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him. He was fine, running around with another small boy, and came across when he saw me. When I asked if he was all right he said he was having lots of fun.’
    There was silence for a moment, then with his voice deepening he said, ‘Thanks for that, Libby. It was kind of you to take the trouble.’
    ‘It was no trouble,’ she said lightly as if the pair of them weren’t in her every waking thought. ‘I’ll see you later.’ And rang off.
    The Pellows were a dysfunctional family who seemed to go from one crisis to another.
    Angelina, the mother, was an artist who, when the creative mood was on her, would disappear into her studio for days on end. No shopping would be done or tidying up of the shambolic old house down a lane at the far end of the village where she and her family lived.
    Her husband Malik was employed by the forestry commission and during her absences had to do the best he could in looking after their two children and things in general. He didn’t complain much because Angelina almost always sold what she’d painted, but there was relief all round when she surfaced again.
    The young ones always seemed robust and healthy enough, but not today, it would seem, with regard to one of them. Malik had phoned to ask for a visit to six-year-old Ophelia, who had recently been diagnosed with measles and now had a high temperature, was very dizzy, and was complaining that her ears hurt.
    When Libby arrived at the house she found that another of Angelina’s disappearances was in progress and Malik was busy making a lunch of sorts for him and the child, who was lying on a sofa in the sitting room.
    When she examined her ears with an otoscope it was evident that the eardrums were swollen and when she asked the little girl where they hurt she pointed weepily to the area where her cheekbone met the inner ear.
    ‘I suspect that Ophelia has got viral labyrinthitis,’ Libby told her father. ‘It’s an infection of the middle ear that affects balance and makes the ears quite painful. It sometimes occurs when measles is present and can take some time to clear. There are two kinds of the illness, viral and bacterial. Viral is the less serious of the two but not to be ignored by any means.
    ‘Your daughter needs to rest, and I’m going to prescribe a low-dosage antihistamine course of treatment because of her age, and an equally mild children’s pain-relief tablet.
    ‘I see that the measles rash has disappeared so that problem is obviously lessening. It’s unfortunate that in its wake has come labyrinthitis. Ring the surgery if any further problems appear, Malik, and I’ll come straight away.’
    She looked around her at the cluttered sitting room. ‘Do I take it that Angelina isn’t available?’
    ‘Yes, you do,’ he said morosely. ‘She’s having one of her artistic sabbaticals that can go on for days or even weeks.’
    A vision of his wife as she’d last seen her came to mind, dressed in a golden kaftan with beads and bangles everywhere, and Libby hid a smile.
    Angelina had looked more like a fortune teller than an artist.
    The rest of the house calls were soon dealt with and as she drove back to the practice Libby stopped for a few moments beside the lake that was only a short distance from the surgery, a stretch of water that was so beautiful it always took her breath away. The white sails of yachts were outlined vividly against its calm waters, and a house built from the pale grey stone of the area was clearly visible on a tree-covered island in the centre of it.
    Above the lake the fells towered in rugged magnificence, but all those who lived in the area knew that they could be dangerous too, that they sometimes asked a grim price from those who loved to climb them. The mountain rescue services were kept busy all the year round on behalf of those caught in bad weather up on the tops, or with others who lacked the experience to stay safe while climbing them.
    Nathan had been involved in mountain rescue