Bonnie Sveen Fan, true, but Cal isn't always known for being wise! It looks like Connie hasn't reacted too badly, but perhaps she's holding back because she wants Cal to find out the thief is before she fires him! Thank you for your review.

westlife4ever80, that's something I love about Connie - she's usually so strict, but just when you're not expecting it, she'll do something really caring! She has really come to respect and perhaps even love (non-romantically) Charlie, so I see this as being mainly for him. Thank you for your review.

Panicatcasualty123, thank you for your review. They have got quite a long mission ahead of them, cutting five suspects down to one and possibly speaking to Rita, but I'm going to try to do this fairly quickly and make this between 25 and 30 chapters. I'm glad you liked Ethan's very bad attempt at looking unconscious.

X-Sammii-X, thank you for your review. I think there's very little Connie doesn't already know! I will be very sad if anything happens to her. She's a great character and I love her. When I'm watching, I think I probably laugh more at Cal when he's trying to be serious than when he isn't! Poor Ethan. I've been so cruel to him in this story.

"Poor Rita," said Ethan with feeling. "I can't believe she'd really do that."

Cal nodded sadly. "Well, it was either that or Connie being a tramadol thief."

"What do you think would make Rita do something like this?" said Ethan, his brown eyes worried. "I mean, the situation with Grace and her ex-husband must have been deeply distressing and her ex-husband was admitted again a few weeks ago…"

"It's not surprising if that's upset her, but I think there's more going on," said Cal, lowering his voice. "I've got a feeling Iain isn't treating her very well. Maybe it's messing with her head a bit."

Ethan raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that a bit rich coming from you?"

"You could say my experience of treating women badly puts me in a good position to recognise it in others."

"I suppose so," said Ethan. "But it's-" He broke off as they saw Rita coming towards them.

She stopped. "Ethan, are you okay?"

Ethan looked startled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're walking funny," said Rita. "You look like you've had an injury somewhere very personal."

Ethan blushed. "I don't know why you'd think that, Rita. But thank you very much for your concern."

Cal grabbed the opportunity to rescue his brother and question the suspect. He put on a concerned voice. "Rita, are you okay? You look like you're in pain too. I thought that earlier too when you were fetching whatever-it-was for Mrs Beauchamp."

"I wasn't fetching anything," said Rita. "I just went to ask her if she'd seen something I'd lost. She wasn't there, but as she'd left the door open, so I didn't think she'd be long. I waited a while, but then I really needed to get back to work."

Cal had to admit this wasn't unconvincing. If he'd happened to find Connie's door open, he might have done the same thing. "What is it you've lost?"

"My painkillers," said Rita. "I just put them down for a minute when I was seeing to someone in Resus and when I turned around, they'd gone."

"What kind of painkillers were they?" asked Ethan.

"Tramadol," said Rita. "They were in a box with my name on. Lily prescribed them for me."

Cal looked at her with interest. So, she was admitting to it then. That fitted with Connie's idea that Rita was setting her up. If Rita really had lost something, it would be natural to ask people if they'd seen it.

"I think someone's out to get me," said Rita, lowering her voice. "Maybe the same person who's out to get Charlie. It's not just my painkillers that have gone missing. My file's gone too."

"Ah, yes," said Ethan guiltily. "Actually, um, I took your file. I treated somebody called Freeman and I must have grabbed the wrong file by accident. I mean, I did grab the wrong file. I'm sorry."

Cal gave an inward sigh. Ethan was such a bad liar.

"But you've put it back now?" said Rita.

"I don't know if I've actually put it back quite yet," said Ethan, looking everywhere but at Rita.

Rita stared at him. "Why not? Why didn't you put it back when you got the right one?" She looked at him in sudden suspicion. "Have you been checking all our files to see if we're on tramadol? Have you got them in that cupboard of yours?"

Cal really did sigh this time. Rita always had been intuitive. Now she was positively psychic.

"Are you accusing me?" Rita looked upset. "Just because I'm on tramadol, that doesn't make me the thief."

"Of course not," said Ethan. "I'm so sorry if I implied that. I know you're not the tramadol thief because this is the first time you've been prescribed tramadol. So you can't be an addict."

Rita's eyes filled with tears. "Who do you think is doing this to me, Ethan? Persecuting me? Taking my things?" A look of horror came to her face. "Do you think it's Mark? Do you think he's here in the hospital? Following me about?"

"I really think that's very unlikely," said Ethan soothingly. "Someone would have noticed him if he was. I think it's much more likely someone saw your tramadol and decided it wasn't safe for it to be lying around. They're probably keeping it safe for you. In fact, I have an idea of who it might be."

Cal stared at Ethan. What was he on about now?

"Who?" said Rita, her eyes round.

"Mrs Beauchamp," said Ethan. "We saw us just now and she mentioned she was looking for you. She'd like to see you in her office."

"Did she?" said Rita tensely. "What about?"

"Do you really think she'd tell us?" said Cal, quite proud of himself for not lying.

Rita definitely looked nervous now. "I've got patients to see."

"Well, when you've got a spare minute," said Cal.

Ethan nodded. "Though as you've had medication stolen, it's probably worth informing Mrs Beauchamp. It could be one of the doctors who's the thief."

They all turned as someone called Rita's name. "I've got your… your test results," said Elle.

"Oh, right, thanks," said Rita. She gave Cal and Ethan a nervous glance. "I'd better go. See you later. Thanks for being supportive."

Cal looked at Elle curiously. Test results? And obviously not just any test results, judging by the way Elle had emphasised the words.

Elle took Rita's arm and they walked around the corner.

Ethan pressed his finger to his lips and tiptoed after them. This was painful enough to make him gasp, but he managed to stay reasonably quiet. Cal followed, wondering what Ethan was thinking. Could these be the results of a test that proved long-term tramadol use?

"It was negative," said Elle.

"Oh, thank God," said Rita with deep feeling.

"So there's one less thing to worry about," said Elle. "And it's not in your records, so no-one will have to know."

Rita's voice was full of gratitude. "Thanks for doing that, Elle."

"I was glad to help – and even more glad you've got the result you wanted," said Elle.

"Yeah, I really don't think I could have coped with a baby," said Rita. "I do think Iain would be a great dad, but sometimes I think he's not that into me."

Elle spoke reassuringly. "Well, at least you've got the baby worry out of the way. Sometimes couples do go through bad patches. If it's meant to be, you'll come out stronger on the other side."

"Yeah, you're right," said Rita. "Thanks, Elle. Really."

"Rita thought she was pregnant!" said Ethan, once they were safely in the naughty cupboard. "She was sure enough to ask for a test from Elle – either that or Elle caught her with the equipment and offered to help. But the very same day, Rita asked Lily for tramadol."

"So?" said Cal.

"Tramadol is not recommended in pregnancy," said Ethan. "Lily and Rita would both know that. Lily would have asked if Rita might be pregnant before she gave her the prescription and if Rita had admitted there was a chance, Lily would have given her codeine instead. But she didn't."

"Maybe she wanted to have the pregnancy test as a precaution, just to check before she started taking them?" said Cal.

"But why not wait till the test came through before asking for the prescription?" said Ethan. "It wouldn't take long and it would be a bit of a waste if she got a full box of tablets and then had to throw them away – you can't return unused medication."

Cal frowned, certain there was something wrong with that. Then it hit him. He looked at Ethan triumphantly. "But the medication wasn't unused. There were two tablets missing. And there is a circumstance when a pregnant woman might take tramadol – if she was addicted to it!"

"Rita isn't addicted to tramadol," said Ethan with certainty.

Cal was injured. "How can you know that?"

"Because if Rita had a tramadol addiction, she wouldn't have let those tablets out of her sight," said Ethan.

Cal was still smarting slightly about being proved wrong about Rita, but he was mostly annoyed with himself for not realising.

Of course Rita wasn't a tramadol addict. While he thought it was just about possible the medication might be left somewhere – for example if she'd been surprised in the act of taking a tablet and shoved it into a convenient hiding place – she would hardly have tried taking it in the clinical lead's office.

The fact it meant Rita had taken advantage of the panic over tramadol to ask for some medication she didn't need was still more worrying. It meant Connie was almost certainly right about Rita setting her up and the thought distressed Ethan more than ever.

"She's obviously not well," he said almost tearfully. "She's been through so much. It's not surprising if she isn't thinking straight. I know I wasn't thinking straight after that black alert. I actually thought running away would help!"

"Yeah: what kind of idiot thinks running away will solve anything?" said Cal teasingly.

Ethan managed a smile, but then he was serious again. "We've got to help her, Cal. And the tramadol addict too. They've done bad things, but they're not bad people. They need support, not punishment. That's why Charlie is protecting the person who did this."

"And we'll try to make sure they get support," said Cal. "But for now, we need to get on with finding out who the tramadol thief is. And as Lily prescribed Rita the tramadol, she seems a good place to start." He looked at Ethan. "Those two missing tramadol. Do you think Lily might have stolen them for herself before giving the box to Rita?"

Ethan shook his head. "I don't think so. If you take two tablets from a blister pack, it's obvious they've been stolen. It would make much more sense to take a whole blister pack. Then it looks like someone made an error in the factory and put in the wrong number. It also means Lily gets a lot more tablets that way."

"So where did they go?" said Cal. "Rita wouldn't have taken them. Not before she got the result of the pregnancy test."

Ethan shrugged. "She probably just threw them away."

"To make it look like Connie took them?"

"More likely to make it look like Rita took them," said Ethan. "If you're in pain and someone gives you painkillers, the natural thing to do is to take some straight away. It would look a little bit odd if Rita managed to lose a whole box of tablets before she'd even taken one. Rita might be a little bit messed up at the moment, but she's far from stupid."