Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,64

was taking amphetamines. How the hell had this happened without his knowing about it? There was no way he would have prescribed Emily Ritalin. Why the bloody hell would she be taking a drug used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for Christ’s sake?

Grabbing up his mobile, he logged back into his computer, pulling up her record and scrolling through it with one hand while doing something he rarely did – calling his father – with the other. ‘It’s me,’ he said, attempting to contain his emotion when Tom picked up.

‘I gathered. To what do I owe the pleasure?’ Tom asked drolly.

‘Has Emily consulted you recently?’ Jake asked, an edge to his voice despite his efforts. ‘Have you written her a prescription for anything?’

‘Such as?’ Tom sounded perplexed. Jake suspected he might have sounded rather more wary had he been treating Emily without his knowledge.

He took a breath. ‘Ritalin.’

Tom hesitated before answering, which Jake immediately read something into. His heart dropped as he realised how little he trusted his own father. ‘No, Jake, I haven’t,’ he answered eventually, categorically. ‘Patient confidentiality aside on this occasion, Emily hasn’t talked to me on a medical basis. I doubt she would discuss anything personal with me anyway, don’t you? I’m not sure she rates me that highly, understandably.’

Jake ignored that. If Tom was waiting for reassurance that Emily had a good opinion of him, he would have a long wait. ‘I need some information,’ he said, having found nothing relating to the drug in Emily’s medical history. ‘I realise you’re not in front of your PC, but I was hoping you might recall anyone else you might have prescribed it to.’

He wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but he didn’t need the sick feeling in his gut to tell him something was frighteningly amiss.

Tom thought about it. ‘Off the top of my head, only once recently, for Alison Wright’s young boy.’

It wouldn’t be her. Jake recalled Alison, someone he’d been at school with years back and who was now one of Tom’s patients. She was a bubbly, cheerful woman. Married with two kids, she worked at the bank and still smiled readily whenever she saw him. He wasn’t aware that Emily knew her, other than to say hello to when she came in to the surgery. ‘What about in the past? Any adults you might have treated for ADHD?’

‘Not that I can recall. Feel free to check my records if it helps,’ Tom offered. ‘Oh, and it might be worth checking with the pharmacy vis-à-vis prescriptions issued from here. It might shed some light on it if you’re worried, which I’m assuming you are.’

‘I might. I’m thinking there’s been some sort of mix-up, though. I’ll have a word with Emily when I get home. I’d better get back there now. It’s late. Thanks,’ he added awkwardly.

‘Any time,’ Tom assured him. ‘And the offer stands. If you need to talk … well, you know where I am.’

‘I’ll bear it in mind,’ Jake said, forgoing the facetiousness. His father really was the last man he would want to confide in. He was already regretting revealing as much as he had.

Taking a few minutes to check the dosage prescribed for Alison Wright’s son and finding no anomalies, he closed down the computer and grabbed his jacket, his mind whirling as he tried to think where else Emily might have obtained the tablets. Had she been self-prescribing, imagining they would help her insomnia and resulting tiredness? They wouldn’t. If anything, taken incorrectly, they would make her disturbed sleep patterns worse. The side effects could cause all sorts of problems: nausea, loss of appetite, hallucinations, irritability, panic, paranoia … psychosis. His heart sank further, a knot of panic taking root inside him as he realised that she had been displaying several of those symptoms, all of which he’d initially put down to anaemia.

He’d accused her of being paranoid, lashed out at her in his anger and frustration because of what was happening in their marriage and here at the surgery. That a young girl had been seriously injured because of information that had come from the practice was incomprehensible. Jake was struggling to get his head around how anyone could deliberately send such poison out, knowing the devastation it would wreak, let alone why they would do so. He hadn’t considered the impact his wild speculation would have on Emily, who he knew was dedicated to the welfare of their patients. Her behaviour had