Free The Good Neighbour by Beth Miller Page B

Abe.’
    ‘Yes, I’m sure.’ Cath guessed that Minette had expected a more censorious reaction from her. ‘But still. Hundred years, know what I mean? Don’t want to have them old deathbed regrets.’
    Minette went home for Tilly’s car seat, then they piled into Cath’s Citroen and collected Davey from school. He was full of chatter on the way to the hospital, about the Aztecs or something. Cath noted how easily Minette talked to him, asking all the right questions. Minette, she decided, wasn’t that great with babies, but was good with older children. Cath knew that she was the opposite. She’d never been happier than when the children were tiny. Though Lola was only four, and usually very amenable, Cath couldn’t always be certain of getting her to do what she wanted. As for Davey, he was becoming difficult.
    Cath parked right in front of the hospital, in a disabled bay.
    ‘The multistorey’s round the corner,’ Minette said.
    ‘Don’t need it,’ Cath said. ‘Got the blue badge, don’t we?’
    ‘Oh, of course. Handy!’
    They went up to the physiology department. ‘This is our second appointment,’ Cath told Minette. ‘I wish they’d hurry up and refer him on.’
    ‘Don’t they have his records from your last hospital?’
    ‘Well, they have to follow their own procedures,’ Cath said.
    Minette waited in the corridor with the girls, while Cath took Davey into the medical room. It was a different doctor from last time. This one, Dr Ogueh, chatted briefly to Davey about school, and getting around in his wheelchair. Then he started explaining muscular dystrophy to them both, as if they’d never heard of it before. Cath knew how much doctors liked to show off their knowledge before they got to the point. So she put a listening expression on her face, waiting till he was ready to discuss the referral.
    Finally, Dr Ogueh opened Davey’s file. ‘I don’t understand why we don’t have any of Davey’s notes from your previous home town,’ he said.
    ‘I explained this in the previous consultation with Dr Persaud,’ Cath said, trying not to sound exasperated.
    ‘Yes, there is a note here from Dr Persaud, but I confess I don’t entirely understand. Please would you be so good as to explain it again?’
    Cath turned to Davey. ‘Lovie, would you mind going back outside?’
    Davey silently wheeled himself out, closing the door behind him.
    ‘He is a great boy,’ the doctor said.
    ‘He is, doctor. And that’s why I’m trying to protect him. Cath stared at her lap. ‘Dr Ogueh, as I explained at our last appointment, we left our last town in a massive hurry. My kids and I are in hiding, we’ve all changed our names, we live in fear every day …’
    ‘I am so sorry,’ the doctor said, pushing a box of tissues towards her.
    ‘I don’t want to have any connection at all to that place, or our former names. I’m so frightened that we could be traced.’
    ‘But you know, of course, that hospital records are kept confidential?’
    ‘They’re meant to be,’ Cath nodded. ‘But having been a nurse myself, I know that there are occasionally slips. I just can’t risk it.’
    ‘I understand. So, what this means for Davey is that, without the notes, we will have to do his diagnostic tests again. Did he previously have a muscle biopsy?’
    Cath nodded. ‘And I had the letter which gave the results, but I had to leave all my hospital notes behind. I had to leave everything behind.’
    ‘I’m afraid we will have to do another biopsy before we go ahead with the referral to the neurology clinic.’
    ‘I was wanting to ask if we could get the referral first, doctor.’ Cath took a tissue and dabbed her eyes. ‘The fact is, my Davey is absolutely terrified to go through the biopsy again, because of the general anaesthetic. He has nightmares about it.’
    ‘It is a very standard procedure.’
    ‘You try telling that to an eight-year-old boy, doctor. One who’s already been through so much.’ Cath