Horton’s ears pricked up. He recalled his first meeting with Olivia Danbury and her vehement declarations that she had not seen Luke and never wanted to see him. At the time he’d thought her emotions were genuine unless she was a good actress; perhaps the latter was the case.
‘Did she go to drama school?’ he asked.
‘Yes. She graduated in June 1997 and married Neil Danbury in September the same year, a week after Luke was arrested for the murder of Natalie Raymonds. Olivia blamed Luke for ruining her wedding and wrecking her career.’
‘I can understand her feelings about the wedding, but how could it have wrecked her acting career?’ Horton asked curiously.
‘Luke says she lost confidence. I guess she didn’t want the fact that her brother was a murderer dragged up every time she got a review.’
And the media would drag it up, thought Horton. It was the kind of juicy titbit the public loved. Some actors or actresses wouldn’t have minded, perhaps even used it as a lever to propel themselves further into the limelight: the ‘look at tragic me’ and ‘how I’ve overcome the shame of my family’. It would make good Sunday newspaper reading. But Olivia Danbury was obviously different.
Lena said, ‘Perhaps she found being Mrs Danbury was a more lucrative and satisfying role. Neil Danbury’s done very well for himself. He took over Luke’s father’s firm when he died while Luke was in prison. Luke didn’t go to either of his parents’ funerals, though he would have been given permission to attend with a guard. He said he wouldn’t have been welcomed, and he didn’t want to bring more shame on his brother and sister.’
All this was useful background, but it didn’t help him find Luke Felton. ‘So Luke cracked up.’
‘Yes. Once at Oxford the pressure really hit him. He never saw himself as clever and he found it difficult to fit in and to have relationships. He was the lump, the odd one out, the awkward one. And the more he was told that the more he became it, withdrawn, quiet, introverted.’
Her words stabbed a painful memory in Horton of a particularly nasty piece of work he’d met when he’d been in the children’s home. A thin crow of a woman had delighted in telling him that his mother had walked out on him because he was useless, rebellious, no good, and a lot worse. It had taken months of patient confidence-building by his last foster parents to help him deal with the mental cruelty, but nothing could ever erase it. He gladly brought his mind back to Lena Lockhart as she continued.
‘Luke felt that nothing he did could ever please his parents, and with his inability to stay focused he drifted from one thing to another until he started taking drugs. I believe it was to get attention. Drugs were a cry for help. But it didn’t get him the help, or the understanding and sympathy he craved. Instead he got told how much more worthless he was than his brother and sister, so he slipped into deeper addiction and got into more trouble until the attack on that pensioner.’
She leant forward, her expression keen. Horton could see her enthusiasm for what she did shining through. Or was that enthusiasm for one particular client, he wondered cynically.
She said, ‘Luke was truly horrified at what he’d done and had a genuine desire to kick the habit and start afresh. And that’s why I knew hypnosis would work. A hypnotist can help the client to get a control over his life in many ways.’
‘But it didn’t work,’ said Horton bluntly. ‘Luke reoffended two years later, only this time a young woman lost her life at his hand.’
She sat back with a sigh and pushed a hand through her long hair. ‘I know, but I’m convinced Luke didn’t kill her. And now he’s. .’ She rose and crossed to the window.
He should tell her. But how did he know that Luke Felton wasn’t dead?
After a moment she turned back. Horton could see the sorrow etched on her face. He felt a bit of a heel, but if it helped him get closer to finding Luke then he’d cope with it.
She continued. ‘When I met Luke for the second time here on the Isle of Wight he was distraught at what he’d done, even though he couldn’t remember a single thing about it. So we started again.’
Horton heard the train clattering past. He studied her, wondering how close she had got to Luke Felton emotionally and physically since he’d been released from prison. As he witnessed the sadness in her eyes he thought it was time to tell her. But first one more question.
‘What was Luke’s temperament like? When he didn’t get his way, did he sulk or fly off the handle? Was he moody?’
‘He was moody but not violent. His moods were caused by his remorse and his hatred and dread of being locked up. He wasn’t aggressive but he was angry with himself. I feel so bad about failing him.’
‘I’m not sure that Luke is dead.’
Her head came up. ‘But you said-’
‘He’s missing and could possibly be dead. I’m trying to find him.’
‘So that you can put him back in prison,’ she flashed.
‘He’s breached the terms of his licence.’
‘Yes, for a crime he didn’t commit.’
But Horton needed convincing of that.
‘Tell me why you believe he’s innocent.’
She looked as though she was about to clam up before she registered the manner and tone of his question. Taking a breath, and getting a grasp on her emotions, she said, ‘After a traumatic incident a subject under hypnosis may be able to recall with complete accuracy details that their subconscious mind has remembered but their conscious mind has overlooked or blotted out. I hoped that when fully aware again, Luke might be able to recall everything that he said while he was in the trance. But Luke’s trances were so deep that he had difficulty remembering what he’d said during them. So I recorded them-’
‘Have you still got the recordings?’ Horton interrupted eagerly.
‘Yes, but they’re confidential.’
‘Not if it will help me to understand him.’
She eyed him sceptically. ‘But why do you need to understand him? Especially now he’s broken the terms of his licence.’
She was testing him. Horton understood that. He said, ‘Because I’d like to know if he really did kill Natalie Raymonds.’
‘You’re doubtful. You think he might have been innocent,’ she cried, almost jubilant.
‘I didn’t say that.’
She sprang up and began to pace the small lounge. ‘If I could prove that Luke didn’t kill Natalie. .’
‘Why should you want to?’ Horton asked quietly.
Her eyes flashed at him, then she sighed and added in a more subdued manner, ‘Because he deserves it. He was tormented by the fact that he had killed her. I don’t believe he did. And I’ll tell you why, Inspector Horton, because when Luke was under a trance he never once mentioned seeing her, being with her, her name, where her body was found, nothing. He talked about darkness and water.’
Horton eyed her sceptically. ‘Maybe because he killed her in the dark. And he was certainly by the water.’ But sunset wasn’t until 7 p.m. in September and Luke had been seen by Bailey at 4 p.m. Could he have killed Natalie in daylight and then sat there drugged until dark? Possibly.
Lena said, ‘He also talked about a gate.’
‘There are plenty of gates in the countryside.’ And one Horton had seen near that copse where Natalie’s body had been found. It meant nothing. He needed more convincing than this.
She drew herself up and said, ‘Luke wasn’t alone. When he came out of the trance he couldn’t recall anyone, but under hypnosis he kept saying, he, water, gate, dark. I can see that you don’t believe me but you will. The tapes are in my office in Ryde,’ she declared belligerently.