Private Sydney (Private 12)

‘I understand and I’ll be very sensitive to that, but a child’s life is at stake.’

A man appeared behind Mrs Wenham. ‘The answer is no. We’re sorry for the child’s family, but we can’t risk you upsetting Felicity. She’s all we have.’

The door slammed in Johnny’s face.

Chapter 97

DESPITE BEING STONEWALLED by her parents, it wasn’t difficult to find Felicity Wenham. There were a limited number of treatment options – psych, acute medical or a facility for anorexia. Twenty minutes and three phone calls later, Johnny entered the cardiac ward at the Royal Balgowlah Hospital. A slim young woman with short layered hair sat by the window of her private room. Leads extended beneath her pyjama top to a monitor on the wall above the bed.

He knocked on the open door and she continued gazing into the distance. ‘Felicity? My name is Johnny Ishmah.’

‘I’m done with shrinks.’ She curled her lip in disgust.

‘Don’t blame you,’ Johnny grinned. ‘I’m a private investigator. Psych is my major. The criminal kind.’

This time she made eye contact. ‘Has my father sent you to see how crazy I really am?’

Johnny mentally noted ‘father issues’ but quickly moved on. ‘I wanted to ask you about your Manly radiology rotation.’

‘Yeah, well, flunked that.’ She opened her buttoned pyjama top just enough to reveal a well-defined, square lump under her collarbone. The wound looked fresh.

Johnny looked at the pulse rate monitor. ‘Is that a pacemaker?’

She stared at the implant, as if still in disbelief. ‘Attractive, don’t you think?’

‘Sounds serious.’ Johnny knew how much damage anorexia could do to vital organs.

‘When the defib kicks in and you’re awake, it’s a blast. The ultimate accessory.’ Felicity’s sarcasm couldn’t hide her anger.

She looked back out the window overlooking a patch of garden. ‘What are you investigating the radiology practice for?’

Johnny pulled up a visitor’s chair.

‘There were some X-rays that had false dates and names on them. I’m trying to work out who could have got into the system and changed them, before printing them out.’

He watched for a reaction. Her heart rate on the monitor remained consistent at sixty beats per minute.

‘Theoretically anyone with a code to the system could.’

‘Who has access to the X-ray codes at Manly?’

‘The doctors. The radiographers. Receptionists can’t normally enter patient data on the machines.’

‘Were any of the staff interested in the machines who maybe shouldn’t have been?’

She thought for a moment then looked up. ‘Only Sigrid.’

Johnny flicked through his notes. ‘I don’t have that name on my employee list.’

‘She works at night. Sometimes I’d stay back so she could teach me.’

Johnny thought office hours were eight am to five pm. ‘Is she a doctor?’

Felicity wrapped a lock of hair into a small curl. ‘Only in Norway. Sigrid researched radiation exposure in people with chronic bone disease. Then married a boy from the northern beaches and followed him here. It didn’t last. She was left with no money and no job.’ She seemed to soften. ‘It’s tough. The government doesn’t recognise her qualifications and she couldn’t afford to sit the medical exams all over again.’

‘Do you know her last name?’

‘Hale? Holt? No. Hall. That’s it. Sigrid Hall. She said her ex had a used-car business.’