Oh yeah, and the amount of time it’d take me to access it. ‘I can’t even afford a fax at the moment, Harry.’
‘Tax deductible.’
‘I don’t pay enough blinking tax to deduct it. Besides, it’s money up front which I can’t manage.’
‘Or credit.’
‘I wouldn’t dare.’
‘Shame. Plenty of your lot are in there already, you know.’
‘Yeah, well, lucky I got you, isn’t it?’
‘Why keep a dog and bark yourself?’
I laughed. ‘Something like that. Besides, you’re an expert.
You’ll let me know if it gets too much?’
‘Go on. But promise me…’
‘What?’
‘If there’s a story…’
‘I thought you’d given up on the journalism.’
‘Oh, I still need a nice juicy scandal now and again. One that I write up instead of seeing it mangled by the other hacks.’
‘You’ll be the first to know. But don’t hold your breath.’
So there were plenty of legitimate reasons for Goulden and Simcock to meet at the hospital, a word about business if not a conscientious visit from the GP concerned about his elderly patient.
But I wasn’t thinking about legitimate reasons. I was more interested in the other sort.
By quarter to six I was regretting my offer to take Agnes to the hospital but I didn’t want to let her down at the last minute. Ray still wasn’t in from work so I resorted to going up and asking Sheila if she’d keep an eye on the children till he got back. She was happy to. I braced myself for another tantrum from Maddie but she didn’t turn a hair when I explained what was happening. I was the only one who was uncomfortable with the situation because I felt I was imposing on Sheila.
On our journey to the Infirmary I told Agnes about the business and family links between the three doctors. ‘Mr Simcock is on the board of directors there and Mrs Goulden is the Managing Director so that could be one reason why we saw Dr Goulden at the hospital – he’s got business connections with Simcock.’
Silence. ‘Agnes?’
‘Let me get this right. Mr Simcock is on the board of the company?’
‘Yes.’
‘And Dr Montgomery?’
‘Yes. And what’s more, Mrs Goulden, who works there, is actually the sister of Dr Montgomery too. It’s very incestuous.’
‘I don’t like it,’ she said sharply.
‘It stinks,’ I agreed, ‘and there are too many coincidences flying around. All these people have been involved in Lily’s treatment – is that just because it’s a specialised area? Is it just nepotism, the old boy network, or is there something else going on?’ I was speculating aloud.
Agnes shook her head.
‘You’d think one well-paid job would satisfy,’ she remarked, ‘with all this unemployment.’
‘It might be greedy but it’s not illegal,’ I pointed out. ‘Besides, they’re directors of the business – they employ people to work there.’