Chapter 16: Veda's Hospitality

"Take your hand off me," I said.

The man in the black blazer didn't.

"Mrs. Vandeleur, the doctor is below," he said. "Ms. Lorne asked that you wait here."

"Then I'll wait in the clinic."

I pulled my arm free and walked to the stairs.

I didn't run, because the cameras were still on me, and I had learned in the ER that a calm walk gets you through more doors than a scream.

He let me go.

Below deck the air smelled of polish and diesel.

I went down the corridor listening, and I heard her before I saw anything.

It was a thin, annoyed cry, the one she gave when a stranger's arms were wrong.

The clinic door had a small brass plate and stood half open.

Inside, the stewardess held Junie on a padded table.

A doctor in a white coat stood beside her with a clipboard and a pen.

On the counter lay a syringe in a sealed wrapper that nobody had told me was needed.

"What is that?" I said.

The doctor turned. "Mrs. Vandeleur. We were about to give her a routine prophylactic injection."

"She's ten weeks old. She had her shots in Brisbane. Who ordered that?"

"Ms. Lorne asked us to be thorough."

"Show me the order."

He hesitated.

I walked to the table and held out my hand for the clipboard.

The top page was an admission form.

Under *Guardian* he had typed *Temporary: V. Lorne, trustee*, and under *Mother* someone had circled *unfit pending evaluation*.

I read it twice.

"This has no physician's signature," I said. "There's no weight, no temperature, no history. You haven't even examined her."

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