Chapter 2: Earlier that November night

Doctor Cameron was a locum medical practitioner as he didn’t have a practice of his own, nor was he a partner in an established practice, but he had extensive hospital experience in an emergency department, so he was used to dealing with all sorts of injuries, complaints or simply out-of-hours concerned patients.

As a locum he covered doctors’ periods of sick leave, vacations, or made himself available for out-of-surgery-hours cover, including weekends. He was prepared to relocate on a temporary basis anywhere in the country he was required. In the majority of appointments, the demand for his services were in inner cities, with the occasional rural secondment thrown in for good measure by way of a rare treat. The location mattered little to Cameron, as he no longer had any permanent residence that he was able to call home.

In his late-thirties, he had been practising medicine for fourteen years, mostly in hospitals as he found the purchase of a private practice share beyond his resources. Five years earlier, however, his happy marriage had suddenly evaporated when his beautiful Personal Assistant wife Brenda divorced him to marry her older but rather more financially successful entrepreneur boss. She told Cameron that she believed he would never amount to anything other than a hospital doctor, so she was, in her words, “trading-up”.

Brenda’s employer-cum-lover could afford the best lawyers that his money could buy and Cameron was screwed out of everything in the divorce, including visitation rights to his then twelve-year-old daughter, Isla, and separation meant immediate exclusion by court order from the marital home and prevented from being within hailing distance of his former nearest and dearest.

Mrs Brenda Cameron’s grounds to divorce him cited mental and physical cruelty and the claim came completely out of the blue to Cameron on the day of the divorce court hearing. Although evidence of his violent behaviour was completely circumstantial, with no proof of medical treatments or police interventions, his wife’s courtroom lies under oath on the subject were damningly convincing enough for the judge to penalise Cameron heavily.

Following the separation, Cameron’s position in the local hospital became untenable after the legally enshrined reasons for the divorce were made public. Cameron was quietly asked to leave.

Eventually, he signed up with a locum agency providing support for doctors’ practices, although he had to serve a long probation period at some of the worst inner city areas in the country, until he had proved himself to be an outstanding doctor and his reputation in that respect eventually outweighed his supposed shortcomings.

This was his third enjoyable stint in this particular tiny rural practice, which covered a huge underpopulated area of countryside, consisting mostly of agricultural farms and hamlets. He had spent his first week here the previous spring, followed by a month in the summer, and was now in the middle weekend of a fortnight in November. There was a tentative promise of a further week’s work coming up in February. Weekend cover meant being on call from Friday afternoon through to Monday morning, as well as the weekday out-of-hours sessions through the two weeks of his contract for this practice. The hours were long, and the cases ranging from the mundane to the most challenging. This weekend had been a particularly busy one for Cameron; his last call, prior to his assault, was to one of a tiny pair of isolated cottages. Here he had to certify the sudden unexpected death of an old woman.

The paramedics and police had arrived on scene a couple of hours before the good doctor was able to attend. Cameron had to complete a house call some distance away, treating a sick child.

The deceased, a woman in her eighties, had enjoyed recent good health and, after examining her, Cameron agreed with the paramedic who was first on scene, that it looked like she had suffered from a cardiac arrest. There appeared nothing suspicious about the occurrence but by law the Coroner’s opinion needed to be sought before the body could be issued with a death certificate and released to an undertaker. The old lady had died long before the ambulance was summoned, although the crew had spent some time fruitlessly trying to revive the poor soul.

The police had already departed on another call prior to Cameron’s arrival and the ambulance was also informed that they were required elsewhere. Both emergency crews knew Cameron from his previous experience in the tight-knit rural community and was highly regarded by them.

The Coroner had been notified by the police by voice-mail but word was that the Coroner was attending the County Ball, the biggest shin-dig on the local social calendar, so there was no telling when he’d arrive to deal with the deceased. Cameron would have to wait for him before the duty undertaker could be summonsed to remove the body.

The initial 999 call came from 12-year-old Sofia who, as the only other person present in the pair of cottages, was extremely upset. She had woken from a nightmare about eleven o’clock, apparently, and crept into her Nanny’s bed, only to find her cold and wouldn’t wake up.

Cameron was informed that the child had been left with her Nanny for the night because her mother was also at the Ball and not due to collect her until around noon on Sunday. The next door neighbours were also guests at the same social event.

The paramedic quietly informed Cameron that Sofia’s father had died in a motor vehicle accident earlier in the year and may be a contributory factor affecting the girl, in shock at this further family bereavement. The police had tried to call the mother, her number supplied by the girl, but they could only leave messages. The local Children’s Services had also been contacted but, guess what?, the duty officer was at the Ball, too!

The police left a verbal message with the paramedics to pass onto Cameron when he arrived, saying that when they had a chance they would drop by the Ball, which, by tradition, tended to go on until three or four in the morning at least. They warned Cameron that the girl’s mother was known to be involved in the clean-up afterwards, so it might be some time before he could be relieved of his responsibility for the young girl.