here, she insisted on coming to live in the area. It was perhaps just as well that we were thinking of moving anyway.’ She paused, thinking it through. ‘I suppose there could be some truth in it. After all, he loved this area when he was a child. Perhaps he wants to get back to his roots.’
‘She’s clutching at straws. The rumours could be way off beam, and I’d be surprised if he could remember having a home here at one time. It was a long, long time ago. But at least your mother has left notice of where she’s living now—just in case he ever turns up at the old house. They’re good people, the couple who moved into your old place. They promised that they would keep in touch, didn’t they? And I have every faith in them. Though, if you ask me, it isn’t very likely that he’ll put in an appearance after all this time.’
‘You could be right, but I hope for her sake that we find him. For years now she’s been stressed out, worrying about where he is and what he’s doing. I just hate to see her looking so ill.’
Aunt Rose made a face. ‘You won’t thank me for saying it, but it didn’t do her a lot of good, living with your father. He was a difficult man at the best of times, and he caused her a lot of heartache. To be brutally honest, I wasn’t sorry when the marriage broke up.’
Amber could understand how she felt. Any loyalty that she might have had to her father had disappeared long ago. He had been a strict disciplinarian, a domineering man, and she wasn’t surprised that it had taken her mother so long to break free.
She glanced at her watch. ‘I must go,’ she said. ‘I’ve a busy day ahead of me. Take care, Aunt Rose. Thanks for breakfast.’
Aunt Rose nodded, giving her a quick hug. ‘I wanted to make sure that you had a good meal inside you before you went off on your first day in a new job. You’ll do all right, I’m sure.’
She was a no-nonsense sort of woman, tall and strong, the opposite of her sister, and Amber hugged her in return and felt reassured that she could leave her mother in her care.
She collected her things together, said her goodbyes and then headed towards town and the Castle Hill hospital.
She had been hoping that she might avoid bumping into the consultant as soon as she entered the A and E department, but it wasn’t to be. She wasn’t that lucky.
He was there, by the reception desk, talking to Chloe. He didn’t seem to notice Amber as she walked in, and she kept a low profile, talking quietly to the desk clerk and generally gathering information about the set-up in the unit.
‘I’ll hand you over to Mandy, our triage nurse,’ the desk clerk said. ‘She’ll give you a quick rundown of everything.’
‘Thanks.’
Mandy had been at the party the other night, and Amber recalled that she was a lively girl, with dark hair that shone with good health and warm, brown eyes. She greeted Amber cheerfully. ‘It’s good to see you again. That was a terrible end to the evening, when the fire started, wasn’t it?’ she said. ‘I’m just so relieved that we all managed to escape.’
‘Me, too.’
‘Come on. I’ll show you where we keep everything. We’ll start off round here at the back of the reception desk. That’s where we keep most of the forms that you’ll need.’
Amber followed her, and tried to keep track of where she would find blood-test forms, lab-request slips and relevant charts.
‘I know it can be difficult when you start a new job, getting used to the place, but you’ll soon get the hang of our system, I’m sure,’ Mandy said.
‘I hope so.’ Mandy was friendly and helpful, and Amber did her best to concentrate on what the nurse was saying, but snatches of conversation came to her from the other side of the desk, and she couldn’t help hearing all the ins and outs of Chloe’s problems. She wasn’t making any attempt to keep her voice down.
She was clearly was upset. ‘Did you see this article?’ she was saying. She waved a newspaper in front of Nick’s face. ‘It’s all about the fire the other night, and they have a photograph of me on the front page— I can’t believe they put my picture in the paper.’ Her face crumpled. ‘What am I going to do? If my ex-husband sees this, he’ll know where I am, and he’ll come after me.’
‘That’s not necessarily true,’ Nick said softly. ‘You’re not living there now, are you?’
‘No, but as soon as the repairs are done and I move back in, he’s going to find me, isn’t he?’
Nick gently placed his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. ‘You must stop upsetting yourself like this. I’ll speak to my father, and between us we’ll find you somewhere else to live. That will solve the problem, won’t it?’
‘I suppose so.’ She stared up at him, her blue eyes wide and troubled. ‘I’m sorry to lay this on you, Nick. It’s just that he frightens me so much. He was such a violent man.’
‘Try not to be afraid,’ he murmured. ‘If you’re really worried, you should go to the police and get a restraining order. In the meantime, can you stay with your cousin until we get you fixed up somewhere?’
Chloe nodded. Her blonde curls shimmered in the glow from the overhead light. She was a pretty girl, and Amber could understand how any man would feel protective towards her. She looked vulnerable and needy, and the consultant was obviously responding by giving her his full support.
Mandy was called away, and she left Amber to familiarise herself with the system. ‘I’ll be back in a while,’ she promised. ‘I just need to go and look in on one of my patients.’
Amber nodded, and went on rummaging through the various types of forms. After a while, though, her mind began to wander.
Her mother had seen the same article in the newspaper, and it seemed that the fire at the accommodation block was the talk of the neighbourhood.
It just showed how great the power of the press could be. What if she could use that power to her own ends? Could it be one of the ways that she could try to contact her brother? If he was living in the area, it was possible that he would read the local news.
‘What are you doing?’
She looked up with a start as a now-familiar male voice intruded on her reverie. ‘I’m sorry?’ she floundered, trying to get her wits together once more. She gazed at her boss in confusion. ‘Did you say something?’
Nick was staring at her with a look of exasperation that she was beginning to recognise.
‘Yes, I did. I’m sorry if I’m interrupting your daydream, but I would appreciate it if you could drag your attention my way for a moment or two.’
She blinked. His sarcasm wasn’t wasted on her. It seemed that she hadn’t even managed to get through the first half an hour here without crossing him.
‘I’m afraid I was a little preoccupied,’ she mumbled.
He made a faint grimace. He said slowly, ‘I was asking what you’re doing behind the desk. It seems to me that you’re in an area where you have no business to be. Is that correct?’
‘Er, no…’ She straightened up, a little intimidated by his brooding expression. ‘What I mean to say is, it is all right for me to be here. I was just familiarising myself with the way things are organised. I’m going to be working in this department.’
He stared at her in disbelief, and then shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think you have that quite right.’ He frowned. ‘This is an A and E unit. Perhaps you were looking for the records office or something?’
Her mouth made an odd shape. ‘Actually, I think you’ll find that I’m your new senior house officer— or rather, one of them.’
He didn’t say anything for quite some time, but simply studied her as though she had descended from another planet.
When