‘Is she looking forward to seeing me?’ Her voice broke with anxiety. You never knew how Ginny’s mind was working.
Swinging the form round, the nurse handed her the pen. ‘Sign please. The young man too.’
While they signed, she made a brief phone call. By the time the pen and form were returned, another nurse had appeared to accompany them. She was a gentle giant with huge feet and lipstick smudged all over her teeth, and she chatted as they walked. ‘Your sister is so much better,’ she said. ‘She’s working out in the gym… under supervision of course. It’s an innovation for us. Physical exercise helps to calm the mind. That’s the theory, and I must say it does seem to work.’
She led them down yet another corridor. It was lined with windows through which the sun poured in. ‘Of course there are some patients who would not benefit from that kind of exercise. Some are sadly too ill to cope with that level of therapy. Others might be very strong, extremely violent people who could pick up a weight and crush your head with it.’ She gave them a smile which was meant to put them at ease. ‘Fortunately there are few of that nature in this establishment.’
Lianne flinched as they were led into the day-room. It was in this very room that Ginny had attacked her. ‘Will you be staying with us?’ she asked the nurse.
‘Not actually inside the room. We won’t be far away, and we’ll be able to see everything that goes on.’
Lianne looked puzzled. ‘If you’re not in the room, how can you see what’s going on?’
The gentle giant smiled. ‘See that watercolour?’ She pointed to a painting of swans on a lake. Her voice dipped to an intimate whisper. ‘We’ll be looking through that.’
Dave was fascinated. ‘James Bond stuff, eh? I’ve heard of things like that, but I’ve never heard of a two-way painting before. I always thought they used a two-way mirror?’
Placing her fingers on her lips she murmured, ‘Shh. I’m not really supposed to have told you.’ Her eyes turned to Lianne. ‘Only you had a bad time on the last visit, and I wanted to put your mind at rest.’
‘Thank you.’ Lianne was glad she had told her. ‘Does Ginny know?’
The smile stiffened, and the voice became authoritative. ‘No, she doesn’t. And you must not say anything.’ She waved her arm round the room. It was a pleasant room, overlooking the garden, and contained a number of comfortable-looking armchairs. ‘Sit where you like,’ she said. ‘Someone will be along with refreshments in a while.’ Then she hurried from the room.
There were two armchairs set opposite each other. Lianne sat in one. Dave sat in the other. ‘I’ll move when she comes in,’ he confided.
Another nurse arrived with the refreshment trolley. Lianne had a strong cup of coffee, while Dave had a soft drink. Neither of them really wanted a drink, but it seemed impolite to refuse.
‘You heard what the nurse said,’ Dave remarked, holding Lianne’s hand. ‘She said Ginny was so much better.’
‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ Lianne glanced up at the painting. ‘Do you believe her?’ she whispered. ‘It seems just like a painting to me.’
He shrugged. ‘Who knows?’ he said. ‘It seems like a good idea though, don’t you think?’
‘A bit sneaky.’ In fact the idea had angered her. It seemed like a gross intrusion of privacy. ‘But I expect you’re right. Maybe it’s a better idea than having someone standing over us, like they did last time.’ She knew her sister better than most. Ginny was proud and independent. Maybe it was the presence of a guard that had provoked the attack.
A tall, slim woman in a bright blue cardigan entered the room. ‘Hello,’ she said, shaking hands with each of them. ‘Ginny will be here any minute.’ Addressing herself solely to Lianne she said, ‘I just wanted a quick word before you see her.’
Lianne had met her before. Dr White was Ginny’s psychotherapist. ‘She’s all right, isn’t she?’
The doctor strolled to the door. Lianne followed. ‘Ginny is coming along fine,’ she said. ‘She’s responding to the new treatment. Beginning to talk at last.’
‘How long will it take for her to get better?’ Ginny had to get better. Please God, don’t let her spend the rest of her life in here!
The doctor gazed out of the window, gathering her thoughts, in the way that doctors do. Treading the thin line between telling the truth and dashing any hopes, or creating hope by fabricating a little white lie. It was a difficult balancing act.
‘That’s not for any of us to say,’ she replied tactfully. ‘No two patients are the same. I’m afraid your sister has withdrawn into herself. She’s a lost soul at the moment, and until we can bring her out of herself, we have no way of getting to the root of it all.’
‘Will this new treatment bring her out of herself?’
‘I’m not God,’ she answered with a wry little smile. ‘I’m merely a psychotherapist. However, I do have high hopes for your sister’s full recovery. In time.’ Realising that her assurances meant little, she laid a comforting hand on Lianne’s shoulder. ‘Trust me,’ she said simply. ‘Your sister is in the best hands. When she comes, you’ll see how much she’s improved since the last time.’
She was right.
When, a few moments later, Ginny came into the room accompanied by a middle-aged and formidable-looking nurse, Lianne could hardly believe her eyes. There was a calmness about her that immediately put Lianne’s mind at rest, and she was smiling. Dark, beautiful eyes glowed with pleasure as they rested on her sister’s eager face. ‘Hello, Lianne,’ she said, and even her voice was smiling.
Lianne choked back the tears. ‘Oh, Ginny! You do look so much better. You do!’ She would have run to her, hugged her close like she used to. Only she still wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of her sister. She wasn’t sure of herself. And the memory of what happened last time seemed to come between them.
The nurse ushered her forward. ‘There you are, Ginny. Here’s your sister to see you.’ She made no move to leave.
Ginny gave her a withering glance. ‘I won’t hurt her,’ she said pointedly. The previous incident was on all their minds.
The nurse’s smile was bright. ‘Of course you won’t!’ She stood like some great tree, loath to uproot herself.
It was only when Lianne said that Dr White thought it was all right for them to be alone that she visibly relaxed. ‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ she said. ‘I won’t be too far away. Call if you want me.’ Her eyes bored into Lianne’s. So did the warning.
In a moment the nurse had joined her companion. Closeted in the next room, they monitored the scene. ‘I still don’t trust her,’ one said. ‘Virginia Lucas is a devious bugger… slit your throat soon as look at you, I reckon.’
‘Then she has no right being in there without one of us alongside.’
‘Orders. They give ’em and we jump.’
The other nurse watched for a while. She saw how Dave moved to another chair at the back of the room, his whole attention riveted on Ginny. He was neither relaxed, nor listening to what was being said. Instead he was perched right on the edge of his chair, as though expecting to leap up at any second.
‘He doesn’t trust her.’ The quiet remark filtered through their thoughts. ‘I don’t expect for one minute he’s here because he wants to be.’ A gracious smile as she gazed on Lianne’s face. ‘He’s here to look after his sweetheart, and who can blame him?’
‘We see it all in here, don’t we, eh?’ She shivered. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before though.’ Pointing to Lianne, she muttered, ‘There’s Good.’ Pointing to Ginny, she whispered, ‘And there’s Evil.’
The big woman gave her a sideways glance. ‘Nobody’s all good, or all evil. Anyway, you shouldn’t be talking like that.’ Funny, though, because she had been thinking exactly the same.
‘Do you reckon she’d go for her sister again?’
‘If she does, we’ll be ready.’
Impatience. ‘But do you think she will… go for her?’
‘I still think they were wrong not to have one of us in there with her.’
‘Doesn’t matter what we think.’
‘But it should! What if she suddenly throws a fit, and we can’t get to her in time?’ She drew in a sharp, hissing breath. ‘What if this time she… kills?’
‘Then it won’t be on our conscience.’
‘That’s callous.’
‘Not callous: sensible. If it was up to me, we’d go in and stay there until the meeting was over. But the decision has been made not to stand guard. It’s a wrong decision I grant you, but it’s not up to us. You and me are general dogsbodies, paid to nurse the sick, and to be honest, I’m thankful that the more frightening decisions don’t fall on our narrow shoulders.’
The other one looked at her companion’s shoulders, and gave a little titter. ‘What! You could carry the whole building on them shoulders,’ she said with admiration.
But the big nurse seemed not to hear. Intent on the activities in the adjoining room, she whispered, ‘Did you see that? Oh, I don’t like the look of that.’ There was no need to whisper, because they could not be heard. But there was something unsettling about watching people when they didn’t know they were being watched. Something irreverent, like talking in church.
Ginny was out of her chair, leaning over Dave. She was softly laughing, murmuring into his ear, making him hate her, making him love her. Her voice was uplifted in mock sing-song: ‘Little Jack Horner sat in the corner.’
‘I thought you and Lianne would want to talk.’ He would have drawn away but she was positioned in such a way that she had him pinned there.
Kissing him lingeringly on the forehead, she looked from him to Lianne, and back again. The other two were unsure how to react. Dave kept his eyes on Lianne, sending out messages of love and reassurance. Lianne stood up, ready to intervene, praying Ginny would not react violently. ‘Do you want Dave to wait outside?’ she asked hopefully.
Ginny whispered to him, ‘You didn’t have to hide over here. Why didn’t you sit next to me? I would have liked that.’
Lianne’s voice was like the crack of a whip. ‘Ginny!’
Now she turned, dark eyes innocent. ‘No, I don’t want him to wait outside,’ she answered. ‘I’m glad he came. I can’t thank him enough for bringing you to see me.’ Touching his collar, she leaned over him again. ‘Do you think I smell nice?’ She dipped her face, touching her hair against his cheek. ‘Do you think I’m still beautiful?’
‘What I think,’ he said firmly, ‘is that you should go and sit with Lianne. After all, it’s not me that’s come to see you.’ Anger fused his gaze with hers.
Incensed, she raised her hand to slap him, but he caught her wrist and walked her back to her chair. At that moment the door opened, and in walked the gentle giant. ‘Is everything all right?’ she asked innocently.
Calmer now, wanting to control the situation as always, Ginny’s smile was disarming. ‘Everything is wonderful. Thank you.’ She stared at Lianne, then at Dave, softly pleading, as she turned again to the nurse. ‘Surely you don’t mean to send them away?’
‘No.’ The big woman knew how to play the game. ‘Not yet. But they will have to leave soon. You know the rules… half an hour at a time.’ She then addressed herself to Lianne. ‘You still have a good ten minutes.’ It would be the longest ten minutes of her life. There were times when she doubted her own capabilities. This was such a time.
Her companion was right, though. Mostly this clinic was full of sick people, poor tortured souls who had lost their way and were trying to find it again. The same could not be said of Virginia Lucas. Here in this room with her, there was a terrible sense of evil. Powerful. Destructive. Never in her whole career had she felt it so strongly.
Lianne sensed it too. She felt Ginny’s smile on her. She saw it shift to Dave and she felt the danger. ‘I think it might be as well if you did wait outside for me,’ she told him.
‘No way!’ He strode across the room to stand beside her. ‘I’m not leaving this room without you.’
The nurse intervened. ‘It might be as well if you left them together,’ she said reluctantly. ‘Sisters are a special breed. They always have a lot to say to each other.’ There was no doubting the hostility emanating from Ginny.
Dave was adamant. ‘You’ll have to throw me out.’ He knew why Lianne wanted him to leave. Ginny had manipulated her, just as she always did.
Delighting in the upset she had caused, Ginny found herself regarding Lianne in a different, more detailed way. Realisation dawned. Her gaze opened with astonishment, and suddenly her whole mood changed. She pleaded with Lianne. ‘It’s my fault. Let him stay.’
Lianne looked at the nurse, realising with a little shock that it was up to her.
‘I promise to behave,’ Ginny said.
She seemed contrite enough. Lianne was convinced. The nurse was not quite so certain but decided to play along. ‘Ten minutes, that’s all.’
Dave resumed his seat. Lianne too. ‘Why do you have to be so hateful?’ she asked.
Ginny lay back in her chair. ‘I don’t want to stay in here,’ she said sulkily. ‘I won’t stay in here.’
Lianne believed the correct way to deal with her was to be firm. ‘Get better, then,’ she said, ‘and they might let you come home.’
Ginny’s smile was wicked. ‘I haven’t got a home.’ She glanced at Dave. ‘Unless you want me to come and live with you and the Martin family?’
Dave gave her a hard look. ‘Afraid not,’ he said quietly. ‘There wouldn’t be room anyway.’
Rebuffed, she turned to Lianne, her next words meant only for her sister’s ears. ‘Are they dead?’
Lianne was dumbfounded. ‘I won’t talk to you about them.’
‘Would you believe me if I said I was sorry?’
Choking on the hard lump that straddled her throat, Lianne cried, ‘Oh, Ginny! I hope you are.’ If only it could be true. If only Ginny really was sorry. ‘The sooner you realise what a terrible thing you’ve done, the sooner you’ll get better.’
The silence descended, swallowing them.
After a while, Ginny spoke again. Defiant. Totally convincing. ‘It wasn’t me, you know.’
Lianne was confused. ‘Are you saying you didn’t set fire to the house?’
In the next room the tension was electric.
Sitting forward in her chair, Ginny stared at Lianne through wild eyes. She looked like someone demented. ‘Oh, yes. I did that,’ she confessed softly. Her eyes closed, and she seemed to be going through anguish. ‘I had to.’
‘Why?’ This was the first time Ginny had spoken to her about the fire. ‘You could have killed them. And me. You nearly killed me. If it hadn’t been for Dave, I wouldn’t be here now.’
‘So they’re not dead?’
‘No, thank God.’
Ginny’s face fell, and then it was beaming with happiness. ‘Oh, Lianne! I’m so glad. I never wanted to hurt them, or you. How could I have wanted to hurt you?’
Lianne sighed, a long deep sigh that came from her soul. ‘I have to believe you,’ she murmured. Then she realised what Ginny had said earlier. ‘A minute ago, you said you didn’t do it, and now you’re saying you did.’ She shook her head, concentrating, while she waited for Ginny’s explanation. ‘What are you telling me?’
‘I did light the fire.’ There was a glow in Ginny’s eyes, as she recalled the flames licking up the curtains, and the three of them lying helpless… until Dave raised the alarm. She forced herself not to look at him. If she were to turn now he would see the venom in her eyes. She couldn’t risk that. If her plans were to come right she needed him on her side.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I didn’t kill Old Tom,’ she lied.
Dave spoke out. There was disbelief in his voice, and in his heart. ‘Why didn’t you say that in
the courtroom?’
‘Yes!’ Lianne continued. ‘If you didn’t kill Old Tom, then you didn’t kill anyone. It would have made all the difference.’ There was something here she didn’t understand. ‘Why, Ginny? Why didn’t you tell them?’ For one incredible minute she actually believed her.
Ginny’s laugh was sinister, her voice almost inaudible as she accused, ‘I didn’t tell, because I couldn’t.’ Her eyes narrowed with loathing. ‘You should know.’
Unable to hear her mutterings, Dave insisted, ‘It’s unbelievable! Why would you let them accuse you of murder if you didn’t do it?’ He was challenging her.
‘Because they would never have believed me.’ She smiled secretly at Lianne. ‘Tell him,’ she urged. ‘Tell him why they would never have believed me.’
The big nurse came in then. ‘Time to leave,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’
She remained at the door to count them out. Dave stood up first. ‘Look after yourself,’ he told Ginny. It was a foolish thing to say, because he knew she above all others would look after herself. But he had to say something, and it was as good as anything else. Certainly as good as ‘I’m delighted to see how well you look’. He had seen her on that night. She had clawed at him, fought with him, and tried every way possible to stop him from saving her own family. He wouldn’t forget that in a hurry. Not in a lifetime, he wouldn’t.
As Lianne made to leave, Ginny caught her in a tight embrace. ‘I do love you,’ she whispered, ‘and I’m glad you came.’ She had that uncanny knack of looking directly through Lianne’s eyes. Through her soul.
‘I’m glad, too,’ Lianne said, wishing Ginny wouldn’t squeeze her so hard. It was difficult to breathe.
‘They think I’m insane, but I’m not.’
‘I know you’re not.’ Lianne couldn’t help but wonder, though, and she felt ashamed. ‘Of course you’re not insane!’
‘They think I am.’ Dark eyes slanted sideways, towards the nurse. ‘They’ve sectioned me, haven’t they?’
‘I don’t know what you’re trying to say, Ginny.’
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