Page 16 of Beyond Repair
Yes, spooky, seriously spooky.
‘Hannah,’ Katie called, smiling as a small dark-haired girl scooped a baby out of its car seat and shuffled after Katie into her room, her head bowed and her hair covering her face.
‘So,’ Katie started as she tapped the computer to get into Hannah’s notes. When she turned to face Hannah she froze, focusing first on the swollen, multi-coloured skin around one of Hannah’s eyes, and then letting her gaze drop down to Hannah’s wrist, where her sleeve had ridden up to reveal four perfectly defined, elongated bruises, corresponding to what could have only been a large hand. A tear slipped out from Hannah’s bad eye and she sniffed.
‘I did go to the police this time,’ she said, cradling her baby to her chest defensively. ‘And I moved out so he won’t know where we are; we’re in the refuge now. I haven’t used, I swear. I swear I haven’t,’ Hannah told her, frantically pulling up her sleeves to reveal more bruising but no track marks. Katie swallowed, fighting back her own emotion and laying her hands over Hannah’s to still them.
‘Well done, honey,’ Katie said softly. ‘That was brave, really brave. Look, I know you love Morgan. I’m on your side, okay? Everyone is on your side with this: Maureen, Stella, whoever your key worker is at the refuge, they’re all on your side.’
‘Sue’s my key worker,’ she mumbled into Baby Morgan’s head. ‘She’s nice.’ Maureen was our health visitor and Stella was Katie’s social worker. They had all been afraid of something like this happening for ages.
‘Did he hurt Morgan?’ Katie asked cautiously, and Hannah shook her head. ‘No, no, he would never …’ She trailed off, blinking back tears. Hannah had been an IVDU (intravenous drug user) when Katie first met her two years ago. At that time a strong gust of wind could have blown Hannah over, her hollowed-out cheekbones and the dead look in her eyes giving her the eerie appearance of someone hovering between life and death. Every so often Hannah would have relatively lucid periods where she would come in to get her groin abscesses or pneumonias treated by Katie, but other than that she’d rarely attended the surgery; that was, until she found out she was pregnant.
Discovering she was carrying a life inside her tripped some sort of switch in Hannah’s mind and she somehow managed to find the strength to undergo rehab and claw back the tattered remains of her soul. Katie had watched as Hannah’s face filled out, her hair gradually recovered its shine, and her eyes came alive. Hannah’s relieved family took her back in and the social workers and health visitors were all happy for her to keep the baby after it was born, albeit under strict supervision. The problem is that when you live in a cesspool of humanity for long enough there are people there unhappy to see you leave. Unfortunately for Hannah, one of those people was her pimp and the father of her baby.
Once Hannah had calmed down, Katie went through the post-natal check, as that was the actual reason for the appointment, and performed a baby check on little Morgan. She took them back out to the waiting room and signalled Gweneth, one of the receptionists, over.
‘Hannah needs a cup of tea, somewhere quiet to sit and maybe a little cwtch, okay?’ she said, and Gweneth, who was a grandmother many times over herself, chivvied them off to the staff room with Baby Morgan transferred to her ample bosom.
Two patients later and still very much unnerved by Mystery Blonde, who was yet to move an inch, Katie went out to call her next patient and heard a crash. Hannah was standing next to the reception desk with her hand out to ward off a large, rapidly approaching, skin-headed man whose bloodshot eyes were completely wild and his movements jerky. He had already overturned two chairs in the waiting room to get to her regardless that there had been people occupying the chairs who were now sprawled on the floor. Whatever was fuelling this guy was definitely not of the natural, organic variety.
Katie lurched forward when she saw he was about to make it to Hannah with his hand back, obviously ready to strike, but she stopped in her tracks as his hand was caught in mid air and twisted around behind his back. He let out a howl of pain and the small blonde woman that had been freaking Katie out all day smiled slightly as she pulled back on his arm more, taking him down to his knees. She then planted a high-heeled boot in the middle of the back of his chest, putting more weight through his arm. He started twisting and jerking viciously to throw her off, but she took this all in her stride, looking almost bored. She then leaned forward and whispered something into his ear before using her other arm to hold him around his neck. A few moments later he went bright red, then purple, then collapsed onto the floor. The blonde looked up at Katie, her face completely deadpan, winked, and then spat on the man, putting her booted foot in the middle of his back and straightening to stand. Applause erupted from the waiting patients as Gweneth bustled over to pull Hannah into a hug.
‘The police?’ Mystery Blonde asked Marney – the other receptionist behind the desk – raising her eyebrows in question.
‘I … I called them soon as I clocked him coming in,’ Marney stuttered, and Mystery Blonde gave a sharp nod. The man groaned and shifted slightly under Mystery Blonde’s boot, which she swiftly transferred to the side of his face as he tried to raise his head.
‘Stay down,’ she barked, and her voice was so commanding that most of the waiting room fell into a slight squat on hearing it.
*****
‘Rob,’ Katie said slowly into the phone. ‘Why is there a terrifying blonde lady in my waiting room? Why has she been here all day and why …’ she broke off to take a peep out of her consulting room door, to see Mystery Blonde sitting back in the same place she’d been for hours (that was until she’d taken a brief time out to take down a large, aggressive, drug-addled pimp onto the floor of the waiting room) ‘… is she still here?’
‘Shit,’ Rob muttered, and Katie frowned, taking another sneaky peek out at the blonde. Jesus Christ, she really didn’t move. Katie hadn’t even seen her eat or drink all day.
‘What do you mean, shit?’ Katie asked. ‘I’m presuming she’s a mate of yours, Rob. Do you know how I know that? Because I know for a fact that nobody elseIknow would have friends that can put a man twice their size in a bloody sleeper hold.’
‘Oh no,’ Rob groaned and Katie rolled her eyes.
‘Look, honey,’ she said softly, ‘it’s not that I don’t appreciate it. But I told you a while back that that whole … situation is sorted.’ She crossed her fingers as she held the phone. ‘You don’t need to worry about me. I don’t know what’s sparked all this concern but –’
‘Put me on the phone to Goodie,’ Rob interrupted.
‘Goodie?’
‘The blonde nutcase in your waiting room. I want to speak to her.’
‘Um …’ Katie hesitated, took another peek out of the door at ‘Goodie’, then quickly retreated back into her room. ‘That’s an unusual name.’
‘Short forGood night,’ Rob returned nonsensically.
‘Is that her second name?’
‘No.’
‘Um …’
‘Look, Kate, sweetheart, just get her.’
