Going north from the Millers’ the road turned to gravel. Just before the Thomlinsons’ farmhouse there was a track, leading off to a tiny cove nestled deep in the hills. Very few people knew about it. Ryan and Abbey had found it on their bikes as kids, and then they’d seen old man Thomlinson collecting his crays so they’d gone back time and time again to rescue his catch.
‘Ian would know about it,’ Abbey said slowly. ‘He was brought up on the Miller place, and all the Miller kids knew every inch of the coastline around here. Almost as well as we did.’
‘Ian would know the cove is deserted. There’s room down there to turn a car but that’s all And he could sit and look out to sea until… ’ He didn’t go on.
‘Let’s try there,’ Abbey said decisively. She motioned to the mobile phone on her belt. ‘We’re not too far away that we can’t get back in a hurry if he’s found elsewhere, but… Oh, Ryan, may you please be right.’
He was.
Two minutes later Ryan nosed the little car gently off the road and onto the track leading down to the beach. They bumped over three or four sandhills and came to a halt
There was a car in front of them, facing out towards the sea, and in the moonlight they could see the car had a hosepipe leading from the exhaust up to the driver’s window.
Dear heaven…
Ryan was out of the car almost before it stopped. Even hindered by her weak knee, Abbey wasn’t far behind, but by the time she reached him Ryan had the driver’s door open and was dragging the unconscious Ian out of the car.
The stench of exhaust fumes was almost overwhelming. Abbey shoved her hand up to her mouth, coughed and gagged but kept on coming.
‘No.’ Ryan’s voice was clipped and curt, stopping her in her tracks. He kept moving, dragging Ian’s body clear of the car and onto the green verge of seagrass. Away from the fumes.
‘Get your bag, Abbey,’ he ordered swiftly. ‘Fast. Move! I think he’s still alive.’
What followed were several frantic minutes.
By the time Abbey reached him with her bag Ryan had already cleared the airway. Abbey found the mask, positioned the oral airway into Ian’s mouth and started breathing for him. Ryan started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. They worked together as a team, each concentrating fiercely on what they had to do.
And three minutes later they had their reward. Ian’s body heaved, he retched into the mask and then, as Abbey moved to clear his airway, he retched again and his lungs heaved for air.
Had they been in time?
No longer needed for breathing, Abbey helped Ryan swing Ian onto his side to prevent him choking. It was only three or four minutes since they’d arrived. Not very long, but how long hadn’t Ian been breathing before they’d got to him?
It couldn’t have been that long if CPR worked so quickly, Abbey told herself, but maybe that was wishful thinking.
Ian’s eyelids flickered open. His eyes moved uncertainly from Abbey to Ryan in the soft moonlight and he groaned.
‘No!’
‘Ian…’
‘Damn you. No. Put me back. Put me back…’
Well, that was a start. Ryan gave Abbey a half-hearted grin, felt for Ian’s pulse and his grin broadened.
Ian was definitely going to live.
One problem was over, but this was only the first step, Abbey knew. How many would-be suicides had been rescued or revived, only to suicide successfully later? Heaven knew, but the list must be legion.
At least Ian had a chance now. Abbey could try to communicate, even if Ryan hadn’t.
Even if Ryan thought it was none of her business.
‘It’s OK, Ian.’ Abbey’s arm went around Ian’s shoulder and she hugged him in a gesture that had nothing to do with being a doctor but everything to do with the fact that she’d known Ian since childhood and his mum was her friend. ‘We’re here for you. I don’t know what the problem is that’s so awful you had to take this step but, whatever it is, we’re with you and we’ll be here tomorrow for you. Just relax now. Concentrate on getting your strength back. We’ll take you to hospital and talk through your hassles in the morning.’
‘No.’ It was a fierce, fretful whisper. ‘Don’t touch me. Don’t… Leave me alone. You can catch…’
But Ryan was bending over, and he suddenly took Ian’s hand and gripped hard.
‘Ian, have you got AIDS?’ he demanded flatly.
Ian’s eyes widened. He stared from Ryan to Abbey and then back to Ryan. And his face closed in misery.
‘Oh, God… ’
. ‘Is that why you did this?’
‘What do you think?’ Ian whispered. ‘HIV positive… Oh, God… ’
‘Hey, Ian, AIDS isn’t the end of the world,’ Ryan said strongly. ‘It’s not even a death sentence. I’ve just come from New York and the latest breakthroughs are amazing.’ His grip tightened. Ian was firmly held by the pair of them.
This was no clinical approach. This was two humans comforting another in any way they could, and Abbey could only wonder at the concern in Ryan’s voice. She hadn’t thought him capable of such concern for someone he hardly knew.
This was the old Ryan, then. Not Felicity’s Ryan.
‘Ian, let me talk to you about this in the morning,’ Ryan said. ‘But for now… rest and know that when you wake up you won’t be by yourself. Abbey and I are here to help. Your mum’s worried sick and the old prejudices about your illness are disappearing fast. I promise you, what’s in front of you isn’t worm dying over now. I promise you, mate.’
And he stayed with his hand gripping Ian’s until the ambulance arrived. Then Ian closed his eyes with exhaustion and let the medical world do its will with him.
‘How did you guess he has AIDS?’
‘Intelligence,’ Ryan said promptly-so promptly that Abbey burst out laughing. They were back in the car again, travelling south. Steve had been telephoned and was waiting for Ian at the hospital. Mrs Miller would be there too. There was no urgency for their return, and the night seemed suddenly light and free and lovely.
Tragedy averted.
‘So, tell me how your mighty intelligence worked it out?’ Abbey demanded, and Ryan grinned.
‘How about intuition?’
‘That’s worse.’
‘It’s partly what it was, though,’ Ryan told her. ‘I knew Ian at school-remember? I remember him being a loner, and thinking maybe he was gay. That’s not enough on its own, and he was still a teenager, but the look of him… the fear… the worry that you might be infected if you touched him… At a guess, he’s HIV positive, he’s working on out-of-date information and he’s terrified.’
‘I see.’
Abbey nodded, thinking it through. It made sense. Ian had done law at Sydney university and very rarely came home. All the other Miller kids were married and settled by now, but Abbey had never heard any hint of a romantic attachment for Ian.
Oh, dear. This was some end to her dinner party. At least, though, they’d been in time.
‘I think you mean trouble, Ryan Henry,’ Abbey said as they turned out of the cove. ‘Things have gone haywire since you arrived. To use CPR twice in ten days… Believe it or not, it’s been six months since I’ve tried to resuscitate anyone, and then I failed. It hardly seems fair that you’ve done it twice successfully in this short a time. You’ll be thinking I go from one drama to another.’
‘Don’t you?’ Ryan demanded wryly, and Abbey shook her head.
‘Nope. But… as you can see, when I’m needed I’m really needed,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘That’s why I’ll never leave here. If I left… Well, if Sapphire Cove had doctors at all it’d be overseas doctors who think a tropical resort sounds wonderful. I’ve seen them come and go from other places around here. They stay through our winter and think it’s magic and then comes summer and they can’t wait to leave! February here tries anyone’s temper.’