‘If you hold, please,’ the pleasant voice continued, ‘I’ll see if he’s free to speak to you.’

Jodie listened to the silence, the phone pressed to her ear. ‘Hi Jodie,’ a deep voice said. ‘My name is Taylor Bennet. I’ll be handling everything to do with the NMC investigation. I’m sorry I wasn’t free to go with you yesterday. Now, tell me everything you remember, everything that happened and was said.’

It didn’t take long. ‘That’s it,’ she said finally, slumping a little in her seat.

‘And you have no idea how that medication appeared on the bedside table of that resident?’

‘Absolutely none.’ Her voice was firm. It was the one thing in this mess that she was one hundred per cent clear on.

‘Okay. They’re not saying that any medication was given in error, and any theories they have seem a tad far-fetched. If you were going to do something dishonest and unprofessional would you have been stupid enough to have left the container of tablets lying around?’

‘Exactly!’ The same thought had been going round and round Jodie’s head since the previous day. ‘Someone had to have put them there but, before you ask, I’ve no idea who’d have done such a terrible thing.’

‘Let’s not worry about that. Our aim is to clear you, not to find out who was responsible.’ There was a crackle of paper before Taylor spoke again. ‘You can choose to receive the NMC reports yourself and forward them to me or you can nominate me to receive them directly.’

‘Oh yes, please, I’ll nominate you,’ Jodie hurried to say. The less she had to do with the NMC the better she liked it.

‘Okay, I’ll send the relevant document for you to sign. Now, do you have any questions?’

‘What about getting another job? Is that allowed?’

‘Absolutely. You do, as you probably know, need to inform any prospective employer that you’re under investigation. Tell them as much as you feel you need to.’

The thought of having to tell an employer that she was under NMC investigation was galling. ‘I have savings, I might not bother–’

‘If you want to continue nursing,’ Taylor interrupted her, ‘if you want to put the best case forward, it is in your interest to get another job asap. You’ll then be able to get positive feedback so that we can prove you’re a good, reliable, efficient nurse and a credit to the profession.’

She had to prove she was what she was. Once again, Jodie felt a bitter twinge at the unfairness of it all. ‘Okay then, I’ll get another job.’

‘Good. Right, we’ll keep you informed of our progress. But I will warn you, these things take months so try to get on with your life and don’t worry, that’s what we’re here for.’