There was only one choice. She had to go past them. Kelly slipped her hand up to her fake ID pass, unhooked it and dropped it into her pocket, hoping they would think she was a nurse. Then she took off, eyes down, hurried walk like she had somewhere to be. Urgently.
She was too scared to look up as the distance between them closed, but she could feel their eyes on her.
‘Doctor,’ one of the men said.
Kelly broke into a sweat and her heart raced. She kept walking.
‘Doctor,’ he repeated, right on top of her now.
She had no choice. Kelly stopped and looked up to see all three men staring at her. Michael and the Northern guy were reasonably disinterested, but the head of South East had fixed her with an intense stare. He was scanning her for a name badge so he could address her by name.
When he didn’t find one, he narrowed his eyes. ‘I don’t recognise you. Where are you assigned?’ His tone was more curious than accusatory.
Why did he think she was a doctor and not make the usual mistake of assuming she was a nurse? Maybe they’d seen her earlier, while she was checking the young boy’s chart.
Kelly didn’t know what to do or say. The tension in the air between them grew as the seconds passed like a waterfall of pure honey. Michael’s disinterest slowly changed to intrigue as she continued not to answer. He examined her more closely.
Fuck. He’s going to recognise me. He’ll know my voice for sure.
But her continued silence was becoming borderline antagonistic so she had no choice. ‘I’m sorry, Professor,’ she said in the quietest possible voice that he would still be able to hear. ‘My mind was preoccupied with a patient.’
She looked at Michael. His eyes were wide and furious above his mask. But he held his tongue.
‘Oh, that’s quite all right,’ the Professor said. ‘It is our job, after all. I just asked where you’re assigned because I haven’t seen you before.’
Kelly’s mind raced to formulate her next lie. She tried to think of follow up questions and how she would answer them as well. What was her easiest out?
‘Good morning, Professor Carr. Georgia is a medical student that I’m supervising. Excellent potential.’
The group of men turned to the man’s voice.
‘Eli!’ Professor Carr exclaimed, genuinely pleased to see him. ‘How are the exam preparations coming along?’
Eli stepped in front of Kelly, deliberately blocking her from their view. She seized the chance to scamper away while they were distracted. She couldn’t believe she was going to get away with this. Thank God for the quick-thinking Eli.
Adrenalin ran so hot through her veins she had to use all her power not to skip out of the ward. But she couldn’t resist one look back.
A look that drained her of all confidence and energy and hope.
Michael was staring at her, hard. And, even from that distance, she could read his apoplectic expression.
I’m fucked, she thought. Completely and totally fucked.
***
‘You were never there, Kelly.’
‘What are you talking about? Michael looked directly at me.’
Eli put his fork down. A waiter refilled their water glasses. Eli waited for him to finish and leave earshot. ‘He looked directly at someone he thought looked familiar. He didn’t look atyou.’
Kelly couldn’t understand what was happening here. Eli must have known as well as she did that their ruse had been blown apart. She shook her head, then spoke clearly and deliberately.
‘Eli, Michael wants a meeting with me first thing tomorrow morning. I haven’t heard from him since I was suspended. That’s not a coincidence. How could you think he doesn’t know?’
‘Of course he fucking knows,’ Eli hissed through gritted teeth, his face contorted by suppressed anger.
Kelly recoiled. She’d never seen Eli like this.
