehicle.
A gorgeous face? That was pushing it. Maybe pretty on a good day – after eight hours of sleep and a dollop of makeup. But not right now.
As I shut the door, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the passenger window – a pale woman with lank hair, and dark shadows under worried eyes.
Seconds later, Liam had expertly shoehorned his Range Rover into the tight space.
Thanks to his streamlined physique, he exited the vehicle with no bother.
No jelly belly for him bouncing off the wingmirror of the car parked alongside, nor a sticky-out derriere brushing against another motor’s dirty bodywork.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ I said, as we fell into step together.
Inside Accident & Emergency, the place was heaving. A doorman directed us to Reception. Liam let me do the speaking. Rightly or wrongly, I said I was Hetty’s daughter and looking for both her and my brother, Hugo.
‘Neat trick,’ murmured Liam.
We passed through some double doors, then followed the corridor round to an area lined with cubicles. Some of the privacy curtains were drawn. However, Hetty’s wasn’t because I immediately spotted Hugo at the far end. He was sitting on a plastic chair positioned half in and half out of the cubicle.
‘Jen,’ said Hugo, as Liam and I approached. He stood up and rubbed the kinks from his back. ‘Hi,’ he said to Liam, before turning again to me. ‘Whatever are you doing here?’
I spotted a nurse at the rear of the cubicle.
‘I simply had to see Mum,’ I said, giving Hugo a meaningful look.
The nurse immediately looked my way.
‘Are you family?’ she asked, putting down a clipboard.
‘Yes,’ I said, hoping that Hugo had caught on.
‘And you?’ said the nurse, looking at Liam.
‘Son-in-law,’ he said without hesitation.
‘We came as soon as we could. My wife has been very distressed.’ Liam slung an arm round my shoulders and pulled me towards him.
The setting might have been unromantic, but that didn’t stop my body from quivering under his touch.
‘Are you okay, darling? he said, dropping a kiss on my head.
‘Yes,’ I squeaked, as Hugo gave us both a perplexed look.
Liam squeezed my shoulders again and glanced at the nurse’s name badge.
‘No doubt Caitlin and her team will ensure Mum makes a full recovery.’ Liam flashed the nurse the same smile that always made my stomach flip-flop. She promptly melted faster than an ice floe in the Caribbean.
‘Okay,’ she relented. ‘When Doctor returns, he might ask one of you to leave. But, for now, you can all stay.’
She flashed Liam a grin, before taking herself off to the cubicle next door.
‘What in the name of-’ Hugo hissed.
‘Sorry for the fibs,’ I whispered, as Liam released me. I moved closer to Hugo and kept my voice down. ‘I had to come. Hetty was with me when it happened, so I kind of feel responsible.’
‘Don’t be daft,’ he sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked tired and his face was fretted with worry lines. ‘Mum is resting.’ He nodded at the bed where Hetty lay.
Her eyes were closed. She was very still, but her colour was good. A saline drip was doing its thing. Another machine was monitoring blood pressure.
‘Things have moved surprisingly quickly,’ Hugo continued.
‘I don’t know whether we caught a lull, but Mum has already had an emergency brain scan.
We’re awaiting the results, along with the blood tests.
I think the doctor mentioned doing an ECG.
Also a carotid ultrasound. But I’m not sure when those tests will happen. ’
‘Hugo?’ said Hetty, struggling to sit up.
He quickly went to her side.
‘Don’t move,’ he said, patting one of her hands. ‘Lie still.’
‘I’m not an invalid you know,’ she said waspishly.
I blinked in surprise. Hetty sounded just like Hetty. In other words, normal. She looked my way and smiled.
‘Forgive me, dear, for not saying hello when you first walked in. I was communing.’
Communing?
‘So many spirits in this place,’ she tutted. ‘And all vying for my attention. Anyway, sorry about frightening you earlier. I gather you and Alice both had a funny turn.’
‘Er, I think it was you who had the funny turn, Hetty,’ I said cautiously. ‘That’s why you’re here.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ she said dismissively. ‘I feel absolutely fine and want to go home.’
Before she could say anything further, a doctor stepped into the cubicle.
‘Good evening, Mrs Cartwright,’ he smiled pleasantly. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Very well, thank you.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ said the doctor. ‘Also, speech is clear and facial muscles symmetrical.’
‘Why shouldn’t they be?’ Hetty demanded. ‘I simply fainted.’
‘Well, it was a little more than a faint, Mrs Cartwright. You had a TIA.’
‘A what?’ Hetty bristled.
‘A Transient Ischemic Attack. It gives short-lasting neurological symptoms. In your case, this was dizziness and a loss of balance. We have the results of the CT scan. Happily, I can exclude a stroke or bleed. This means the symptoms you experienced earlier will resolve within a twenty-four-hour period. Your bloods have confirmed no diabetes, and no cholesterol issues. However, given your age, I’d like to keep you in overnight for observation.
Tomorrow you can go home with prescribed aspirin which is standard care for TIA patients. ’
‘Listen to me, young man,’ said Hetty. She hauled herself upright causing the blood pressure machine to bleep alarmingly. ‘I have not had a TIA. I simply had a bad reaction to the ectoplasm.’
The doctor frowned and consulted his clipboard.
‘I don’t have that test-’
‘Put the clipboard down,’ Hetty instructed.
‘And please stop fussing. I wasn’t unconscious – I was temporarily unavailable.
’ She returned the doctor’s blank expression with a stern look.
‘I was channelling,’ she clarified. The doctor looked none the wiser.
‘Let me explain. Earlier, I was conducting a perfectly ordinary session with Mrs Armstrong here. Her deceased husband – God rest his wandering soul – had refused to properly cross over.’
‘Hetty!’ I squeaked in alarm.
Please don’t let her spill any shoved-Peter-down-the-stairs beans.
‘It’s okay, Jen,’ Hetty assured. ‘While I was out’ – she willed me and the doctor to understand, then explained when we didn’t – ‘out of my body, yes? Keep up. While I was out, I had a firm word with Peter. I told him that the afterlife isn’t like some garden centre to loiter in, and to go to the light once and for all.
He’s a very strong character though. Very forceful.
I had to get tough with him. So, the energy shifted, and the next thing I knew, I was releasing a tremendous amount of ectoplasm through my left nostril.
Basically, my aura short-circuited and I collapsed.
But you’ll be pleased to know the tingling in my third eye has stopped, and Peter has now buggered off. ’
The doctor looked at Hugo helplessly.
‘I think we might run an MRI to be on the safe side,’ he confided.
‘Don’t be so disrespectful, young man,’ Hetty admonished. She turned her attention back to me. ‘Before Peter left, he asked me to tell you three things. First, your secret is safe. Second, he approved of his final resting place.’
‘That’s very generous of him,’ muttered Liam, no doubt wondering how many dogs had since marked the spot by cocking their legs.
‘Third, you will marry again and have his blessing.’
‘Right-oh,’ I whispered, wondering what the doctor was making of all this.
A quick look at his face told me everything.
That he thought Hetty Cartwright was completely off her NHS trolley.
Hetty must have picked up on the medic’s thoughts because, seconds later, she started to give him chapter and verse.
‘And as for you, doctor.’ She waggled a finger. ‘You’re a very nice man but so wrapped up in your work you can’t see anything unless it’s on an X-Ray lightbox. Three words. Your love life.’
‘What?’ gasped the bemused doctor.
‘No, don’t look at me like you’ve just licked a light socket.’
‘Mum,’ Hugo warned. ‘Now is not the time.’
‘Hear me out.’ Hetty raised a hand to silence Hugo.
‘I was talking to your granny earlier,’ she said to the doctor.
‘She asked me to tell you to sort out your private life. Also, that there’s a lovely lass right under your nose.
’ The doctor turned bright red – which was a bit of a giveaway that Hetty was on the right track.
‘Your granny says Nurse Caitlin is your future. So can I respectfully ask you to forget the aspirin prescription and instead ask the girl out. Granny is now laughing. She says that perhaps Nurse Caitlin should give you an ECG because your heart races every time you see her.’
Hugo groaned.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘Mum is a little eccentric.’
‘Um, if you’ll excuse me,’ said the doctor, making to leave. ‘I must get that MRI organised. Also, er, I need to have a private word with, um, Nurse Caitlin.’