Pulling up the top, Elvira exposed her smooth, white stomach. ‘Listen in there,’ she demanded.
Dutifully Adele put the trumpet to Elvira’s abdomen and listened, at the same time wondering what Casey would have done. Probably he would have refused, being quite adamant that there was no baby. On the other hand, it had been he who had said it best to humour Elvira.
‘What can you hear?’ demanded Elvira.
‘Actually,’ said Adele, straightening up, ‘I can’t hear anything, Elvira.’
‘What are you saying?’ Elvira struggled into a sitting position.
‘Only that I can’t hear anything,’ Adele replied truthfully.
‘You’re saying there isn’t a baby,’ said Elvira. Pulling her clothes around her, she slid from the couch, gathered up her various bags and plastic carriers and stalked out of the examination room and then out of the consulting room.
Adele followed her to the door. ‘Elvira…’ she called after the woman’s retreating figure, but Elvira failed even to turn and with a sigh Adele went back into the room and sat down once more at the desk.
She was far from satisfied with how she had dealt with the situation but she wasn’t quite sure what else she could have done, given the circumstances. Lifting the telephone receiver, she asked Cheryl if Elvira had left the surgery.
‘Yes,’ Cheryl answered, ‘she’s just swept out. Did you have a problem with her?’
‘Not exactly, but I think I’d like a word with her psychiatric social worker. Could you get her for me, please?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Cheryl replied. ‘That’ll be Ruby Felton.’
Adele held the line and Ruby came on within a couple of minutes. ‘Dr Brooks?’ she said. ‘How may I help you?’
‘It’s probably nothing, Ruby,’ said Adele. ‘But I’ve just had Elvira Jackson in.’
‘Do we have a problem looming?’ asked Ruby.
‘I think we might,’ Adele replied. ‘Unfortunately Elvira thinks she’s pregnant.’
‘Oh, dear, no, not again,’ sighed Ruby.
‘I had heard this has happened before.’
‘Yes, about a year ago. Elvira will have quite long stretches of time where she’s absolutely fine—that’s when she remembers to take her medication. If she forgets or refuses to take it we usually have a problem, more often than not some sort of fixation. If it gets out of hand Elvira could then become a danger to herself and to others.’
‘Where is she living these days?’ asked Adele.
‘She’s in a hostel. I think I’ll call in later today and check up on her medication.’
‘Thanks, Ruby, I’d appreciate that.’ Adele was relieved.
‘Not at all. It should be me thanking you. You’ve probably tipped me off in good time before things get out of hand.’
Adele put the phone down, feeling decidedly better than she had when Elvira had stalked out of the room, and by the time she’d finished her surgery she’d almost managed to put Elvira out of her mind.
On returning to Reception with the patients’ records, she found a debate going on between Penny, Cheryl and Lizzie over what Penny was going to wear that evening.
‘I think the black for where you’re going,’ said Cheryl, standing back and eyeing Penny up and down as if she were wearing the garment she had in mind instead of her nursing uniform.
‘But I think it makes me look fat!’ wailed Penny.
‘No, it doesn’t,’ said Cheryl. ‘Black is slimming, isn’t it?’ she added, looking at Adele for support.
‘Er, yes, I suppose it is,’ Adele agreed.
‘Not that she’d know,’ said Lizzie with a sniff. ‘I’ll bet she’s never had to lose weight in her life.’
‘No, not really,’ Adele admitted. ‘In fact, at one time when I was in my teens I was actually trying to put a little weight on.’
‘Doesn’t it just make you sick?’ sighed Penny. ‘I know after tonight I shall probably have to go back to my slimming club. Honestly, I only have to look at a slice of cheesecake and it settles on my hips. Which makes me wonder whether I should wear the cream trousers. They do make my hips look thinner…whereas the black…’
Suddenly Adele couldn’t bear to listen to any more. It was pretty obvious that Penny had a date that evening and it stood to reason that date was with Casey. She didn’t want to hear about it, about what Penny intended wearing or where they were going, because if she did, she knew that for the rest of the night she would carry in her head images of a romantic, intimate meal for two in some secluded restaurant together with what would inevitably follow.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Casey coming through the front entrance and with a muttered excuse she hurried out of Reception, passing Casey with barely more than a nod as she made her way outside and round the building to the entrance to the flats.
Wearily she trailed up the stairs, angry with herself for feeling the way she did. She should be happy for Penny and Casey—and she was, wasn’t she? she asked herself firmly as she inserted her key in the lock and opened the door of her flat.
The first thing that struck her was that something was different. It was darker than usual—the muslin curtains drawn together, shutting out the light. Surely she hadn’t left them like that when she’d left the flat that morning? The second thing, to her amazement, was that there were candles burning—on the coffee-table, the mantelpiece and the bureau. Although she often lit candles, she knew for certain she hadn’t left any burning that day and even if she had, they would have burnt out in the time she had been away.
With a muttered exclamation she started forward and as she did so the door shut behind her with a loud click, which caused her to turn sharply. A figure was sitting in the chair behind the door. In shock Adele saw that it was Elvira.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘ELVIRA!’ Adele’s mouth suddenly went dry. ‘What are you doing here?’
Elvira stared steadily back at her. ‘I live here,’ she said. ‘This is my flat.’
‘No, Elvira.’ Adele struggled to stay calm. ‘This is my flat. It used to be yours,’ she added hastily when she saw Elvira’s nostrils flare, ‘but it’s mine now. You live at the hostel.’
‘I live here,’ said Elvira, deliberately emphasising each word.
‘How did you get in?’ Adele frowned, knowing for a fact that she’d locked the door that morning as she did every morning when she left the flat.
‘With my key, of course.’ Elvira’s lip curled in derision. ‘How d’you think I got in?’
‘I didn’t know you had a key.’
‘Of course I have. I had a spare one cut.’
Adele stared at her. ‘But didn’t you hand it over with the other keys when you left?’ she asked at last.
‘Why should I?’ Elvira demanded. ‘It’s mine. I paid for it. I needed it to get into my flat.’
For a moment Adele was speechless. An awful possibility began to form in her mind and she said, ‘Have you been in here before, Elvira? Since you’ve been staying at the hostel?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Elvira’s strange, pale eyes shone in the candlelight. ‘I can’t get in at night because they lock the outside door, but during the day when you’re all busy downstairs I come up here.’
Suddenly the hairs at the back of Adele’s neck stood on end as it became clear what Elvira was saying, and at the same moment she knew with indisputable certainty that the orange top Elvira was wearing was the one she herself had bought and been unable to find. From what Elvira had just said, it sounded as if she’d let herself into the flat, rummaged through her possessions and taken the top. And it seemed as if that hadn’t been the only occasion. If what she’d said was true, it would appear she had been here in the flat many times while Adele had been working.
Fighting a sudden wave of rising panic, Adele somehow hung onto her sanity, knowing the only way out of this was to humour the woman. ‘I think,’ she said, her gaze flickering briefly to the door, ‘I’ll just pop down to the
surgery again. I left some notes down there—’
‘No, you won’t.’ Elvira’s voice was like a whiplash. ‘You’ll tell them I’m here and they’ll make me go back to the hostel. I’m not going back,’ she said determinedly, ‘and you’re not going anywhere either. I need you here to deliver my baby.’
‘Your baby…?’ Adele swallowed, wondering how on earth she could get out of this desperate situation.
‘It’ll be born soon.’ Elvira nodded. ‘See, I’ve started to get ready. I’ve lit all the candles…you’ll have to boil the water. They always have boiling water.’
Adele stared at her. ‘Yes, of course…the water,’ she said at last. Turning, she moved into the kitchen.
With shaking hands she filled the kettle, plugged it in and flicked the switch. There was no sound from the main room and as she waited for the water to boil she leaned across the sink unit and peered out of the window. The kitchen overlooked the courtyard—maybe, if she was careful, she could attract someone’s attention. Even as the possibility entered her head Toby’s car drew into the courtyard. Adele sucked in her breath then as quietly as she could she gently lifted the window catch and pushed open the window.
As Toby stepped out of his car she braced herself to shout.
‘Get away from that window!’ She turned sharply to find Elvira behind her, and in that instant while she was thrown off her guard Elvira leaned forward and pulled the window shut. It made a noise and from where Adele was standing she could see that Toby glanced up before disappearing from their view into the house. Even now he would be making his way up the stairs to his own flat on the first floor, totally unaware of the drama being played out above him.
With a little gasp of despair Adele turned to find Elvira so close that her face was only inches from her own. She was vaguely aware that she had something in her hand but she was so close that for a moment she was unable to see what it was.
‘Don’t even think about any funny business!’ hissed Elvira. ‘You have a job to do.’
There was a click and a flame flared in Adele’s face. As she felt the heat she recoiled in horror as she realised that the object in Elvira’s hand was a cigarette lighter.
‘If you make any trouble I’ll set fire to your hair.’ Elvira spoke quietly but with so much menace that Adele in a moment of sheer terror didn’t for one moment doubt that she would carry out her threat if the desire took her to do so.
Humour her, she heard Casey say in her mind. Humour her. That might have been relatively easy in a crowded surgery—it was something else entirely up here, alone, at the top of the house with a disturbed woman who had a tendency towards pyromania.
‘We’re not leaving here till you deliver my baby.’ Elvira extinguished the flame but the light in her eyes burned as fiercely as ever. ‘So you might as well get that into your head now.’
In a desperate effort to pull herself together Adele took a deep breath. She knew that everything depended on how she handled the situation with this very disturbed woman. Slowly she followed Elvira back into the living room where the other woman resumed her position on the seat behind the door. Gingerly Adele perched herself on the edge of the sofa and for a period of time, the length of which she found impossible to determine—and as all around them the candles flickered and burned lower—they remained that way, waiting presumably for Elvira to announce the imminent arrival of her baby.
And then, slowly at first but gathering momentum and in a more determined fashion, Elvira began rocking herself back and forth in her chair and muttering under her breath. Once or twice Adele caught the word ‘Nash’ and remembered that Casey had told her that Elvira had had a fixation with Toby in the past. She wondered if in her own mind Elvira thought that Toby was the father of the baby she believed she was carrying.
Adele knew that if she didn’t do something the situation could well go on all night, but the only other way to attract attention would be by phone. She had already ruled out using the main phone, which was in full view of Elvira, but in her pocket she carried her mobile phone. Maybe, if she could get away from Elvira’s gaze for just a few moments, she could text a message to Casey whose own mobile number was programmed into her phone. But getting away from Elvira was going to be the biggest problem.
Humour her, Casey had said. Previously, Adele had doubted the wisdom of going along with the pretence of the baby. Now, as she gradually reached the conclusion that it could offer the solution she needed, she had no such qualms.
‘Do you have a name for the baby?’ she asked after a while. She struggled to keep her tone casual, matter-of-fact, just as if she were talking to a patient in the antenatal clinic.
Elvira, however, chose not to answer, instead increasing the momentum of her rocking action. Adele decided to continue with the strategy she had chosen.
‘I was just wondering,’ she said, looking around the room, ‘where we’ll put baby after it’s born. I could clear out a drawer, or on second thoughts the bed might be better—the sheets were clean on this morning and we do have to make sure everything is clean. Speaking of which, I’ll need to scrub up if I’m to deliver a baby.’ She stood up and, keeping a wary eye on Elvira, moved towards the bathroom. Elvira seemed oblivious to her and carried on with her rocking movement, all the while muttering to herself.
Once inside the bathroom Adele didn’t dare to shut the door, let alone lock it, afraid if she did so that Elvira’s mood might change again and she might see fit to set fire to goodness knows what, endangering the safety of them both in this top-floor flat. Instead, she turned on both taps and, picking up a nailbrush in her left hand, began a scrubbing movement against her leg. With her right hand she carefully withdrew her mobile phone from her pocket and under cover of the sound of scrubbing and of running water she compiled a text message to Casey. All she put was, ‘Elvira. My flat. Dangerous.’ Then she sent the message, slipped the phone back into her pocket and washed her hands before turning the taps off.
When she returned to the living area she was wiping her hands on a towel. Elvira was in exactly the same position but her gaze very briefly flickered in Adele’s direction. Adele noticed that one of the candles had gone out and another two were flickering wildly. She wondered whether she should offer to light more. The last thing she wanted was for Elvira to start waving her lighter around again, but in the end she thought better of it. While being attracted to fire herself, Elvira might well resent anyone else’s control over it.
‘Well,’ Adele said brightly, resuming her seat on the sofa, ‘that’s that. We’re all ready now for baby’s arrival.’
Elvira stopped rocking and looked levelly at Adele, and Adele found herself holding her breath. ‘What baby?’ she almost snarled the words.
‘Your baby, of course, Elvira,’ said Adele, endeavouring to keep a smile on her face but she feared, failing miserably as she felt it degenerate into a grimace. ‘The baby you’re expecting.’
‘You silly cat!’ spat Elvira. ‘I’m not having a baby.’
‘You’re not?’ said Adele weakly.
‘Course I’m not. How dare you say I’m having a baby? That’s filthy, that is. I never let no one touch me.’ Elvira’s voice began to rise hysterically.
‘All right, Elvira,’ said Adele more calmly than she was feeling. ‘You’re not going to have a baby.’
Desperately she wished Casey would come. Had he got her message? Had he gone out with Penny already or had she caught him before they went? The clock read ten past seven which meant she had been here with Elvira for just over an hour. It seemed longer than that—much longer. Supposing Casey hadn’t got the message, what then? Would they be here all night? She shuddered at the thought and as Elvira began to get increasingly restless and Adele was on the edge of despair, wondering what on earth she could do next, the door was suddenly flung back on its hinges and the room was full of people.
Casey was there in his battered leather jacket, there were policemen in uniform and Ruby Felton, Elvi
ra’s social worker, was with them. What happened next was to become a blur in Adele’s mind. She was vaguely aware that Elvira was being examined by Casey who gave her an injection then, accompanied by Ruby, she was led away by the police until in the end there was only herself and Casey left in the flat together with one policeman.
‘Are you all right, Dr Brooks?’ The policeman crouched down in front of Adele who was still sitting on the sofa.
‘Yes, I’m fine, thanks,’ Adele lied automatically. She wasn’t really fine. She had started to shake, her throat was dry and her stomach was churning.
‘Can you tell me exactly what happened here?’ The policeman was very young and not one whom she’d seen at the police station.
‘She was here when I came up to the flat.’ Adele clenched her hands, digging her nails into her palms in an attempt to stop them shaking.
‘So had she broken in?’ The policeman was writing now in a spiral-bound notebook.
‘She said she had a key.’ Adele swallowed. ‘She said she had one cut.’ Casey drew in his breath sharply and Adele threw him a quick glance. His expression was grim, his jaw taut and his mouth set in an uncompromising line.
‘Will you be wanting to bring any charges?’ asked the policeman.
Adele shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t think so,’ she said. ‘She’s a patient and she was very disturbed.’
‘Can we discuss this later?’ said Casey.
‘Yes, of course.’ The policeman straightened up and closed his notebook. ‘We’ll be wanting a statement from you, Dr Brooks, next time you’re down at the station.’
He departed, leaving Adele and Casey alone.
‘Are you really all right?’ Casey turned to Adele as the door shut behind the policeman.
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