‘Dougie, this is … I’m sorry, I don’t know …’
‘Detective Inspector Stone.’
‘Dougie, this lady is a police officer who is here to … actually I’m not sure why she’s here, but there isn’t anything wrong, okay?’
He nodded and wandered away.
‘Dougie gets uncomfortable with new people.’
Kim was confused. ‘Isn’t this a kind of halfway house for ex-criminals?’
‘Well researched, Detective Inspector.’
‘What did Dougie do?’
‘Hmm … Dougie isn’t an official resident. He isn’t actually halfway to anywhere.’
Kim frowned. That seemed unkind.
‘My apologies, that sounded worse than it was meant. I mean that Dougie will be with us for as long as he chooses. He does not appear on our books, as he doesn’t fit the criteria for placement at Hardwick House, but you’ll have noticed that he is severely autistic and so appears as a sundry expense on our accounts.’
‘What is the criteria for a placement here?’ Kim asked. She would get to the post in a little while. First she wanted to understand what had drawn Alex to this particular facility.
‘First-time offence and genuine remorse for the crime.
Look, do you mind if we talk outside? I’m working on something.’
Kim followed out of the back door. A Jawa 500 speedway bike lay injured on the ground.
‘You ride speedway?’
His face tensed. ‘Used to, but a bit too much broadsiding into bends shot my knee to bits.’
A mixture of emotions emanated from him: sadness, regret, longing. The sport had obviously been important to him.
He sat on the tarpaulin that covered the ground and protected the bike from the wet grass. Kim took a white plastic patio chair.
‘Nice bike,’ she offered.
He offered her a ‘what do you know’ kind of smile.
‘So, what exactly does this place offer?’ she asked.
‘Reintegration into modern society, primarily. I challenge you to name me one thing that has remained unchanged in the last ten years.’
Kim thought for a moment. ‘Corned beef.’
David turned with a bemused look on his face. ‘What?’
‘Well, with all the advances in technology, why is there still that godforsaken key attached to the bottom of the tin that invariably snaps when you wind it around?’
David laughed out loud.
‘Seriously, why has no one ever addressed the problem?’
David sat back down, his face relaxed. ‘You know, I can see your point.’ He paused and met her gaze. Kim saw a spark of attraction in his eyes and was tempted to look away, but she held her ground.
‘What’s your story, Detective Inspector? How did you get to be a police officer?’
No way was that happening. However much at ease she was. ‘I like putting bad people away.’
‘Okay, that’s the end of that conversation. Now would you like to tell me why you’re here?’
Kim looked around to see Dougie walk out of the back door and in again. David ignored it.
‘Have you been to see Barry?’
David looked pained. ‘Yeah. He’s still on life support.’
‘Did you have any idea that he was going to see his ex-wife?’
David shook his head. ‘No, and if I had I would have discouraged it immediately. I just don’t get the sudden change in him. He seemed eager to move forward and make a new life for himself.’
That didn’t sound like a man ready to kill his family, Kim thought to herself.
‘I have to say, Doctor Thorne was pretty spectacular in keeping him talking for as long as she did, don’t you think?’
David nodded and lowered his eyes. He still had not touched anything on the bike, just looked at it a lot.
‘You must be pleased to have such a well-respected psychiatrist on your staff here?’
‘She’s not here in any official capacity,’ he clarified.
‘Oh, I don’t understand.’ Kim had guessed as much but she wanted to hear the story.
‘Alex came to us about eighteen months ago, after the death of her husband and two sons. They’d been killed by a drink-driver, a first-time offender who received a prison sentence of five years for taking three lives. She knew all about our philosophy of helping first-time offenders and she said it would be cathartic if she could actually help people like the man that had killed her family.’
Clearly this lie was one of her favourites. ‘And you were happy with that?’
‘Have you heard of looking a gift horse in the mouth?’
Kim wasn’t sure that was a direct answer.
Dougie wandered out and back into the kitchen, twice.
‘He’s heard Alex’s name. He has remarkable hearing. He worships her. When she’s here he follows her constantly.’
That Alex hadn’t found some way to exploit that yet was a mystery to Kim.
‘You obviously hold a great deal of respect for her.’
‘She is a very accomplished and renowned psychiatrist.’
Still no actual agreement, just a statement of fact. This conversation was turning into a dance and Kim wasn’t sure who was leading whom.
‘Hmm … I think it says something special about her if she’s willing to dedicate her time to the cause for no payment, don’t you?’
‘I think anyone that dedicates their time to …’
‘Jesus, will you just give me a straight answer?’
Kim had decided she would lead.
‘Your answers to my questions are so well phrased so as not to commit yourself to an opinion that you’re going to need a doctor to get the splinters out your ass.’
‘I didn’t realise this was an interrogation.’
‘It’s a conversation, David.’
‘Do I need a lawyer?’
His eyes were light green and intense.
‘Only for crimes against directness.’
He smiled. ‘What exactly do you want to know?’
‘Why you have doubts about either the capability or practice of Doctor Alexandra Thorne.’
‘Who said that I do?’
‘One single post in an obscure chat room Mr DaiHard137.’
David sat back in his chair. ‘It was a while ago.’
‘Didn’t get the response you were expecting, eh?’
‘I wasn’t anticipating any particular response. It was a simple question.’
‘But why?’
‘Why is it important to you?’
This man was infuriating. There was something here in this place and Kim just needed to find it.
‘Would it surprise you to know that her family didn’t die in a car accident, because they never existed?’
David frowned. ‘How do you know that? Why would she make it up?’
‘I know because I’ve confronted her about it and she’s admitted that she was never married. Why is a totally different question, but there is evidence to suggest she’s been manipulating her patients into carrying out actions that they would not normally do.’
Dougie came into the garden and stared at her for a few seconds before leaving again.
‘You need to keep your voice down. He’s getting agitated.’
Kim nodded her understanding and lowered her voice. ‘I have no direct proof of anything I’m saying to you, but I think you feel that something isn’t quite right either. Am I right?’
David was thoughtful. ‘I don’t think I have anything useful to offer. I’m struggling to believe what you’re saying and yet I’ve never been completely comfortable around her. There is something almost remote in Alex; she deals in emotion but doesn’t seem to fully understand it. But if you saw my question in the chatroom, then you saw the response from people she has treated.’
Kim nodded, feeling deflated. There was nothing here after all. David just had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right with the doctor but he had no actual proof of her efforts to manipulate vulnerable people.