Questions of Trust A Medical Romance - By Sam Archer Page 0,42

duty to blow the whistle.’

Chloe sat back in her chair, her cooling coffee cup forgotten in front of her. This was so unlike the Tom Carlyle she recognised, she hardly knew where to begin.

She said, ‘But why did she contact the Gazette? Why not go to the GMC?’ Chloe knew the General Medical Council was Britain’s regulatory body for the country’s medical practitioners, legally authorised to discipline transgressors and in extreme cases revoke permanently their licence to practise.

Mike turned his palms upwards. ‘Who knows? She may yet do that. But she hasn’t gone just to our paper. She’s approached the other side, too. Yesterday evening.’

Chloe closed her eyes briefly. “The other side” was the Pember Valley News, the Gazette’s main rival in town, though their markets were quite different. The tabloid would have a field day with this story.

‘Mike, this is crazy,’ she said. ‘I don’t know Tom Carlyle all that well, but I know him well enough. He’s not the sort to do something like this. He’s too professional. He’s not exploitative.’

‘I’m inclined to agree with you. But we can’t ignore the story. We have to follow up on it. It’s a genuine public-interest matter.’

Chloe watched him for a few seconds, then said: ‘Let me have it. This story. Let me do the digging.’

‘No.’

‘Mike, please.’

‘No. I’m not willing to debate it.’

‘Why?’

‘A couple of reasons.’ He ticked them off on his fingers. ‘First, I’ve given it to Simon. He’s a staff reporter. I can’t very well take it away from him all of a sudden and give to a freelancer, even one as respected and admired as you, Chloe. Second,’ he went on as she opened her mouth to protest, ‘you’ve demonstrated by what you’ve just said that you’d be too biased. There’s no such thing as completely objective journalism, as I think we all recognise. But you sound too convinced that there’s nothing in this story. An attitude like that, however justified it might turn out to be, would jeopardise the investigation. So I’m sorry, Chloe, and no disrespect intended... but no.’

‘Can I help Simon then? For free? I could do the ferreting around, the legwork. He could write the copy.’

Mike looked at her curiously. ‘Why would you want to do that?’

Because I know these allegations are baseless, Chloe wanted to say. Because I want to clear Tom Carlyle’s name. Because I… because I feel he deserves better. Instead she shrugged. ‘Just seems like the sort of story I could get my teeth into,’ she said. ‘But I realise you’re not here to provide work experience for me.’

There didn’t seem to be much more to talk about, so Chloe got up to go. Mike held the door for her.

‘Needless to say –’

Chloe said, ‘I know.’ She made a zipping motion at her mouth. He grinned and let her out.

Now, as she trudged the streets, the initial shock dissipating slowly and leaving her with a clearer head, Chloe ran through the possibilities. She wasn’t sure if Tom had learned of the allegations himself yet. She supposed he probably had, although if the woman in question had approached the papers alone then perhaps word hadn’t got out yet. If so, he was bound to find out today at the latest. The Pember Valley News in particular would be all over the story by now. The paper had something of a reputation for being proud of its precarious financial position. It was popular, and sold in high volumes, but its profits were forever being offset by the damages it was forced to pay out in successful lawsuits against it by people it had printed blatant lies about. Its policy seemed to be to rush to print first and take the consequences later. So this week’s edition, due out tomorrow, would probably already contain the allegations.

If Tom had heard the allegations already, Chloe felt a responsibility to talk to him about them. In a way, Mike’s refusal to allow her to pick up the story left her in an easier position; she could weigh in quite openly on Tom’s side and give him the support he needed without any conflict of interest coming in, without laying herself open to accusations of bias as a journalist. On the other hand, not having the backing of the Pemberham Gazette meant that her access to information was restricted. She couldn’t seek out and interview the woman who’d made the allegations, not in any official capacity as a reporter.

There was another option, Chloe knew. She could investigate