It occurred to Megan that maybe this was one last challenge, designed to test the group of doctors and nurses. But Jaye and Tim would hardly stage such a thing here, and anyway the conference was over now. When she walked over to Tim, touching the back of his hand, his eyes flickered open.
‘Megan...? What’s the matter?’
‘Are you all right?’ She didn’t wait for an answer, leaning forward to lay her hand on Tim’s forehead. He was burning up.
‘Just a twenty-four-hour flu bug. I thought I’d got the better of it, but it seems to have come on again. I’ll be okay in a minute—go back to the party.’ Tim reached groggily for the packet of paracetamol and Megan snatched it up from the table. Two tablets had already been broken from the blister pack, and if Tim had taken them she didn’t want him taking any more.
‘Will you stay here? Just for one moment?’
‘Yeah. Yeah, no problem.’ Tim’s eyes fluttered closed again. Megan turned, hurrying through the kitchen and upstairs to the ballroom. In a room which held more than its share of doctors, there was only one she wanted to find.
* * *
Jaye felt Megan’s touch on his arm, and the warm shiver that ran down his spine suddenly froze when he saw the look on her face. ‘Please come. It’s Tim, he’s ill.’
‘What’s the matter? He was complaining of a headache earlier...’ Jaye dumped the bottle he was holding on the mantelpiece and followed Megan, who was already making her way back out of the room.
‘He says it’s a twenty-four-hour flu. I’m not so sure about that.’
Jaye was much more disposed to trust Megan’s assessment of the situation than Tim’s. She stopped as she reached the main hallway, looking right and then left.
‘Where is he?’
‘In the main kitchen, downstairs.’
‘This way...’ Jaye laid his hand lightly on her back to guide her in the right direction, without thinking, feeling her jump as he touched her. Even now, as they hurried down to the kitchen, electricity was zinging in the air.
She led him to the snug room next to the kitchen. Tim was slumped in one of the chairs, and focussed his eyes on them with difficulty.
‘Oh, no... You didn’t bring the cavalry, did you?’
‘I’m afraid I did.’ Megan smiled at Tim and then turned to Jaye. ‘He had this open packet of paracetamol, and he’s obviously had some water. I don’t know what he’s already taken, so I stopped him from taking any more.’
‘Okay. There’s a log in the medicine cabinet. Sit with him while I check.’ Jaye took the blister pack from her hand, walking back into the kitchen.
When he returned, Megan was sitting on the low table in front of Tim. She’d pushed his cuff back and curled her fingers around his wrist. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked loudly in the silence.
‘Your pulse is steady. Maybe a little fast.’ Megan’s warmth was like a tangible presence in the room, and Jaye almost envied his friend.
She was making no fuss, using her own observations to guide her. Jaye knew it was exactly the right approach to take with Tim, but Megan seemed to have come to that conclusion after only a brief conversation with him.
‘You don’t want to catch this... I thought I had it licked, but it’s got a sting in its tail.’ Tim managed to summon up some of his former determination to be left alone, and Megan thwarted it with a look of mild rebuke.
‘You said earlier you were just back from Africa. Six weeks ago.’
‘That’s past the usual incubation time for malaria...’ Tim had clearly divined the direction that Megan was moving in, and waved his hand towards Jaye. ‘Ask my friend over there. He’s a doctor.’
‘You’ve taken two of these?’ Jaye held the blister pack up. The log in the medicine cabinet had indicated a full box of paracetamol and there were two missing from the blister pack.
‘That was a while ago...’
Tim reached for the blister pack, and Megan caught his hand. ‘You don’t need any more, Tim. Just sit quietly.’
‘You think it might be malaria?’ Jaye murmured.
Megan reddened, as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t, turning her gaze up towards him. ‘I didn’t say that.’
Jaye supposed that, as the doctor in attendance, he ought to take over now. But Megan was doing fine on her own—a lot better than fine. She’d thought to take the paracetamol away from Tim before he took another dose, and her firm but gentle way seemed to be working with his friend, who was notoriously unwilling to do anything the doctor told him.
‘You know what to look for.’ He stepped back, motioning for Megan to carry on with her examination.
Megan nodded, laying her hand on Tim’s chest. ‘You have a bit of a wheeze there. When did you say this started?’
‘Tuesday...no, Wednesday. I was over it by Thursday lunchtime.’
‘Three days ago.’ Megan seemed to realise that the best way to get Tim to co-operate was to tell him exactly what was going on.
‘I’ve been home for six weeks...nearly seven.’ Tim started to shiver. He was obviously feeling very ill, and his tone was probably sharper than he’d meant it to be. But Megan didn’t waver.
‘Plasmodium Malariae can take up to forty-nine days to incubate and has different symptoms from the other types of malaria.’ She glanced up at Jaye and he nodded. ‘I think we might look at it as a possibility. Particularly as you may have some level of immunity from the amount of time you’re spent in regions where it’s endemic.’
She reached for the throw that was draped across the back of the chair and tucked it around Tim. Just the right mixture of care and cajoling.
‘Yeah. S’pose so...’
‘In which case we should get you a blood test as soon as possible, then we’ll know for sure. If it’s flu, I’ll be happy for you to say that you told me so.’
‘And if it’s malaria, you’ll tell me you told me so.’ Tim managed a smile.
‘I’ll forgo that pleasure, on condition you take the drugs to get it cleared up.’
Tim nodded. ‘Perhaps the doctor will make himself useful and give us a lift.’
Megan reddened again. ‘We should see what Jaye thinks...’ Her gaze found Jaye, a look of clear apology on her face.
That wasn’t needed. Megan had done exactly the right thing, and she’d charmed Tim into facing the possibilities that he must have already been aware of.
‘I’ll go and get my bag. And call my father.’
Tim groaned. ‘Oh, please. Surely we don’t need any more reinforcements, do we? People get malaria all the time...’
Jaye chuckled, turning away. He imagined that Megan could handle Tim while he was gone.
* * *
It was extraordinary. Five years ago, when she’d seen him at the hospital, Jaye had hardly seemed to notice anyone as lowly as a nurse. But now he was allowing her to take charge and examine his friend.
He must have a reason to act so completely out of character. Then the idea occurred to Megan that maybe he wasn’t acting out of character, that she’d been wrong about him all along. That was a little too delicious to contemplate right now.
‘It’s probably best to go to Gloucester Central.’