Cocaine Blues Read Online Free PDF

scarlet-fever like rash.
    ‘Sapraemia,’ she announced. Dr MacMillan nodded.
    ‘Treatment?’
    ‘Salicyclates and anti-tetanus serum.’
    ‘Good. Tell them to prepare a bed in the septic ward, and the theatre as soon as you can. If I remove the source of the infection she will have a better chance. Arrange for ice-water sponging and paraldehyde by injection.
    ‘Poor mite,’ added Dr MacMillan, touching Alice’s cheek. ‘But a bairn herself.’
    ***
    Bert sipped his tea suspiciously. It was hot and sweet and he drank it quickly, burning his tongue. He did not like this at all. He suspected that Alice was going to lead them into trouble and fervently wished that the tall man in Lonsdale Street had chosen another cab to deposit the poor little rat into. Cec was staring at the wall, his tea untouched.
    ‘Drink your tea, mate,’ suggested Bert, and Cec said, ‘She’s only a kid,’ again. Bert sighed. He had known Cec for many years and was aware that his heart was as soft as putty. The rooming house in Carlton where they both lived presently lodged three cats and two dogs which had all been found in extremis and nursed back to aggressive, barking, scratching health by his partner. After all, Bert thought, I seen him sit up all night nursing a half-drowned kitten. Plain nutty on anything weak and wanting, that’s Cec. And what Mrs Browning is going to say if he wants to bring a stray girl home, I don’t know. She created something chronic about the last puppy. The thought made him smile and he patted Cec on the shoulder.
    ‘Tails up, Cec. She’ll be apples,’ he encouraged, and Cec took up his cup.
    He had barely raised it to his lips when Dr MacMillan entered the room, and they both stood up. She waved them to their hard hospital chairs again and sat down heavily in the only easy chair. Cec poured her tea.
    ‘How is she?’ he asked anxiously. Dr MacMillan shot him a quick look, and saw the brown eyes full of concern, without the inevitable fear which would have marked the man responsible for Alice’s condition or for her operation. She sighed.
    ‘It is not good. She waited too long to come to us. She has blood poisoning and I don’t know if we can save her. It will be touch and go. It depends upon how strong her will to live is.’
    ‘Can’t you do anything?’ demanded Bert.
    ‘No. Even modern medicine can do very little. She must fight her own battle, and maybe lose it. Now, tell me all about the tall man in Lonsdale Street.’
    ‘About six feet, lofty beggar, with dark hat and suit, looked like a gentleman. He was worried, but. Gold signet ring on the left little finger with a diamond in it big as a hatpin.’
    ‘Was he a pimp?’
    ‘Nah, and she’s no whore,’ objected Bert. ‘I should know, I’ve carried enough. Only people who can afford taxis, almost.’
    ‘No, she’s not one of them,’ agreed Cec, ‘she made a mistake, that’s all. Some bloke ain’t acted square. He’s podded her and then left her, and she must have a respectable family, because she said she could go home now. You remember, mate? She wouldn’t have said that unless she came from a good home, and they didn’t know.’
    ‘Yair, she was frantic,’ said Bert. ‘We said that you wouldn’t tell ’em.’
    ‘Nor shall I,’ agreed Dr MacMillan. ‘I shall tell them that she is here, but not what brought her here. One can get blood poisoning from any breach in the skin. A rose thorn would do. What else can you recall about the man who brought her to you?’
    ‘Nothin’ much else. Black hair, I reckoned, and a toffy look. Eh, Cec?’
    Cec, overcome by his unaccustomed eloquence, nodded.
    ‘Yair, and I reckon we’ve seen him before.’
    ‘Where?’
    ‘Might have been in the cab, might have just been on the street—have a feeling that it was somewhere around Lon. or Little Lon.…Cec, does that toffy mug ring a bell?’
    ‘Nah, mate. You musta been on your pat.’
    ‘We don’t usually work together, see. Cec