Kate didn’t expect that by Ann Reader

Now that Kate had discovered her nephew she was eager to spend as much time with him as possible. Kiera worked in a nursery so she was usually available at weekends, but her partner Georgina was a sister on the maternity ward where they had met so often worked unsocial hours. They usually managed to get together about once a month and very often Simon, who was Georgina’s brother joined them too.

At one of those meetings Georgina asked Kate for a private word. “I need your advice as a police officer” she said “I’ve noticed some discrepancies on the ward with regard to the morphine. I am sure that some of it is going missing on a regular basis. We don’t keep a great deal of it so what is missing is a very small amount.  At first I put it down to a mistake but it keeps happening. I have been checking the amounts regularly and correlating who is on the ward when it happens and I think I know who is taking it but it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Have you reported it to your superiors or the police?” asked Kate. “Don’t you think you should. It could be getting onto the street.”

“No” replied Georgie “ I’m not 100% certain I am right and if it is who I think it is, he shows no sign whatsoever of being a drug addict and I don’t think he is selling it as he doesn’t seem to have an extravagant lifestyle. Well to be fair no one knows that much about him. He drives a very basic car and lives in a fairly cheap area! He doesn’t socialise with the rest of the staff although he is friendly and pleasant enough at work and very good with the patients. It did occur to me that maybe he was being forced in some way and I didn’t want to make things worse. Can you investigate Kate Please.”

“It’s a bit irregular,” said Kate, “I don’t think I can just investigate on my own. Would you mind if I ran it past my sergeant? If there’s a possibility that that morphine is getting on to the street, we ought to be stopping it! Also, if your colleague is being forced in some way we ought to be protecting him.”

“I would feel very uncomfortable about policemen coming onto the ward. It’s supposed to be a safe place for our patients.”

“I’m sure I could arrange to come myself, and I don’t wear a uniform so no one would know who I was but let me speak to my boss. If you can give us enough information we may not need to come onto the ward at all.”

“Ok,“ said Georgie, “ but I won’t give you his name or address till I know what your sergeant says.”

 

Kate spoke to her sergeant the next day, he agreed they should stop any class A drug getting on to the street however small the amount. Could this be the tip of an iceberg. Were small amounts going missing on other wards? He authorised her to make basic enquiries, but not to waste too much time on it.

Kate rang Georgina and agreed a time to meet. Georgina agreed to ask other ward sisters if they had noticed any discrepancies on their wards and to bring her investigations and details of the person she thought responsible.

Kate was impressed, Georgina had created a spreadsheet detailing the times she had noticed morphine go missing and who was on the ward at the time. Kate had to agree that a young junior doctor seemed to be the most likely culprit. Georgia had also managed to speak to four other ward sisters. Three of them had noticed discrepancies but had put them down to heavily pressured staff in a hurry and getting things wrong. They all agreed to monitor their own wards and see if there was any correlation.

Kate’s boss agreed that it could indeed be the tip of an iceberg. He felt they should speak to the junior doctor in question and would meet her at his address.

 They arrived together and Kate banged on the door her warrant card at the ready. A very tired looking young man opened the door. “You’d better come in,” he said. Kate agreed with Georgina’s assessment that he was not a user. Although tired he was clean and tidy as was the house. He lead them into a front living room. And offered them coffee. Kate was surprised.

“It’s okay I know why you’re here. I couldn’t expect to carry on but it won’t matter in a day or so, come with me.” He lead them into a back sitting room, where there was what looked like a hospital bed containing a very old fragile and pale lady , she appeared to be sleeping.

“This is my grandmother, she brought me up when my father abandoned us and my mother became ill and died. I love her dearly, but she is a very stubborn old lady. She has an advanced cancer and she simply won’t allow me to call a doctor to her because she is terrified of being taken into hospital. She says I am a doctor why can’t I treat her at home? I have been taking small amounts of morphine from the wards to treat her pain and I bought her this hospital style bed so she will be more comfortable. It’s a s much as she will let me do. I don’t think she will wake up again, but I want to be here if she does. I’ve booked a few days off so I can be. Once she is gone you can arrest me and send me to prison if you need to.”

This was not what Kate had expected.  “I don’t think you need to worry too much,” she reassured him, “we don’t yet know what the hospital will say.” Kate had every intention of suggesting to Georgia that the hospital take no action, she looked pleadingly at her sergeant hoping the police would take the same course. He winked at her and said, “Oh I don’t think we need to arrest you doctor but please drop into the station when your grandmother has gone.”

“I think we are looking at an informal warning,” he told Kate as they walked back to their cars.