Vogel considered for a moment if the woman might be dissembling. But, in view of what had originally been regarded as the probability of Jane Ferguson’s death being suicide, no announcement had yet been made to the press. And whilst there was already doubtless plenty of local gossip, and probably at least some mention on social media, there was no reason why Dr Thorpe should be aware of it.
‘Mrs Ferguson’s body was found hanged from the bannisters of her home in the early hours of this morning,’ the detective explained bluntly. ‘By her six-year-old daughter.’
Miriam Thorpe gasped.
‘That’s terrible,’ she said. ‘Absolutely terrible. Poor Jane. And the poor child.’
‘Indeed,’ said Vogel. ‘We are here to ask you, doctor, if you are aware from your consultations with Mrs Ferguson of anything which might have led her to take her own life. And further to that, if you had ever regarded her as a person at risk.’
Miriam Thorpe looked doubtful.
‘Well, yes and no, detective chief inspector,’ she said. ‘Most people who seek out the counsel of a mental health professional are vulnerable. So yes, almost all of them are at some level of risk. But as for fearing that Jane might take her own life: no, I don’t think I ever thought that was likely. Although when dealing with someone who has reason to seek psychiatric help, one knows better than to rule anything out, my consultations with Jane never led me to actively consider that possibility. However, I really can’t go into detail, Mr Vogel. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that everything that takes place between a patient and someone in my position is highly confidential. That’s the only way we can maintain the necessary trust. Mine is after all one of the most sensitive areas of medicine... ’
‘I am sure it is, doctor,’ replied Vogel. ‘But perhaps I need to remind you that your patient is no longer with us, and that I am investigating the manner of her death.’
‘The manner of her death, detective chief inspector? You said she’d been found hanged, that she had taken her own life, didn’t you?’
‘I asked you if you knew of anything that may have led to Mrs Ferguson taking her own life, doctor. Now look, I totally understand your reluctance to breach a professional confidence, but there are extremely troubling aspects of Mrs Ferguson’s death which we are investigating, and I suspect it would be of considerable assistance to us if we had access to your notes concerning the deceased’s mental health. I feel sure you would be as anxious to get to the truth of the matter as we are, for everyone’s sake, not least her husband and her children.’
Miriam Thorpe still looked doubtful.
‘I take your point, inspector,’ she said eventually. ‘But I would like to check with Jane’s next of kin first, with her husband.’
‘I’m afraid I have to ask you not to do that, doctor,’ countered Vogel quickly.
Miriam Thorpe stood up abruptly and turned away from the two officers for a few seconds. Then she swung around to face them again.
‘So, you think Jane’s death may be suspicious and you suspect her husband may be involved, is that the nub of it, Mr Vogel?’ she asked eventually.
‘We are investigating Mrs Ferguson’s death, doctor, and Mr Ferguson is helping with our enquiries. That is all I can possibly tell you in that regard at the moment. You must understand that in our line of work, also, there are areas of considerable sensitivity.’
‘Of course. And shall we just say that my contacting Mr Ferguson in advance of any assistance I might feel able to give you could be counter-productive. Is that so, Mr Vogel? Please don’t prevaricate, will you?’
Vogel smiled, very slightly. He was beginning to think that Miriam Thorpe was someone he could work with after all.
‘That is absolutely so, doctor,’ he said. ‘And, if it helps at all, I can tell you that we are about to launch a full-scale murder investigation. This will be announced through the media very shortly, either, I would expect, by the head of the Devon and Cornwall Police Major Crimes Team, or the chief constable.’
Miriam Thorpe nodded. She stood looking at Vogel in silence for a few seconds, then walked to her desk and sat down.
‘All right, Mr Vogel,’ she said, as she fired up her computer. ‘A woman who was under my care has died a violent death, you and your superiors believe she has been murdered, and I accept that any information I have might be of considerable significance in your investigation. Under these circumstances, I will give you all the help I can. You should know that Jane Ferguson’s case is, or should I say was, a very challenging one. She came to me because she was suffering from terrifying dreams. Nightmares, in fact. Were you aware of these dreams?’
‘Yes, but not in any detail,’ said Vogel. ‘We have interviewed Jane’s husband and other members of the Ferguson family concerning this, but they claim to know nothing of either the content or cause of her dreams.’
Dr Thorpe nodded.
‘They may well be telling the truth, Mr Vogel,’ she said. ‘Certainly, Jane always claimed that the nightmares were a mystery to her.
‘We began a series of standard therapy sessions which revealed very little. At first sight Jane Ferguson seemed like a perfectly normal young woman. She claimed to be happily married. She appeared to have only happy memories of her childhood. There were causes of concern, things that had happened in her life which could possibly have caused her to have bad dreams. Her mother was a single parent, and she never knew her father. To all intents and purposes, she had no father. Her mother, Alice, had, Jane said, been quite honest about that. Alice told Jane that she had been going through a promiscuous stage when her daughter was conceived, that she’d been a child of the sixties, everybody was sleeping around, and she’d been no exception. Alice also said that she did a lot of partying as a young woman, she drank heavily, and she experimented with drugs. She claimed she did not know which of a number of candidates was Jane’s father, and she didn’t care. Jane was an accident, but a welcome one. Alice’s message to Jane was that she never for one second considered any alternative to having her child and bringing her up on her own in the best way that she could.
‘Now, you might think that in itself could have caused Jane to be disturbed. But she was quite adamant that she was untroubled by the question of her paternity. She said her mother’s love had been quite enough for her. That her mother always gave her a sense of security and supported her in everything that she did. And, although as you can imagine, I questioned her intensely on this issue, she never gave me the slightest cause to disbelieve her. Now, Alice died nine years ago, of an aneurism. Obviously, that was deeply upsetting for Jane. She said herself that her mother was everything to her. And it is quite possible that it was Alice’s death which sparked off Jane’s nightmares. But I was never able to get anything from Jane which proved that either way. She couldn’t even really remember when they started. Or so she said. Although she did say they got worse after her own children were born. Regarding her father, or rather her lack of a father, Jane seemed extremely well adjusted to that. Her reactions were so reasoned that I concluded that it was certainly unlikely that anything concerning her paternity was at the root of her problems.’
Dr Thorpe glanced at the screen.
‘Ah yes, and then there was the matter of her relationship with her husband’s family, particularly her mother-in-law. This was clearly very strained, not least because of Mrs Ferguson senior’s attitude to Jane’s family background. Apparently, Felix, who clearly knew his mother rather well, had suggested to Jane that they gloss over the issue of her father, and indeed let his parents think that Jane’s father had died when she was a baby. Jane was adamant that she was not going to enter married life on a lie. This caused terrible problems with the mother-in-law who apparently has strong ideas about what she calls “breeding”.’