At first he could not pin down the source of the feeling, because, on the surface at least, the clinic looked to him to be perfectly fine. And then he put his finger squarely on the problem. It was not that the place looked perfectly fine – it was that it looked perfect! There was no sign of wear and tear in the foyer. Nothing seemed used. It was almost as if the building had only opened its door for business the second before he had arrived. And the people were perfect, too. The nurses crossing the foyer in their tailored uniforms could have been modelling them on the catwalk. The doctors had the clean-cut muscular look of Olympic athletes. All in all, the clinic did not resemble any working hospital Rutter had ever seen. Rather, it presented itself as an almost Hollywood-inspired picture of how a top-flight hospital should look – and if Dr Kildare had suddenly walked into the foyer, he would have been only slightly surprised. Rutter showed his warrant card at the reception desk, and said he’d like to talk to whoever was in charge.
