by Nicci French
‘Where?’
‘There’s this nursery school. But it was empty. It’s not finished yet.’
‘Why did you go there?’
‘Why d’you think?’
‘All right, what did you take?’
‘Nothing,’ said Hunt, holding out his palms as if to prove it. ‘It was empty.’
‘Did you break in?’
‘Through the back. I broke one pane of glass and that was all it took. They need to tighten their security before they open. Cut my hand, though.’
‘What was the name of this nursery?’
‘Busy Bees.’
‘And where is it?’
‘Over in Islington, just up from the Caledonian Road.’
‘What time?’
‘I don’t know. About four maybe.’
‘So at about four o’clock last Wednesday you claim you were breaking into a children’s nursery in Islington. What did you do then?’
‘I was going to walk back home along the canal but it started to rain. I saw a bus and jumped on it. The one five three. It took me to Camden. I was having a smoke so they threw me off and I walked up from there. I was just going along the road and ringing on a few doorbells until I found one where they didn’t answer.’
‘What then?’
‘I told you all that before. I broke the window, opened the door. The alarm was going, so I was in a rush. There were alarms everywhere. There was one in the hallway and one in the room where … you know, she was. I just grabbed a few things and headed off.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s not my fault. If it hadn’t been raining, I wouldn’t have caught the bus and I wouldn’t have been there.’
Karlsson switched off the recorder. ‘And Mrs Lennox would still have been alive.’
‘No,’ said Hunt. ‘That’s not what I said. Put the tape back on.’
‘Forget about the bloody tape.’
TWELVE
As Frieda approached her front door, key in hand, she saw that it was already open. She couldn’t see at first what was happening but then saw there was a man at one end of a large, undeniably impressive bath, and then she saw that the man was Josef’s friend, Stefan, and that Josef was at the other end. The second thing Frieda noticed was that the bath was almost too wide for the doorway. She could see that by the grey scraping marks on the doorpost. The third thing she noticed was that they were carrying the bath outwards rather than inwards.
‘Frieda,’ said Stefan, panting slightly. ‘I can’t shake hands.’
‘Are you having trouble getting it in?’
‘No,’ said Josef, from the other end. ‘We take in fine and upstairs. But problem. Now we take it out and back.’
‘What do you mean “back”?’ said Frieda.
‘Wait.’
With much groaning and a suppressed scream when Josef got his fingers trapped between the bath and the doorway, they got it outside and laid it down on the cobblestones.
‘That bath is fucking heavy,’ said Stefan, then looked at Frieda guiltily. ‘Sorry. It is big, though.’
‘But why are you taking it out?’
‘Is heavy,’ said Josef. ‘Hard for floor, I think. We check it now. Probably need joist.’
Frieda heard the phone ringing inside. ‘You mean a steel girder?’ she said.
‘So you don’t fall through floor in bath.’
‘Well, you’d know about that,’ said Frieda. ‘Are you sure?’
Stefan smiled. ‘We are sure.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Frieda. The phone was still ringing. ‘Hang on.’ She pushed past them, but before she could reach the phone, it had stopped. It was almost a relief, something that didn’t have to be dealt with, someone who didn’t have to be talked to. She stood still for a moment, watching Josef and Stefan pushing the bath back into Josef’s van. It seemed to sag under the weight of it. And then the phone rang again, insistently, like a person jabbing at her. She picked it up and heard a woman’s voice.
‘Can I speak to Dr Frieda Klein, please?’
‘Who is this?’
‘My name’s Jilly Freeman. I’m calling from the Sunday Sketch.’ There was a pause. ‘I’m sorry. Are you still there?’
‘Yes,’ said Frieda.
‘We’re running a story in tomorrow’s paper and we’d like to hear your comments on it.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it concerns you.’
Frieda felt a stab of dread and at the same time a numbness, as if she was receiving a blow on a part of her body that had been hit before and then had partially healed. She felt an impulse to smash the phone rather than continue the conversation. Was it something to do with the attack? Were the police reconsidering it? Were the press trying to sniff something out?
‘What is it?’ she said.
‘You’ve seen a patient called Seamus Dunne.’
This was so unexpected that Frieda had to think, just to recall the name. At the same time, Josef stepped into her line of sight and gestured that they were leaving.
‘We need to talk,’ she said to him.
‘Soon.’ Josef backed away.
‘What?’ said the woman on the phone.
‘I was talking to someone else. How do you know about Seamus Dunne?’
‘Dr Klein, it might be better if I could come round to your house and conduct a proper interview in person.’
Frieda took a deep breath and, as she did so, caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass of a picture on the wall. Was that person really her? The thought of someone else, anyone else, coming round to her house made her feel sick. ‘Just tell me what this is about.’
‘All we’re doing is reporting on some new psychological research which we think is really important. As you know, some people think that psychoanalysts aren’t sufficiently accountable to the public.’ Jilly Freeman left a silence that Frieda didn’t break. ‘Well, anyway, there’s this academic called Hal Bradshaw who has been conducting research. Do you know him?’
‘Yes,’ said Frieda. ‘I do.’
‘Well, what he’s done is to select some prominent analysts – and you’re one of them. And then he sent people to see these analysts with instructions to show the identical classic symptoms of a person who was an imminent danger to the public, to see how the analyst responded.’ There was another pause and Frieda didn’t speak. ‘So I was ringing to ask if you had any comment.’
‘You haven’t asked me a question.’
‘From what I understand,’ said Jilly Freeman, ‘this patient, Seamus Dunne …’
‘You said he was pretending to be a patient.’
‘Yes, as part of this research project, and he displayed what are the clear, accepted signs of being a violent psychopath.’
‘Which are?’ said Frieda.
‘Um …’ said Jilly Freeman. There was a pause and Frieda heard pages being turned. ‘Yes, here it is. Each of the supposed patients were to talk of having been violent towards animals in their childhood and then to have vivid fantasies of attacking women and to talk about putting these into practice. Did Seamus Dunne talk about that?’
‘I don’t discuss what my patients say in their sessions.’
‘But he wasn’t a real patient. And he’s talked about it. He gave me an interview.’
‘As part of the research project?’ said Frieda.
She looked around for a chair and sat down. Suddenly she felt utterly exhausted, as if she might go to sleep even while she was talking. It was as if she had locked the door and blocked the windows and they’d still managed to get in through a gap she’d missed.
‘What we want to kno
w for our piece on the research is whether you reported any concerns to the authorities.’
There was a ring at the door.
‘Wait a minute,’ said Frieda. ‘I’ve got to let someone in.’
She opened the door. It was Reuben.
‘Frieda, I just –’ he began, but she held up her hand to silence him and waved him inside. She noticed that he seemed dishevelled and distracted. He walked past her and disappeared into the kitchen.
‘What were you saying?’ said Frieda.
‘I wanted to ask you if you’d reported any concerns to the authorities.’
Frieda was distracted by the sound of clinking from the kitchen. Reuben reappeared with a can of beer.
‘No,’ said Frieda. ‘I didn’t.’
Reuben mouthed something at her, then took a large gulp of beer from the can.
‘From what we’ve been informed,’ continued Jilly Freeman, ‘this experiment was designed to present various therapists with a patient who was a clear, present danger to the community. The patient was a psychopath and it was your duty – in fact, it was your legal responsibility – to report him to the police. Could you comment on that?’
‘But he wasn’t a psychopath,’ said Frieda.
‘Is it her?’ said Reuben. ‘Is it fucking her?’
‘What are you talking about?’ Frieda hissed.
‘What?’ said Jilly Freeman.
‘I’m not talking to you.’ Frieda angrily waved Reuben away. ‘You’ve said yourself that he wasn’t a psychopath. There was no need to report him. I may have had some concerns about this particular man, but I wouldn’t discuss that with anyone but him.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Jilly Freeman, ‘but this experiment was to test how therapists respond when they are confronted with a patient who shows the classic signs, established by research over the years, of being a psychopath. The public will want to know whether they are being protected.’
‘I’m going to talk to you for one more minute,’ said Frieda, ‘and then I’m putting the phone down. You’ve told me that he wasn’t actually a psychopath. He was just saying psychopathic things.’
‘Don’t psychopaths say psychopathic things? What else do you have to go on, apart from what patients say to you?’
‘And second, as I said to Seamus Dunne himself, psychopaths don’t ask for help. He was talking about lack of empathy but he wasn’t displaying it. That’s my answer.’
‘And you trusted yourself to ignore the classic signs of a psychopath?’
‘Your minute’s up,’ said Frieda, and ended the call.
She looked at Reuben. ‘What are you doing here?’ she said.
‘I just saw Josef driving away.’
‘He’s working on my bathroom.’
‘I guess that’s why I can’t track him down.’ His expression hardened. ‘It was her, wasn’t it? It was that journalist, what’s her name?’
‘It was a woman called Jilly Freeman,’ said Frieda.
‘That’s it, that’s the one.’
‘How do you know?’
Reuben emptied his glass. ‘Because they’ve done it to me as well,’ he said. ‘They’ve fucked me the way they’ve fucked you. Jilly rang me up and broke the news to me, and in the middle of our conversation she mentioned your name as well. I tried to ring you but there was no answer.’
‘I’ve been out,’ said Frieda.
‘I thought I’d better come straight round. Jesus, I need a cigarette. Can we go outside?’
He fetched another can of beer from the kitchen, then opened the door and stepped outside on to the street. Frieda followed him. He handed her the beer while he lit his cigarette. He took a succession of deep drags on it. ‘This young man,’ said Reuben. ‘He said he wanted to talk to me. He’d heard such good things about me. He was worried about himself. He’d been cruel to animals as a child, he had fantasies of hurting women. Blah blah, you know the rest.’
‘What did you say to him?’
‘I said I’d see him for a bit. And then Ms Jilly rings me up and tells me that I’m going to be on the front page for letting a psychopath loose on the streets.’
‘What did you say to her?’
He took another deep drag on his cigarette. ‘I should have said what you said. That sounded good. I lost it. I just shouted at her and slammed the phone down.’ He jabbed a finger at Frieda. ‘We’re going to sue them. That fucker Hal Bradshaw and that fucking journalist and her paper. We’re going to take them down.’
‘What for?’ said Frieda.
Reuben banged his fist against the wall of the house. ‘For deception,’ he said. ‘And violating our privacy. And for libel.’
‘We’re not going to sue them,’ said Frieda.
‘I was going to say that it’s all right for you,’ said Reuben. ‘But you’re in a state of distress. You’re recovering from injury. They can’t do this to us.’
Frieda put a hand on his shoulder. ‘We should just leave it,’ she said.
Reuben turned to Frieda and something in his look alarmed her, fierce and defeated at the same time. ‘I know, I know,’ he said. ‘I should just shrug it off. Ten years ago I would have laughed it off. I would almost have welcomed it. But I feel I’ve had it. That journalist. I’ll show her fantasies about hurting women.’
People had been gathering since midday, but there had been minor delays, the last spasms of a clogged bureaucratic system that had kept George Conley in prison for months after it had become clear he would have to be released. It was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon when he eventually emerged from Haston Prison into watery sunlight, clutching one plastic bag and wearing an overcoat that was too tight and much too thick for a spring day. There were beads of sweat on his pale, fleshy face.
Most of the people waiting for him were journalists and photographers. His local MP was there as well, although Fearby knew how little he had done for Conley, only joining the campaign when it was clear it would be successful. A small group from a revolutionary organization had come with banners proclaiming the bigotry of the police force in general. But there were no relatives waiting for Conley. His mother had died while he was in prison and his sister hadn’t been to see him since he was arrested. She had told Fearby that she was glad she was married and had taken the name of her husband, because his name made her feel sick. She wanted nothing to do with him. And there were no friends either: he had always been a lonely figure in the small town where he had lived, someone who stood on the edge, looking in baffled wistfulness at life going on. After he was arrested, neighbours said that they had always known he was odd, creepy. It hadn’t surprised them at all. Apart from Fearby, he had had no visitors in prison until the last few weeks.
Diana McKerrow, Conley’s solicitor, stood near the gates holding a bottle of sparkling wine in readiness. She spoke to the press on behalf of her client, reading from a piece of paper that she pulled out of her jacket pocket: words about the scandal of the police investigation, the lost years that Conley would never recover, the faith of a few good souls who had never ceased to believe in his innocence. She didn’t mention Fearby by name, and Fearby himself stood apart from the small crowd. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting. After so many years of working towards this moment, it felt thin and dreary. One overweight man shuffling anxiously out of the gates, wincing as the cameras flashed.
The journalists surged forward. Microphones were held out to him.
‘How does it feel to be free?’
‘Are you going to sue?’
‘What are your plans now, Mr Conley?’
‘Where will you go?’
‘What
’s the first thing you’ll do?’
‘Are you angry?’
‘What have you missed?’
‘Can you tell us your thoughts about the police?’
Fearby was certain that some of them had chequebooks ready. They wanted his story now. All these years he’d been vilified and then forgotten; now he was a hero – except he didn’t fit the role of hero. His replies came out in mumbles, half-sentences: ‘I dunno,’ he said. ‘What d’you mean?’ He glanced from side to side anxiously. Diana McKerrow put one arm under his elbow. His MP arranged himself on the other side, smiling for the cameras.
Fearby knew that they would all soon forget about Conley again. He would be left in peace, in his little room in a house full of other misfits and loners, passive and defeated. He felt a pang of simultaneous guilt followed at once by resentment: was he going to have to be Conley’s only friend even now? Visit him and take him out for a drink, try to find him an occupation? Was this his reward for freeing him into the world?
He inched his way through the crush and touched Conley on the arm. ‘Hello, George,’ he said. ‘Congratulations.’
‘Hello,’ said Conley. He smelt unwashed; his skin had a grey prison-pallor and his hair was thinning.
‘You’re going to be busy for the rest of the day. I just wanted to say hello and give you my phone number. When you want, give me a call and I’ll come and see you.’ He forced enthusiasm into his voice. ‘We can have a meal, go for a drink, a walk.’ He hesitated. ‘You might find all this attention hard, but it’ll die down soon. You’ll need to think about what you’re going to do next.’
‘Next?’
‘I’ll come and see you.’
Conley stared at him, his lower lip hanging loose. He was like a small, fat child, thought Fearby. It didn’t feel like a happy ending.
Later, at the press conference, the officer in charge of the investigation read out a statement. He wished to be candid about the fact that mistakes had been made. George Conley’s confession to the murder of Hazel Barton had been obtained – here he coughed, grimaced – without following the proper procedures.