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Flora washed her hands. ‘I’ll take a look, if that’s all right.’
‘I’m just going to take your T-shirt off, Harry.’ Diane reached forward and lifted his T-shirt carefully over his head. ‘I want to show Nurse Harris.’
Harry gave a moan of protest. ‘I’m really, really cold.’
‘That’s because you have a temperature,’ Flora said gently, lifting his arm slightly and turning him towards the light. ‘When did you first notice the rash, Mrs Gregg?’
‘Well, it didn’t look like this at first. It started with just one red spot under his arm and then it spread. Then his temperature shot up and he’s been feeling boiling hot ever since.’ Diane pushed her son’s hair away from his face and touched his forehead. ‘He’s hot now.’
Flora examined the rash carefully. It was scarlet and circular and she’d never seen anything like it before. ‘Did you see a doctor when you were away?’
‘Yes, but he said it was just a virus.’ Diane rolled her eyes, her worry evident. ‘Perhaps it is, but I wanted a proper opinion. It isn’t until you leave Glenmore that you realise how good the medical care is on this island. I was hoping to see Dr MacNeil, but Janet says his surgery is full.’
Flora checked Harry’s temperature and recorded it. ‘Logan isn’t the only doctor working at Glenmore now,’ she said carefully, and Diane pursed her lips.
‘If you’re talking about Conner MacNeil, I’m not interested. I remember the time he set off that firework in the school library.’
‘That was a long time ago, Mrs Gregg.’ Flora checked Harry’s pulse and blood pressure. ‘He trained in the army. His qualifications are excellent.’
‘I don’t care. I—’
‘Didn’t you ever do anything you shouldn’t when you were young?’
‘Well, I—I suppose …’
‘I know I did.’ Flora shrugged. ‘And I also know I wouldn’t want to be judged as an adult by how I was as a child. People change, Mrs Gregg. And everyone deserves to be given chances. Logan wouldn’t have taken Conner on if he didn’t trust him. I’d like him to see Harry. I don’t recognise this rash and the fact that he has a temperature makes it worth exploring further.’
Mrs Gregg hesitated and then glanced at Harry, clearly torn. ‘I don’t suppose Conner will know any more than that doctor on the mainland.’
‘Let’s give it a try—see what he says? I’ll see if he’s free,’ Flora said cheerfully, trying not to reveal that the chances of Conner having a patient with him was extremely remote.
Hoping that she wasn’t making a mistake, she went across the corridor and tapped on his door. ‘Conner?’ She walked in and found him absorbed in a website on the internet. She peered closer. ‘Wetsuits?’
‘I’m planning to do some sailing. It looks as though I’m going to have plenty of time on my hands.’ He swivelled his head and looked at her. ‘Are you here to relieve my boredom?’
She flushed. ‘I have a patient that needs to be seen by a doctor.’
‘And?’
‘You’re a doctor.’
‘Am I?’ He lounged back in his chair, his ice-blue gaze disturbingly direct. ‘So why am I sitting in an empty consulting room?’
‘Because this is Glenmore and it takes folks a while to get used to change. The last time they saw you, you were stirring up trouble all over the island. I don’t suppose anyone imagined you’d become a doctor. So will you see Harry Gregg?’
Conner’s eyes narrowed. ‘Diane’s son?’
‘Yes. He’s eight years old and a really nice little boy. Very lively usually, but not today. Diane is frightened.’
‘She always did have a tendency to overreact. I remember she slapped my face once.’
‘You probably deserved it.’
He smiled. ‘I probably did. So what do you think, Flora? Paranoid mother?’
Flora shook her head. ‘I think it’s something that needs looking at. The child is poorly, there’s no doubt about that. And he has a really weird rash. I’ve never seen anything like it before.’
Conner rose to his feet. ‘Is she going to slap my face again or run away screaming in horror if I walk into the room?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ Flora gave a weary smile. ‘Let’s try it, shall we? Harry needs to see a doctor and I’d rather it was sooner than later.’
Diane looked up as they walked into the room. ‘Dr MacNeil.’
‘Diane.’ Conner’s greeting was cursory, his eyes focused on the boy, who was now sitting on his mother’s lap, his head on her chest. ‘Hey, sport.’ He hunkered down so that he was on the same level. ‘What’s going on with you?’
Harry opened his eyes but didn’t move his head. ‘Feel bad.’
‘His temperature is thirty-nine degrees.’ Flora gently lifted Harry’s arm so that Conner could see. ‘He’s had this rash for three days.’
‘Feel horrible,’ the boy muttered, and Conner nodded.
‘Well, we need to see what we can do about that.’ He studied the rash in silence, his blue eyes narrowed slightly. ‘Circular rash.’
Diane watched his face. ‘You’re going to tell me that it’s just a virus and that I shouldn’t have bothered you.’
Conner lifted his gaze to hers. ‘You were right to bring him. Harry? Do you mind undressing down to your underpants? I want to take a proper look at this rash.’
Flora helped the child undress and Conner examined his skin carefully and questioned Diane in detail.
‘It started under his arm when we were on holiday,’ she told him. ‘Just a red spot. And then it grew bigger and it turned into that weird thing he has now.’
‘Where did you go on holiday?’
Flora glanced at him in surprise. She wouldn’t have expected Conner to be interested in small talk.
‘Mainland.’
‘Highlands?’ Conner ran a finger over the rash, his expression thoughtful. ‘Were you walking?’
‘Yes.’ Diane looked at him. ‘How do you know?’
Conner straightened and reached for Harry’s T-shirt. ‘It fits with what I’m seeing. You can get dressed now. I’ve seen all I need to see.’ He gently pulled the T-shirt over the boy’s head. ‘Were you camping?’
‘Yes. We spent a few nights in a forest. It was lovely.’
‘Lots of deer around?’
‘Actually, yes.’ Diane frowned. ‘How do you know that?’
‘Because Harry has Lyme disease.’ Conner washed his hands. ‘He was almost certainly bitten by a tick, which is why he started off with one red spot. Did you see an insect?’
‘No.’ Bemused, Diane shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t. But we’ve been camping every year since he was born and we’ve never had a problem. Lyme disease? What is that? I’ve never even heard of it.’
‘It’s not that common in this country, although the number of cases is increasing. Ticks are tiny insects and they feed by sucking blood from animals such as deer. Some ticks get infected with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and if they bite a human then they pass the disease on.’
Diane looked at him in a mixture of horror and amazement. ‘And you’re sure Harry has it? How do you know?’
‘Because his symptoms fit the history.’
Flora felt the tension leave her. Clearly Conner hadn’t been making small talk about holidays, he’d been verifying the cause of the symptoms he was seeing. Logan was right. Conner was a good doctor. A clever doctor. And Diane appeared to have forgotten that she’d ever had reservations about seeing him.
‘You’ve seen this Lyme disease before?’
‘When I was stationed overseas.’ Without waiting for an invitation, he sat down at Flora’s computer and hit a few keys, bringing up a list of antibiotics. ‘The rash that Harry has is fairly typical.’ He scrolled down, searching for the one he wanted. ‘It starts as a single circular red mark and it gradually spreads. It isn’t always painful or itchy and some people don’t even notice it, depending on where they were bitten.’
‘Is there any treatment?’
‘Yes.’ Conner’s eyes were fixed on the screen. ‘I’m going to give Harry some antibiotics.’
‘And will they work?’
‘They should do because we’ve caught it early. You did the right thing, bringing him in.’
‘The doctor on the mainland thought it was a virus.’ Diane’s mouth tightened with disapproval. ‘Virus is a word doctors use when they haven’t got a clue what’s going on.’
‘You might be right. I usually say “I don’t know” but that phrase doesn’t win you many friends either. In fairness to your guy on the mainland, Lyme disease is not a condition every doctor will have seen.’ Conner printed off the prescription and handed it to Diane. ‘Make sure Harry finishes the course.’
‘I’ll do that.’ She slipped the prescription into her bag and hesitated. ‘Thank you.’ She looked Conner in the eye. ‘I wasn’t sure about seeing you …’
‘I don’t blame you for that.’ As cool as ever, Conner rose to his feet. ‘Make an appointment to see Logan in a few days. Harry needs to be followed up. We need to be sure that the antibiotics are working.’
Diane took Harry’s hand in hers. ‘Why should I see Logan? Are you going to be busy?’
Conner gave a faint smile. ‘On current form? Probably not. But it’s important that the patients have faith in the doctor they see.’
‘I agree.’ Diane walked towards the door. ‘Which is why we’ll be making that appointment when you’re doing surgery. Thank you, Dr MacNeil. I knew I could rely on a Glenmore doctor to get the diagnosis right.’ The door closed behind her and Flora smiled happily at Conner.
‘I think you’re a hit. That was pretty impressive. I predict that once word spreads, your surgery will be crammed with patients.’
‘And I’m supposed to rejoice about that?’
‘Maybe not. But Logan will. So, tell me about Lyme disease because I’m feeling horribly ignorant.’
‘What else do you want to know? You get bitten by a tick that clings on once it bites. Then it sucks your blood—’
‘Don’t!’ Flora pulled a face. ‘You’re telling it like a horror story. If you carry on like that I’ll never set foot outside again.’
It was the wrong thing to say to Conner. He leaned against the desk and gave a wicked smile. ‘As I was saying, they suck your blood and slowly become more and more engorged—’
‘You do it on purpose, don’t you? Try and shock people.’
‘I admit it’s an extremely stimulating pastime.’
‘You might not find it so funny when I’m sick,’ Flora said sweetly, and his smile widened.
‘Nurses aren’t supposed to have delicate constitutions.’
‘Doctors aren’t supposed to be bloodthirsty.’
‘I’m just delivering the facts.’
‘Well …’ She was horribly aware of just how strong his shoulders were and how much he dominated her tiny room. ‘Could you deliver them with slightly less gruesome relish?’
‘Where was I?’ He angled his head slightly. ‘Oh, yes, they were engorged with blood. Anyway, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease are usually carried in the gut and only travel to their mouth once they’ve been feeding for about twenty-four hours. So if you remove the tick as soon as you’re bitten, you’re unlikely to be infected.’
Flora shuddered. ‘So you’re telling me that a method of prevention is to drag this greedy, engorged creature off your skin?’
‘You remove it before it’s engorged. And you don’t drag. If you drag, you’ll just leave the mouth stuck in your body.’
‘Enough!’
‘The best thing is to smother it with Vaseline. It suffocates and then you can remove it with a pair of tweezers. You shouldn’t use your fingers—’
‘I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole! And I’m never venturing outside again without full protective clothing.’
Conner’s eyes flickered to the neck of her uniform. ‘You don’t need to overdo it. The tick that carries the bacteria likes areas where there are wild deer.’
Her heart started to beat just a little bit faster. ‘And that’s why you were so interested in where the Greggs went on holiday?’
‘The symptoms fitted. The fact that they’d been camping in a forest in warm weather made it highly possible that he’d contracted the disease. Ticks like warm weather and people wear less then so they’re more likely to be bitten.’ His eyes lifted to hers and the tension between them increased.
‘Why haven’t I heard of it?’
‘Obviously there haven’t been any cases on Glenmore. It’s sensible to take precautions if you’re walking or camping in an area where infected ticks are known to live.’ His eyes dropped to her mouth, his gaze lingering. ‘Wear long sleeves and trousers, use a tick repellent spray—all the obvious things.’
They were talking about medical matters and yet there was a sudden intimacy in the atmosphere that she didn’t understand. It circled her like a forcefield, drawing her in, and when the phone rang suddenly she gave a start.
He was between her and the desk and she waited for him to move to one side so that she could answer it, but he stayed where he was. Left with no choice, she was forced to brush past him as she reached for the receiver. ‘Yes? I mean …’ Flustered by the fact that he was standing so close to her, she stumbled over the words. ‘Nurse Harris speaking—Oh, hello, Mr Murray.’ Struggling to concentrate, she listened as the man on the other end spoke to her. ‘Well, no, I hadn’t heard of it either, but—’ She broke off and listened again before finally shaking her head. ‘You’d better speak to him yourself.’
She sighed and handed the receiver to Conner. ‘It’s Mr Murray, the pharmacist down on South Quay. He has a question about the prescription you just gave Harry.’
Relaxed and confident, Conner took the phone from her, his gaze still locked with hers. ‘MacNeil.’
Flora felt as though someone had lit a fire inside her body. She should look away. She knew she should look away but she just couldn’t help herself. There was something in his ice-blue eyes that insisted that she look.
‘That’s right, Mr Murray, the dose is large.’ He listened, his eyes still fixed on hers. ‘Yes, I do know that I’m not treating a horse.’
Flora frowned and mouthed, ‘A horse?’ But Conner merely lifted a hand and trailed a finger down her cheek with agonising slowness.
