Jean sat next to Alice on the flight to Sydney. She was a bit surprised to note that Alice was quite an anxious flier. She supposed that, like Jean herself, Alice didn't care much for the notion of having absolutely no control over the situation. It wasn't like they could ask to be let off if they didn't like the way the pilot was operating the vehicle.

She thought they could both use a distraction, and also it would save time and trouble if they had a plan of attack for when they arrived. She reached down into her bag and pulled out a street map of Sydney."

"Very good," said Alice, as Jean began to unfold it. "I thought we'd get a map in the airport once we land, but you already have one."

Jean smiled sadly. "It was among Lucien's things that the hotel returned after... well, after he fell."

Alice squeezed her hand in sympathy. "And now we're going to use it to find him, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are," Jean said firmly. "I thought if we circle all the hospitals on it, we'll see a logical order to how we should go about this."

"That makes sense. And I used my Directory of Australian Hospitals to look up all the ones in the area around the harbour and their addresses. That should make it easier."

"Thank you, Alice," said Jean, and they set to work circling all the locations on the map.

Between reading off the addresses for the hospital, Alice paused. "Why, do you think?" she wondered aloud.

"Why what?"

"Why is Lucien appearing to you?"

"I've been asking myself that," Jean admitted. "The only reason I can think of is that I asked for his help. Lucien always promised he'd do anything in his power if I ever needed his help."

"Interesting," was Alice's only response, but Jean could see that she found the whole matter troubling, probably because it wasn't something science could explain. It meant even more to Jean that Alice had agreed to help in spite of her uneasiness with the affair.

When the plane landed in Sydney, they gathered up their belongings and hurried down the steps to the tarmac. Jean was anxious to get started. "We should be able to rent a car, or we could take taxicabs. What do you think?" she asked.

Instead of answering her, Alice nodded toward the doorway of the terminal. "Jean, I believe that young constable is trying to get your attention."

A ginger-haired man in uniform who looked to be barely out of his teens held up a sign that read, "Mrs. Blake".

"We'd better see what he wants," said Jean. "I think this may be Matthew's doing. He said he was going to see what he could do to help us." They approached the young man. "I'm Mrs. Blake."

The constable tipped his cap. "Mrs. Blake, I'm Alex Farmer. I'm at your service for the day. My car is just over there."

"Thank you, Constable Farmer. This is Doctor Alice Harvey, my friend and a colleague of both my husband and Chief Superintendent Lawson."

"Ma'am," said the young policeman. "You can call me Alex if you like, seeing as how we're colleagues, in a manner of speaking."

"Thank you, Alex. I'm Jean and this is Alice."

The young man nodded. "Now, the boss said you'd be visiting all the local hospitals today."

"Hopefully not all of them," said Jean. "With any luck we'll find him before we need to visit all of them."

"Right you are." He escorted them to his police car and stowed their bags in the boot while they settled themselves inside. He slid behind the wheel and started up the motor. "Where to first, then?"

Jean unfolded her map, and they set out on their quest.

"Since we're on the south side of the harbour, we thought it most efficient to start in the south and work our way around, finishing up in the north," she explained.

Alex nodded. "That makes sense. So, which one first?"

"Saint Vincent's, I think. On Victoria Street," said Alice. "Then Royal Prince Alfred."

True to his word, the young man quickly delivered them to the first hospital and escorted them inside.

The woman at the reception desk straightened her posture and put on a welcoming smile when she saw the police uniform. "How can I help you, Constable?"

Alex peered at her name tag. "Miss Adams, I'm Constable Farmer, and these two ladies are Mrs. Blake and Doctor Harvey. They're looking for a gentleman, Mrs. Blake's husband, who disappeared some time ago, and they have reason to believe he's in a local hospital, possibly in a coma."

Miss Adams blinked, then studied Jean and Alice as she said slowly, "I see. Does this gentleman have a name?"

"His name is Doctor Lucien Blake," said Jean.

"But if he was admitted in a coma, you wouldn't necessarily know his name," Alice pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose that might be the case," said Miss Adams. "I think you should probably speak with the sister on the long-term care ward. If we have such a patient, that's where he'd be most likely. If you'll wait just a moment, I'll call her down here."

"Thank you," said Jean.

They waited for several minutes until an older woman appeared. Once again Alex introduced everyone to the sister, Mrs. Fulton, and explained their mission.

"We do have a patient who's been in a coma for some time," said the nurse.

Jean gasped, and Alice reached out to place a steadying hand on her forearm.

"However, I don't think he's your husband, Mrs. Blake. He seems to be around the age of thirty," Mrs. Fulton continued. "And he's been here for more than a year."

"Oh," said Jean, her disappointment palpable. But she supposed they couldn't really expect to find Lucien on their first try.

"Do you have any other unidentified patients? Another John Doe in any of the other wards?" asked Alice.

"Not to my knowledge, but I'll check, just to be certain." Mrs. Fulton picked up the telephone at the desk and made a call. Jean and the others stepped back to give her some privacy.

The call took longer than Jean would have liked. She supposed it took time to go through all the patient records, but at this rate they'd be lucky to get to all the hospitals today. Being so close to finding Lucien, she had little patience for delays at this stage.

Finally Mrs. Fulton returned with a clipboard full of notes from her conversation. "I'm afraid we don't have anyone here that could be your husband, Mrs. Blake, but I took the liberty of contacting our affiliated facilities to ask them about coma patients, especially unidentified ones. It seems Mater Hospital has a gentleman patient who's been there for almost ten months, comatose, with no identification found on him and no visitors since he arrived."

Jean's heart leapt into her throat. Could this be it? Could she finally be reunited with Lucien after all this time of believing him dead?

Alice was busy consulting her list and their map to identify the facility in question. "Isn't Mater a maternity hospital?" she asked, frowning.

"Primarily, yes, but there is also have a long-term rehabilitation facility at that location," Mrs. Adams explained.

Young Alex spoke up. "Wait a minute. The boss told me that after Doctor Blake fell, er, disappeared, all the local hospitals were contacted with inquiries about any patient that might fit his description. When he was brought in there, why wouldn't this hospital have recognized that he was the person being sought?"

"I can't answer that, Constable, but perhaps, like Doctor Harvey, your boss thought it was only a maternity hospital, and so they were never contacted about Doctor Blake."

"That makes sense," said Alice. "Sister, could I ask you to show us on this map, please, where Mater is located?"

"Certainly. It's up here, on the other side of the harbour. You'll have to cross the bridge. It's maybe an hour or so away, depending on how much traffic you run into."

"Thank you very much," said Jean.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Blake. I hope it is your husband. If you'd like, I can call over there, explain the circumstances and let them know to expect you."

"Yes, please," said Jean, not wanting any further delays

Mrs. Fulton reached for the telephone once more, but before she could make the call, an orderly hurried down the corridor. "Sister, we need you," he called out. "All hands on deck, please. We have three burn victims arriving from a fire."

"You'll have to excuse me," she said, rushing down the corridor after the orderly.

When she had gone, Alex turned to his charges. "Off to Mater Hospital then, is it?"

"If it could take an hour or more, I'm going to use the loo first," said Jean. In reality, she wanted to consult with Lucien before they totally abandoned their initial plan of action.

The receptionist pointed out to her the location of the public toilet, and Jean went in, carefully locking the door behind her. She didn't want anyone to see her talking to a "ghost" and deciding she needed to be committed to a hospital herself.

"Lucien, I need you," she said softly, once she was certain she was alone.

He appeared quickly, looking somewhat more substantial now. Was it because they were physically closer to him?

"My dear," he said, giving her that certain smile she loved so much.

"We're in Sydney, Alice and I," she explained. "Right now we're at Saint Vincent's Hospital, but we've just been told that there's a patient at another hospital that might be you. It's a maternity hospital with a long-term care ward. Does that sound like it might be where you are?"

He seemed to be thinking, listening to his surroundings for a minute. "It could be," he said slowly. "I remember hearing some of the nurses speaking of newborns, but I thought they were talking about their own children. A maternity ward makes more sense."

"Then we're on our way, Lucien. Another hour or two at most. I'll see you soon, my love."

"I'll be waiting," said Lucien. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Nurse Bloom made an effort to appear as though everything was just as usual. She had plenty of practice at this, after all. It was hardly the first time she'd helped a patient along, eased their pain when there was no longer any hope of recovery. She supposed John Doe was not quite like the others, though. He wasn't classified as terminal, even if his outlook was just as bleak as those who had been dying of pancreatic cancer or leukemia. The main thing, in her opinion, was that he seemed to be in pain needlessly. She had the means to alleviate his suffering right in her pocket.

Almost unconsciously she made to reach a hand down to assure herself the hypodermic filled with morphine was still there, but she stopped herself in time. No reason to call any attention to it. That could be disastrous, for both herself and John Doe.

She took her time with all of her other patients, made sure they were comfortable and had everything that they needed. It wouldn't do to treat the others carelessly just because she was on this special mission today. She prided herself on the care she provided to each and every one of her patients.

At last the others were all tended to, and she could turn her attention to John Doe.

"I'm sorry you had to wait today, but I had to be sure no one else was neglected," she said to him softly. "But now it's your turn, John. I really wish I knew your name so I could make this more personal for you."

She checked his intravenous tube, made certain there were no kinks or air bubbles. Everything was as it should be, and the bag was half empty. Good. That meant the morphine would not be as diluted, and she could change the bag as soon as she was sure a sufficient amount of the opioid had entered his bloodstream.

She took his vitals, and noted them on his chart, altering the readings slightly to make it appear his condition was slipping somewhat. Then gently she straightened his hospital gown and bedclothes. Only when she was satisfied all was in order did she take the full hypodermic from her pocket and inject its contents into the bag connected to his body.

"Rest easy," she told him kindly. "I promise, it won't be long now."

With that she left the room. It wouldn't do for her to be present when the inevitable end came.