Dead Tomorrow

This woman seemed credible. Her years of experience in the world of debt collecting had taught her a lot about human nature. In particular, telling the genuine people from the bullshitters.
    ‘So what would be involved in finding a matching liver for my daughter?’
    ‘I have a worldwide network, Mrs Beckett.’ She paused to sip some of her tea. ‘It will not be a problem to find an accident victim, somewhere on this planet, who is a type match.’
    ThenLynn asked the question she was dreading. ‘How much do you charge?’
    ‘The complete package, which includes all surgical fees for a senior transplant surgeon and a second surgeon, two anaesthetists, nursing staff, six months’ unlimited post-operative care, and all drugs, is–’ she shrugged, as if aware of the impact this was going to have–‘three hundred thousand euros.’
    Lynn gasped. ‘ Three hundred thousand? ’
    Marlene Hartmann nodded.
    ‘That’s–’ Lynn did some quick mental arithmetic–‘that’s about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds!’
    Caitlin gave her mother a forget-it look.
    Marlene Hartmann nodded. ‘Yes, that is about right.’
    Lynn raised her hands in despair. ‘That–that’s a huge sum. Impossible–I mean, I just don’t have that kind of money.’
    The German woman sipped her tea and said nothing.
    Lynn’s eyes met her daughter’s, and she saw all the earlier hope in them had gone.
    ‘I–I had no idea. Is there any–any–payment plan that you offer?’
    The broker opened her attaché case and pulled out a brown envelope, which she handed to Lynn.
    ‘This is my standard contract. I require half upfront and the balance immediately before the transplant takes place. It is not a big sum, Mrs Beckett. I never went to see anyone who could not raise this amount.’
    Lynn shook her head in dismay. ‘So much. Why is it so much?’
    ‘I can go through the costs with you. You have to understand that a liver starts to deteriorate if it is more than half an hour out of a body. So the person this comes from willhave to be flown here in an air ambulance on life support. As you know, it is illegal in this country to do this. All the medical team take a great risk, and of course we have to use top-quality people. There is one private clinic here in Sussex, but they are extremely expensive. I personally make very little out of this, after covering my costs. You could save some money by flying with your daughter to a country where legal issues are not such a problem. There is a clinic in Mumbai, in India, and also one in Bogotá, in Colombia. That would be perhaps fifty thousand euros less.’
    ‘But would we have to stay there for a long time?’
    ‘For some weeks, yes. Perhaps longer in case of complications, like an infection. Or rejection, of course. You must also think financially, beyond our six-month period, of the cost of anti-rejection drugs, which your daughter will have to take for life.’
    Lynn shook her head, feeling in total despair.
    ‘I–I don’t want us to be somewhere we don’t know. And I have to work. But it’s impossible, anyway. I don’t have that kind of money.’
    ‘What you have to think of, Mrs Beckett–may I call you Lynn?’
    She nodded, blinking away tears.
    ‘What you have to think of are the alternatives. What are Caitlin’s chances otherwise? That is what you must be thinking, no?’
    Lynn sank her head into her hands and felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She was trying to think clearly. A quarter of a million pounds. Impossible! She thought for an instant about some of her clients at work. She offered them payment plans spread over years. But an amount this large?
    ‘Perhaps you could raise a mortgage on this house?’ Marlene Hartmann said helpfully.
    ‘I’m mortgagedup to the hilt already,’ Lynn replied.
    ‘Sometimes my clients get help from family and friends.’
    Lynn thought about her mother. She lived in a rented council flat. She had some savings, but how much? She thought about her ex-husband. Malcolm earned good money on the dredger, but not this kind of money–and he had a new family to take care of. Her friends? The only one who had money was Sue Shackleton. Sue was divorced, from a wealthy guy, and had a nice house in one of Brighton’s smartest districts, but she had four children in private school and Lynn had no idea what her finances were like.
    ‘There is a bank in Germany that I work with,’ Marlene said. ‘They have arranged finance in the past