yer grandmother then, lovey? I’ll mek me way straight round there now.’
Aidy heard someone clear their throat beside her and automatically turned her head. Her employer! Sheer panic filled her. She could tell by the look on his face that he had been privy to her conversation with the woman.
Ty said to the patient, ‘Would you excuse my receptionist for a moment? I need to speak to her in private.’ To Aidy he ordered, ‘Come through to the surgery.’
He was holding the door open for her, and as she passed through shut it firmly behind her. Before she had a chance to turn and look at him he was saying in an accusing tone, ‘You lied to me when I asked you if you knew who the locals referred to as the old woman. You said you didn’t have a clue who she was. When all the time you knew damned well who she was and where she lived … she’s your grandmother. And now I find that you’re actually poaching my patients so they will buy her useless potions off her.’
Aidy erupted, ‘If you would just let me …’
He held up a warning hand. ‘I don’t want to hear any excuses for your behaviour. Nothing could excuse it. I’m just wondering, over the months you’ve worked for me, how many patients you have stolen from me in this way? Not to mention putting their health at risk, sending them to a fraudster making false claims for her filthy mixtures.’
Beads of perspiration were forming on Ty’s brow from the fever that was building inside him. His headache was so bad it hit him like a gong. Discovering his receptionist had been acting behind his back for her own benefit had wounded him deeply. He might have been curt in his manner towards her, but otherwise felt he had been a very fair employer. She had taken advantage of that to double cross him. To think he had actually started to look upon her as … Thank goodness he had had the sense to put a stop to that before it had gone any further.
In no uncertain terms, he told her now, ‘Your employment at this surgery is terminated with immediate effect. Please collect your belongings and leave. What pay you are due can be collected on your behalf on Friday, along with your cards. I’d prefer you didn’t come here again, unless of course you have need of my medical services. Leave your door key in the top drawer of the desk.’
She had to make him listen to her, hear her explain that she had not been defrauding him but helping him by what she had been doing. Aidy implored him, ‘But, please, will you just …’
His look was enough to stop her cold.
At just before four o’clock that afternoon, Ruth was humming happily as she let herself into the kitchen, stamped her booted feet to rid them of rainwater and took off her coat which she hung on the back of the door. Picking up her handbag, she made her way into the back room and stopped short, a worried expression clouding her face to see Aidy and Bertha sitting at the table. Bertha seemed deeply troubled. Aidy was cradling her head in despair.
‘Is it one of the children?’ Ruth exclaimed.
Bertha looked shocked for a moment, so consumed by worry she hadn’t heard Ruth come in. ‘Oh, hello, love. No, the kids are fine. We sent them all out to play soon as they got home from school. We didn’t want them getting wind of this and worrying their little heads over it.’
Ruth was getting extremely worried herself now. She stepped over to the table and pulled a chair out. ‘If it’s none of my business, please tell me to go away but has someone died or …’
Bertha shook her head. ‘Aidy’s been sacked.’
Ruth was stunned. ‘Sacked? The doctor’s sacked her! What good reason would he have to do that?’
Aidy’s head jerked up. ‘He thinks I’ve betrayed him. If only he had let me explain, I’m sure he’d have seen I wasn’t doing any such thing but actually trying to help him. And yes, okay, Gran too with the extra money she earned from what I did …’
‘Just what did you do, Aidy?’ Ruth asked her, bemused.
‘Well, as you know, Doc’s always really busy. He can hardly handle the number of patients he gets through his door and has to visit in their homes. Most days he never ever