I’m there on Anne’s plastic-wrapped couch beside Scotty who looks ridiculous with his saucer and tea rested on his thighs, when my phone vibrates again. I pull it out to find another message from Daniel.

Yeah, I think I can do that. When would you need it by? It might be easier for me to drop it off to you. Are you out at work or are you off today? It gives me pause. ‘Out’ is a curious word to use. I told him I worked at Middlemore hospital, so why would I be out. Does he mean out as in ‘unavailable’? Is this yet another coincidence like the Rotorua connection, or something else? He never told me how he got my number.

Something feels off but I can’t fixate on it. I’ve got work to do.

Yes I’m working and I’ve got long shifts until I go. It will probably be too difficult to meet up and I’m really not in the mood for company, sorry. Let’s catch up when I get back. xx.

Scotty quickly uses the bathroom, then we head back to the ambulance. It’s late in the afternoon when we leave but another job comes through. A family barbecue. The father’s birthday. Suspected stroke, paralysis on his left side. I sound the siren, racing through traffic. It’s just starting to rain and on the windscreen specks of water appear, grow tails, slide up.

The family is at the bowls club, the flat manicured greens are empty as the rain comes down but I can see masses of people inside. Scotty climbs out, rushes to the entrance as I park the ambulance. I run towards Scotty who is kneeling down beside the man. A woman, I assume the wife, is sobbing while another man holds her. Children are nearby, little brown-headed things with thunderclouds passing over their faces.

‘Thank God you’re here,’ says a burly man with muttonchop sideburns coming forward through the crowd. ‘He just collapsed; he was on his way inside to get a beer.’

The patient can’t be any older than fifty. Scotty is focusing intently on his stethoscope as he unwinds it to check the man’s vitals, while I chat with the burly man. Come on, Scotty, hurry up.

‘How long did you wait before calling us?’

‘Someone called straight away,’ he says, without pausing. ‘The moment he collapsed we knew something was wrong.’

‘Did he do anything before he collapsed? Did he hit his head or stumble?’

His eyes find the ceiling as he thinks. ‘Shit, what did he do? He sort of reached up like this.’ His hand comes to his sternum.