Something In The Air

Chapter 2 - A New Case

Maddox's heart plummeted a lot sooner than he was expecting.

"Oh, hi Megan," he stammered, caught unawares by the identity of his visitor. "What are you doing here?"

Megan Goode was his chest physiotherapist up at the hospital, a hard-working and caring individual in her mid-thirties who had taken over responsibility for Maddox when the previous physiotherapist had retired five years ago. She had a slender figure, several inches shorter than himself, and straight chocolate brown hair, tied back in a shoulder-length ponytail. Whenever Maddox was required to see her she always had good advice, a positive attitude and an infectious smile, but this morning the smile was nowhere to be seen. Instead her face, cast into shadow by the porch, was grim.

"I need your help, Hugo," she cried out. It might have been because of the cold, but she was trembling uncontrollably. "May I come in?"

Maddox was still slightly taken aback by her appearance and it took him a few moments to kick into gear. "Yes, yes, of course." He stepped to one side to allow them in.

Megan's male companion rested a gloved hand comfortingly on her upper arm as the two entered. Maddox was good with remembering names and faces – his job dictated it – and he was certain that their paths had not crossed before. Nor did he seem to bare any resemblance to Megan. He was a squat thickset man on the cusp of being overweight with a noticeable paunch, olive skin and a square head. The head was closely shaven, but he had a thick beard that was rooted down to the bottom of his neck and must have made for an effective scarf when outdoors in the middle of winter. Maddox suspected he must have been Mediterranean - Greek or Cypriot maybe; if he didn't know better, he might've said he was a member of the family next door that ran the fish and chip shop. As he removed his gloves, Maddox noticed the hairiness of the back of his hands and the flashy gold ring squeezed onto the fourth finger of his left hand. He looked with genuine curiosity between the pair and wondered how on earth they could possibly have met.

"I didn't think you were married," Maddox began.

Megan was just hanging her peacoat up on one of the pegs in the hallway when she blushed. "I'm not," she said quickly, her cheeks glowing. "Sorry, I should have introduced you to my brother-in-law. This is Christos."

"A pleasure," Christos said as he shook Maddox's outstretched hand. He didn't look offended in any way. "Megan tells me you're one of her patients."

Maddox nodded. "That's right." He left it at that, not wanting to discuss the intimate details of his fragile health in front of a total stranger. Instead he showed them towards a couple of the chairs in the cramped waiting area. "I'm afraid I'm not supposed to be open until nine. I'm actually in the middle of making breakfast. And I need to take my morning medication. Do you mind waiting for just a few seconds? I can make you some tea or coffee if you'd like?"

"A tea would be lovely, thanks," Megan replied politely. "Milk, no sugar. And don't worry, we can wait. I know you need to stick to your special diet." She paused. "How are you doing at the minute by the way? How are the chest exercises coming along?"

"Well," Maddox lied as he turned towards the kitchen. "Hang on a moment."

All his medication was in a special cupboard next to the spice rack. It needed a cupboard of its own simply because of how many boxes there were, and how many tablets, inhalers and various other drug forms he had to take throughout the day. He had a useful pill pot which he routinely filled first thing in the morning, almost before he did anything else, to make sure he didn't forget any; it came in handy now as he scooped out the brightly coloured assortment of pills and capsules from the 'morning' section and swallowed them down expertly with a single gulp of water. The morning ritual was always okay, but he would have to return to take more pills around lunchtime, in the evening and before bed; this became problematic if he intended to be out and about during the day, and meant he had to plan carefully ahead and take all the necessary medication with him.