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Back A Change of Circumstance Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Fifty-Nine
  61. Sixty
  62. Sixty-One
  63. Sixty-Two
  64. Sixty-Three
  65. Sixty-Four
  66. Sixty-Five
  67. Sixty-Six

They had put a tube down Olivia’s throat, were listening to her heart, taking her pulse. One said, ‘Abnormal posturing.’ The other nodded. ‘GCS low.’

Greta stood staring down at her daughter, lying oddly on the hall rug, wires and tubes, already attached to her. One of them lifted her eyelid briefly and shone a torch.

‘What’s happening? She’s unconscious but she’s going to be all right, isn’t she, she’s going to live, once she gets to the hospital they’ll make sure she’s all right, and you got here in time?’

‘We’re doing everything we possibly can for her and the HEMS team are on their way – that’s the air ambulance, they’ll have a specialist emergency doctor on board. Best if you sit down, you’re quite pale. I’ll look at you in a second.’

‘Let me get you some water – or some brandy, I’ve got brandy in the house,’ Kevin Astley said again. Greta shook her head and went on shaking it but he fetched a glass of water from her kitchen and held it while she drank.

‘Jeff should come, Jeff should be here.’

‘He will. I told him what was happening.’

‘It’s his daughter and she won’t dare to stop him, she has no right. Olivia comes first, we come first.’

She burst into sudden harsh sobs that came from her throat, as if they had been forced up by something deep down within her.

Kevin felt helpless, frightened, repulsed, he wanted to run out of the house and back into his own, back to his work, back to the normal place he had been in ten or fifteen or how many minutes ago, but he stayed because he was too embarrassed to leave, and perhaps his presence was useful in some way. He had done one thing right, he had held the girl, taken her weight, he remembered the feel of her, so light and thin, and cut the rope and laid her down. He had done that.

A helicopter was near, and then the noise of the engine and the rotating blades were right overhead and descending, to land on the green in the middle of the horseshoe of houses, lights brilliant, and seconds later, the sound of people running, running, running.

Thirty-Six

Cat leaned over and stroked the dog’s head gently but he was too deeply asleep to respond, full of anaesthetic and painkillers after a long operation.

He seemed even smaller now, his body was bone and fur with so little flesh to be felt.

‘Goodness knows what happened out there,’ the vet said, ‘and I guess we’ll never know, he’s had a tough time, been through a couple of wars, but I’m happier about him than I was.’

‘You think he’s going to pull through?’