Chapter One

      ‘JULIET! Can you hear me? Stay with us, Juliet.’

      Maggie woke with a start. She was in strange surroundings, curled up and cramped in an armchair. She rubbed her neck with one hand as she tried to work out where she was. The room came into focus. A drip stand, an overway table, white sheets on a single bed—a hospital room.

      She remembered where she was. She was waiting for her sister to come out of Theatre.

      She looked around, searching for the person whose voice had woken her. A man’s voice, she was sure of it. He’d been talking loudly but the room was quiet now; she was alone.

      Had she been dreaming?

      Her heart was thumping in her chest—she put her hand over it, as if she could slow it down. She had been dreaming; she could recall it now. She’d been dreaming about Juliet’s operation. Juliet’s heart had stopped and the doctors had been using cardiac paddles to get it going again. That was what had woken her so abruptly. That was why her heart was racing—it was as though she’d felt the shock of the charge going through her own chest.

      Something had gone wrong and she needed to find out what it was.

      She jumped out of the chair.

      How long had she been sleeping? She checked her watch, quarter past two. Juliet should have been out of Theatre by now. Someone must know something.

      Maggie needed information; she needed to know what had happened and she needed to know if Juliet was OK.

      She made her way to the nurses’ station. The nurse sitting at the desk was the one who’d come to take Juliet to Theatre. Maggie was relieved there hadn’t been a change of shift yet. She had no time for pleasantries or to explain who she was.

      ‘Carol, do you know if Juliet is out of Theatre yet?’

      The nurse looked up and must have recognised her. ‘I haven’t heard anything. Would you like me to check?’

      ‘Please. I thought she’d be finished by now.’ Maggie tapped her foot impatiently.

      Carol picked up the phone and punched in the extension number, frowning as the call went unanswered. ‘There’s no answer but if they’re busy they don’t always pick up.’

      Maggie knew that was true but she immediately wondered what was happening in Theatre or Recovery that would make the phone go unanswered. Was Juliet all right?

      ‘I’ll try again in a minute and come and find you. Will you wait in Juliet’s room?’ Carol waited for Maggie to nod before returning her attention to her paperwork.

      Maggie made a pretence of returning to her sister’s room but there was no way she’d be able to sit and wait. She walked past the door and headed for the lift to take her up to Theatres and Recovery.

      She paced around the confines of the lift as it carried her to the top floor. She exited the lift and followed the signs, hurrying along the corridor to the recovery suites and pressing the call button by the door. She pressed it twice before a nurse responded.

      Maggie barely waited for the nurse to ask what she wanted before she spoke. ‘I’m Juliet Taylor’s sister. Can you tell me how she is?’

      The nurse’s eyes widened and Maggie’s eyes narrowed in response as she tried to work out what was bothering the girl. Was she surprised to find a stranger hovering by the door or was she trying to formulate an answer? Maggie suspected that something had happened and that this nurse didn’t want to be the one to tell her about it.

      ‘What happened? Is she OK?’

      The nurse continued to stand there, mute.

      Maggie recognised the nurse’s expression now. Something unexpected had happened in Theatre and Maggie had been right to come barging up here to find out what. Something had happened to Juliet.

      There was a flurry of movement behind the nurse. Maggie peered over her shoulder and saw a patient being wheeled into Recovery. She shoved her foot in the doorway