Ken McClure - Chameleon

'Next time tell me,' said Sue sharply. 'Agreed?'

'Agreed,' said Jamieson sheepishly.

'If that man at the end of the lane this morning had not looked so much like a policeman I might have thought he was… someone else entirely.'

'Oh God, I didn't even consider that,' said Jamieson. 'I'm so sorry. It was thoughtless of me.'

Sue dropped the teaspoon she had been holding and put her hand up to her face.

Jamieson came up behind her and put his arm around her. He sensed that Sue was still under great strain.

Sue recovered quickly and continued with the coffee. 'Tell me all about today,' she said as she led the way back to the living room, carrying the coffee cups on a tray.

'There was one strange thing,' said Jamieson. He told Sue about Moira Lippman's request for a Sci-Med analysis.

'And she didn't say anything to you?' said Sue

'She used my name but she never mentioned it.'

'What did the report say?'

'I brought it home with me. I'll have to work on it.'

'Does this mean you're going to spend the evening upstairs?' asked Sue.

'A little while,' said Jamieson. He kissed her hair. 'Won't be too long. I promise.'

Jamieson paused to look out of the study window at the willow tree in the garden. He always thought that it looked best at dusk, its branches drooping to touch the lawn as if weary from a long day’s work. The trees on the far side of the cricket field were silhouetted against the evening sky. Jamieson drew the curtains, switched on the desk lamp and sat down.

Moira Lippman had asked for a full biochemical analysis on the Staphylococcus organism and this had been carried out by the Sci-Med people. Some of the tests had been duplicated for they had already been done at Kerr Memorial by Moira herself. A summary of the results said that the bug was a coagulase positive Staphylococcus, highly pathogenic to man and resistant to many of the branded therapeutic agents tested. If it had not been for the fact that Moira Lippman had remembered about the Loromycin trial and the fact that the drug had subsequently been found to be effective against the bug, as many as two dozen women at Kerr Memorial might have died. Unfortunately for two of them, Loromycin treatment had come along too late to save them. Ironically, one had been Moira's sister in law.

Jamieson read through the list of biochemical results and decided that he needed help in deciphering what they all meant. He got down his copy of 'Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology' from the shelf above the desk and looked up Staphylococcus in the index. It had been a while since the book had been opened. It had collected a thick film of dust along its top. Jamieson blew as much of it away as possible before opening it at the index. He turned to the tables giving the information he needed and copied out the normal values for the biochemical tests listed in the report.

As he compared them with the results from the Sci-Med lab he began to see discrepancies and by the time he had finished he had discovered that four of the lab results did not agree with Bergey's idea of how a standard Staphylococcus should behave.

'Just like the Pseudomonas,' muttered Jamieson remembering that the same situation had arisen with that organism. Is this what Moira Lippman had wanted to talk about? What did it mean?

'Scott! It's half past ten,' came Sue's voice from downstairs. 'You promised!'

Jamieson automatically looked at his watch. He hadn't realised how time had been passing. 'Coming,' he replied. He closed the book slowly and put it back up on its shelf. The report was telling him something. He couldn't quite put his finger on it yet but it had to have something to do with this constant variation of the bugs from text book values. As he cleared his notes away he decided that he would have to give the matter some more thought. For the moment, it could wait.

Eight days passed before Jamieson heard from Sci-Med again. Sue and he had been out for the evening and the telephone was ringing when they got back to the cottage just after eleven.

'Jamieson here.'

'Ah, got you at last. Macmillan here.'

Jamieson looked at the clock on the wall. If Macmillan were calling him at this time something must be wrong.

'Trouble I'm afraid,' said Macmillan.

Jamieson experienced a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had come to know that when the smooth velvety tones of the establishment actually used words like 'trouble' it almost invariably meant something a good deal worse.

'What's happened?'

'There's been another outbreak of post-operative infection at Kerr Memorial. In gynaecology again.'

Jamieson closed his eyes as the words drilled through him destroying all the good effects of the evening. He felt the energy drain from him as if a tap had been opened. 'Go on,' he said. The words were hoarse; he had to clear his throat before he could say any more.

'It's bad I'm afraid. Eight women are affected.'

'And the cause?'

'The bug hasn't been identified yet but Phillip Morton with some impromptu detective work has narrowed the possibilities down to a batch of saline drip packs. The lab is analysing them right now.

'I'll get back up there,' said Jamieson. 'In the meantime there's something I'd like you to organise with the Sci-Med lab.'

'Go on.'

'I want them to get their hands on as many unauthorised antibiotics as possible.'

'Unauthorised?' exclaimed Macmillan.

'Yes, drugs that the pharmaceutical companies have not yet got a license for.'

'But why?'

'I think we can expect that there will be a treatment problem with this outbreak just like last time and the time before. The bug will be immune to standard drug treatment. If it's the Staphylococcus we can use Loromycin again but if it's the Pseudomonas we still have a problem unless your people have come up with anything in the meantime?

'Not that I've heard,' said Macmillan. 'I think we rather thought that it was all over.'

I'd like the Sci-Med lab to test both bugs against drugs that haven't been commercially available before. There's a chance some of them may be effective, just like Loromycin turned out to be. We'll be taking a risk using unlicensed antibiotics and you'll have to square it with the authorities but I think the circumstances warrant it.'

'Good thinking,' said Macmillan. 'I'll tell them.' Macmillan paused before saying, 'Look here, if you feel that you'd rather not get involved again… I mean with your wife and all that, we'll quite understand here at Sci-Med.'

'I'll be returning to Leeds in the morning,' said Jamieson curtly.

Sue was standing looking at him when he put the phone down. 'I heard the last bit,' she said quietly.

'It's not over yet at Kerr Memorial. I have to see it through Sue. I can't leave it like this.'

'I understand,' said Sue. 'What's happened?'

Jamieson told her.

'But how?'

Jamieson shook his head and said, 'I don't know but I am going to find out if it's the last thing I do.'

Sue saw the look on Jamieson's face. She simply said, 'Of course.'

'I think it might be best if you were to go stay with your parents for a few days,' said Jamieson.

'No.' said Sue flatly.

'What?'

'I said no. I'm coming with you.'

'This is crazy! I mean after what you went through last time…'

'Stop treating me like the little woman, will you! I'm not an object you hide in a cupboard, I'm your wife! It's our problem not just yours. I'm coming.'

It was Jamieson's turn to concede that there was no room for argument.

There was a small crowd of people at the gates of Kerr Memorial when Jamieson and Sue arrived at around eleven the following morning. Jamieson could see that some of them were carrying cameras and had the look of the Press about them.