St Just had been put on a ventilator as soon as the doctors arrived. When he emerged form the surgery, he was deeply sedated. The doctor surveyed O’Grady and Bianca grimly as he said, ‘We can’t conduct the tests today, I’m afraid.”

He sighed and spoke, almost to himself,

“It’s out of the question.”

O’Grady rubbed the back of his head, pacing wrathfully. Bianca stood, small and silent, staring at the doctor, an unspoken plea in her large, liquid brown eyes.

“Let’s wait, eh?” and he clapped Bianca on her shoulder in a fatherly way before striding away.

O’Grady came close, muttering things about ‘unfeeling bas*ard doctors’ and ‘blo*dy fool...