“Well I’d like to know the answer to that too,” said Saracen getting out of the chair and gathering his clothes. “Give me fifteen minutes. I’ll get back to you.”
Saracen was furious. How could Garten do such a thing? How could he be so irresponsible? His toes got stuck in the heel of a sock in his haste and he cursed out loud as he disentangled himself then he lost a shoe which led to more cursing. He slammed the door behind him and ran downstairs to the car, making a conscious effort to control his temper and prevent its translation into sheer bad driving. With only partial success in that direction the front tyres squealed as he swung the wheel over to enter the hospital gates. In truth, this was due more to the fact that he had wrenched the wheel over sharply than to any excess of speed but it made the duty porter lift his eyes from his newspaper and half get out of his chair to glance out of the gate-house window. When he saw that it was Saracen he slumped back into inertia.
Saracen burst in through the swing doors of A amp;E and looked around for Chenhui, ignoring the smile of a junior nurse in his preoccupation. Sister Turner, the night sister, came out of the sluice room and looked surprised when she saw Saracen.
“I didn’t realise that Dr Garten had called you,” she said.
“He didn’t,” replied Saracen.
“Oh, I thought when I saw you there that he must have called you out to cover for Dr Tang…”
Saracen was puzzled. “Why should he? What’s wrong with Dr Tang?” he asked.
“She’s had some kind of nervous breakdown. She’s been admitted to the wards.”
Seeing that he had read the situation all wrong Saracen calmed down and felt rather foolish. “And Dr Garten?” he asked.
“He is with her right now.”
“So she wasn’t left on her own in A amp;E?”
“Good heavens no, she can hardly speak a word of…”
“Yes Sister,” interrupted Saracen. “What did you mean some kind of nervous breakdown?”
Sister Turner, a spinster clinging to late middle age and fond of tittle tattle, warmed to her task and said conspiratorially, “I’ve never seen anything like it. She was shouting and raving, ‘practically attacked Dr Garten when he tried to calm her down.”
“But why? What happened to upset her?”
The night sister looked perplexed. She said “The ridiculous thing is, we don’t know. She was raving in her own language.”
“But something must have triggered it off?”
“Not really. It’s not as if she hadn’t seen a dead body before.”
“Go on.”
“We had a ‘dead on arrival’ at around eight o’clock; Dr Tang was asked to certify the patient dead. When she came back she bust into Dr Garten’s office and started shouting and carrying on.”
“In Chinese?”
“Not at first.”
“Could you make out anything that was said?” asked Saracen.
“Not much. She has such a heavy accent but it sounded like, ‘six days, more then six days.’ But I couldn’t swear to it.”
“Then what happened?”
“She came rushing out of Dr Garten’s office and started telephoning. Dr Garten tried to reason with her but in the end he had to get the porters to restrain her while he sedated her.”
“And what did Dr Garten say about all this?”
“He said that Dr Tang had been under great strain recently and was suffering from nervous exhaustion. She would probably be as right as rain in a couple of days so it would be a kindness if none of us mentioned the incident outside A amp;E.”
Saracen nodded and said that he was going up to see Chenhui.
Away from A amp;E the corridors of Skelmore General had quietened as they always did around nine in the evening. The last visitors had gone and custody of the wards had been handed over to the night staff. Saracen had only the echo of his footsteps for company as he made his way along the entire length of the bottom corridor to reach ward eight. He disliked the hospital at night for it had a Dickensian dreamlike quality about it, an image intensified by the poor lighting in the corridors and the peeling green paint on the walls. To be admitted at night as a patient to Skelmore General, thought Saracen, must be an unnerving experience, being wheeled headfirst on a trolley with nothing but the cobwebs and dark shadows of the ceiling vaults to concentrate on while the trolley squeaked and echoed its way along a seemingly endless tunnel to an unknown destination Poor sods.
Saracen opened one of the two tall glass fronted doors to ward eight and went in. He winced as the door creaked loudly on its hinges but no one came out to investigate. He looked into the duty room and got a quizzical look from the staff nurse in charge. He said who he was and why he was there.
“She’s in the second side ward. Dr Garten is still with her.”
Saracen went in search of the side ward. He went inside and closed the door quietly behind him. Nigel Garten was sitting beside Chenhui who seemed fast asleep. He looked up as Saracen came in and looked startled but recovered his composure quickly. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said with a smile that seemed less than genuine.
“I had a telephone call,” said Saracen.
“Really? Who?”
Saracen was slightly taken aback at Garten’s directness but he answered anyway. “Dave Moss at the County.”
“Ah yes, Dr Tang’s phone call,” said Garten. He seemed relieved that it had not been one of the A amp;E staff who had phoned Saracen.
“And what did Dr Moss tell you?” probed Garten.
“He thought that Chenhui had been left on her own in charge of A amp;E,” said Saracen looking directly at Garten.
“Hardly,” said Garten slowly and quietly, his eyes holding Saracen’s gaze as if looking for a challenge. The strained smile on his face was maintained as if carved in rock.
“How is she?” asked Saracen.
“Out for the count. She’ll feel better after a good sleep.”
“What happened exactly?”
“A sudden emotional outburst, complete loss of control. I blame myself of course; I should have seen it coming. She’s just not up to the job. I should have said something to the board months ago but I was sorry for her, wanted to give her every chance.” Garten looked at the floor in a display of mock self condemnation.
Saracen was glad that Garten was looking at the floor otherwise he might have seen the look of distaste on his face. He had never disliked Garten as much before as he did at that moment. He looked at Chenhui, sleeping peacefully and moved over to the bed to feel her pulse; it was slow and regular. He noted the drip feed going into her other arm and asked Garten, “What are you giving her?”
“Heminevrin.”
“That’s a bit drastic isn’t it?”
“I deemed it necessary,” replied Garten with more than a hint of coldness in his voice.
Saracen felt the temperature drop and changed the subject. “Sister Turner said something about Chenhui dealing with a death in A amp;E when all this came on?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. The man was dead on arrival.”
“I see, so it’s a complete mystery what triggered off Chenhui’s outburst?”
“Absolutely.”
“She does seem to have been under some kind of increased strain recently,” ventured Saracen.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” replied Garten.
Saracen got to his feet and said, “I’m here now, I’ll work Chenhui’s shift with you if you like.”.
“Wouldn’t hear of it old boy,” said Garten so quietly that Saracen thought he detected menace in it. ” You go on home.”
Saracen had to work hard to keep the astonishment off his face. “All right,” he said and left.
Chapter Five
Saracen returned to A amp;E and phoned Dave Moss with an explanation of what had happened.
“That’s rough,” said Moss. “I sometimes feel like screaming myself. Where is she now?”
Saracen told Moss that Chenhui was under heavy sedation.
“Did you get what you wanted from Peter Clyde this morning?” asked Moss.