Reading over the recent comments, I realized DMLG Softy is absolutely right that the Doc wouldn't discuss the test results with the patient's wife without the patient present, so I revised this chapter and posted it again.

Chapter 7: Kicked in the Head

Wednesday Midday

The fax machine hummed and spit out a sheet of paper. Martin picked it up and scanned it.

"Pauline! Call the Wenns. Tell them I have the fax with the lab results and they should come in as soon as possible to discuss them."

He sat at his desk and was about to take a closer look at the lab report when a man walked into the office unannounced.

"Hello?"the man said.

Martin was annoyed. He had never liked people barging in on him but lately it got on his nerves more than usual. "Why don't you knock?"

"Not my style," said the man.

"Take a seat." Martin sat at his desk. The visitor sat opposite and promptly nodded off. Martin studied him. It was the same man he had seen asleep at the wheel in the police vehicle the day before. Dark hair, heavy eyebrows, seemingly fit, with a rather Mediterranean look to him, possibly Spanish, but he spoke with a Cornish accent.

The man abruptly woke up and went on as if nothing had happened. "We didn't do the formalities before. Police Constable Joseph Penhale."

"Dr. Ellingham."

"MD, BS, FRCS. I saw that on the plaque outside."

"Mm. Very observant."

"Gotta be on my game," the man said. "Especially now I'm the new neighbourhood beat manager."

"Right."

"Sorry if we got off to a bad start. Obviously, with you being the local medic, want to make sure we have a relationship that's, uh, mutually beneficial. If you get my drift," he said, insinuatingly.

"I don't. What d'you mean?"

He nodded off again. "Hello?" Martin said.

The man's brown eyes snapped open and he answered automatically. "Hello?" He certainly seemed out of it, Martin thought.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Martin asked.

"What question?"

"Do you often get very tired?"

"I'm on the job 24/7."

"You were asleep in your car. You ever fallen asleep when you're talking or eating?"

"No," the man replied, then reconsidered. "Well, now and then when I'm eating. When I'm speaking sometimes."

"If you laugh or get angry, ever feel like the muscles in your neck can't support your head?"

"It's happened once or twice. Thought it might be whiplash."

"No. No, it's something else. Narcolepsy. Neurological disorder. Marked by a sudden uncontrollable compulsion to sleep. You should have come to see me right away."

"Been busy moving my things from Bude to my new flat above the Portwenn police station."

"Mm. Before it started happening did you suffer any kind of head injury?"

"Why?"

"Cranial traumas can set off this kind of condition. Perhaps you fell over, or crashed your car."

"Kicked in the head?"

Of course, Martin thought. "That'll do it."

"It was a couple of years ago," the man recalled. "I was trying to nick this farmer near Bude. Some mix up with his TV license. He wouldn't come quietly. So I started putting the cuffs on. He runs out into the yard. I chase after him. Trip up. Fall under his horse. When I wake up, paramedic tells me he kicked me in the head. The horse, not the paramedic. I'm covered in blood. Wife started complaining after that. Saying I was acting rude."

"Why? What did you do?"

"Nothing. She kept banging on about my mood swings… and me forgetting everything… and my mood swings. We're not together any more."

No surprise there, Martin thought. "I can give you something to keep you awake." He wrote out a prescription and handed it over. "And until you start the course of treatment you're not to drive. Is that clear?"

The man started to protest as Martin escorted him out and closed the door. He could hear the policeman go into the reception area and talk to Pauline.

Martin sat at his desk again and studied the lab report. He began to frown.

There was a knock at the door. "Come!" He was surprised to see it was Mrs. Wenn without her husband. She looked even more distressed and nervous than when he first saw her.

"You got here very quickly," he said. "Pauline must have just called your house."

"My husband had to go to Plymouth on business. I happened to be in the village doing some shopping and I thought I would stop by. Does that mean you have the lab results? Michael is better now but we're really anxious to hear the results. So tell me. Does he have a parasite?"

"No, that's a bit of good news, no sign of infection or parasite."

"So it doesn't tell us anything then?"

"Not quite. However, I need to discuss the results in person with him."

"Oh." She seemed surprised, then leaned in as if to confide something. "Dr. Ellingham, I'm worried."

"About what? You said your husband appears to be recovering. Just have him come in to see me when he gets back from Plymouth."

She sighed, unsure how to explain. "I think Mrs. Daniels, that's our housekeeper I was telling you about yesterday, you must have seen her at the house… I think she resents me, or has a grudge against my husband for marrying me. I'm really worried now, because I can't help wondering if Michael might have been… poisoned."

Martin could hear the policeman still talking with Pauline out in the reception. He got up and opened the door to get his attention. "P.C. Penzance!"

"That's P.C. Penhale, Doc, Penhale! Like the place west of Bodmin, not the place with the pirates."

"Er, yes… Penhale. Come in, you might want to hear this."

He introduced Mrs. Wenn and quickly explained the situation to Penhale. The policeman's face lit up. "Attempted murder! And on my first week here! The boys at my old patch in Bude will be jealous when they hear about this."

"It's likely no more than an accidental ingestion of a hazardous substance but if Mrs. Wenn has suspicions I thought it's potentially a police matter now," Martin said.

"Quite right, Doc. I'll get right on it. Gonna need your help."

"If a crime has been committed on private property it's up to the police to investigate," Martin replied.

Pauline, who was listening to the entire conversation, said "You need to go over and help with the investigation, Doc. Wenn Hall is open to the public, the house and grounds both, two days a week. And you've got the whole film crew over there lots of days now. If there's a haz-mat situation it's your duty to root it out. It's a matter of public health."

"Well, that and you said I'm not to drive until I start my course of treatment," Penhale said. "I'll need a ride over there."

To be continued…

Note: Penhale is an actual village west southwest of Bodmin. Penzance is of course the home of the pirates in The Pirates of Penzance.