An Affair of the Heart (8 page)

‘It was also
revealed today that Diana Williams (above), the 22 year old
supermodel daughter of Alex Williams from his first marriage, is
returning tomorrow to console her grieving father.’

Rachel’s
eyebrows raised as she looked again at the picture of the scantily
dressed young woman. They could have found a more suitable picture,
she thought. The story finished with a note to see page two, so
Rachel quickly turned to the second page. There was another
headline, but no pictures this time.

‘Who Goes First
Argument in Heart Op Case,’ it read. ‘Both Sir Richard Hargreaves
QC and Mr Brian Morgan QC were at an astonishing hearing in court
today. At stake was who goes first in their separate cases against
the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Sir Richard pointed out that his
client should be first, as it was from his wife that the heart was
alleged to have been wrongfully removed. Mr Morgan countered that
by pointing out that the outcome of the case had much more far
reaching effects for his client, who may have to face a further
transplant operation. Further arguments were presented on both
sides, but the judge finally decided in favour of Mr Morgan,
agreeing that his client was at greater risk, and so should take
precedence, adding that Sir Richard would have his day later, when
his client’s second case, the one against Miss Rachel Carter, the
recipient of the heart, also came to court.’

A note at the
bottom of the story this time said to see the centre pages, so
Rachel quickly flicked through the paper to them. The first thing
she saw was a picture of herself. It was an old one, taken when she
was at Manchester University. She couldn’t remember who took it or
when. “I look awful!” she said to herself. There was a little
biography underneath. What little it said about her wasn’t very far
out from the truth. There was also a picture of her mother taken
outside the hospital. She didn’t look happy. There were other
pictures too. It was like a portrait gallery of all the people
involved in the case. Each one with a short biography underneath.
There was Alex Williams again, and that same picture of his wife.
Dr Jones was there too, and Sir Richard Hargreaves and Brian
Morgan. There was also a picture of a striking looking red haired
woman. ‘Helen Worthington,’ it said underneath.

She looked at
each picture and read each little biography underneath, taking each
of them in turn until she reached...

Her heart
jumped. Rachel definitely felt it jump in her chest, and suddenly
it was beating faster than before. She looked at the picture of the
man with the boyish grin that had caused the reaction. He had dark
hair and eyes. He was quite handsome.

‘Robert
McCord,’ it said underneath. ‘Born in Chicago, USA in 1960. Grew up
in the gangland areas of the city. Qualified as a lawyer in 1989,
and became well known for his defence of Greg Conners in the 1992
Chicago banking fraud. Came to the UK in 1995. Worked briefly for
Alex Williams in 1996 when it is rumoured that they became bitter
enemies, which maybe one of the reasons why he is accepting no fee
from his clients, Gina and Rachel Carter. Currently has an office
on Brazennose Street in Manchester overlooking the statue of
President Lincoln. “To stop me getting homesick,” he says.’

Rachel read the
little biography a second time before looking at his picture again.
She put her hand on her chest, feeling the heart beating just that
little bit faster. Then she looked at the picture of Sarah
Williams. ‘Worked briefly for Alex Williams,’ the biography had
said. ‘When they became bitter enemies...’

Suddenly she
knew. She couldn’t explain why, or how. She just knew.

Dr Jones and
Nurse Kaye were discussing whether or not Rachel was ready for
physiotherapy when the telephone call came.

“I think you’re
right,” Dr Jones said as he walked with Julia Kaye back towards the
nurse’s station, where another nurse was already waving the phone
at him. “She is ready for physio. But I’m worried about how we’re
going to continue keeping all this from her once she gets mobile
and starts to see more people. And there’s the press trying to
sneak into the hospital every five minutes.”

“I think she
knows,” Nurse Kaye said.

Dr Jones took
the phone from the outstretched hand of the nurse behind the
counter. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes. I don’t
know how, but I have my suspicions.”

Dr Jones paused
with the phone in his hand. “Well, I am surprised,” he said. “She’s
taking it all very well if she does know.” He thought for a moment
before making his mind up. “Physio will give her something else to
think about. We’ll start her tomorrow morning. Let me know when
Gina gets in. Thanks Julia.”

Dr Jones
pressed the phone to his ear as Nurse Kaye walked away. “Hello, Dr
Jones here,” he said on the phone. In reply he was greeted by loud
whistling and crackling noises and a very faint voice. “Who’s
that?” he said putting his finger in his other ear. “Speak up, man!
I can hardly hear you!”

“Is that you
Philip?” the faint, crackly voice said. “It’s David.”

“David?” Dr
Jones repeated under his breath. Then it dawned on him, and he
grabbed the phone with both hands. “David! Where are you man?
Where’ve you been? Everyone’s been looking for you!”

“So I hear,” Dr
David Askwith replied. “An American reporter told me this morning.
We met by chance, I had no idea what was going on.”

The line was
terrible; Dr Jones could hardly hear his colleague’s voice. “You’ve
got to come back!” he said loudly. “Do you hear me? You’ve got to
come back now!”

“It’s not that
easy, Phil! I’m a bit stuck here. Would you believe it, I was just
passing through Albania when all the shooting started! Mind you,
it’s my own fault! People said that it was brewing. Now I don’t
think I’ll be able to get out, at least not until the shooting
stops and it’s a bit safer! They need a few extra doctors here,
anyway. People seem to get shot every five minutes. Look, Phil,
I’ve had to borrow this phone off a reporter, and I’ll have to give
it him back soon, so you’d better tell me what all the fuss is
about.”

Dr Jones was
desperate. He didn’t know what to say first. “Do you remember that
heart you found for me?”

“Yes. Was it
okay?”

“Did you get
authorisation to take the heart from the donor?”

“Of course I
did! What do you think I am? A body snatcher?”

“How? How did
you get it?”

“She had a
donor card.”

“No, David!
That was the other woman! Sorenson! It was Williams the heart came
from! Sarah Williams! Not Sorenson! Do you remember?”

“Yes, I told
you! She had a donor card! Phil, this reporter wants his phone
back, so we’ll have to be quick. I still don’t see what all the
fuss is about.”

“Only Sorenson
had a donor card!” Dr Jones almost yelled. “It was in her handbag!
Williams didn’t have a handbag! She didn’t have anything!”

“No, that’s
right, it was in her back pocket. Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll call
you again when I’m out of here. Bye!”

“Dr Askwith!
David!” Dr Jones shouted down the phone, but the line had already
gone dead.

“But is it a
set back?” Alex demanded. He was pacing back and forth in Helen
Worthington’s office.

“Not really,”
Helen replied, watching him walking up and down. He was beginning
to irritate her. “It just means that we won’t be in the driving
seat, that’s all.” She was sitting in her big leather chair as
usual.

“You’re a fool
if you believe that!” Alex snapped. He wasn’t in a very good mood
at the best of times, but today his mood seemed to be worse than
ever. “McCord doesn’t want to win his case against the MRI! He
wants to lose! We needed to be first! How did you let this happen,
Hargreaves?”

Sir Richard
looked up. He was a rather over weight man in his late fifties,
with grey hair and a beard. He was sitting back and relaxing in one
of the comfy chairs in Helen’s office.

“I didn’t let
this happen,” he said slowly in a very upper class accent. “Both
Helen and I advised you that it was more than likely that the judge
would find in their favour. The life of the Carter girl could be at
risk if the MRI is truly at fault, so the judge was bound to–”

“Of course
they’re at fault!” Alex interrupted, impatiently. “But now that
McCord’s in charge, he’s going to give them every opportunity to
wriggle out of it!”

“He can’t avoid
the truth,” Helen said quickly. “Sooner, or later, the question of
authorisation to remove the heart has to come up. They either had
permission, or they didn’t, it’s as simple as that.”

“But what if he
does avoid it? What if he strings the case out for as long as
possible? What then?”

“Then we play
our trump card, and get rid of him,” Helen replied sternly. Alex
stopped pacing up and down and turned to glare at Helen. She
already knew his feelings on that matter, but if they needed to get
rid of McCord, then regardless of the fact that Alex might want to
hide his wife’s affair, she would use it. She stared back at Alex,
unmoved.

“If you want to
talk about being foolish,” Sir Richard said to Alex in the strained
silence. “Maybe we should discuss the impending arrival of your
daughter.”

“Hah!” Alex
scoffed and resumed pacing about the office. “Not that again!”

“Yes! That
again!” Helen said with some venom. This was the real reason for
his more than usual bad temper today. Not the result of yesterday’s
hearing, but their questioning his decision to ask his daughter to
return from her home in Italy. And why could the man never sit
still? Why did he have to pace about all the time? It was driving
her crazy. “Sir Richard is quite right,” Helen continued. “I don’t
think asking her back here was a good idea at all, Alex. Diana
would have been far safer out of the way in Italy. The press are
going to have a field day!”

“Then keep them
away from her!”

“That’s going
to be practically impossible now that everybody knows that she’s
arriving today! Whatever possessed you to ask her to come
here?”

“She’s my
daughter!” Alex insisted. “I want her here, with me!”

“But she knew
Sarah, the opposition is bound to call her as a witness!”

“A witness to
what?” Alex snapped. “She wasn’t there! What could she tell
them?”

“They’ll call
her as a witness to Sarah’s character,” Sir Richard Hargreaves
replied. Alex ignored him, continuing to pace up and down, so Sir
Richard continued. “They’ll want to try and prove that your wife
was content to have her organs used after her death. It’s the sort
of thing that she might have confided in her friend, your daughter.
They did know each other for quite some time, after all.”

“It doesn’t
matter what she thought, or what she told Diana!” Alex said
angrily, his voice raised. “What counts is what the MRI did that
night! They didn’t have my permission to do what they did, but they
just went ahead and did it anyway! My God! Not only didn’t they ask
me! But I don’t think they even wanted to tell me what they’d done,
until that policewoman made them!”

“Alex! Stop
walking about and sit down!” Helen suddenly shouted.

Alex stopped
dead in his tracks and turned to glare at her. “What’s the matter,
Helen? Pressure getting to you?” he said rather coldly.

Helen glared
back at him. “No,” she ground out between clenched teeth. “You’re
wearing out the carpet.”

Alex came
forward and put his hands on her desk, leaning right over it, and
staring straight into Helen’s eyes. “I’m paying you a lot of money
to win this case,” he said in the same cold tones. “And so far the
results I’ve seen haven’t filled me with much confidence. Remember,
Helen, that there are plenty of other firms out there who are just
as capable of fighting this case for me. So be careful, because
rather than being famous for winning this case, you could be just
as famous for being sacked halfway through it.”

Sir Richard
raised his eyebrows and stared at them both. “Getting a little
heated, aren’t we?” he said.

Alex
straightened up and walked towards the door. “The presence of my
daughter will have no bearing on the case.” he said as he opened
the door. “I want her picked up at the airport. Arrange it. And
keep those damn reporters away from her!” Then he left.

Helen was left
alone with Sir Richard. There was an uneasy silence. Sir Richard
took a deep breath and said, “You do know that our client is quite
likely to pull the plug on this little affair of ours at any
moment.”

“He won’t give
it up,” Helen replied, still annoyed with herself for allowing Alex
to rattle her. “He’s got far too many scores to settle with this
case.”

“I wouldn’t be
too sure. It’s obvious that his wife’s death has affected him very
badly, and he’s far from rational at the moment. All it would need
is for a glimmer of common sense to break through that thick layer
of anger and frustration he’s surrounded himself with, and we could
both be out of a job. The presence of his daughter right now could
be more damaging to our cause than you think. She could supply that
common sense, and she’s the one person right now who he’s likely to
listen to.”

Helen thought
for a moment. She was growing calmer again. She looked at the notes
on her desk. One of them contained the flight details and arrival
time for Diana Williams. She made her mind up quickly.

“Then we’ll
just have to make sure that that doesn’t happen, won’t we?”