‘I can repair the damage with Cytogerm,’ said MacLean.
‘But that’s all in the past,’ said Tansy.
‘I’ll get some,’ said MacLean.
The first flicker of hope appeared in Tansy’s eyes but she said, ‘Even if you could, Carrie’s face is so bad… ‘
‘I’ve seen worse. I can do it.’
‘But how will you get it?’
‘I’m going back to Geneva. I’m going to steal it from Lehman Steiner.’
‘You’re crazy!’ exclaimed Tansy. ‘They’ll kill you!’
‘They think I’m dead,’ said MacLean. ‘And even if they didn’t they wouldn’t think of looking for me right on their own doorstep.’
‘But how d’you know that it still exists?’
‘I don’t,’ admitted MacLean. ‘That’s one of three gambles we must take.’
‘Three?’
‘First we have to presume that Lehman Steiner will still have supplies of Cytogerm; second we have to gamble that Carrie will have no dormant cancer cells in her body at the time of surgery and thirdly, this venture may cost a lot of money.’
‘I’ll have the insurance settlement on the bungalow.’
‘We may need that.’
Tansy sobbed. ‘Every penny, every last penny.’
NINE
Tansy and MacLean rejoined Coulson in his office where Tansy apologised for her outburst.
‘I was afraid your daughter’s appearance would be quite a shock to you,’ said Coulson, gathering the papers in front of him and opening his desk drawer. ‘But it’s amazing what we can do these days.’
Coulson outlined the procedures he had in mind for Carrie while continuing to clear his desk. He spoke of a series of skin grafts.
MacLean listened with a heavy heart; Tansy hung on to every word. ‘What period of time are we talking about?’ she asked.
‘Several years I’m afraid,’ replied Coulson.
Tansy felt her heart sink but her expression didn’t change. She knew she had to consider what would happen if MacLean could not get hold of Cytogerm but she was asking questions like an automaton. ‘Where would you get the tissue to rebuild Carrie’s face?’ she asked.
‘Basically, from other parts of her body,’ said Coulson, ‘Thighs, buttocks etcetera. We’ll use this.’ He picked up what looked like a deflated balloon from his desk. ‘We insert one of these under the patient’s skin and inflate it gradually over a period of time. New skin is forced to grow over the device providing a surplus supply for grafting.’
Tansy nodded but she was thinking about something MacLean had once said when he was telling her about the magic of Cytogerm. The thing she remembered was that, ‘grafting backsides on to faces was never that effective’.
MacLean was remembering the same comment and wishing he’d never made it.
Coulson looked at his watch and sat upright in his chair as a signal that the meeting was at an end. ‘Are there any more questions?’ he asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Tansy. She turned to MacLean.
‘Presumably the first operation is still some way off?’ said MacLean.
Coulson nodded. ‘She has to be stabilised first. We’ll see how things go and then take it from there.’
‘Good. You won’t do anything without telling Mrs Nielsen first, will you?’
Coulson looked at MacLean strangely. ‘Of course not,’ he said.
‘Good,’ said MacLean.
‘What was all that about?’ asked Tansy as they walked away from the hospital.
‘I didn’t want him doing anything to Carrie without telling us first,’ said MacLean.
‘Doesn’t he need my permission before he can do anything anyway?’
‘Officially, yes. But sometimes relatives are seen as little more than a nuisance. It’s not unknown for surgeons to do what they want and have the paperwork filled in later.’
‘Don’t the relatives kick up a fuss?’ asked Tansy.
‘It’s the easiest thing in the world to bamboozle relatives into believing that whatever was done was for the best.’
‘I see,’ said Tansy.
‘I was just making sure he knew we were the kind to make a fuss,’ smiled MacLean.
‘I’m learning a lot,’ said Tansy. ‘To think I used to have such faith in doctors…’
MacLean had given Tansy what money he possessed when he moved in with her and Carrie. Now he needed something to live on. Tansy had anticipated this and handed him an envelope. ‘When will you need real money?’ she asked.
‘I need time to think,’ MacLean answered. ‘I have to work out a plan.’
‘Will I see you?’
‘Come round tomorrow evening?’
Tansy nodded and asked if he would like a lift back to town.
MacLean declined. ‘Better not,’ he said. ‘We have to be careful.’
Tansy put up a hand to his cheek and asked, ‘You do think there’s a real chance for Carrie don’t you?’ Her eyes held all the vulnerability of a little girl. She was willing him to say, yes.
‘Yes I do,’ said MacLean.
‘Take care,’ said Tansy.
MacLean watched the Mini disappear and stood for a moment, feeling the sun on the back of his neck. He felt that he had just taken the first step on a journey with no clear horizons. Although he was apprehensive about the dangers to come he was perfectly clear about one thing; there would be no turning back. The sooner he applied himself to the practical problems of what lay ahead the better.
He decided that the first hurdle to overcome was how to get back into Switzerland. He still had a passport in his own name but using that would be asking for trouble. There was no telling how widespread Lehman Steiner’s network was, but if they could find him within weeks of him starting work in a British hospital, Swiss passport control was hardly going to be a problem.
MacLean got round to thinking about Tansy’s husband Keith. From what she’d said he had been about the same age as he himself. If Tansy still had his birth certificate then he had the makings of a plan. He would apply for a British visitor’s passport in Keith’s name. Travelling as Keith Nielsen should present no problem in the short term. The next question was, did Tansy have the certificate or had it been destroyed in the fire? On Thursday night he asked her.
‘All our papers were kept in a safety-deposit box at the bank,’ she said. ‘They still are. Why?’
MacLean told her.
Tansy said that she would get the certificate in the morning and asked if he had made any other plans.
‘I’m going to play it by ear,’ admitted MacLean. ‘I’ll fly to Geneva as soon as I sort out the passport. I’ll book in to a small hotel and then do some phoning around. I need inside information.’
‘That could be dangerous,’ said Tansy. ‘Someone might talk.’
‘I need to know what’s been going on at Lehman Steiner over the past few years,’ said MacLean, ‘I’ll concentrate on just one contact to start with. Eva Stahl, she was my theatre sister.’
‘I remember,’ said Tansy. ‘You gave her a new face didn’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you trust her?’
‘I think so. We got on well.’
‘And she owes you a favour?’ said Tansy.
‘That sort of thing,’ smiled MacLean.
‘She might not be with the company any more,’ said Tansy.
‘True,’ conceded MacLean. ‘But she might be able to tell me someone useful who is.’
‘Do you have her address?’
‘It’s four years old but it’s a start.’
There was an awkwardness between MacLean and Tansy, which made both of them uncomfortable. It was due in part to the aftermath of Tansy’s outburst at the hospital. She still felt guilty about what she’d said and MacLean still felt uneasy because it had been true. He had brought disaster to Tansy and Carrie as he always feared he might and now there was tremendous pressure on him to put things right. The other factor in the equation was the prospect of great danger.
With the best will in the world, MacLean found it hard to think of anything other than what lay ahead. It was this that bestowed on him an air of remoteness which, although he regretted, he couldn’t help. Tansy, in turn, knew that it was she who had forced MacLean into this situation. Her growing love for him was now at odds with her love for Carrie and it was eating away at her.