They did finally sleep but only for two or three hours and then fitfully. Hall was glad Jennifer was still asleep. Henot House, he discovered, was not specifically a psychiatric hospital – although it had a dedicated and fully staffed wing – but a drug and alcohol dependency clinic for the ultra rich and very famous, set in wooded grounds at least three times as big as those in which the Hampshire mansion was set, these complete with an eighteen hole golf course. He took particular note of the helicopter pad.
Within the building there was a shopping mall. He charged a designer track suit, trousers and shirt, underwear and shaving gear to an account he already found opened for him, although against his suite number, not his name. He checked at once with Charles Cox, reassured it was all part of the?500-a-day system and that Jennifer’s identity was similarly protected.
While he waited for Humphrey Perry to get into his office, Hall watched breakfast television. It was almost totally occupied, as it had been for the past five days, by Jennifer. Hector Beringer repeated in a live interview, with Superintendent Hopkins in insistent support beside him, that Jennifer was no longer at the hospital. Every channel had its own reporter who’d taken part in the previous night’s chase talking over the helicopter film of the decoy ambulance driving as far as Basingsroke before returning, without stopping, for the nurse dressed in Jennifer’s clothes very publicly to get out and actually pose for photographs at the hospital entrance. There was ground footage of her doing that and a lot of that morning’s film of a disbelieving crowd build-up which already looked as large as it had been the previous day. Soldiers were still there. Every station featured their resident psychiatrists, two of whom thought Jennifer could be freed of Jane’s possession by treatment they offered to provide against three who insisted Jennifer would be possessed for life. The latter view appeared to be the opinion of newspaper contributing psychiatrists, whose views were also discussed in detail. One tabloid held up to the camera had the headline Twinned for Life to a Murderer. There was a lot of psychiatric references to religious hysteria that had attracted the crowds and footage of the cult squatters by Lambeth Palace. There was on every channel discussion about the book and media offers as if they were being seriously considered by Jennifer and her legal advisors. On a commercial station, the last to which Hall turned, a pop group performed a Country and Western style Ode to Jennifer with a prediction from a disc jockey that it would be in the charts by the end of the week. The repeated chorus was that Jennifer was doomed for life.
Despite having had little sleep himself, Humphrey Perry was in his office promptly at nine, waiting for Hall’s call. It took the solicitor fifteen minutes to take down Hall’s instructions, which included having collected from Geoffrey Johnson and delivered the clothes and belongings he’d collected from the prison. When Hall told the solicitor what he wanted from both the defence and prosecution sections of the murder file, Perry said, That absolutely-’
‘Don’t even bother to say it!’ stopped Hall.
‘We actually know Bentley, a trained murder squad detective, looked into it,’ still protested the man.
‘The same detective who didn’t properly carry out the investigation at the scene of the crime,’ rejected Hall. ‘It was all too obvious. They laid back.’
‘Leave it to the priests and the psychiatrists.’
‘Just have what I want sent down. But not by courier: someone you can trust from your office who won’t be recognized and followed.’
Mason and the clinic doctor were in deep conversation when Hall emerged for the second time.
‘I’ve managed a preliminary medical examination,’ said the squeaky-voiced doctor. ‘I don’t like all the medication she’s been having. What St Thomas’s administered was fine but God knows what was pumped into her in prison. I’m going to put her on detox, to clean her out.’
Hall flinched at the brutality of the doctor’s expression. In daylight Cox was an unusual looking man: Hall guessed the hooded eyes were normal but weren’t helped by the man waiting up for their arrival. ‘You consider she’s medically unwell?’
‘She’s not in good physical shape,’ said Cox. ‘I don’t think she’s eaten properly for weeks. The knife wounds have barely healed. The cut on her leg is still open. And I’m going to take X-rays later to see how the ribs are knitting.’
‘And that’s before I get involved or we think about exorcism,’ said Mason. ‘We’re wondering just how much more, at the moment, Jennifer Lomax can take, physically and mentally.’
‘Surely it’s a measure of how strong Jennifer is, mentally, that she’s been able to withstand it?’ said Hall.
‘There’s a limit,’ warned the psychiatrist. ‘I think she might be close to reaching it. Which is why I’d like to know what you think you can do?’
Before Hall was halfway through explaining Mason and Cox were exchanging looks. The moment Hall finished Mason said flatly, ‘I don’t like it. You’ve no basis for believing that it would work. And it’ll put a hell of a strain on her.’
‘Any greater strain than she’s already under?’
‘Additional.’
‘I outmanoeuvred Jane to get us away from the hospital.’
‘You’re talking of more than outmanoeuvring her now.’
‘Are you telling me, on medical or mental health grounds, not to try it?’
Both doctors were momentarily silent. Cox said, ‘I’d want to detox her, first. And after that give her some time to rest.’
Mason said, ‘And I’d like to start treating her for the depression.’
‘I wouldn’t be able to do anything for some time…’ Hall paused, forcing the admission. ‘Perhaps never.’
‘What if both of you fail?’ demanded an unimpressed Cox.
It was the psychiatrist who answered. ‘Then she’ll probably kill herself. Which maybe she should be allowed to do before Jane makes her kill someone else even if she isn’t allowed to get near Emily.’
Jennifer was wearing a track suit, too, grey against Hall’s deep blue. Her hair was combed but her face was devoid of make-up, shiny and sallow. There was a hollowness to her cheeks Hall hadn’t noticed before and her eyes, still black-ringed, were red-rimmed, too: incredibly, startling him, it actually made Jennifer look ghost-like. She looked up disinterestedly through glassy eyes at their entrance. The animation was brief, with her first demand. ‘Is Emily safe? Hidden?’
‘Absolutely,’ promised Hall. ‘No-one can get to her.’
‘ Wanna bet. ’
It seemed an instinctive movement for Jennifer to reach out for Hall’s hand. Unquestioningly – almost just as instinctively – he took it. Her skin was clammy but at the same time cold, feverish. She said, ‘I saw what was happening at the hospital.’
Hall located the television, close to the window, louvred doors enclosing the screen. It was a huge suite, by comparison to the wards she had been in. The furniture was predominantly comfortable, appeal-to-everyone modern, with a few pieces – a side-table and a bureau – that could have been antique and from the cost of the clinic probably were. There was a profusion of flowers, mostly roses and lilies, in the sitting-room in which they were and more in what he was able to see through the open door of the bedroom. ‘You’re out of it now.’
‘When we were getting out Jane said they would have torn me apart if they’d got to me,’ reminded Jennifer. ‘Would they have, really?’
‘ You betcha! ’
‘It didn’t happen,’ said Mason, placating. ‘They didn’t get the chance and you don’t need to think about what didn’t happen.’
‘ What’s going to happen from now on? ’
‘But would they have done?’ insisted Jennifer.
‘It was an uncontrollable mob,’ said Mason. ‘They might have tried to hurt you. Others would have wanted to worship you.’
‘ Don’t I always tell you the truth! Remember the slogan: you heard it here first. ’
Hall frowned at the psychiatrist’s directness and at the fear that shuddered through Jennifer, making her hand tremble. Forcefully he said, ‘The past is just that, past. We’re planning a future now. We’ve got a lot to talk about.’
‘ Let’s hear it, big boy! ’
‘She’s talking to me all the time. Mocking, as usual.’
‘And I want to talk to her. Like I did last night. But not immediately…’ He indicated the psychiatrist. ‘Dr Mason wants to try to help get rid of Jane-’
‘ Don’t waste your time! What’s lover boy want with me? ’
‘She says don’t waste your time,’ said Jennifer, stopping short of repeating the entire remark.
Hall ignored the interruption. ‘I know we talked about it and you don’t believe in any God, but he wants you to try exorcism…’
‘… There’s a chapel here. A visiting priest: rather high Church of England. He’ll try to help,’ picked up Mason. ‘It doesn’t matter that you don’t believe. And I want us to spend a lot of time together, on other things. You’re giving up. You mustn’t give up. I want to stop you thinking like that…’
‘I don’t know how to think any more. Too tired.’
‘ I won! I’m in charge.’
‘No, you’re not too tired. Not really. Just for the moment. We’re going to get you better.’
‘ I’ve never felt better.’
‘How can I be got better?’
‘By letting me help you. By letting us all help you,’ insisted the psychiatrist. He looked pointedly towards the lawyer.
‘Dr Mason has helped us a lot already,’ responded Hall. ‘Not just last night. Before. He wants to treat you – help rid you of Jane – but he also wants to write a clinical report on it. A technical paper that other psychiatrists and psychologists can read and learn from…’
‘ Freaky, freaky, freaky! ’
Jennifer gave a weary sigh. ‘There was a discussion about books on television.’
‘This isn’t – won’t be – a book,’ stressed Mason, urgently. ‘It will be a technical account of everything that’s happened. Not sensational at all.’
Jennifer gave another sigh. ‘Why not?’
In his urgency Mason had been leaning forward, elbows on his knees. Now he eased back, smiling.
‘ And he’s got his piece of flesh. You’re going to make a lot of people rich, Jennifer.’
‘There’s another reason you don’t feel well,’ said Cox, involving himself. ‘Your body’s full of chemicals. I’m going to wash them all out. Make your body clean as well as fit again.’
Hall was glad it was better expressed than before. Breathing in, preparing himself, he said, ‘And now it’s time to talk to Jane again. Like I did last night. Just me and Jane, her words coming out of your mouth, exactly as she says them.’
‘ Got you by the halls, scumbag, before you start! ’
‘You can’t read my mind, just Jennifer’s. So how do you know what I’m going to do?’
‘ Don’t need to know what you’re going to do.’
‘Oh, you do. Otherwise you’ll never prove a lot of things.’
‘ Don’t need to prove a lot of things! ’
‘Didn’t prove that anyone murdered you, did you?’
‘ So what? I’m getting my revenge. He’s dead. She’s a freak.’
‘You saw the television this morning?’ demanded Hall, as the recollection – and the opening it offered – came to him.
‘ What about it?
‘Hear what they were calling you: what the papers were saying? Homicidal maniac, on the channel I watched. That true Jane? You a maniac… a homicidal maniac? People can understand a wife driven to despair by a cheating husband: sympathize, even. But not someone who kills for fun. That’s what they’re calling you. A maniac who kills for fun…’
Jane’s rage began shaking through Jennifer and her hand slipped from Hall’s. She snatched out for it again.
‘ Not mad! Jennifer’s going to be mad but not me. The bastard deserved to die. Murdered me so he had to die: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. That’s the rule.’
‘You don’t know that,’ challenged Hall. ‘You know he was cheating on you, with Jennifer. Like he was cheating on Jennifer with Rebecca. But you can’t prove he murdered you…’
‘ He doubled – trebled – my insulin! I’d been self-administering since I was a kid old enough to hold a syringe. I knew my dosages. I never, never, never overdosed.’
Mason was sitting back, familiar with the scene although professionally intent on every word, but Cox was open mouthed, the hooded eyes appearing wider than normal. There was an unlit pipe cupped between his hands, like a comfort symbol or a talisman. It didn’t have a decorative bowl, like those Johnson preferred.
‘“He doubled – trebled – my insulin,”’ echoed Hall.
‘ What? ’
‘That’s what you said. He. Gerald. Not he and Jennifer. Where’s the proof she had anything to do with your death?’
‘ She had the motive! To get married to him! ’
‘A motive isn’t proof. Where is the proof – the proof that was overlooked or missed at the inquest – that she had anything whatsoever to do with killing you, if indeed you were killed.’ He’d read the inquest material that the efficient Perry had provided but only as part of the general background, not as something essential to the main defence and his recollection was hazy. Perhaps he should have waited until he’d read the duplicate he’d asked Perry for that morning.
‘ I was there, remember! I witnessed my own death! He lied, at the inquest. Over and over again. And no-one challenged him because it was all too cleverly done. And people were frightened of him: respected him because he was rich. He killed me with what Jennifer provided.’
‘I didn’t provide anything,’ said Jennifer, weakly.
‘If everything is so easily proved, I can’t see why you are so frightened for me to go into it. Unless, of course, the TV and newspapers are right about your sanity.’ There was a desperation that didn’t show in his voice. He had no argument left in reserve. Everything depended upon Jane’s response.
Hall’s initial thought was that Jennifer’s finger-tightening was the beginning of another uncontrollable fit, but nothing came and he realized it was Jennifer tensing, as he was tensed, against a physical and verbal tirade that would overwhelm them. But there was nothing.
When they came the words were even, measured, with no anger or hysteria. ‘ I am getting justice for myself. Justice I was denied.’
Momentarily Hall took his hand away, not believing he could prevent the tremble of excitement at her reaction and the argument it made possible. ‘Just as you are denying justice to Jennifer. I wonder how your father would have felt about that.’
‘ She had a proper trial! ’
‘And was found not guilty. Not guilty of killing Gerald Lomax. She hasn’t faced trial for killing you.’
‘ How can she be? ’
‘By letting me re-examine the inquest evidence. But not as it was examined at the inquest. As it would have been examined in a court of law if Jennifer Lomax had been on trial for your murder. And present it to you like a trial, here…’ He briefly swept his hand out. ‘… in front of the doctors, if you like.’
‘ Who decides guilt or innocence? ’
‘The weight of evidence.’
‘ You could cheat.’
‘And you’d know if I did. You’ve just said you witnessed your own murder. And Jennifer would know if I tried to cheat. And she can’t think anything without your being aware of it, can she?’
There was another protracted silence. ‘ And if there’s no evidence you expect me to leave: give up my possession? ’
‘Yes.’
‘ What if there is evidence? ’
Now the long silence was Hall’s. For several moments he held Jennifer’s eyes before saying, ‘Then it becomes a police matter, to be properly prosecuted in court, as she was properly prosecuted for the murder of Gerald. Wouldn’t that be better revenge, for her to be re-arraigned on a provable murder charge in a public court?’
‘ Brilliant! Oh yes, absolutely brilliant! I’ll go along with that! ’
Hall still held Jennifer’s eyes. ‘Are you prepared to accept it, too?’
‘ Trapped her there, haven’t you? ’
Jennifer relayed Jane’s words but didn’t answer Hall’s question.
‘Jennifer?’ he prompted.
‘You’re separating things: making it sound like Gerald might have done it by himself.’
‘ She’s scared! ’
‘I’m not scared!’ protested Jennifer, answering an accusation she hadn’t mouthed verbatim. ‘I didn’t murder her. Neither did Gerald.’
‘Then agree to my doing what I want.’
There was still a hesitation before Jennifer said, ‘All right. Do it.’
‘I should have prevented it,’ insisted Mason, after Cox had taken Jennifer to begin the complete medical examination before her first meeting with the priest. ‘You’re putting her through what amounts to a second trial. It’ll be intolerable.’
‘Not if it gets rid of Jane.’
‘There’s no guarantee it will! No guarantee Jane would leave her alone, even if you did prove Jennifer innocent.’
‘It’s a gamble,’ conceded Hall.
‘With a sick person’s sanity,’ protested the psychiatrist.
‘It gives you time to do what you can for her professionally. And for the exorcism to be attempted.’
Mason shook his head, unpersuaded. ‘Would you really tell the police if you thought there had been a murder conspiracy between Jennifer and Lomax?’
‘I believe she’s totally innocent. I wouldn’t have started any of this if I hadn’t been totally convinced of that.’
‘That isn’t an answer to my question.’
‘Would you?’
‘I’m not sure, after what she’s gone through. But it still isn’t an answer.’
‘I’m not sure, either.’
‘Why’s Mummy’s picture in the newspaper?’
Annabelle and Johnson, either side of the child at the luncheon table, each looked expectantly at the other, neither wanting to reply.
‘Sure it was her?’ asked Johnson, falling back on well practised legal avoidance of ducking a question by asking another.
‘Course it was her!’ said Emily, indignantly. There was a man by the pool this morning reading about her. There was another picture of lots of people. And there was an M word but it wasn’t mouse. I can read mouse.’
‘It might have been about people being happy that she’s getting better,’ suggested Annabelle, floundering.
Emily looked doubtfully between the two adults. ‘Will she be coming home soon then?’
‘If she gets better.’
‘Will she be nasty to me again?’
‘No,’ said the girl.
‘I don’t want her to be nasty any more. I didn’t like it.’
‘I told you it only happened because she was very ill. Now she’s getting better it can’t happen again.’
‘Good,’ said Emily, brightly. ‘Then everything’s all right. I want to go to the pool again this afternoon.’
While she and Johnson were watching an arm-banded Emily thrash in the shallow end Annabelle said, ‘I’ve just broken a cardinal rule. I’ve told a child a lie that’s bound to be found out.’