Chapter 31

Monday night was thankfully drama-free. Tuesday morning I woke up in time to have breakfast with Sandra, then did the chores after she left. I tried to read more of the medical textbook, but my mind wasn’t really on it.

“You’re eating out tonight, aren’t you,” said Sandra when she got home from the pharmacy. “Are you going to be here for the next half hour? I want to order my dinner then take a bath, and it would be great if you were here to answer the door if I’m still scrubbing myself clean.”

“Yes, I’ll stay. Sounds like you had a bad day.”

“A druggie came into the pharmacy demanding a large quantity of over-the-counter painkillers containing morphine. When I told him I was legally limited to selling him three days’ worth, he started waving a knife around. I pressed the silent alarm and stalled him until the police got there to arrest him. Then he threw up all over the floor. It was disgusting. I still can’t get the smell out of my mind.”

It must have been bad because Sandra was still in the bath when her lasagna arrived. I shouted through the bathroom door that her dinner had arrived and I needed to leave or I’d be late. After Sandra shouted back an acknowledgement, I hot-footed it towards town. I was a few minutes late, but finding the place was made easier by the sight of Ms Edgeway standing outside.

“Sorry I’m late,” I apologised. “My host had a really bad experience at work and needed me to stay longer than I would have wished.”

“You had me a little bit worried,” admitted Ms Edgeway. “Your family is already in the back room. I have some news but I’ll break it inside.”

I followed Ms Edgeway through the shop and into the back room. Mum and Dad sat there with nervous smiles on their faces, but Janey jumped up and gave me a hug. She’d grown up in the same family environment as me, so where were the sudden hugs coming from?

“I’ve got your back, Dork,” Janey whispered in my ear so the parents couldn’t hear her.

The battle lines were drawn. Mum and Dad sat on one side of the table, Janey and I sat on the other while Ms Edgeway sat at the head.

“Let’s order food before we start,” said Ms Edgeway. A suggestion, although I got the impression she wasn’t expecting any opposition.

I opted for venison and wild boar pie with ratatouille and chips, and orange juice to drink.

After the waitress had taken our orders, Ms Edgeway got us under way.

“I have a couple of updates for you,” she said. “Police have frozen the accounts of Dr Rabdoolia and FreshFields because they contained far too much money to have come from his handful of genuine patients. On Jon’s behalf, I’ve submitted damages claims totalling five million pounds.”

I think everyone gasped at that.

“Jon won’t get that anything like that, but it’s part and parcel of the legal wrangling to claim far too much then have it negotiated down to something more reasonable, rather than starting with reasonable and have it negotiated down from there.

“If the police play hard-ball, Jon could get nothing since they could argue that all Dr Rabdoolia and FreshFields’ money is the proceeds of crime and subject to forfeiture. However, Jon is probably also entitled to a significant amount of reward money because, if it weren’t for his ordeal, the police would still be waiting for a search warrant.

“And some not so good news, from Jon’s point of view. Dr Rabdoolia is co-operating with the police, meaning he’s likely to be allowed out on bail before his trial and get away with a short prison sentence.”