"You wanted an urgent consult?" said David Hayward, finding Cara by a light box in one of the operating rooms.
"Yes. Hi." said Cara, not being able to take her eyes away from the two scans on display. "I need you to tell me if you can see what I see."
David stood beside her, looking at the two images side by side. Two scans of seemingly identical brains.
"And how are you doing?" David asked as seruptitously as possible.
Cara hid a smile, and put her hand on her belly, the baby was beginning to show.
"We are doing fine." she replied.
David leaned in for a closer look as the scans.
"What exactly am I looking at?"
"Marissa has been complaining of headaches so I did a head CT this morning. This is one from two days ago." she said pointing to the one on the left.
David frowned at the sound of his daughter's name but as he looked from one to the other he couldn't see what was making Cara so concerned.
"Here." said Cara, pointing to a dark patch on the new scan no bigger than a penny. "Is that a shadow?"
David stepped in to take a closer look, comparing one to the other.
"You think she might have a brain bleed." he said, now able to see the difference.
"I wasn't sure." said Cara.
"Well," said David pulling both images down from the light box. "We need to get her in for another scan immediately. If it is a bleed, we need to get it fixed as soon as possible. I'll call down - you go and prep the patient."
Cara nodded, giving him a grateful smile before hurrying off.
She arrived at Marissa's room with a nurse and porter in tow. They found the bed empty. Concerned Cara checked the bathroom and then sent the porter to search the corridor. Cara asked at the nurse's station and checked the nearby doctor's lounge. There was no sign of Marissa anywhere.
Somehow she had disappeared.
...