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wrong side of thirty now, not some twenty-something beauty.
    Poking her tongue out at her reflection, Lila caught sight of the clock on her dressing-table. With a yelp of dismay she pulled on her shoes and grabbed her bag, just stopping to give her mother and Shirley a quick kiss before she torpedoed out of the front door and into her car.
    So much for making a good impression on Hester!
    *
    For once the department was quiet, with just a few patients waiting to be seen by various specialists orawaiting their turn for X-rays. As soon as the day staff had gone Lila pulled the kettle round to the nurses’ station.
    ‘Might as well get our caffeine levels up while we’ve got the chance.’ She grinned.
    ‘Good idea.’ Yvonne Selles walked over. ‘It’s Lila, isn’t it?’
    ‘That’s right. How can I help you, Dr Selles? Apart from the coffee, I mean?’
    ‘Please, call me Yvonne. I’m expecting a direct admission from a nursing home. I wasn’t quite sure of the procedure as my ward is full, so I’ve asked the ambulance to bring her directly to Emergency. I hope that’s all right.’
    ‘That’s fine. Thanks for letting us know. What’s wrong with the patient?’
    ‘Pressure sores, along with dehydration. I shouldn’t have accepted her really, as I haven’t got any beds left, but according to the GP she’s in a bit of a mess and I could hardly refuse to take her. Her GP was pretty upset the home didn’t call him out a lot sooner. Some of these nursing homes need to take a good long look at themselves. It seems more about profit than people these days. Sorry.’ Yvonne gave a thin smile. ‘I’ll get off my soapbox now. It just gets to me sometimes.’
    ‘I know,’ Lila said softly, swallowing a lump in her own throat. ‘It gets to me, too. Anyway—’ she deliberately brightened her voice ‘—there’s a couple of free beds on the medical ward. If you admit the patient to Med 1 you can transfer her over to AGU tomorrow.’
    ‘Looking for some action, Yvonne?’ Grinning, Declan joined the group.
    In an instant Lila felt as if her senses had been put on high alert. She could almost feel the breeze from him as he walked over.
    ‘He thinks only staff in Emergency do any work.’ Yvonne grinned. ‘Just because my patients are old, it doesn’t mean they’re not sick,’ she scolded lightly. ‘I still have to use my brain.’
    Lila jumped down from her stool as Harry, the porter, wheeled a patient back from X-Ray. ‘Declan, would you mind having a quick look at these? Diana thinks it may be pneumonia and he’ll probably need to be referred on.’
    ‘Sure.’
    With an easy smile he took the X-rays from Harry and made his way over to the viewing box.
    ‘Phew,’ Yvonne said. ‘It’s a different place here at night.’
    ‘We’re not normally this quiet,’ Sue said almost defensively.
    ‘I didn’t mean that.’ Yvonne smiled. ‘It’s just so much more relaxed and friendly. I was down here this afternoon and the unit manager nearly had a fit because I brought my coffee round the front.’
    ‘That’d be right,’ Lila groaned.
    ‘So how come it’s so different down here at night?’
    ‘Different staff,’ Lila said, climbing back onto the high stool. ‘Night staff on the whole are a lot nicer—in my opinion, of course. We’re not all pulled into the politics of days, fighting over any interesting patients, trying to look busy when it’s quiet.’ She laughed. ‘Now, who’s up on their soapbox?’
    ‘And what does Hester have to say about all this?’ Yvonne gestured to the tray overloaded with cups and cakes and biscuits.
    ‘Plenty,’ Lila admitted. ‘But I’ve told her that when she provides enough staff so that we can have our full breaks I’ll put away the running buffet, but until then it stays. Speaking of which, I’m going to have a huge slice of cake—do you fancy a piece?’
    ‘Just a small one, and then I’d better get on and do some work.’
    ‘Where were you