Cold Justice (32 page)

He nodded.

With one gloved hand Georgie cleared the wet hair from across Susie’s face and shone a torch into her pupils. ‘Sluggish but equal and reacting.’

Freya said nothing. She reached around Darren’s hands to attach the monitor’s leads then turned the machine on. Georgie put an oxygen mask on Susie and cranked the flow rate to fourteen litres per minute. She wrapped the sphygmo cuff around Susie’s upper arm and inflated it while Freya looked at the monitor screen and ran off a strip and stuffed it in her pocket.

‘Well?’ Georgie said.

‘Normal sinus of one hundred.’

Georgie stuck the earpieces of her stethoscope into place and listened to Susie’s blood pressure. ‘One fifty on eighty-five.’

Again no answer from Freya as she got the blood sugar kit and grabbed one of Susie’s waving hands.

Georgie leaned into Susie’s face. ‘Susie!’ Still no response. She was moving all her limbs and didn’t appear to have any facial droop. She cried out and struggled against her husband’s grip. Georgie checked her pupils again. No change.

Freya read the glucometer screen then started packing the machine away.

Georgie felt heat rise in her throat. ‘Well?’

‘Four point two.’

Anger filled Georgie’s vision with red spots. Freya was going to force her to ask for every little thing and it made her want to spit. But she should’ve known the blood sugar was fine, really – surely not even Freya in this foulest of moods would allow something like a hypo to go untreated.

She tried to breathe and concentrate. They would need help to carry her into the lift and outside.

‘Got the portable?’ she said to Freya as she clipped a tourniquet around Susie’s arm.

‘Nup.’ Freya got up and left the room.

Georgie gritted her teeth. Her hands shook as she palpated Susie’s arm for a vein then swabbed the skin inside her elbow. ‘Keep her arm as still as you can, please,’ she said to Darren.

He looked around just as she slid the cannula under Susie’s skin, and went instantly white. ‘Oh God.’

Oh no.
‘Look away,’ she said sharply. ‘Don’t think about it.’

‘Oh God,’ he said again, his head already starting to loll.

His grip loosened and Susie’s flailing pulled her arm away from Georgie. She couldn’t control her and hold the cannula properly in place at the same time, and as Darren slumped in a dead faint across his wife the tip of the cannula came out of the vein and the blood immediately started to spread under Susie’s skin and pour out of the hole as well. Georgie pressed her hand against it but the blood leaked like hot oil between her gloved fingers and onto her knee and the carpet.

‘Freya!’

Freya came back in with a wet tea towel. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Just throw me a pad and get him off.’

Freya did as she was asked, to Georgie’s relief. Georgie pushed the pad hard against Susie’s arm with one hand and stuck the cannula into the sharps container. Susie heaved in her grip and the oxygen mask twisted off her face as she vomited again. It splattered hotly on Georgie’s arms. She could feel the cannula site developing a haematoma and increased her pressure.
What a nightmare.

Freya dragged Darren aside and put him on his back on the floor with his feet up on the lounge. He groaned as he started to come round.

The sister came out of the bedroom and pulled the door closed behind her. ‘What’s happening?’

Georgie said, ‘Can you phone triple 0 again, please, and tell them that we need another crew to help us load?’

The sister went into the kitchen and Georgie heard her dial-ling. ‘I could’ve used you,’ she hissed at Freya.

‘She needs cleaning up.’ Freya picked up the tea towel and wiped vomit off Susie’s cheeks.

Georgie glared at her. ‘That’s a low priority and you know it.’

Darren moaned and put his hands to his face.

‘Let’s try and be a little professional here, shall we?’ Freya shot back at her.

‘Let’s,’ Georgie said. ‘Beginning with you.’

Freya huffed. ‘Like you didn’t start it.’

The sister came back in. ‘He said to tell you they’re on their way.’

‘Thank you,’ Georgie said. ‘May I have a bandage, please, Freya?’

Freya passed one over. ‘We’re fine here for the moment,’ she said to the sister. ‘Best if you stay with the kids.’

‘Do you know what’s wrong with her?’

‘It might be a blood clot in her brain,’ Georgie said. ‘It might have been caused by the surgery and the bed rest she’s had since then. Being on the pill increases her risk too. Once the other crew gets here, we’ll get her straight to hospital and they’ll be able to find out there.’

The sister stared at Susie, who was throwing her head from side to side. ‘Will she be okay?’

‘It’s difficult to say,’ Georgie said. ‘We’re doing all we can right here, and, like I said, we’ll get on our way as soon as we can.’

‘How about Darren?’

‘He just fainted,’ Freya said. ‘He’ll be okay in a minute.’

The sister looked unsure but went back into the bedroom. The instant the door closed Georgie said, ‘How did I start it? I never did a thing.’

‘You told that detective.’

Georgie stopped bandaging and stared at her.

Darren groaned and struggled to sit up, clinging to the edge of the coffee table. ‘What happened?’

‘You fainted,’ Freya said. ‘Stay on the floor.’

He put his hand to his forehead. ‘Is she okay?’

‘We’re doing all we can for her,’ Georgie managed to say. Through the cloud of red dots she taped the end of the bandage down snug over the haematoma on Susie’s arm and clipped the tourniquet around her other arm. She had to clear her mind, just long enough to get this line in. ‘Look the other way.’

His eyes widened and he lay down on his face.

Freya grasped Susie’s arm to hold it still as Georgie reached for a swab. Their heads were close together and Georgie mut-tered, ‘I said nothing.’

‘Don’t lie.’

Georgie gritted her teeth as she tore open the cannula packet. ‘It’s true.’

‘Bullshit.’

‘Think what you want.’ Georgie pushed the tip of the cannula through Susie’s skin. ‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘Again, I say bullshit.’

Georgie saw the flash of blood in the chamber and advanced the cannula into the vein. ‘If I told her, why would I deny it?’

‘Because –’ Freya stopped.

Georgie released the tourniquet. ‘Say it.’

Freya held Susie’s arm in silence while Georgie taped the cannula in then strapped on the armlock splint to prevent Susie’s elbow flexing and blocking off the line.

‘Say it,’ Georgie said again.

Darren said into the floor, ‘Finished?’

‘Not yet,’ Freya said.

‘Say it.’ Georgie fixed her with a cold stare.

Freya adjusted the mask on Susie’s face. ‘Because maybe you aren’t thinking right.’

‘Because I’m nuts?’

‘Is that what I said?’

‘That’s what you meant,’ Georgie snapped.

‘Is everything okay?’ Darren said, his voice muffled by the carpet.

‘She’s doing well,’ Freya said to him. ‘The other crew will be here soon and then we’ll get her off to hospital.’

‘It sounded like there’s a problem.’

‘No problem.’ Georgie glared at Freya.

Freya lowered her voice. ‘Just admit you told her.’

‘I didn’t say a word.’

‘She came to see me today and she was pretty blunt.’

‘I didn’t,’ Georgie said.

Freya shook her head. ‘A bit of courage,’ she said, ‘a bit of decency to admit –’

‘I didn’t tell her.’

There were footsteps in the corridor and Georgie heard the crackle of an ambulance portable. She leaned close. ‘I didn’t.’

‘Get away from me,’ Freya said.

THIRTEEN

G
eorgie’s heart wouldn’t settle and her back itched with nervous sweat. Freya hadn’t spoken a word to her since the back-up crew had arrived on scene to help carry Susie downstairs and load her into the ambulance. At St Vincent’s Hospital they’d unloaded her, and Georgie had given the handover to the triage nurse then filled in paperwork while Freya cleaned up the back in total silence. Now Freya sat behind the wheel, arms folded, fury coming off her in waves. If Georgie couldn’t persuade her she was wrong, she could kiss her assessment goodbye.

She put the folder on the dash and got into the passenger seat. ‘I swear to you I didn’t tell her anything.’

Not even a blink.

‘I swear.’

Freya spoke without turning her head. ‘You saw her today.’

‘What? No.’

‘She knew I was working nightshift tonight. You saw her today and told her that. That’s how she knew to come to my house.’ Now she looked at her, her brown eyes cold. ‘Admit that much.’

‘Okay,’ Georgie said. ‘Yes, I saw her, but it was about something else.’

‘What?’

‘I can’t say.’

Freya snorted and faced front.

‘She asked me not to tell anyone.’

‘Sure.’

‘She’s a detective. If she says that, who am I to go against her?’

‘What’s so important you have to keep it secret even in a situation like this?’

‘She asked me to,’ Georgie said.

Freya started the engine.

Georgie sighed, and picked up the microphone. ‘Thirty-three is clear.’

‘Thanks,’ Control said. ‘I’ll get you to head over to Hunter Street, cross is Phillip, for a cancer patient unwell on the footpath.’

‘Thirty-three’s on the case.’

Georgie hung up the mike and rubbed her forehead. She wanted to cry. She’d texted Matt while writing the case sheet, hadn’t apologised but thumbed a friendly
hey, how’s it going
, just to start smoothing things over, but he hadn’t replied so she didn’t even have that to cling to.
What a shit night.
Her scalp was so tight she could feel it pulling up against her skull.

Hunter Street wasn’t far, and Freya left the siren off. Georgie yanked on gloves and felt a headache start to pulse against her temples.

Freya flicked the high beams on when she turned into Hunter Street, and a man waved down the block. When they got close Freya put the hazards on to double-park. A driver somewhere behind them blew his horn. In her head Georgie told him to fuck off. Freya turned the engine off and got out without a backwards glance.

‘This poor woman’s very ill,’ the waver said to Georgie when she opened her door. ‘You might want to hurry.’

‘Really? Thanks.’

Georgie pulled out the Oxy-Viva and thought how many times she’d heard similar stories, usually when people were suffering something terrible like the flu. Funny that the closer people actually were to dying, the less the bystanders came up to tell you about it.

She followed the man to where two women sat on the steps leading down into Chifley Place. Freya was ahead of her and suddenly stopped dead, then turned and walked straight back past Georgie without speaking.

Georgie kept on to find Hilary weeping loudly against the neck of a well-dressed woman.

‘Hi, Hilary.’

Hilary mopped her tears on the sleeve of her grimy shirt. ‘Hello, lovey.’

Back on the street, the ambulance door slammed.

Georgie said, ‘What’s the matter today?’

‘She has cancer and is feeling poorly,’ the woman said in a dignified voice.

She was the wife of the waver, Georgie guessed. They looked like they’d been on their way to a nice night out. She felt sorry for the woman, now with Hilary-stink all over her.

‘She has nowhere to go,’ the woman went on.

‘Cancer,’ Georgie said.

Hilary stuck a hand in her dirty knotted hair and held out four loose strands. ‘It’s cancer, I just know it. I seen those little baldy kids on the telly.’

‘Your hair falls out from the treatment, not from the cancer itself,’ Georgie said.

‘Well, somethin’s wrong,’ Hilary said. ‘I feel terrible.’

Georgie looked at the man. ‘Thanks for calling. You can go on your way now if you like.’

‘You don’t need us?’

‘No. Thanks anyway.’

He helped his wife up. Hilary grasped the woman’s hand. ‘Thank you so much, my love.’ She kissed her hand then pulled her down to hug her. The woman hugged her back then Hilary went for the kiss on the lips. The woman twigged at the last second and turned away so it landed on her chin. ‘Thank you, my darling.’ Hilary wouldn’t let her go. ‘My lovely. Oh thank you.’

‘Hilary,’ Georgie said. ‘Let the lady go and talk to me.’

Hilary released her grip. The woman staggered back against her husband, both of them looking nauseated. Georgie thought that was probably the end of their nice night, pictured them returning to the parking station and getting back into the Beemer with its safe smell of leather and wealth, so different from the smell of unwashed body and bad teeth they’d just encountered extremely close up.

They walked slowly away and Georgie sat down at the far end of the step, making sure she could leap up pdq if Hilary made a move. ‘So what’s new with you?’

‘Oh lovey, I am so sick.’

‘Really.’

‘If you knew how sick I am, you’d be getting your friend to bring the wheely bed over and lifting me onto it. You’d be taking me to hospital and making me a cup of tea.’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Soo sick.’

Sitting there was a waste of time, and she could hear at least two sirens going elsewhere in the city and knew everyone else was working flat out, but she didn’t want to get back into that four-wheeled hell.

‘Seen any good movies lately?’ she said.

‘Sooooo sick.’

Georgie sighed. ‘You want to go to hospital?’

Hilary stopped moaning. ‘Which one?’

‘Vinnie’s.’

‘Who’s on?’

‘Keelie was doing triage when we were there just now.’

‘That cow.’ Hilary shook her head. ‘Take me to RPA. They sometimes have cake.’

‘Too far,’ Georgie said. ‘It’s Vinnie’s or nothing.’

‘You’re a fucking bitch.’

‘I know,’ Georgie said. ‘And life sucks, and then you die.’ She got to her feet. ‘Vinnie’s, yes or no.’

Hilary spat on the ground. ‘Piss off.’

‘Good night to you too.’

Georgie picked up the Oxy-Viva and went back to the ambulance. She threw it in the back then got in the passenger seat.