Page 26 of Prognosis Bad Timing

‘That would be why I’m the black sheep.’

Carrie shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. You could be doing anything.’

Charlie took in her expression of utter disbelief. Veronica had looked at him like that, too. Often. Had said the same words. Somehow he’d thought Carrie was different and the thought that she wasn’t was strangely depressing. He pulled up a chair and sank into it, taking a swig of his coffee.

‘There was an incident when I was a med student. I was on a ride-along shift with the ambulance and we got called to the valley to an overdose. When we arrived there was this girl, she was about my age. And it was cold, the middle of winter. So cold. We were all rugged up and she was wearing this tiny T-shirt and miniskirt.’

He shook his head, still staring at his coffee.

‘No one knew her. I mean, there was this crowd of people around her, gawking at her like she was an exhibit in a museum, but no one knew her. She had tracks all up her arms. We tried to revive her but it was too late. We declared her deceased and everyone just drifted away. No one cared. She was just a faceless street kid all alone at the very end with no one to mourn the waste of her life.’

Carrie shivered as she listened to Charlie recount the story. He was staring into the murky depths of his coffee, a far-away look in his cloudy grey gaze.

‘And it’s stuck with me ever since. I don’t know.’ He shrugged, looking up at her. ‘Maybe it was her age, maybe it was her dead-looking eyes, but all I could think was, there but for the grace of God...you know? And I just knew, right there at that moment, I knew I had to do something to help kids like that.’

There was silence for a beat or two as they stared at each other. Beats where Carrie could see right into his soul. Everything was laid bare to her inspection. There was compassion and righteousness and belief.

How would she feel if Dana went off the rails and ran away from home, got into drugs? She could only hope there would be a Charlie with a blanket somewhere, looking out for her.

A few more moments ticked by. ‘So, your father’s not thrilled?’

‘You could say that.’ he said derisively, rising and heading for the sink.

Carrie’s mobile phone rang and she almost cursed. Charlie’s story was compelling. Hell, Charlie was compelling. But it was the nanny. ‘I’m, sorry. I got to get this.’

“Sure.” He stood, heading out of the room to give her some privacy. ‘See you later.’

She nodded surprised to find she was looking forward to that – very, very much.

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At nine o’clock, satisfiedenough with her progress, Carrie called it a day. She packed up her laptop, grabbed her bag and threw her jacket over her arm as she strode out of the staffroom.

‘I’m off.’ She leaned her shoulder into the framework of Charlie’s open door. They’d seen each other briefly throughout the evening but had mainly kept to their offices.

He glanced up from his keyboard. ‘I’ll walk you out,’ he said, rising from his chair.

Carrie shook her head. ‘Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine.’

He shot her a stern look. ‘This is the valley. The dodgy end. Daytime, fine. Night time, no way.’

She laughed to hide the hitch in her chest at his propriety. It might be old fashioned but she appreciated it nonetheless. ‘Thank you.’

They walked side by side the short distance to the back alley where they both parked their cars. His beat-up old Mazda obscured her car temporarily, which was just as well given what confronted her when it did come into sight.

Carrie dropped her briefcase in horror and gasped. ‘Oh, no.’ Her hire car had been stripped and vandalised. Her wheels were missing, the windows had been smashed and the seats slashed.

‘Goddamn it!’ Charlie stalked around the car, inspecting the damage. ‘This is why I don’t bring the Beamer,’ he muttered.

‘You have a BMW?’ Carrie asked, temporarily forgetting about her car.

‘A present from my parents,’ he dismissed.

Of course. ‘How tragic for you.’

Ignoring her sarcasm, he asked, ‘Were there any valuables in it?’

She shook her head. ‘Because it was a rental there was nothing in there of ours. Oh, except -’ Carrie quickly looked through the back passenger window. Damn it. ‘Dana’s car seat.’

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