Jude’s eyes first welled in relief, then he looked at the floor, deflated, shoulders slumped. Was it possible this was not the first time this had happened?

“We think it may be a new drug called GHB,” Harry said. “She regained consciousness for a few minutes, and she said G. I think to help us.”

“What’s GHB?” Jude asked.

I’d heard of it, having read something about it in one of the US newspapers, but didn’t know much about it.

“It a new club drug, easy to make, difficult to trace. Very popular at the moment. It’s a party drug; it’s been replacing ecstasy. We’ve been seeing it up here a bit – not very regularly but a bit. It’s very dangerous, very easy to overdose. Has your daughter taken drugs before?” Harry asked gently.

Jude looked down. “She had some problems when she was younger, but that was years ago. She’s been fine for a long time.” He glanced at Sue who nodded.

This was something Lissa had chosen to omit when she had been asking my advice. What else has she not told me? I wondered.

“Okay,” Harry said. “It’s hard to know exactly what happened. But she may not have been experienced with this drug. We think she may have taken it with alcohol, not normally done, hugely dangerous. It’s also hard to gauge the dosage if you’re not used to it. The truth is, we’re not sure.”

Jude frowned, confused. “Where did she get hold of it?”

The doctor shook his head. Not one he could answer.

“So she’ll definitely be okay?” Jude asked again anxiously.

Harry nodded. “I think so. We have her on IV fluids, and we’re monitoring her vital signs. She should recover fully, but she needs rest to wait for the drugs to work their way out of her system.”

“That’s fine. We can stay here as long as she needs.”

“Okay. But,” Harry cautioned, “the psychological side of things will need to be dealt with if she’s been clean for a long time.” He gave a weak smile. “I’m afraid I neither have the time nor the resources to deal with that now. We can only deal with her physical health.”

“I understand. Thank you, doctor.” Jude pumped Harry’s hand. “We’re very, very grateful.”

The doctor nodded in acknowledgement and walked back out through the swinging door to deal with the next crisis. He looked nearly as exhausted as Molloy. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when Molloy himself walked in, looking awful. This crisis was taking a toll on all the people who had important jobs to do. What was I saying? It was taking its toll on everyone.

“What’s happened?” Molloy addressed his question to me but this time it was Jude who did the explanations.