The Scribe

by A A Chaudhuri

  It was hot in the room, as was so often typical of hospitals, but especially so in the case of burn victims, whose damaged skin prevents them from effectively regulating body temperature. Maddy found herself perspiring under her coat and quickly removed it, along with her cardigan. She briefly glanced up at Carver watching through the window. He gave her a barely visible nod of encouragement before she turned her attention back to Paul.

  Half of him was covered in bandages, including his right eye. She had therefore deliberately sat on the good side of him, making eye contact with his left. The eyes were the window to the soul, and if she was going to get the truth from him, she needed to see at least one of them.

  ‘Because I’m curious, I guess. Curious to know whether you’re just plain insane, or whether there’s some deeper issue at work here. I mean, you blame what you’ve done on your mother, on Stirling for rejecting you, on the fact that women like your mother need to be taught a lesson. But I want to know if there’s something else? Something that tipped you over the edge. If there is, I might be able to help.’

  ‘Water, my mouth is dry.’ Paul gestured to a plastic cup lying on his bedside table.

  Maddy nodded, put the cup to his mouth, then watched him take slow, painful sips.

  ‘Enough,’ he said.

  ‘So?’ Maddy persisted.

  ‘How could you possibly help me?’ Paul’s speech was laboured, every word an effort.

  ‘Well, there’s a chance of your sentence being reduced if your defence counsel can prove temporary insanity.’

  She saw the briefest spark in Paul’s good eye. ‘How would they be able to do that?’ he asked.

  ‘They’d need to prove something happened which caused you to lose all reasoning, so that you failed to comprehend the nature and quality of the crimes you committed.’ She paused. ‘What I mean is, did something else motivate you – something that made you feel seriously wronged, and therefore justified in framing Stirling? After all, if the jury can be convinced that your main aim was to frame Stirling for murder, rather than kill those women – which is what Marcia did with her own two hands after all, you just helped facilitate that – it might help you.’

  Again, she studied Paul’s reaction. Instead of sadness, regret, she saw his brain going into overdrive. He’d realised what this meant – that there was a potential way out – and right now he was desperately trying to think of one. And at that moment, she knew. Knew for certain that Paul had no idea Stirling was his real father, and that the murders he’d helped Marcia commit were driven by something biological – a defect in him that had always been there, simmering at the surface until Marcia helped bring it to boiling point.

  ‘You can help me, Maddy,’ he said excitedly, his good eye flickering with a madness that made Maddy’s stomach turn. ‘You’re a great lawyer. You can think something up, invent some argument to get my sentence reduced. I know you can. You’ve always been there for me. Not like my mother. Not like Paige, all the other bitches. They deserved what they got. But you’re like a diamond in the rough. It’s Stirling who deserves to rot in jail, not me. I was so much better for him than those promiscuous whores.’

  She didn’t answer. Her friend was insane, but he’d also known exactly what he was doing. His guilt was unequivocal, and she hoped, for darling Paige’s sake, that he’d be locked up for a very long time.

  She left without saying another word, closing the door behind her.

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  About the author

  A A Chaudhuri is a former City lawyer. After devoting her early years to sport as a highly ranked British junior tennis player, she went on to gain a degree in History at University College London, and a commendation in both the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course at the London College of Law. After working for major firms in London, she turned her back on law in 2008 to pursue her passion for writing.

  In addition to books in a series featuring feisty lawyer Maddy Kramer, she has written four stand-alone novels, including racy thriller, Illicit Retainers, and political thriller, The Darker Side of White. She has also self-published two women’s fiction novels under the name Alexandra Sage.

  She now lives in Surrey with her family.