“Is it a big place, your farm, I mean, not Hemel Hemstead?”
“Not huge, a couple of hundred acres, so it’s enough for a decent dairy heard and for a variety of crops. Then there are the horses.”
“Horses, do you ride?”
“No, my mother and sisters do, though.”
“How many sisters?”
“Three, all younger.”
“So, no Mrs Lyddell?”
“No, not yet, only my mum, as I’m sort of between relationships, at present. I was involved with a girl when we were going through vet’s school, but we broke up last year. How about you?”
“I don’t know. But as no one is rushing up to me saying how pleased they are that I’m okay, I must assume there isn’t anyone.”
“That’s really sad.”
I shrugged. “I find it rather weird. I mean, I don’t know if there’s anyone worrying about me, missing me or even if they tried to do away with me. I could be a really horrible person, who has made loads of people really unhappy, so they’ll all be only too happy to see me gone!”
“No, you could never be that.”
I looked at David. He was obviously attracted to me and was being gallant. I was confused, as the person I used to be would have come back with a sarcastic remark, or even worse, told him his fortune in no uncertain terms. However, the person I was becoming actually enjoyed the game. I knew who I used to be, but this new person was a mystery and was taking over.
“Thanks, but I could be a serial killer for all you know.”
“I doubt it, somehow,” he said with a chuckle.
“So do I, but you never know.”
We sat in the sunshine for a minute, watching the people going past.
“This is one of my favourite pastimes, you know,” he said.
“What is?”
“Watching the world go by. I’d rather be sitting at the table of a street café, but this is better than that bloody ward!”
I was conscious that he was watching me.
“What?” I asked.
He smiled. “You have the most wonderful complexion, did you realise that?”
“I’m just perfect, or so the doctor says. He thinks I’m an alien clone.”
David laughed. “I think he might be right. I can’t believe that you haven’t got a boyfriend.”
“I could be a lesbian,” I said, recalling a previous conversation.
He smiled. “Then all I can say is it would be a terrible waste.”
I looked at him. I was enjoying flirting with him. I wondered how screwed up I was getting. The old me wanted to walk away and turn my back of this silliness, but the new me was not the same person. She was winning, too.
“I’d better get back, they’ve probably got the search parties out for me,” I said.
“Must you?”
“I’m not very good company, I’m afraid. My conversation is somewhat limited in the circumstances.”
“You’re the best company I’ve had over the last week.”
“That says bugger all about the company you must have had, then. What were they, a couple of old dribblies and a dementia patient?”
“No, there was a painter and decorator who fell off his ladder. He went on and on about bloody football. Then there was an old soldier, who rambled on about the Falklands war.”
“At least they’ve interests and memories to share. I haven’t!”
“Maybe, but you’re funny and very pretty.”
“Ah, your motives are revealed, you’re after my body!” I said.
He went bright red and looked quite embarrassed.
“It’s okay, I’m only joking,” I said. “But in case it’s true, I think I can out-run you at the moment!”
He relaxed and laughed.
“Which ward are you in?” he asked.
“I don’t have a clue. I’m in my own room, in any case.”
“Do they know you’re here?”
“Nope, I just walked past the nurse on duty and she didn’t even look at me.”
“That’s probably because you don’t look as if you have anything wrong with you.”
I watched a car pull into the car park. The man who got out was Detective Inspector Furness.
“I think I’m going to have to go back to my room. I may see you later, sometime,” I said, standing up.
“I’d like to, would you mind if I came and found you?”
“When you do, let me know where I am,” I said, grinning.
I followed the Inspector into the hospital and right down the corridor. He’d only seen me in bed, so it probably didn’t occur to him that the pretty girl walking just behind him was the same one as he’d seen attached to all the drips and monitors.
He stopped at my door and seemed concerned that I was missing. I touched him on the shoulder.
“Looking for me?”
He looked relieved and then stared at my chest.
“Um, yes. You look completely different.”
“Thanks, I have to admit to feeling better, even if I can’t remember anything.”
“PC Healy tells me you’re going to be hypnotised this afternoon, is that right?”
“PC? Oh, Karen, right. Yeah, so they tell me. There’s a psychiatrist coming to see me in half and hour, and then this afternoon, a psychologist coming to see me to try to hypnotise me to see if my subconscious is hiding anything.”
“May I be present?”
I shrugged, sitting down on my bed.
“I don’t care. I suppose it’s up to the doctors. Karen told me my fingerprints didn’t come back with a match.”
“She shouldn’t have told you that, but yes, we still don’t know who you are. Your DNA also came back normal but no trace on any of our records. We’ve circulated your photograph to all forces in the country and through Interpol.”
I was pleased about the DNA, but panic hit me, which I tried not to show.
“My photograph?”
“We had one taken when you were unconscious. If you died, we wanted to be prepared for the investigation.”
“Oh.”
“It’s very odd, we even had a spot on Crime Watch on TV last night, but no one has come forward. No, I lie, we had one enquiry from a man whose brother has gone missing, but when I said you were definitely a girl in her early twenties, he rang off.”
“Did the man say who the missing man was?” I asked as alarm bells rang inside my head. Whoever dumped me was the only person who knew where I ended up. That meant that Harrison was likely to start nosing around in case the girl was the same as his intruder.
“No, he just said he’d been a soldier and had never been the same since leaving the army. Once he learned you were a girl and in your late teens, he rang off.”
“Did you say where I was found?”
He frowned. “Not specifically, why?”
“I’m curious. I mean, if I was dumped by someone, it would stand to reason that they’d try a second time if they knew I’m alive.”
He looked at me with a strange expression.
“Memory or no memory, you’ve more than enough common sense. We’d thought of that, so we simply showed your photograph and that you were found north of the Humber.”
My brain was already ahead of him. Was David a plant?
Was he working for Harrison, sent to find out who I really was?
I felt myself becoming paranoid.
“Do you feel in danger?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I’m concerned that if I am in danger, I don’t know about it.”
A short tubby man dressed in a slightly dishevelled suit interrupted us.
“Hello, my name’s Doctor George Mclean, I’m to see the poor lass with no memory,” he said. He had a pronounced Scottish accent.
“That’s me,” I said.
The Inspector introduced himself and asked if he could be present.
“No, not at this time, I’m afraid. I have to do an evaluation of this young woman. I understand there’s to be a hypnotherapy session after lunch. I’m sure you can come back for that.”
The Inspector left, rather reluctantly.