‘Three weeks.’
‘Well, I didn’t notice him overdoing it in all that time.’
‘Yes, I know. But I’m talking about nearly two years ago, when it happened. However…’ He came back to the fireplace.
She said: ‘What did they say on the television?’
‘Nothing very much. But the P.M. will be speaking in half an hour. Of course, in a way I think they’re making far too much of this. You have to eat a heck of a lot of strontium before anything much happens. And when I think of the radiation I’ve been exposed to in my time… well, I can’t see that a few days’ diet of nice, tasty isotopes is going to make any difference to anyone.’
‘Not everyone has your constitution! I knew what I was doing when I married you — you’re quite the strongest man I ever met!’
He raised his eyebrows and studied her over the top of his glass. ‘Just what does that mean?’
She was forestalled in her answer by the front-door bell. Ed looked at his watch. ‘I’m going to give him exactly ten minutes,’ he said sternly, ‘then I’m sending you up to bed. I’ll be in the work-room, if you want me.’
‘Nice of you to see me, June,’ said George, when he had settled into a chair. ‘Tonight’s the night, isn’t it?’
‘So was last night!’
He smiled faintly. ‘Well, I wouldn’t have bothered you, believe me, if I wasn’t pretty desperate. The fact is you’re the only person I feel I can talk to, about this. I need your advice.’ He rattled the ice cubes in his glass and sipped some of the Scotch.
‘Are you quite sure,’ she said gently, ‘that it’s something I can really help you with?’
‘Oh yes,’ he said. ‘You are the only person in the world I feel I can tell. You see, you will be able to tell me what to do.’ She waited for him to go on. ‘When I first started practising over here,’ he began, lighting a cigarette nervously, ‘you were kind enough to introduce me to a good many people. Among them were three members of the Atomic Development Commission. And I was particularly grateful; because being influential people they helped me extend my practice quite rapidly.’
‘Ed and I were glad to help — you know that. Besides, you’re a darn good dentist.’
He smiled. ‘Thank you.’ June found herself wondering what was coming. Had he made some ghastly mistake or something? ‘When I read the papers today,’ he continued, ‘I realised that I was faced with a major ethical problem. You see, back in 1957, one of these three people had a tooth out, for which, at his request, I gave him gas — he didn’t want a local. And, as a lot of people do, he talked under the anaesthetic.’
‘I think I’m beginning to see your problem, George.’
‘It is quite a problem, isn’t it? You see, one of the first principles of medical ethics is that you never tell — it’s sacrosanct. But this is rather different. Human lives may be lost if I do not pass on what I know.’
‘Are you going to tell me what was said?’
‘Yes. That’s why I’m here. You see, I trust you so much — and I trust Ed’s respect for your confidence so much — that I know you won’t even tell him if I don’t want you to.’
‘Was there a doctor present at the extraction?’
‘Yes. But he’s dead,’ he said shortly.
‘So you’re the only person who knows?’ She thought a bit. ‘You realise, don’t you, that if what you heard is important, you are asking me to take on a very big responsibility? Are you sure it’s fair?’
‘June, what would you do if you were in my shoes? Wouldn’t you ask the advice of the person you felt closest to?’
It was a pathetic moment. She knew she couldn’t turn him down now. ‘Yes. Of course I would. All right; what was it?’
‘I can remember the words exactly. It was not the sort of thing you easily forget. He said: “The second one, yes. But, oh God, from which end?” Then he gave a sort of groan, as if he were in pain, and added: “Faulty. Not my fault. Design was faulty. ” ’
‘Those were the exact words?’
‘Absolutely certain.’
‘And what did you make of it?’
‘At the time — nothing. But after hearing what’s been going on, I’m beginning to wonder.’
‘You mean, because of who it was?’
‘Yes. And when it happened.’
She paused for a few moments, then appeared to come to a decision. ‘Look, George. Why don’t you speak to Ed? This is all rather beyond me, you know. And you can trust him.’
‘I know I can, June. But Ed thinks I’m a bit screwy! He doesn’t take me very seriously.’
She smiled directly at him, and he knew exactly what the smile meant. ‘This is different,’ she said.
‘Okay, I’ll talk to him.’
And he just about had time to do so before June said ‘Darling!’ with a funny look at Ed, and there was a hasty search for the car keys that had been put in a special place for just this emergency.
And on Ed’s instructions Poor George put through a brief telephone call to the hospital. By the time he had hung up, the car had roared into life and crunched over the gravel and into the main highway.
Then George put through the other call that Ed had suggested.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Harry, chief projectionist of one of the larger cinemas in the West End, checked that the film in the second projector was correctly laced and slammed the spool covers shut. He turned the knob of the arclight control until it was properly centred, and then peered through the little visor window of the projection-box to the big screen below.
Jim, his assistant, was also watching the action, watching for limping man walking along hospital corridor with arm in sling. This would be the first warning in anticipation of the changeover. And there it was now…
‘Stand by!’
Harry nodded, his hand now on the motor switch.
At the back of the projection-room a phone rang. ‘Leave it!’ said Harry. ‘Isn’t it marvellous? Always ring us up just as we’re doing a changeover!’
‘Never fails,’ agreed Jim. Then: ‘Motor!’ The cue mark had come up on the screen. Harry pressed the switch, and the smooth whirring of the changeover machine matched the one that was already running. The other cue flashed momentarily on the picture. ‘Over!’
Harry pressed the foot-pedal and at the same time flicked over the fader knob hard against the left-hand stop. ‘Sneak that sound up a bit, Jim.’ The assistant nodded: the sound-head on this machine had been down just that fraction all day. In the morning it would have to be matched up again. Jim let the end of the reel run through the ‘dead’ machine and stopped the motor. A slight adjustment to the amplifier, and that was that.
Harry took one more look at the screen to check the focus. ‘Now let’s see what they want downstairs.’
He was forestalled, however, because the manager came in on the double, panting after having run up the stairs.
‘Sorry, Chief,’ he said, ‘as usual, I expect you were on a changeover. Well, actually I’ve got to stop the show and make an announcement. Wait five minutes till I get down to the stage and then cut your motor.’
‘What about the running time, sir?’
‘We’ll have to run late — if we have any customers left by the time I’ve finished saying what I’ve got to say!’ He looked rather grim, but didn’t wait to answer any questions. Jim waited for him to leave the box and remarked: ‘I can’t smell anything burning.’