Undue Influence


 Contents
 Cover
 Also by Priscilla Masters
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Prologue
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Chapter Twenty-Seven
 Chapter Twenty-Eight
 Chapter Twenty-Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty-One
 Chapter Thirty-Two
 Chapter Thirty-Three
 Chapter Thirty-Four
 Chapter Thirty-Five
 Chapter Thirty-Six
 Chapter Thirty-Seven
 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 Chapter Thirty-Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty-One
 Chapter Forty-Two
 Chapter Forty-Three
 Chapter Forty-Four
 Chapter Forty-Five
 Chapter Forty-Six
 UNDUE INFLUENCE
 
 Priscilla Masters
 
 
 
 Also by Priscilla Masters
 The Martha Gunn mysteries
 RIVER DEEP
 SLIP KNOT
 FROZEN CHARLOTTE *
 SMOKE ALARM *
 THE DEVIL’S CHAIR *
 RECALLED TO DEATH *
 BRIDGE OF SIGHS *
 The Joanna Piercy mysteries
 WINDING UP THE SERPENT
 CATCH THE FALLEN SPARROW
 A WREATH FOR MY SISTER
 AND NONE SHALL SLEEP
 SCARING CROWS
 EMBROIDERING SHROUDS
 ENDANGERING INNOCENTS
 WINGS OVER THE WATCHER
 GRAVE STONES
 A VELVET SCREAM *
 THE FINAL CURTAIN *
 GUILTY WATERS *
 CROOKED STREET *
 BLOOD ON THE ROCKS
 ALMOST A WHISPER *
 The Claire Roget mysteries
 DANGEROUS MINDS *
 THE DECEIVER *
 A GAME OF MINDS *
 * available from Severn House
 This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
 
 
 First world edition published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd,
 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE.
 Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 This eBook edition first published in 2023 by Severn House,
 an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 severnhouse.com
 Copyright © Priscilla Masters, 2023
 All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The right of Priscilla Masters to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
 A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0983-2 (cased)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-1007-4 (trade paper)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-1006-7 (e-book)
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental.
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 PROLOGUE
 When my parents named me I don’t know whether it was intended that I should follow in the Lady of the Lamp’s sterling example. They’ve never told me and I didn’t ask. I didn’t plan it, but sort of fell into nursing after spending a summer working in an old people’s home and rather liking it. When my A-level results arrived (better than expected), I was welcomed into the local university hospital to train as a registered nurse.
 And that was it. The beginning of my life as a nurse.
 ONE
 Saturday 15 May, 10.15 a.m.
 Question: is a nurse ever really off duty?
 One of the penalties of living in the town where I work is constant encounters with patients who don’t recognize that there are times when I am off duty. On my days off, even when I am wandering up the pedestrianized high street, idling at the stalls set out, weighing up whether to splash out on a plastic-lined beach bag or treat myself to a pot of flowers to stand outside my front door, they approach me for a consultation.
 ‘Nurse.’
 I pretended I hadn’t heard but jutted my chin out as though pondering this very important decision.
 ‘Nurse.’ This time harsher, more insistent. I sensed it was not going away however hard I ‘pondered’. I half turned into the plump, earnest face of Annette Parry, whose pale, sweating features were practically touching mine. I backed away as she hissed peppermint into me. ‘It’s me piles. Ask the doctor to leave out a prescription for some cream, will you?’
 I headed up the usual track, verbally finger-wagging at the request. ‘Now, you know, Mrs Parry, the doctor can’t prescribe without an examination.’
 She huffed out her disapproval and I put a conciliatory hand on her arm. ‘Just to make sure it’s not something more serious.’
 That alarmed her – as it was meant to. ‘You’re saying …?’ Her voice trailed away miserably as she contemplated an awful diagnosis while her face flushed with embarrassment as shoppers who might eavesdrop on the subject matter filed past.
 I offered another salve in a soft, intimate tone. ‘You can always see one of the lady doctors.’
 She bit her lip but nodded and turned away. I watched her for a moment, wondering whether she would take my advice or duck away from the possibility of ill health and buy an over-the-counter remedy – as many do – before resuming my dilemma between the beach bag and the terracotta pot of late-spring flowers. I still couldn’t make up my mind when I was distracted – again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryan Wood sliding something into his pocket.
 Ryan Wood, age twenty-three, was another of my patients. He wasn’t a bad lad but, to quote Olivia Newton John (in part), he was hopelessly devoted to drugs. The product of a violent, drunken