Emergency At Inglewood

The let-down was refusing to fade. Kathryn had remembered Tim as some kind of hero—arriving at an emergency and taking charge calmly and skilfully. A professional picture impressive enough to have lured her into a new career. The desire to be like him had been strong enough to carry her through all the obstacles she had faced in changing jobs. And those obstacles had been enough to make it no small triumph that she was standing here today. No wonder her nervous excitement was making her over-sensitive.

A burst of deep male laughter could be heard well away from the small office as Kathryn nodded at various instructions she was being given about using the phone, fax machine and computer. Kathryn had arrived early for her first day at Inglewood station but a shift changeover was due shortly and there would be two fire crews and another ambulance crew somewhere on site. Possibly all male. Kathryn sucked in a deep breath to try and quell any nerves. Maybe Sean was right and she would find herself totally unsuitable for work like this.

Tim looked up at the sound of laughter and Kathryn thought she detected some relief in the knowledge they weren’t alone in this old converted house. ‘I’ll introduce you to the mob if you’re ready. We could grab a quick cup of coffee before we go and check the truck. Any questions so far?’

Harbouring a suspicion that he was untrustworthy was hardly the best way to break the ice with the man who would be her partner and hopefully her mentor for the next six months. Kathryn pushed a wayward tendril of blond hair behind her ear and smiled.

‘Not right now but I’m sure I’ll be a nuisance for the rest of the day. This is all so new.’

‘You’re a nurse, though, aren’t you?’ Tim glanced at the qualification patch on the sleeve of Kathryn’s white shirt. ‘Isn’t that why you’re already qualified for IV and cardiac procedures even though you’re in a probationary position?’

Kathryn nodded. ‘I worked in Emergency when I first qualified, but for the last few years I’ve been a part-time practice nurse in a general practice.’ She pulled a wry face. ‘My IV qualification is about the only skill I kept up. I seemed to spend half my time taking blood samples from geriatric patients who weren’t exactly filled with the joys of living.’

‘What made you decide to join the ambulance service?’

‘You did.’

‘You’re kidding!’

Kathryn’s smile widened as Tim visibly relaxed a little for the first time and advertised his interest in the conversation by perching one hip on the corner of the desk. ‘No, I’m perfectly serious. I was out of my depth that day I met you, looking after a woman who was obviously very sick. The relief when you guys came and took over was amazing, and watching you work made me realise how much I’d like to be able to really help in a situation like that.’

‘You did help. And you’d done all the right things before we got there, laying her down and taking some baseline vital signs. You were great.’ Tim smiled back at her.

‘Was she a triple-A, like you thought?’

An eyebrow lifted. ‘You’ve got a good memory. That was months ago.’

‘It made a big impression on me. Enough to make me apply for a career in the ambulance service. And I’ve always wondered how she got on. I watched the paper for a few days but I didn’t see a death notice.’

Tim shifted, looking uncomfortable again at the reminder of not keeping his promise to ring Kathryn and let her know the patient outcome. ‘She didn’t die but it was touch and go there for a while. It was a rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. They got her into Theatre almost immediately and fixed the rupture and dissection with a graft. She was fine.’ He stood up. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t let you know at the time.’

‘Doesn’t matter.’ Kathryn watched as Tim headed for the door. It did matter, though. Enough to make her pursue the issue just a little further. ‘I should have rung you,’ she added. ‘An empty syringe package wasn’t exactly the best place to write my phone number.’

Tim shrugged. ‘I guess not,’ he agreed, a shade too readily. ‘Bit too easy for it to disappear along with the rest of the rubbish.’

So he’d thrown it away. That he was being truthful about the package going into the rubbish was as obvious as the lie about losing it had been. Kathryn followed Tim along the corridor to the source of the buzz of male conversation and laughter.

She was missing something here and her instincts told her it was something significant. What she couldn’t understand was why it was important enough to be difficult to lie about. Or was Tim McGrath normally so honest that he had trouble with any fabrication? Kathryn hoped that was the case but only time would tell.

Entering the commonroom was daunting. The group of men was seated around a long dining table and their breakfasts were abandoned as Tim walked towards them.

‘This is Kathryn Mercer,’ he told the group. ‘But she prefers to be called Kat. She’s Laura’s replacement on Green Watch for the next six months.’

The chorus of greetings was friendly.

‘Have some porridge, Kat,’ someone suggested. ‘Mrs Mack always makes enough to feed an army.’

‘Um…thanks, but I already had breakfast.’ Actually, Kathryn had been feeling far too sick from nerves to eat anything so far today, but there was no way she could face porridge even on the best of mornings.

‘So did I.’ Tim flashed her the ghost of a wink. ‘All the more for you guys. Have a second helping, Stick.’

One of the firemen muttered something inaudible and a small, wiry figure emerged from the kitchen area.

‘That’s enough o’ that muttering, Jason Halliday. Porridge is good for you. It’s the only thing that puts a good lining on your stomach on these cold mornings.’

‘This is Kathryn, Mrs Mack,’ Tim said. ‘My new partner. Kat, this is Jean McKendry, who lives next door and is kind enough to spend her days looking after Inglewood station.’

Kathryn smiled. The woman reminded her of her grandmother and she could see the warmth that lay below the stern tone. ‘Hi,’ she said shyly.

‘Och, but she’s just a wee thing.’ Kathryn was subjected to a concerned frown over half-moon spectacles. ‘How’s she going to cope in with this lot?’ The older woman sniffed and Kathryn had the horrible feeling that her competence was in as much doubt as her physical ability to handle a demanding job. Then Jean McKendry sniffed even more pointedly, muttered something about muffins burning and disappeared back into the kitchen on an apparently urgent mission.

The blond fireman, Jason, was grinning. ‘Kat’s little and she’s blond. Tim’s big and brown. What does that remind you of, Stick?’

‘Laura isn’t exactly tall, Jase.’

‘No, but my Laura’s got a bit of meat on her bones.’ Jason shook his head impatiently. ‘Come on…it’s not rocket science. What are we eating here?’

More than one of his colleagues was grinning. The rest were looking blank.

‘Porridge,’ Jason said with a grimace. He cast a somewhat guilty glance towards the kitchen but dealing with the muffins was obviously keeping the housekeeper out of earshot and his grin appeared again. ‘Come and sit down, Goldilocks.’

Kathryn laughed. She liked this fireman and she liked the fact that she was already being accepted enough to earn a nickname. She stole a glance at her partner. He was rather bear-like. Tall and solid with brown hair and brown eyes. Not at all fierce, though. He seemed to be enjoying the exchange as much as Kathryn, and his smile was the most genuine she had seen so far.

‘We need to go and check the truck,’ Tim said, after a glance at the wall clock. ‘We’ll get a coffee after that if it’s still quiet so you’ll get a chance to talk to Kathryn later.’ He turned towards her and his smile became simply polite. ‘These guys don’t have to work nearly as hard as we do. They spend most of their days sitting around drinking coffee and talking. Just don’t believe everything they tell you.’

‘We get bacon and eggs for breakfast in summer,’ one of them said.

‘That is true.’ Tim’s gaze veered towards the kitchen but there was no sign of the porridge-maker. He lowered his voice anyway. ‘Roll on summer!’

The appreciative chuckle followed the two ambulance officers as they left the commonroom. Clearly Tim was far more relaxed with this group of men than he was with her but that was hardly surprising. They didn’t know each other and they had started their acquaintance with Tim’s astonished recognition of Kathryn as the member of the public who had assisted a woman in trouble in a restaurant, rapidly followed by his unsuccessful attempt to cover up why he hadn’t bothered to phone her.

At least he had recognised her. It would have been even more of a let-down to find she had made no impression on the man who had been in her thoughts with astonishing frequency over the last few months.

She followed Tim towards the garage where the fire engine and ambulance were parked. Let it go, she told herself firmly. It really doesn’t matter that he didn’t ring you. He probably just got busy with another emergency and forgot. Perfectly reasonable if that was the case, but why hadn’t he just said so?

The outgoing crew was happy to hand over their pagers and head home for some sleep.

‘Good luck,’ they told Kathryn. ‘And just tell Tim to shut up when you get sick of him talking all the time.’

Kathryn raised an eyebrow and Tim smiled wryly. ‘I’m known for being a bit on the quiet side,’ he explained. ‘You’re more likely to get bored stiff with my company than sick of listening to me talking.’

‘I doubt very much that I’ll get bored,’ Kathryn told him. ‘You might need to tell me to shut up if I ask too many questions.’

‘I’m happy to answer anything I can. That’s part of what taking on a probationary officer is all about.’ Tim handed Kathryn a paging device and showed her how to scroll through messages.

‘The job number and date come up first. Then the priority for the call. P1 is a life-threatening emergency and the only one we use lights and sirens for. P2 is non-urgent but requires a response time of less than thirty minutes, and P3 is routine stuff like inter-hospital transfers. P4 is a private hire.’

‘What sort of reasons do people hire an ambulance for?’