Page 104 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

‘Will you be all right?’ Ottilie asked, almost disappointed to know she wasn’t getting any more. But she supposed it was none of her business and she was only entitled to what they chose to share.

‘I will be now,’ Flo said. ‘Thank you.’

With a brief nod, Heath got up and took Flo gently by the arm. ‘Thank you, Ottilie,’ he said.

They parted at the door – Heath and Flo going off to her house and Ottilie back to her patients, her brain racing with everything she’d heard.

Ottilie had spent the afternoon pondering what she knew about Mila and her attempt to extort money from Flo. She was convinced it was a police matter but also convinced Flo wouldn’t want to get them involved. With the last patient seen and the treatment room cleaned and locked up, Ottilie stepped out for home to find Heath waiting at the end of the path, a bit like his gran had been earlier. But he was alone, and he was calm.

‘How is she?’ Ottilie asked.

‘Much better. I’ve managed to talk her down. Thank you,’ he said.

‘I didn’t do anything.’

‘We both know that’s not true. You did more than we deserve.’

‘I think a lot of your gran.’

‘OK, more than I deserve,’ he said with a half-smile. ‘It means a lot to me that she has you close by. I feel better knowing you’re here for her if she needs you. Like you were today.’

‘Of course. That’s what friends are for. I’m glad it’s sorted.’

‘Can I walk you home?’

Ottilie inclined her head. ‘If you want.’

They fell into step, heading towards Wordsworth Cottage. Ottilie zipped up her jacket. Autumn was at its crisp, cold end, russet leaves still littering the pavements, cemented into cracks and gutters on the twisting lanes, but the night brought frost that hardened them. A squirrel raced nimbly up the trunk of a nearby tree and settled on a branch, beady eyes watching them go by. The sun was already setting, and Ottilie’s breath curled into the air as their footsteps echoed on the road.

‘I think I owe you a proper explanation,’ Heath said into their brief silence.

‘You don’t owe me anything. It’s your business.’

‘OK, let me start again. I want to explain to you. I feel as if…well, I want you to understand. Would you mind? I’ve been a…I haven’t been all that fair to you, and I’d like to…’

He let out a sigh.

‘I get it,’ Ottilie said. ‘You don’t have to tell me, but if you want to then I’m happy to listen.’

He took a deep breath, and when he let it out again it unfurled into the sky where the edges were already a frosted lilac.

‘So you know about the stunt Mila tried to pull today.’

Ottilie nodded. ‘Quite honestly, I still think you should go to the police about that.’

‘I don’t think there’s any point. She hasn’t done anything, and she’d only deny it.’

‘I think she’s got a nerve,’ Ottilie said, incensed as she recalled how distressed Flo had been at the surgery door that morning. ‘All this time after you split up as well.’

‘She has no shame and a long memory. She won’t have forgotten that Gran has a bit of money put by, just like she won’t have forgotten things like my weak spots, Gran’s weak spots, which buttons to push for anyone she wants to manipulate. It’s all stored up in that calculating brain, ready for when she needs to use it. I wonder if she’s got something missing in her brain, because she doesn’t seem to operate like the rest of us. If she wants something she doesn’t care how she gets it.’

‘Why does that scare me a bit?’

‘Oh, I don’t think she’d resort to violence. She doesn’t need to – she’s clever enough to use other tactics.’

‘Like what? What else has she done?’

Heath ran a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know where to start. She was always fiddling things a bit here and there when she wanted extra cash – and she bloody loved spending, so she always wanted extra cash. I didn’t exactly approve but at first it seemed like harmless things – you know, like ripping off a shop or an online catalogue or something. Sometimes it even seemed funny. I suppose that makes me as bad, but I was smitten, you know?’

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