Page 72 of Death on a Scottish Train

Chapter Eighteen

When I returned to the office, we already had patients waiting. They were hours early, but that sometimes happened here. If they hadn’t been able to book an appointment online or through Abigail, they just showed up early.

Since I loved my job, I never minded. But Abigail was always annoyed with them for breaking the rules.

“I told Mrs. Gilroy that you are fully booked and offered to make her an appointment for tomorrow,” Abigail said louder than her normal very quiet speaking voice.

“And the same with Mr. Cahill. Though his is more of an emergency.”

Mr. Cahill held a bag of ice to his cheek.

“That must have hurt,” I said to him.

“Aye. My fault, I wasn’t paying attention. My Bessie was trying to get my attention. She’s a good girl.”

I turned back to Abigail. “Bessie?”

“One of his highland cows,” she said as if that explained everything. In this small town we had a fair number of cow-related injuries as there were more of them than humans.

“You’d better come back,” I said.

“I was here first,” Mrs. Gilroy said, bristling. She had her knitting needles crossed, and her eyebrows were up. She was dressed as if shemight be going to church. Her ailments were real though. She was tough, and only came in when she wasn’t her best.

“And you dinnae have an appointment,” Abigail reminded her. “We see those patients in order of the worst trauma.”

I hid my grin with a cough. Abigail had a way of putting people in their place in her matter-of-fact soft speaking voice.

The older woman huffed but sat back in her chair and went back to her knitting.

By the end of the day, I’d put casts on assorted broken bones, mostly belonging to tourists who were learning how to surf in the cold sea.

But there had also been a fair amount of summer colds, mostly children. Something was going around before school even began.

“Is it me? Or has cold and flu season started earlier than normal?” I locked the front door after the last patient had walked out that afternoon.

“Aye. We have a full schedule for tomorrow as well, many of them with the same complaints.”

“I can’t do much for colds, except to check and make sure they don’t test for flu.”

She shrugged. “I think given the viruses going around the last few years, people may be more paranoid about that sort of thing.”

I nodded. “And who could blame them? You’re right, it’s better to be certain. I do have something to add to my schedule. I’ll be gone Friday afternoon and night. I should be back sometime early Saturday.”

Abigail stared up at me. “Oh?” I could tell she was curious.

“Uh. Ewan asked me to help him out by being his date at his mother’s gala.”

“Oh. Ohhhh.” Her face lit with surprise.

“It’s not a big deal. Just a friend doing another friend a favor.”

“Riggght.” She absolutely didn’t believe me.

My phone dinged with a message from Mara.Saved by the bell. She asked if I was ready to go shopping.

I was exhausted, but I did need to find a dress or two. I texted back that I’d meet her in front of the pub in fifteen minutes.

Then I remembered the photo from earlier. “Abigail, you’re going to think I’m weird, but I promise this has to do with the case.”