you know where my mummy is?’ the little girl asked.
Amber knelt down beside the child. ‘Hello, Lucy. What are you doing here? Is someone looking after you?’
‘Mrs Denney’s looking after me. She’s over there.’ Lucy pointed to where a woman was in conversation with Mandy. ‘I wasn’t very well,’ Lucy said, ‘and she brought me to see my mummy. Where is she? Do you know?’
‘Yes, she isn’t far away. I’ll go and find her and tell her that you’re here, shall I?’
‘It’s all right. Mandy said she would find her, but she’s talking to Mrs Denney. I want Mummy to come and take me home.’
‘She’ll be here in a minute or so, I expect.’ Amber paused. ‘You said you weren’t feeling very well…what’s the matter? Is there anything I can do to help?’
‘My chest hurts. I want to go home.’
‘Do you think you’ll feel better there?’
Lucy nodded and Amber said cautiously, ‘Does Mrs Denney look after you while your mummy’s working?’
Lucy nodded again. ‘She works in the nursery upstairs.’
‘Oh, I see.’ She looked at Lucy’s pale face. ‘I wonder why your chest’s hurting. Did the smoke upset you the other day? I saw you coughing.’
‘Yes, it did.’ Lucy’s chin jutted. ‘It made me cough and cough and cough, and the man from the ambulance gave me some medicine. It still hurts, though.’
‘Poor you. I expect your mummy will be here soon, and you can tell her all about it.’ She got to her feet and put her hand out to the little girl. ‘Shall we go and talk to Mrs Denney?’
Lucy went with her, and Mrs Denney put an arm around the child’s shoulders. ‘Your mummy’s coming to see you, chick,’ she said. She glanced around, and added, ‘Here she is now, look. Why don’t you go and give her a cuddle?’
The little girl ran off to her mother, and Mrs Denney said, ‘Thanks for bringing her back to me. I was keeping a discreet eye on her, just in case.’
‘Do you think Chloe will take her home?’ Amber asked.
‘I’m not sure. It may be that Lucy just wants a little bit of reassurance, and then she’ll be fine. If that’s the case, I expect they’ll have a few minutes together and then I’ll take her back up to the nursery. Chloe said it’s all right to bring her down here if there’s a problem. It’s better than having the child upset.’
‘It must have been a bit unsettling for her, having to move out of the flat,’ Mandy put in. ‘I expect she’ll be fine in a little while.’ She glanced at Amber. ‘Do you want me to go and take over from Chloe?’
‘That would be good, thank you. I have another patient waiting. Will you let me know when the specialist arrives?’
‘Will do. Leave it with me.’
Amber went to tend to her next patient, a woman suffering from a fractured hand. It was a nasty injury, and Amber took her time checking that blood circulation had not been impeded.
When she had finished, she walked out of the treatment room and straight into her new boss.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t see you there.’
‘I gathered that,’ he said dryly. ‘It helps if you look around, you know.’
Amber winced. ‘I was thinking about the patient I’ve just attended to. You’re right, though. I’ll look where I’m going next time.’
‘You can come and examine the youth in room two,’ he said, ‘since you’ve finished in there. He’s having some difficulty with his breathing. I’d be interested to see what you make of him.’
Amber followed him to the room. She guessed he was intent on watching her at work, as he was in between patients just now. She might have known he would check up on her.
Going into the room, she greeted the youth. ‘Hello, Sam. I’m Dr Cavell. I understand you are having some problems with your breathing?’
The young man nodded, and she guessed from the way he spoke and outlined his symptoms that he was suffering from asthma. ‘I’ll just listen to your chest, if I may,’ she said. Reaching into her pocket, she searched for her stethoscope. It wasn’t there.
She looked around, a sense of impending doom settling on her.
‘Is anything wrong?’ Nick asked.
‘Uh…no…that is, I seem to have put my stethoscope down somewhere.’ She turned back to the youth. ‘If you will just excuse me for a moment, I’ll go and retrieve it. I’m fairly sure I know where I left it.’
The boy nodded, seeming unfazed by her lapse, but before she left him, Amber placed an oxygen mask over his face. ‘Just breathe in as deeply as you can,’ she said. ‘I’ll leave you with the nurse for a moment.’
She felt like a complete fool, and she daren’t imagine what Nick was thinking. He didn’t say anything aloud, but his expression said it all.
He followed her over to the desk, and watched her scan the surface. ‘Is there a problem?’ he said.
‘Um…well, I know I put it down here,’ she began, looking around, ‘but it doesn’t seem to be here any more.’ She frowned. Where could it be?
‘I’d advise you to keep your equipment close to you,’ he said crisply. ‘I wouldn’t like to think of a patient expiring through lack of attention because you aren’t able to examine him.’ His eyes narrowed on her. ‘Are you sure that you left it here?’
‘Yes, I’m quite sure.’ Her gaze ran over the desk and the assorted clutter. The stethoscope was nowhere to be seen. ‘Perhaps,’ she said weakly, ‘I could borrow one?’
‘Ask the desk clerk to issue you with one from supplies until you retrieve your own,’ he said, his voice curt. ‘But do try not to lose it, won’t you?’
‘I’ll guard it with my life,’ she said.
His brows drew together in a dark line. ‘You know, Amber, I was brought in here by the management because they thought I could do something to improve the star rating of this department. Up to now, I consider that I have been doing a fairly good job. I would hate to think that all my work was going to be for nothing because you have joined my team. Bear in mind that we are already shorthanded because we have lost one of our senior house officers after the fire the other night, and I really need everyone to pull his or her weight.’
She stared at him, her expression stricken. ‘I’ll do my best, I promise,’ she said feebly. From the way he was looking at her, she wouldn’t be at all surprised if he wasn’t thinking that she had been responsible for the fire in the first place.
‘I really do hope that your best is good enough,’ he murmured. He walked away from her and walked towards the treatment room they had just left. Halfway there, he turned, and said, ‘Perhaps when you have found the equipment you need, you would do us the honour of joining us.’
Amber wished that the floor would swallow her up. He had sarcasm off to a fine art, didn’t he? Wasn’t she allowed to make any mistakes?
Mandy approached the desk. ‘I’ve just had word that the ophthalmologist is on his way to see to your patient with the eye problem,’ she said. She glanced at Amber. ‘I couldn’t help hearing some of what Nick was saying.’ She made a faint grimace. ‘You shouldn’t take it to heart, you know. I think he’s a bit under pressure just now, with Rob going off sick because of the burns, and now Chloe’s asked if she could go home with her little girl. He’s usually not too bad to work with.’
Amber made a face. ‘I don’t think I’ve made a very good impression,’ she