A Piece of Cake by Trisha Ashley

Author:Trisha Ashley [Trisha Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-07-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2: Fault Lines

‘By then, other drivers had stopped and the police were there in minutes,’ I said. ‘An ambulance came soon after, and then it all got a bit confusing.’

‘I expect it did, after such a shock,’ Daisy Silver said in her calm, warm voice, pouring me a mug of coffee and pushing it across the wide, battered, pine kitchen table.

Her ample curves were enveloped in a familiar, old rubbed purple velvet kaftan and she had loosened the thick plait of hair that usually circled her head like a silver crown, so that it hung down her back to her waist … or where her waist would have been, had she had one.

‘Douglas is an awful man! I mean, he’s a doctor, yet instead of getting out to see if the people in the other car needed any help, he just kept on and on at me to say I was driving! Luckily no one was seriously injured, but the mother and two small children in the other car were really shaken up.’

‘He does seem to have entirely disregarded his Hippocratic oath,’ she agreed dryly.

‘Yes and even when the police were questioning him, he insisted the driver of the other car was at fault and wanted me to back him up.’

‘Which I’m assuming you didn’t?’

‘No, of course not. I told them it was entirely his fault for overtaking on a bend and then, of course, he was even more furious with me. When they breathalysed him he was way over the limit, so they charged him with drink-driving as well as dangerous driving and goodness knows what else. … Though come to think of it, I didn’t tell them about him asking me to pretend to have been the driver.’

‘It sounds like he’ll be in enough trouble without that, so I wouldn’t worry about it.’

‘It would be just my word against his anyway, wouldn’t it?’

She nodded. ‘What happened next?’

‘We had to go to the police station, but eventually they said I could go, so I got into a taxi and came here.’ I clamped my hands around the mug of hot coffee.

‘Well, I’m always glad to see you, whatever the reason, you know that.’

‘I do,’ I said gratefully. ‘And it seemed natural to head here.’

‘Very sensible,’ she approved. ‘In fact, you behaved extremely well, given the shock you’d had.’

‘It could easily have been a fatal crash.’ I shivered. ‘All because he drank too much and drove like an idiot.’

‘Health professionals have all the human failings, just like anyone else,’ Daisy said. ‘But I’m horrified he should have asked you to change places in the car with him.’

‘I don’t suppose Kieran ever told him about the accident I was involved in when I was a teenager – in fact, Douglas probably didn’t even know I couldn’t drive.’

‘He should never have thought of asking you, whether he did or not. But at least you had too much common sense and integrity to agree – and it’s wonderful that the family in the other car weren’t hurt.

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