First Blood by Claire Rayner

Author:Claire Rayner [Rayner, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-84982-024-0
Publisher: M P Publishing Ltd.
Published: 1993-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

16

‘You can’t expect me to say nothing about it,’ George said in what she hoped was a tone of calm reason. ‘You called the police when they went missing. Now they’ve come back, obviously they have to know.’

Formby was sweating and his eyes had a slightly exophthalmic look, as though the pressure inside his head were pushing them outwards into a bulge. ‘It’s not that simple,’ he said. ‘It’s obvious something’s gone very wrong in this office. I do all I can to keep it in order but when you’re dealing with entrenched staff practices’ – he threw a venomous glance over George’s shoulder and behind her the wail broke out again as May found more tears to shed – ’then you can’t always be as efficient as you’d like. If the police are called again, it’ll be a – a scandal!’

‘And if they’re not?’

‘It won’t make any difference! Oh, shut up, May, for Christ’s sake! You’re making enough noise to deafen the whole bloody hospital.’

May let out another cry and got unsteadily to her feet. She went scrabbling for the door. ‘I’m not staying here to be insulted. I’m not staying. I said it wasn’t my fault and now you’re saying it is and –’

‘No one’s blaming you,’ George said wearily. ‘I told you, it’s just a mix-up as far as you’re concerned. The paperwork never had anything to do with what happened.’

But it was too late. May was shrieking in full hysterics now. George jumped up, took the woman by the shoulders and held her firmly, trying to calm her, but she had to shout to make herself heard and that seemed to make May worse.

It was Formby who stopped her. He came up from behind his desk and, with an almost vicious twist of his wrist, slapped May’s face so hard that the sound could be heard above her wails and red finger marks appeared on her wet cheeks. She gasped, hiccuped and retched, but fortunately didn’t vomit, and then settled to a low moaning. Formby said loudly, ‘Go and lie down, May. You’ll feel better later. Leave this to Dr Barnabas and me. Go on now.’

The woman fled, pulling the door open and scuttling down the corridor like a slightly demented insect. As they watched her go, Formby said in a tight voice, ‘Bloody woman! She drives me nearly –’

‘If she’s that bad at her job, shouldn’t she be, well, given an easier one?’ George asked. He shook his head as he went back to his desk. ‘And you didn’t have to be so hard on her. That was a hell of a wallop.’

‘Oh, I know, but I have no choice when she gets hysterical. Believe me, I know her. As for an easier job, I can’t. She’s – it’d all get a lot worse if I did,’ he said. ‘Look, she’ll get over it. I’ll see to it that she … But meanwhile, this business, the microscopes …’ He sat down again and put his hands on his desk in front of him.

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