EPILOGUE
CROFT PARK HOSPITAL
One month later
‘Where is Fran?’
Staff nurse Claire Browning, who was reading through some patient notes, looked up to see who was asking. Ward manager Gemma Evans was leaning on the counter of the nurses’ station, frowning.
‘Errm … I’m not sure, actually, Gemma. I haven’t seen her for a while.’
‘Hmmm. I hope she hasn’t gone off for a sneaky nap again. I did warn her …’
Claire shook her head vehemently.
‘No, no, I’m sure she hasn’t. She was mortified about that, and really upset that she’d had a verbal warning. She wouldn’t. Not again.’
‘Where is she then?’ Gemma looked left and right, but the long corridor was empty. It was just coming up to four a.m., and the high-security hospital was quiet, most of its residents soundly sleeping.
‘I really don’t know.’ Claire was frowning now too. ‘I mean, I saw her probably about half an hour ago. One of the patients buzzed, so she went down to see what was wrong; it was her turn. And then Margo in room two wet the bed, so I went to deal with that, and just got back here five minutes ago, and Fran still wasn’t back. It can’t have been anything serious, though, or she’d have rung for back-up …’
‘Which patient? Which patient buzzed?’
The alarm in Gemma’s voice sent a nervous current through Claire.
‘Errm … room eight, down the other end. Applegate. Why?’
‘Shit. Come with me, quick.’
Gemma turned and began to run down the corridor, and Claire, suddenly feeling panicky, leapt from her chair and followed. The door to room eight was ajar, the light off.
‘Fran? Fran are you there?’ Gemma pushed the door open and flicked the light switch. ‘Oh my … GOD! Shit. SHIT!’
‘Gemma … what … what’s happened?’ Claire clamped her hands to her mouth, eyes bulging as she gaped at what was lying on the floor of room eight. Fran – at least she thought it must be Fran, although it was rather hard to tell, because her face was covered in so much blood, but it was certainly Fran’s long red hair – was lying on her side, wearing only bra and knickers, one arm twisted unnaturally behind her. Her nose looked broken, and there was a small pool of blood under her head, the metallic tang of it sharp in the air. Gemma was on her knees, groping for a pulse, repeating the word ‘shit’ over and over again.
‘Got it. She’s alive. Only just though. Get help, Claire, quick, for fuck’s sake.’
‘Sorry. I’m on it.’
Claire dragged her eyes from her friend’s slumped body, ran to the phone which sat on the bedside table, and hit the emergency button.
‘They’re on their way.’
‘Good girl.’
Gemma was rubbing Fran’s hand gently, murmuring reassuringly. Claire took a deep, shaky breath and moved a step closer, then stopped as something struck her. Why was Fran half naked? Where were her clothes, her belt with all the keys and security passes, her shoes? She looked around the room, but it was neat and organized, no clothes anywhere. A horrible suspicion suddenly flashed into her mind. Could the patient …?
‘Gemma. Gemma,’ she said. ‘Where is Flora Applegate?’
NEWSFLASH
A woman who killed a baby and framed his mother for the crime has escaped from a high-security psychiatric hospital. Flora Applegate was detained under the Mental Health Act in February, after admitting the manslaughter of eight-month-old Zander Ashfield. On Saturday morning her bloodstained clothing was found on a bridge two miles from the secure Croft Park Hospital in south Wales.
Miss Applegate, who staff described as ‘disturbed and depressed’ in the days leading up to her disappearance, attacked a nurse before making her escape, leaving the thirty-year-old woman with serious injuries.
South Wales Police say she is potentially extremely dangerous, and should not be approached …
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Am I Guilty? was inspired by an American true crime podcast I listened to during my commute between Gloucestershire and London for work. Season two of Breakdown, a podcast by legal affairs writer Bill Rankin of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was called Death in a Hot Car: Mistake or Murder? and featured the case of Justin Ross Harris, who was convicted of killing his 22-month-old son Cooper by leaving him in his car while he went to work on a hot day in Atlanta in June 2014. Harris was charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2016. As I write these acknowledgements, in autumn 2018, twenty-nine people have died in a similar manner in the USA so far this year. The podcast made me think: what would happen if something like that happened here, in the UK, where such incidents are incredibly rare? And hence Thea’s story began to take shape. Breakdown is a brilliant podcast – thank you so much for keeping me company on my long, dark drives to work and for the inspiration.
With such upsetting subject matter, it was very important to me to get the details correct, and I’d also like to thank Adam Grinsell from RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents), for information and statistics on deaths in hot cars.
I am also grateful to Ian Evans from CAPT (the Child Accident Prevention Trust), and Maryellen Clare from the NSPCC (the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) for their help and advice.
A big thank you once again to former senior police detective Stuart Gibbon, for his always valuable advice on police and CPS practice and procedure.
I’ve never thanked a cat in my book acknowledgements before. Here we go – thanks to Hamish, next door’s beautiful ginger cat, who is thankfully very much alive and well at the time of writing, for letting me use his name and description; and to my other neighbour, David Wares, for the use of his name too.
Huge thanks and much love to my husband, family, friends and work colleagues for their unwavering support and enthusiastic promotion of my novels to anyone who will listen, and to all the wonderful members of the book blogging and reviewing community, who never cease to amaze me with their passion, generosity and kindness. Your support means so much.
And finally, an enormous thank you to my fabulous agent, Clare Hulton, and to everybody at HarperCollins and Killer Reads, especially my brilliant editor Kathryn Cheshire, fantastic copy editor Janette Currie, marketing whiz Claire Fenby and Micaela Alcaino who designed the book’s gorgeous cover. Thank you all for helping me make Am I Guilty? the very best it could be.
About the Author
Jackie Kabler was born in Coventry but spent much of her childhood in Ireland. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then a television news correspondent for twenty years, spending nearly a decade on GMTV followed by stints with ITN and BBC News. During that time, she covered major stories around the world including the Kosovo crisis, the impeachment of President Clinton, the Asian tsunami, famine in Ethiopia, the Soham murders and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Jackie now divides her time between crime writing and her job as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. She has a degree in zoology, runs long distances for fun and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.
www.jackiekabler.com
@jackiekabler
@officialjackiekabler
/jackiekablerauthor
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Am I Guilty? Page 27