What Will Survive by Joan Smith Page B

having heard the dog’s name.
    Olivia said cheerily: ‘Hope so. I think we’ve saved the leg.’
    Lisa put her head on one side. ‘Poor Spencer. Oh, Ricky, your Dad called a couple of times.’
    He stared at her. ‘Dad called here?’
    â€˜Yeah. He said he’s been trying your mobile but it’s down.’
    â€˜It’s on charge.’ He turned to Olivia. ‘Something’s up. He never calls.’ Another thought occurred to him. ‘How did he know this number?’
    Olivia raised her eyebrows. ‘Didn’t you give it to him?’
    Ricky looked scornful. ‘I gave it to Mum. She’s in Syria — no, Lebanon, I got a text from her.’
    â€˜Lisa?’ The receptionist, who was almost at the end of the corridor, stopped and looked back. ‘Did he say what he wanted?’
    â€˜Sorry, Liv.’ She shook her head.
    â€˜Best call him,’ Olivia said, unbuttoning her white coat, which was stained with blood. ‘Use the line in my office.’
    â€˜Yeah. Thanks, Olivia.’
    She squeezed his arm. ‘Cheer up, it’s probably nothing.’
    Ricky went into the office, stopped in front of Olivia’s desk and twisted the phone towards him so he could key in his parents’ number. When he heard the engaged tone, he swore quietly, broke the connection and tried again. A couple of minutes later, when Olivia appeared with her hair down and looking boyish in a denim jacket, his face was a study in frustration.
    â€˜No luck?’
    â€˜Engaged. All the time.’
    â€˜Try again after lunch?’
    Ricky looked uncertain. ‘What if it’s serious?’
    â€˜Serious as in?’
    â€˜Maybe — maybe something’s happened to my brother.’
    â€˜Your brother?’
    â€˜Max. He’s in Chile.’
    Olivia nodded. ‘Oh yes, your mother said. It’s his gap year, isn’t it?’ She looked thoughtful. She had never met Ricky’s mother but they had had along conversation when Aisha called to thank Olivia for giving Picky a summer job. He had previously done work experience with a vet near their home in Somerset, she explained, and he needed experience with pets rather than farm animals. Ricky had already told her this, but Olivia was slightly awed to find herself talking to someone whose photograph she had seen in newspapers, and allowed Aisha to continue talking. She didn’t sound anything like Olivia’s idea of a model, not that she had expected Ricky’s mother to be Naomi Campbell, naturally, but all the same... Aisha was even in the latest issue of
Hello!,
which was delivered to the practice each week along with half a dozen other magazines. Olivia barely glanced at them, apart from the
New Yorker,
whose cartoons she liked, but Lisa read
Hello!
from cover to cover and had kept it open on the reception desk for a whole morning.
    â€˜Look,’ Olivia said, starting to feel a little uneasy herself — she hadn’t had a gap year but one of her friends had been arrested in Thailand and accused of trying to smuggle a tiny quantity of marijuana. ‘There’s no point in worrying unnecessarily. Let’s go to the Anapurna and you can keep trying from my mobile. Ricky? What’re you doing?’
    She stared as he knelt on the floor with his back to her, straightening a moment later with his own phone in his hand.
    â€˜I’ll take this — it should be half-charged.’ He switched it on and was about to slide the phone into a pocket when it beeped. He stared at the screen. ‘Shit, I’ve got four messages.’
    Probably the girlfriend, Olivia reassured herself. She waited as Ricky accessed his message service; noticing a lab report on her desk, she drew it towards her and frowned as she skimmed it, making a mental note to call the lab back when she returned from lunch. Putting it aside, she glanced at Ricky, whose face had lit up. He mouthed