‘She’s not in good physical shape,’ said Cox. ‘I don’t think she’s eaten properly for weeks. The knife wounds have barely healed. The cut on her leg is still open. And I’m going to take X-rays later to see how the ribs are knitting.’
‘And that’s before I get involved or we think about exorcism,’ said Mason. ‘We’re wondering just how much more, at the moment, Jennifer Lomax can take, physically and mentally.’
‘Surely it’s a measure of how strong Jennifer is, mentally, that she’s been able to withstand it?’ said Hall.
‘There’s a limit,’ warned the psychiatrist. ‘I think she might be close to reaching it. Which is why I’d like to know what you think you can do?’
Before Hall was halfway through explaining Mason and Cox were exchanging looks. The moment Hall finished Mason said flatly, ‘I don’t like it. You’ve no basis for believing that it would work. And it’ll put a hell of a strain on her.’
‘Any greater strain than she’s already under?’
‘Additional.’
‘I outmanoeuvred Jane to get us away from the hospital.’
‘You’re talking of more than outmanoeuvring her now.’
‘Are you telling me, on medical or mental health grounds, not to try it?’
Both doctors were momentarily silent. Cox said, ‘I’d want to detox her, first. And after that give her some time to rest.’
Mason said, ‘And I’d like to start treating her for the depression.’
‘I wouldn’t be able to do anything for some time…’ Hall paused, forcing the admission. ‘Perhaps never.’
‘What if both of you fail?’ demanded an unimpressed Cox.
It was the psychiatrist who answered. ‘Then she’ll probably kill herself. Which maybe she should be allowed to do before Jane makes her kill someone else even if she isn’t allowed to get near Emily.’
Jennifer was wearing a track suit, too, grey against Hall’s deep blue. Her hair was combed but her face was devoid of make-up, shiny and sallow. There was a hollowness to her cheeks Hall hadn’t noticed before and her eyes, still black-ringed, were red-rimmed, too: incredibly, startling him, it actually made Jennifer look ghost-like. She looked up disinterestedly through glassy eyes at their entrance. The animation was brief, with her first demand. ‘Is Emily safe? Hidden?’
‘Absolutely,’ promised Hall. ‘No-one can get to her.’
‘ Wanna bet. ’
It seemed an instinctive movement for Jennifer to reach out for Hall’s hand. Unquestioningly – almost just as instinctively – he took it. Her skin was clammy but at the same time cold, feverish. She said, ‘I saw what was happening at the hospital.’
Hall located the television, close to the window, louvred doors enclosing the screen. It was a huge suite, by comparison to the wards she had been in. The furniture was predominantly comfortable, appeal-to-everyone modern, with a few pieces – a side-table and a bureau – that could have been antique and from the cost of the clinic probably were. There was a profusion of flowers, mostly roses and lilies, in the sitting-room in which they were and more in what he was able to see through the open door of the bedroom. ‘You’re out of it now.’
‘When we were getting out Jane said they would have torn me apart if they’d got to me,’ reminded Jennifer. ‘Would they have, really?’
‘ You betcha! ’
‘It didn’t happen,’ said Mason, placating. ‘They didn’t get the chance and you don’t need to think about what didn’t happen.’
‘ What’s going to happen from now on? ’
‘But would they have done?’ insisted Jennifer.
‘It was an uncontrollable mob,’ said Mason. ‘They might have tried to hurt you. Others would have wanted to worship you.’
‘ Don’t I always tell you the truth! Remember the slogan: you heard it here first. ’
Hall frowned at the psychiatrist’s directness and at the fear that shuddered through Jennifer, making her hand tremble. Forcefully he said, ‘The past is just that, past. We’re planning a future now. We’ve got a lot to talk about.’
‘ Let’s hear it, big boy! ’
‘She’s talking to me all the time. Mocking, as usual.’
‘And I want to talk to her. Like I did last night. But not immediately…’ He indicated the psychiatrist. ‘Dr Mason wants to try to help get rid of Jane-’
‘ Don’t waste your time! What’s lover boy want with me? ’
‘She says don’t waste your time,’ said Jennifer, stopping short of repeating the entire remark.
Hall ignored the interruption. ‘I know we talked about it and you don’t believe in any God, but he wants you to try exorcism…’
‘… There’s a chapel here. A visiting priest: rather high Church of England. He’ll try to help,’ picked up Mason. ‘It doesn’t matter that you don’t believe. And I want us to spend a lot of time together, on other things. You’re giving up. You mustn’t give up. I want to stop you thinking like that…’
‘I don’t know how to think any more. Too tired.’
‘ I won! I’m in charge.’
‘No, you’re not too tired. Not really. Just for the moment. We’re going to get you better.’
‘ I’ve never felt better.’
‘How can I be got better?’
‘By letting me help you. By letting us all help you,’ insisted the psychiatrist. He looked pointedly towards the lawyer.
‘Dr Mason has helped us a lot already,’ responded Hall. ‘Not just last night. Before. He wants to treat you – help rid you of Jane – but he also wants to write a clinical report on it. A technical paper that other psychiatrists and psychologists can read and learn from…’
‘ Freaky, freaky, freaky! ’
Jennifer gave a weary sigh. ‘There was a discussion about books on television.’
‘This isn’t – won’t be – a book,’ stressed Mason, urgently. ‘It will be a technical account of everything that’s happened. Not sensational at all.’
Jennifer gave another sigh. ‘Why not?’
In his urgency Mason had been leaning forward, elbows on his knees. Now he eased back, smiling.
‘ And he’s got his piece of flesh. You’re going to make a lot of people rich, Jennifer.’
‘There’s another reason you don’t feel well,’ said Cox, involving himself. ‘Your body’s full of chemicals. I’m going to wash them all out. Make your body clean as well as fit again.’
Hall was glad it was better expressed than before. Breathing in, preparing himself, he said, ‘And now it’s time to talk to Jane again. Like I did last night. Just me and Jane, her words coming out of your mouth, exactly as she says them.’
‘ Got you by the halls, scumbag, before you start! ’
‘You can’t read my mind, just Jennifer’s. So how do you know what I’m going to do?’
‘ Don’t need to know what you’re going to do.’
‘Oh, you do. Otherwise you’ll never prove a lot of things.’
‘ Don’t need to prove a lot of things! ’
‘Didn’t prove that anyone murdered you, did you?’
‘ So what? I’m getting my revenge. He’s dead. She’s a freak.’
‘You saw the television this morning?’ demanded Hall, as the recollection – and the opening it offered – came to him.
‘ What about it?
‘Hear what they were calling you: what the papers were saying? Homicidal maniac, on the channel I watched. That true Jane? You a maniac… a homicidal maniac? People can understand a wife driven to despair by a cheating husband: sympathize, even. But not someone who kills for fun. That’s what they’re calling you. A maniac who kills for fun…’
Jane’s rage began shaking through Jennifer and her hand slipped from Hall’s. She snatched out for it again.
‘ Not mad! Jennifer’s going to be mad but not me. The bastard deserved to die. Murdered me so he had to die: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. That’s the rule.’
‘You don’t know that,’ challenged Hall. ‘You know he was cheating on you, with Jennifer. Like he was cheating on Jennifer with Rebecca. But you can’t prove he murdered you…’