Ghost

One week after 'the Edith incident' as he mentally labeled it, Martin was in the kitchen drinking an espresso during a short afternoon break when his mobile rang. He saw on the screen it was Louisa calling him. "Louisa?" he answered with some concern for she never called him during the workday unless there was something amiss.

Louisa answered, saying, "Martin, hi. Just want you to know that someone from the GMC, a Dr. Sampson, called me and asked about the… well, when Dr. Montgomery confronted me."

Martin had indeed filed a complaint to the GMC the evening of the event. "Yes? What did he want?"

"She. Dr. Marcia Sampson. She asked me a few questions; said it was a follow up to your report."

"Ah." Martin set his espresso down. "Need I expect a call as well?" He suspected that the GMC might be less than pleased. One doctor complaining about another's ethics or behavior was taken seriously, but Lord knew that he himself had been under scrutiny since arriving in the village. He may have opened himself up to further examination.

"I expect so."

Martin chewed that over for a few seconds. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine, fine, all's fine. Oh school is… well, paperwork. Been piling up."

Suddenly, Pauline was standing by his elbow. "Doc. Sorry. You have another call. Office line. A Dr. Sampson, I think she said."

"Thank you, Pauline. Louisa, I have to go."

"Bye then," she told him.

Martin rang off, then went to his surgery. The light on his desk phone was blinking, so he picked up the handset and pressed the proper button. "This is Martin Ellingham," he said.

A female voice cleared their throat in his ear. "Dr. Ellingham, hello. This is Dr. Sampson – from the GMC – and I just spoke to your spouse, Louisa."

"Hello, yes, and this is about Edith Montgomery?"

"Yes, it is," Dr. Sampson said. "I received your report and have read it carefully. I share with you a concern about Dr. Montgomery's behavior."

Martin took a breath. "The fact Dr. Montgomery and I had a previous, but long-ago relationship, may have a bearing on this matter."

Dr. Sampson chuckled slightly. "To say the least. What would you say to Dr. Montgomery's mental state? Why would she have approached your wife and made these accusations against you?"

Martin grimaced but then said, "As to Dr. Montgomery's mental state I cannot say. I am not medically qualified to form a diagnosis; however…"

"Jealousy, I would say."

Martin sighed. "It would appear so."

"And retribution?"

"Right," Martin snapped. "Perhaps, I don't know." He listened to dead air then could hear typing. "Hello?"

"Yes, I am still just making a note." Dr. Sampson cleared her throat. "Mrs. Ellingham told me that she had done nothing to antagonize Dr. Montgomery, had only seen her twice in passing and had one short previous conversation at the OB-GYN practice."

"I believe that is correct."

"And your wife is not a patient of Dr. Montgomery."

"Correct."

"Your wife also told me that it was a beautiful and sunny day, but cold, when she was leaving, she had had a good exam with Dr. Roberts, her OB and was feeling content. She also reports that she was happy and had been smiling until Dr. Montgomery confronted her."

Martin sighed. "In the past – long past time – when I was with, uhm, in a relationship, with Edith, Dr. Montgomery, if I received a higher mark than she in an exam or evaluation she could be…" He had to stop for a moment as the memories played in his mind. "Very angry towards me."

"Rather than working harder to get a better mark. Yes. I see. Okay. I think we can close this matter."

"How? In what way?"

"Well it seems…" Dr. Sampson began to say.

0=0

Seven days before, it had barely been an hour after Martin had pressed the "Enter" key on his computer keyboard, sending his report on Edith Montgomery's behavior to the GMC, when his mobile rang.

"Ellingham," Martin said into the phone.

"Mart! Good heaven's what is this all about?"

"Oh hello, Chris," Martin answered the head of the Cornish medical system who was also nominally his boss.

Chris sighed. Martin, Martin he thought. "I've just read your complaint about Edith Montgomery." He sighed into Martin's ear. "She actually went after Louisa?"

"No, Chris. She actually went after me through Louisa."

"Good lord. I… I don't know what to say. Other than really?"

"There isn't anything for you to say, Chris. I made the report, and it is not for you to rebut it."

"Mart! I didn't call to ask you to quash it."

Hearing that Martin relaxed.

Chris went on. "Unresolved issues on her part. What a… well, not for me to say… but I'll back you. The GMC can't have doctors badgering our pregnant patients, can we?" He cleared his throat. "How is Louisa taking all this?"

Martin and Louisa had not discussed it after their heart to heart, with Martin on his knees staring into his teary wife's face.

"She's fine. Louisa is fine." Martin stopped; well the other morning she came from the loo, wrapped in a towel, her hair wet and hanging down on her shoulders. Martin had watched while she walked up to her dressing table, then lowered the towel to stare at her naked self.

Shyly, Martin had turned around to give her privacy, so he pulled on his suitcoat.

Louisa then said to his back. "Martin, turn around. Look at me."

He slowly turned around and saw that Louisa was holding a hand on her protruding abdomen. The curve of her pregnant belly now started well above her umbilicus and curving down to the pubis it stuck out several centimeters.

Louisa stared at altered body, her gaze directed down past her swollen breasts. Then she proudly looked up at Martin with shining eyes. "This is actually happening, isn't it?"

Martin swallowed hard. "Yes."

Louisa smiled. "You got me pregnant. Gave me a baby."

"Uhm, yes. Appears so."

She then tipped her head to the side and reapplied the towel. "So glad I am here – in the village."

Martin could only nod.

He pulled his mind back to Parsons. "She is fine. We're fine," he told Chris.

Chris chuckled. "Mart, think about it from Edith's standpoint. You are married and she is not. You had asked her back in school and she refused you. Louisa is a beautiful woman and Edith… perhaps not quite as much. Louisa is pregnant with your child and Edith is not."

Martin replied. "Yes, I have thought about that."

Chris sighed again. "I've done some… well I made few calls. Edith had gotten married out in Canada. That didn't last. And no children from it. So now, back in Britain, she bumps into you and…"

"Wanted to start over."

"Right. With you, Mart."

"Preposterous."

Chris laughed into his friend's ear again. "Mart, you are just a chick magnet."

0=0

"Seems, what?" Martin asked Dr. Sampson.

"Typically in cases such as this we recommend that all affected parties attend a group discussion," Dr. Sampson replied. "We interview each in private then bring them together for a mediation."

"Like that would solve anything," Martin muttered sourly.

"What? I couldn't hear what you said."

"Nothing," Martin answered.

"As I was saying," Sampson continued, "I have tried to contact Dr. Montgomery."

"Tried?"

"Yes. It seems, well, I will tell you that her record is not exactly glittering."

"Oh?"

"Yes. There have been other complaints. Complaints about her manners and methods."

Martin knew that he could be abrasive at times, and he'd not want that to become an issue. "Yes, well, we all, have… uhm, moments we wish we could take back."

That made Dr. Sampson laugh. "I myself was early in my Psychology years and a patient slapped me when she objected to me tipping my head to the side. In that patient's case head tipping was a sign of distrust, learned at the hand of her abusive parents. Unfortunately, she had also learned to be physical; which is one of the reasons that she was seeing me." Sampson laughed. "I ended up with a chipped tooth."

Martin recalled a time an opioid affected and combative patient in A&E had attacked him while he tried to attend to a bleeding knife wound on the man's chest. That had led to slugfest, leaving Martin stunned on the floor and a flying tackle from a hospital security guard when the patient tried to run away. It was the first time Martin had been struck by a patient in his early training years, and not the last during A&E training. Knife and bottle club patients, as they were called, were too frequent on Friday and Saturday nights. "Yes, A&E could be… uhm…" he cleared his throat.

"Chaotic, yes," Sampson replied. "But back to this matter…"

"Excuse me. Dr. Sampson, you said that this could be closed quickly. What's that mean?" Martin felt like he was on a tightrope, not just for himself but also his job, as well as his wife.

"Yes," Dr. Sampson replied, "Dr. Montgomery is no longer under the jurisdiction of the GMC."

"What?"

"She's gone. Flew the coop. Upped sticks. Back to Toronto, Canada."

"Left?" Martin almost snorted.

"Resigned. She had a long list of criticisms against her but the most egregious was her missing an ectopic pregnancy diagnosis. That was up in York; one of the reasons she escaped down here to Truro. I fail to see how that emergency could have been pegged as 'stomach cramp.' Fortunately that patient survived. But in any case, she is now gone."

Suddenly Martin felt as if he could breathe. "Right," he grunted.

"Like a fading ghost, she has departed the scene," Sampson added. "So I shall close the case, Dr. Ellingham, thank you for your time, and do thank your wife again for me. She sounded lovely on the phone."

"Yes."

"And if there is anything I can do in future please please don't hesitate…" Sampson was saying when Martin rang off.