Questions of Trust A Medical Romance - By Sam Archer Page 0,41

traffic on the way to the nursery, he found his thoughts returning again and again to the encounter.

…You behaved in an inappropriate manner with one of your female patients…

The idea hit him as he was turning into the street where the nursery was located, and it caused him almost to run into the back of a car that was stopped round the corner.

Was it Chloe? Did she make a complaint, after what… happened that evening between us?

It was an absurd notion. They’d been outside the work situation and she wasn’t his patient, she was Ben Okoro’s. Plus, he couldn’t imagine Chloe doing such a thing. It was true that they hadn’t spoken since the encounter nearly a week earlier, but he hadn’t sensed that was because of a brooding animosity towards him on her part. Rather, he assumed she felt as awkward about it as Tom himself did, and was leaving a period of time for them both to cool off before they sought contact again and broached the subject.

But still… Tom couldn’t, for the life of him and in all honesty, imagine who could have brought such an allegation otherwise. As a doctor he was well aware of the dangers of inappropriate conduct towards patients, given the imbalance of power between a suffering individual and the professional he or she had placed their trust in to help and heal them. As a single man in his early thirties, he was even more acutely aware of the potential pitfalls that could arise in his dealings with women patients. It was why he never, ever consulted a female patient without a chaperone present, whether the practice nurse or one of the receptionists or even one of the patient’s own family members. Tom could, with his hand on his heart, assert that his behaviour had been professional at all times.

Misperceptions could, and did, occur, of course. A handshake that was thought to linger too long, a friendly remark that was interpreted out of context... the potential for misinterpretation in human communication was inexhaustible. So it was possible that somebody had misconstrued his behaviour and found it offensive. Fair enough; he was quite prepared to discuss this, and to apologise unreservedly if necessary for any offence cause. But surely this wasn’t the way to go about addressing the grievance - to approach the press, first, before raising the matter with Tom himself, or even with the practice manager?

His mind swarming with possibilities, speculations, all tumbling about in a swamp of confusion, Tom dropped Kelly off at the nursery and headed for work, wondering what the next chapter in this bizarre new story was going to reveal.

***

After her meeting with Mike Sellers, Chloe went for a walk through the historic town centre, wandering among its medieval churches and authentic Tudor houses and yet seeing nothing.

She felt dazed, listless. What she’d heard in Mike’s office had left her almost concussed, as if she’d had a physical blow to the head that had shaken her mind loose from one or two of its moorings.

She’d arrived at the Pemberham Gazette’s offices on time, Jake deposited with a fellow mum this time instead of Mrs McFarland, and Mike had ushered into his pivate room and, coffee poured, had got straight to the point.

‘You know Tom Carlyle, I assume.’

‘Yes, he’s my son’s GP. Saved his life once, as a matter of fact.’

Mike nodded, as if it was the kind of story he’d heard many a time about Dr Carlyle. ‘There’s been an allegation against him. One of sexual harrassment.’

Chloe didn’t believe it. ‘By whom?’

‘A woman phoned the Gazette on Friday afternoon. I sat on the story for the rest of the day before mentioning it to Simon that evening in an email, and I suggested he pick it up on Monday. I didn’t count on him inadvertently copying his reply to everybody on the paper’s email list.’

‘What did this woman say? The caller? And who was she?’

‘Some lady in her thirties. She claims she was a patient of Dr Carlyle’s, and that he made advances to her during a house call he made a couple of weeks ago. She’d phoned asking for a doctor because she was too ill to attend the surgery, he went round, allegedly made sexually suggestive remarks to her, then groped her. She says she was too shocked and embarrassed to do anything about it immediately, but as time’s gone on she’s realised other women might be vulnerable too and she feels she has a