Read Hypocrite's Isle for Free Online Page B

him.’
    ‘We offered to set them up for him in the first place but he insisted on doing it himself, as if he didn’t trust us.’
    ‘Well, that’s ridiculous,’ soothed Mary. ‘You guys are the best. It’s just the way Gavin is. He’s such a loner …’
    ‘Tosser more like …’ murmured Tom.
    ‘Okay, Mary. We won’t tell him to go screw himself … this time.’
     
    But Gavin was not on his way to the cell culture suite. He had left the building and was making his way across the Meadows, the large green area to the south of the medical school, which separated the southern fringes of the Old Town from the respectable sandstone Victorian villas and tenements of the Marchmont and Bruntsfield areas. He had to bow his head against a bitter wind and thrust his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans to stop his fingers going numb. He had no real idea of where he was going. He just had to get out of the building. He had made a fool of himself and it was eating away at him, making his face burn with anger and embarrassment . Humble pie definitely wasn’t on the menu for today, but alcohol certainly was.
     
    ‘You’re late and you’re drunk,’ said Caroline when Gavin joined her in Doctors at ten past eight.
    Gavin took one look at her face and mumbled, ‘Give me a break, not you as well …’
    Caroline continued to stare at him, her silence demanding an explanation.
    ‘Look, I’ve just had a shit-awful day, right?’
    ‘And I can see how you’re dealing with it,’ said Caroline with a look of utter distaste.
    ‘Jesus,’ murmured Gavin, avoiding her gaze by looking down at the table.
    Caroline gave him a few moments to elaborate, but when nothing was forthcoming she said in carefully measured tones, ‘Well, I’ve had a shit-awful day too.’
    Gavin saw that her hands were shaking slightly. He interpreted this at first as anger, but when he looked at her he saw that there was something more. She looked hopelessly vulnerable.
    ‘My father phoned me this morning … my mother’s cancer has come back. She had breast cancer three years ago and they thought they’d caught it in time … but apparently not. It’s come back. Want to top that with your shit-awful day?’
    ‘Jesus, Carrie, I don’t know what to say …’
    ‘Of course not, you’re drunk and in no position to say anything without making a complete arse of yourself, so please don’t try. Just climb back into your trough of self-pity and leave me alone. This was always a bad idea.’
    ‘Carrie …’
    Caroline got up and left without looking back. Gavin tried to follow but stumbled over a chair leg and fell to the floor. A barman appeared at his elbow and hovered threateningly as he struggled to get up. ‘All right … I’m going.’
    The cold air made him wince as, in his drink-befuddled state, he set off in pursuit of Caroline to beg forgiveness. He called out her name every few yards. ‘Carrie, I’m so sorry … please believe me …’
    He finally came to a halt when, after a few minutes, he rounded a corner where he could see the road for more than two hundred yards ahead. Caroline was nowhere to be seen. ‘Shit,’ he murmured , finally conceding defeat. He turned slowly to start heading back. He had only gone a few yards when he was confronted by three youths who had emerged silently from the alley they had been standing in.
    ‘Student tosser,’ said one, flicking his cigarette butt across Gavin’s path.
    ‘Always moanin’ about their grants. Never enough for the buggers. Look at him, pissed as a newt. These bastards are having a laugh.’
    Gavin stepped off the pavement to pass them by, but one of them elbowed him in the side. ‘Is that right, fucker? You havin’ a laugh at us?’
    Gavin tried to continue on his way but was tripped from behind and a foot thudded into his body as he tried to get up. ‘Bastard!’ he gasped.
    Seizing on any excuse he sensed might afford him the moral high-ground, one of the yobs grabbed