LITMIR.BIZ

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Lightening the atmosphere, Josh winked at Paula and walked towards the door, gesturing for Kat to follow him. ‘See you girls later.’

      They walked back into the main area which was the hub of the department, Josh moving to one side as a staff nurse scurried past, clutching a pile of brown X-ray folders.

      Kat was still thinking about what she’d witnessed. ‘Her husband is ill?’

      ‘He has MS.’

      Multiple sclerosis. Kat made a sympathetic noise. ‘Is he bad?’

      ‘He has the relapsing and remitting variety so he has patches where he’s good, but he’s relapsed twice this year so he’s being assessed for beta interferon.’

      Kat nodded. ‘It’s not an area I know much about.’

      Josh gave a rueful smile. ‘Frankly, neither did I until Paula’s husband was diagnosed a year ago. Then I rapidly became best friends with our local neurologist and picked his brains. He’s a good chap. He’s helped them a lot.’

      Kat hid her surprise. He’d done that for a colleague?

      ‘Anyway…’ He smiled in her direction. ‘Quick tour and then we’ll try and make a dent in the mass of patients in the waiting room. Like most A and E departments, we run a triage system here so the triage nurse assesses everyone when they arrive and decides on the urgency of their case. But I’m a bit of a control freak so I still cast an eye over the stretcher cases when I arrive. Let’s start by showing you Resus…’

      He shouldered open the swing doors that led to the resuscitation room but before he could speak a nurse hurried up to him.

      ‘Ambulance Control just called. They’re bringing in a girl found collapsed on the beach. There was a party last night—plenty of drink—and her friends left her to sleep it off. She’s semi-conscious and won’t wake up properly.’

      Josh dragged on gloves and threw an apologetic look in Kat’s direction. ‘So much for showing you around.’ He turned back to the nurse. ‘Get the team together.’

      As he finished speaking the doors to Resus crashed open and the ambulance crew hurried in with the girl on a stretcher, followed by a flurry of A and E staff. Swiftly the paramedics transferred her to the trolley.

      ‘This is Holly Bannister, seventeen years of age, on holiday for a few days with her friends. She’s been in and out of consciousness, very agitated, GCS of six,’ the paramedic handed over, detailing their observations since they’d been called to the girl.

      ‘Any relatives?’

      ‘Just a group of friends in Reception,’ the paramedic told them, and Josh gave a grim smile as he checked the girl’s airway.

      ‘I have a suspicion that she needs to advertise for new friends. OK, folks, I want an ECG a blood pressure and a temperature. Make that a rectal temperature. Kat…’ he lifted his eyes from his assessment of the patient ‘…I want you to talk to those friends. Find out what happened. I want to know everything there is to know about last night’s beach party, but most of all I want to know what she took.’

      ‘What she took?’ Kat looked at the teenager, who was now writhing and thrashing on the trolley. ‘You think she’s taken drugs?’

      ‘Almost certainly. My money’s on MDMA—ecstasy. She’s agitated, hypertonic, sweating, dilated pupils…’ He looked at the nurse who was checking the girl’s observations. ‘Temperature?’

      ‘Thirty-nine point five.’

      Josh nodded. ‘Let’s get a line in and then calculate her weight and give her 1 milligram dantrolene per kilogram IV.’

      Kat slipped out of Resus and went to find the friends. There were two of them, one dark and one blonde, and they were huddled in Reception, looking the worse for wear. Kat looked at Paula. ‘Where can I talk to a couple of teenagers?’

      ‘Take them into the relatives’ room,’ Paula said immediately, handing her a key. ‘Back through the door and first on your left. Let me know if you need tea.’

      Kat smiled her thanks but she had a feeling that it wasn’t tea the teenagers needed, it was a good shake.

      She walked over to them. ‘Are you with Holly?’

      The dark-haired girl gave a sheepish nod. ‘Is she OK?’

      ‘Not at the moment,’ Kat said coolly. ‘I need some information. Do you mind coming with me, please?’

      They exchanged wary looks but followed her without argument, each of the girls dressed in the traditional teenage ‘uniform’ of strappy tops, hipster jeans and big belts, and wearing the obligatory bored expression.

      ‘All right.’ Kat closed the door and turned to look at them. ‘You don’t need me to tell you that Holly’s very ill.’

      The blonde girl was chewing gum. She glanced at the other and then gave what was supposed to be a casual shrug, but Kat caught the fear in her eyes. ‘She just had too much to drink and she isn’t used to it.’ She transferred her gum to the other side of her mouth. ‘It’s no big deal.’

      Kat kept her tone neutral. ‘What was she drinking?’

      ‘I dunno.’ The girl shrugged again, her expression sulky. ‘Alcopops mostly. It was a pretty wild party. Whatever was going. I wasn’t really watching.’

      In other words, she’d been drinking herself. For a moment Kat tried to remind herself that these were young kids, just beginning to push at the traces, test the limits. Was she being too hard on them? Then she remembered the girl lying in Resus and the grim look on Josh’s face.

      They needed to know that pushing at the traces had consequences. ‘Who arranged the party?’

      The blonde girl rolled her eyes. ‘Like we’re going to tell you that! I don’t think so!’

      Kat kept her voice steady. ‘If you want to help Holly, you’ll tell me. I’m not the enemy here.’

      The girls exchanged looks again and the one chewing gum gave a careless shrug. ‘Some guy we met in one of the pubs. He throws parties all the time on the beach.’

      ‘And was he offering drugs as well as alcohol?’

      There was a sulky silence but Katy saw the panic in the dark-haired girl’s eyes and decided that she was the one with a conscience. ‘Holly is really ill,’ she said quietly, ‘and we need to know everything we can if we’re going to make her better. We need your help. Anything you can tell us might help. Anything.’

      ‘If?’ The girl stopped chewing and looked at her in alarm. Smudges of the previous night’s make-up darkened her eyes and her face was alarmingly pale. She looked tired and very much the worse for wear. ‘What do you mean, if? She’s going to be all right, isn’t she?’

      Kat shrugged, unable to give the reassurance the girl was looking for. ‘I have no idea, but if she’s taken drugs and you know anything about it, now is the time to tell me.’

      The girl swallowed, her breathing rapid, indecision flickering over her white features. ‘She took E,’ she blurted out suddenly, ‘but it couldn’t be that. She’s taken it before and she’s always been fine.’

      Ecstasy.

      So Josh had been right in his initial assessment, Kat thought. He was obviously smart as well as good-looking. Or maybe drug-taking on the beach was a common occurrence in this part of Cornwall? She had no idea, and made a mental note to ask him about it at the first opportunity.

      The other girl closed her eyes and gave a sigh of exasperation. ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Tina.’

      ‘Well, what was I supposed to do?’ Tina turned on her defensively, her make-up smudging as the tears started to fall. ‘I’m not going to stand around here while Holly dies, am

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