LITMIR.BIZ

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nut. Don’t say I was here. Couldn’t you just call in on her? You know, like by accident?’

      ‘Fraser, I don’t call on anyone by accident.’ Amusement gave way to concern as Kyla saw the look on his face. ‘OK. OK.’ She lifted a hand. ‘Today I’ll find a reason to call on your mum by accident.’

      ‘Really?’ He breathed an audible sigh of relief. ‘That’s great. Can the accident be right now?’

      Banishing hopes of lunch, Kyla nodded. ‘Just let me lock up here and get my car. I’ll meet you back at your house. You can let me in. And, Fraser, about your mum.’ She caught his arm. ‘Can you describe how she looked? How was she different?’

      ‘She was a funny colour. And her hands were shaking when she gave me breakfast. You won’t tell on me?’ He looked at her anxiously. ‘I said I felt sick and needed a walk in the fresh air.’

      Kyla thought of all the sins she’d committed at school. Didn’t everyone need a little latitude? ‘I won’t tell. Off you go. I’ll be there in five minutes.’

      ‘What will you say?’

      ‘I don’t know, but I’ll think of something,’ Kyla said firmly, giving him a gentle push and turning back to her cottage. She noticed Ethan standing in his garden and had a sudden inspiration. ‘Dr Walker!’

      He turned and she gave an apologetic shrug. ‘How badly did you want a shave and a shower? If you’re not that tired, I need to enlist your help again. I think I might need a doctor.’

      

      CHAPTER FOUR

      ‘AISLA PRICE is a single mother.’ Kyla snapped on her seat belt and pressed her foot to the accelerator. ‘She moved to the island when Fraser was a baby because she thought it would be a good place to bring up a child. She has a small knitting business that she runs over the internet. Pretty successfully, I believe. She makes really pretty jumpers covered in bits of lace and beads and things like that. They live in a house right by the water.’

      Ethan looked at her. ‘And she has diabetes?’

      ‘Yes. But her diabetes is very well controlled so it shouldn’t be that.’ Kyla frowned as she changed gear and flicked the indicator. ‘But Fraser obviously thinks there’s a problem so we’d better check it out. It might be nothing.’

      ‘She hasn’t asked you to call? You’re making an impromptu visit?’ Ethan tried to imagine something similar happening in London and failed. But in London a child wouldn’t run across a beach to bang on the community nurse’s door.

      ‘That’s right. An impromptu visit.’ She stopped the car outside a row of whitewashed cottages and yanked on the handbrake. ‘We’re here.’

      Ethan looked at her in disbelief. ‘What on earth are you planning to say? You’re going to bang on her door and say that her little boy thought she looked pale at breakfast?’

      ‘No. That’s why I’m taking you along.’ She smiled and reached for her bag. ‘You’re the new doctor and I’m introducing you. She’ll be your patient after all. You may as well meet each other.’

      Wondering why he was on a wild-goose chase when he could be in the shower, Ethan slammed the car door and followed her towards the house.

      The front door opened and it took less than a second for him to register the raw panic in Fraser’s eyes.

      ‘You have to come quickly! She’s on the floor,’ he said urgently, reaching out a hand and virtually dragging Kyla inside. ‘And I can’t get her to wake up properly. She’s sort of moaning and trying to hit me.’

      Ethan sprinted past him into the house, leaving Kyla to deal with the panicked child.

      The woman was slumped on the floor of the kitchen, the remains of a cup of coffee spread over the quarry tiles. With a soft curse he dropped into a crouch and checked her pulse.

      ‘Has she died?’ The small voice came from behind him and Ethan turned.

      ‘She’s not dead. Fraser …’He kept his voice calm and steady so as not to frighten the child further. ‘I need my bag from Kyla’s car. Do you think you could fetch it for me? It’s on the back seat.’

      The little boy nodded and sprinted out of the room while Kyla dropped to her knees beside him. ‘Aisla?’

      The woman gave a groan and her eyes fluttered open and then closed again as she muttered something incoherent.

      ‘Sugar,’ Ethan instructed, glancing around him. ‘Would you know where to find it?’

      ‘Not a clue.’ Kyla sprang to her feet and started opening cupboards. ‘Come on, Aisla, where do you keep your sugar?’ She rummaged through packets and bottles. ‘Soy sauce, pasta, turmeric, honey. Harissa paste—what on earth is Harissa paste? Gosh, do people really use all this stuff? No wonder cooking confuses me.’

      ‘Hurry up, Kyla,’ Ethan growled, and she yanked open a few more cupboards.

      ‘Lucozade. That will do.’ She lifted it down just as Fraser ran back into the room with Ethan’s bag. ‘Can we get her to drink, do you think, or is she past that?’

      ‘We should be able to manage it.’ Ethan scooped the woman up and Kyla held the glass to her lips.

      ‘Aisla.’ Her voice was firm. ‘You need to drink this.’

      Aisla murmured something incoherent and tried to push them away, but Kyla held the glass and eventually she took a few sips.

      ‘More,’ Kyla urged. ‘You’re doing well, Aisla. Just a bit more.’

      The woman drank properly and Kyla glanced towards Fraser, who was standing rigid, a look of horror on his face. ‘She’s going to be fine, sweetheart. Do you have any biscuits in the house?’

      Fraser looked at her and some of the tension left his little body. ‘Of course.’ A flicker of a smile appeared. ‘Chocolate ones. Really yummy. But I’m only allowed them on special occasions.’

      ‘This is a special occasion,’ Kyla assured him hastily. ‘And a glass of milk, please.’

      ‘Can you manage here for a second?’ Ethan reached for his bag. ‘I want to check her blood sugar.’

      ‘She’s coming round,’ Kyla murmured. ‘Why would she have gone hypo? Fraser, what did your mum do this morning? Anything different to usual?’

      ‘She was late getting up.’ Fraser was on a chair, reaching for a tin. ‘I had to shake her. Why are you pricking her finger?’

      ‘We’re trying to find out the level of sugar in her blood.’ Ethan read the result and nodded. ‘Well that’s your culprit. It’s less than three. Perhaps she overdid the insulin. Fraser, has your mum done any exercise this morning?’

      Handing the tin to Kyla, Fraser shook his head. ‘No. But she went for a run on the beach last night. I know because I took my book down and sat while she ran up and down the beach. Is that why she’s been acting funny?’

      ‘I don’t know, but I intend to find out. I’m going to take a blood sample and send it off,’ Ethan told Kyla, reaching for a blood bottle. ‘I want a more accurate blood glucose level.’

      By the time he’d taken the sample and labelled the bottle, Kyla had fed Aisla several chocolate biscuits and she was rapidly recovering.

      ‘I can’t believe I let that happen,’ she groaned, struggling to her feet with Ethan’s help. ‘It was such a sunny evening yesterday I just couldn’t resist a trip to the beach. And then when I got there I thought I’d do some exercise.’ I was going to eat as soon as I got in but Fraser’s uncle rang and then I sort of lost track and just went to bed. I’m

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