That Elusive Cure 45 & 46

45

 

All Wednesday morning I waited at home, listening for the phone. Newland had told Jimmy he was leaving early. How long did it take to fly down from Scotland? I suppose it depended on where in Scotland he was. I reckoned from Glasgow or Edinburgh to Liverpool Airport couldn’t be more than an hour. From further north it wouldn’t add that much time. Hell, I could drive there in a day.

Jimmy said Newland told him to expect a call around lunchtime. The clock told me midday had come and gone by half an hour. What was lunchtime for Newland?

I checked the house again and saw a piece of fluff on the carpet. The curtains needed straightening in their pullbacks, even though I must have done that at least twice before. The hall cupboard needed tidying. I was down on my knees sorting through shoes when I heard Jimmy calling from upstairs.

“Kath, you’ve got to come and see this.” There was urgency to his tone that I didn’t like.

Just in case it was while I was upstairs that Newland decided not to phone but show up on the door instead, I shoved the shoes back in and closed the door.

“Coming.”

I joined Jimmy in his study. He’d been taking a break from work and one of his regular news sites was up on the screen. There was a picture of a smiling white-haired man. Underneath a red banner said Breaking News.

“What’s wrong?” I pulled up the spare chair and sat beside him.

“Read the headline.”

CEO believed among the dead as three bodies are pulled from plane crash in Liverpool.

I clicked on the picture of the elderly man, muttering, “Oh shit,” as I did so.

Three people were killed when a private jet overshot the runway at Liverpool John Lennon Airport earlier today. An airport spokesman said two crew and one passenger were on board the Gulfstream 450 when it skidded off the runway in heavy rain as the pilot attempted to land at 10:14am this morning.

Richard Newland, reclusive billionaire and founder of the MicroHealth medical technology company has been confirmed as among the dead.

“There are no known survivors,” the spokesman said.

A representative from the North West Ambulance Service confirmed that the five attending ambulance crews had been stood down. No one was taken to hospital following the crash.

Fire crews based at the airport reached the blazing jet within two minutes of the crash, airport officials said.

JLA is expected to remain closed for some time, with incoming flights being diverted to Manchester. Passengers expecting to fly from Liverpool this afternoon are urged to contact their airline before arriving.

Early eye witness accounts describe black smoke billowing out from the burnt out fuselage.

I sat back, my hands dropping into my lap. “Oh shit.”

“Guess we’ll never know the secrets of the pod now,” Jimmy said as he scanned for more news articles on the crash.

I hit him on the arm. “A man is dead, in fact three people are dead, and that’s all you can think about?”

“What? We didn’t know the man. A month ago neither of us would have even noticed the news of this crash.”

I felt a weight of responsibility forming on my shoulders. With the owner of the pod dead, someone had to keep an eye on the machine and the church. I decided that person would have to be me. I’d have to find out what was going to happen to the ownership of the building. If needs be, we’d have to move the pod before the church was put up for sale or handed to some unknowing relative. Newland wasn’t young, hopefully he’d made provisions for the church in his will.

Jimmy had found another article about the crash. I scanned it, searching for more information. With this Newland owning a company called MicroHealth, it became pretty certain where and when the pod came from. I hated it when Jimmy was right.

 

46

 

The phone rang four times before I picked up. What if investigators into Newlands death suspected foul play and they found my number in his recent calls list? Could they work that fast? I answered with a cautious, “Hello?”

“May I speak with Kathy Wyatt, please.”

Oh God, they had connected her to Newland.

“Speaking…” An urge to slam the phone down came over me. Somehow I resisted.

“Oh, hello Kathy. It’s Wendy here.”

Wendy? It took me a second to realise who she was. “Hi, you’re calling about Sally. Is there any news?”

“That’s why I’m phoning. I’ve got a number for you. You can contact her now.”

I sagged against the wall. “Thank God. I was beginning to worry if they’d ever let me speak to her. How is she doing?”

“As well as can be expected. She’s had a rough couple of weeks.” Wendy recited the number out for me and rung off. I admitted I was surprised she’d kept up her part of the deal and given me a contact number. I’d spent so many years hating her alongside Sally that it was weird to be in league with Wendy.

I dialled the number, feeling my excitement growing. We could plan to take her out for the day. I could get her down to the pod and fix her dodgy head. Only five days to go and the machine would be functional. Such a small number of days. A big grin spread across my face.

Finally the phone was answered.

“Hello, can I speak to Sally Jones. I’m Kathy Wyatt. I believe she’s been given permission to talk to me.”

A female voice told me, “I’ll see about finding her. I’m just going to put you on hold for a moment.”

No music to ease the wait with this system, just a quite static hum to give me a clue I was still connected to the hospital. No one came back to me for a long time, and I was on the verge of hanging up when there was the sound of the line reconnecting and someone manhandling a handset.

“Hello?” A man this time.

“Hi, I’ve been on hold for a while. A woman was looking for Sally Jones for me.”

“Right, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Wait-”

He put me on hold before I could ask how long he might be. I sat on the stool by the phone and tapped on my knee waiting while the static playing into my ear.

“Hello?” A woman again. I wasn’t sure if it was the first person again or another woman.

“Hi, this is Kathy Wyatt. Was it you I spoke to before? You were looking for Sally Jones for me. She’s a patient.”

“Ah, yes, that was my colleague. Who is it you’re looking for again?”

“Sally Jones,” I said, trying to mask my frustration. “I think there are two people searching for her now.”

“Yes, well, let me find out what’s going on.”

Jesus. Was it that hard to find patients? What kind of place were they running?

The phone crackled in her ear again. “Hello, are you looking for Sally Jones?” Could be the second woman on the line.

I sighed. “Yes, I am.”

“What is your name again?”

“Kathy Wyatt.”

“You’re not on the list.” There was the sound of papers rustling.

“I should be, her sister Wendy gave me the number and told me to call.”

“Yes, that’s right. But there’s been an incident. Sally can’t come to the phone right now.”

I sat up. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I can’t tell you. That’s what I meant. Only her sister Wendy Theodore is on the list. I am not allowed to divulge information to anyone else.”

“Is she okay? Can you tell me anything?”

“Sorry. You’ll have to call her sister.”

“Thanks, will do.” I hung up the phone and got a dial tone again, saying, “Shit,” over and over as I plugged in the number for Wendy’s mobile.

“Wendy,” I said as she picked up. “Something’s wrong with Sally. They wouldn’t let me talk to her. All they’d tell me was there’d been an incident.” I paced the hall holding the handset with both hands.

“Calm down and explain this to me slowly.”

I did so, relating my trouble getting through.

“Stay where you are. I’ll ring the hospital now and find out what’s going on.”

I could hear the worry in her voice as she said her goodbyes to me. With a history of suicide in the family, I had to admit that my lovely Sally being dead was the first thing that came to mind.

Wendy took a long time coming back to me. I fixed a cup of tea and sat beside the phone, waiting for almost an hour before it finally rung. I snatched up the handset.

“Hello?”

“It’s me again, Wendy.”

“What’s happened to her, what’s wrong with Sally?”

“I’m on my way to her now. They’ve taken her to hospital, she’s gone to Arrowe Park. She attempted suicide.”

“Oh shit.” Somehow I kept hold of the handset as bottom of my stomach seemed to collapse inside me.

“I’ll know more when I get there.”

“You’ll phone me as soon as you know anything?”

“Of course I will. I’m going to list you as family as well, so you’ll be able to find out information for yourself. You’ll be listed as her sister.”

Suddenly I felt so awful for bad talking her with Sal all these years. “Thank you, Wendy.”

“I’ve got to go. I’m in the car and last thing I need is a ticket or worse to crash on the way.”

“Yes, of course. Wendy, you’ve no idea what it means to have you list me as family.”

“Why don’t you meet me over here? Give me a ring once you’ve arrived.”

We ended the phone call, and I suddenly felt so lost. Everything was happening too fast. The machine wasn’t fixed yet, I couldn’t do anything to help Sal. It was all so unfair.