‘You can’t arrest me, I haven’t done anything wrong?’
‘We’re not arresting you, Rebecca. We’re going to get you some help. Our main priority right now is to make sure that you’re okay,’ one of the officers said, as he led Rebecca towards the waiting ambulance.
The officer must have made them wait outside. Already anticipating that this might happen. They were determined to get her to hospital no matter what, that was clear to her now.
‘You are going to be properly assessed and given the adequate care, should you need it.’
Rebecca noted how the officer’s words were spoken so slowly and precisely, as if he thought she might not be able to comprehend what was going on around her.
But he was right. Part of her couldn’t understand what was happening. This was all madness.
‘Jamie, tell them. Please. Tell them this is all wrong,’ she said, pleading with Jamie to say something, do something. Only he didn’t say a word.
Because this was what he wanted, wasn’t it? Rebecca realised now.
This was all his idea.
Doing as she was told, Rebecca kept her head bowed as the officer guided her into the back of the ambulance, ignoring the female paramedic inside who tried to give her some words of reassurance.
‘It’s okay, Rebecca, you’re in safe hands,’ she said softly, but the woman’s soothing words only had the opposite effect.
Slumping back against the seat, Rebecca closed her eyes and kicked her legs out against the stretcher in front of her in pure frustration, before staring back at her house, at Lisa standing in her doorway.
Her only real friend, and yet Lisa hadn’t even stuck up for her once.
She’d just stood back just like everyone else and let these people take her away.
And as the ambulance doors started to close, Rebecca stared over at Jamie one last time as he got in Officer Blyth’s car, to follow them, she assumed.
Only this time, he did look at her and his blank expression caught her off guard.
Because there was a coldness in his eyes now. Looking into the eyes of her husband, Rebecca saw a complete stranger staring back at her.
And that was the moment that she knew it was over.
Jamie had already detached himself from her.
It had taken him long enough, she figured. But he’d finally seen what she’d been hiding from him for all this time.
That she wasn’t what she pretended she was.
Underneath that cool, hard exterior, she was damaged goods. Only now Jamie knew it too – and he’d thrown her away.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Segregation.
That’s the key to real power. Do you know that, Rebecca? You must do?
Of course, you do.
Because you’re a clever woman. Or at least I used to think you were.
It’s strangely compelling, the task of singling someone out and making them feel as if they are completely on their own.
You’d know all about that, Rebecca, wouldn’t you?
Only it’s you who’s alone this time.
You and your crazy, fabricated stories.
Who’s going to believe anything you say anymore?
Nobody, Rebecca, that’s who.
Divide and conquer.
Fuck, I love that term.
I know I’m not completely there yet. There’s still so much work to be done. But I’m getting there. Even though it’s exhausting sometimes, all this crawling around in the unoccupied space left inside your head. Wiggling and slithering my way underneath your skin as I cause you to crumble under your own self-doubt.
Because even you’re doubting yourself now, aren’t you, Rebecca?
I’ve done such a good job in covering my tracks.
Some might say I’ve learned from the best. You’ve become my obsession, Rebecca, my dear.
I’m ravenous now and looking forward to the final feast.
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘What is this place?’ Rebecca stared over to where Jamie stood behind the two paramedics who were helping her out of the ambulance. She could see Officer Blythe standing next to him. ‘This isn’t the hospital?’
Her eyes came to rest on the old Victorian building, the illuminated sign stating ‘University Hospital.’ The building was in the middle of a huge lawn flanked with rows of trees, the long winding driveway leading them away from the busy main roads of London. The perimeter of the building lined with a low brick wall and high wrought iron fencing. The place looked more like a prison, eerie at this time of the night, with the dim security lights shining down from the building casting out weird, obscure shadows all around them.
She’d suspected it had been a trick at first. Convincing herself that Jamie and Officer Blythe had been lying to her all along, and that they weren’t detaining her for her own good at all. That they were really talking her to the police station. Arresting her for breach of the peace, or assaulting Officer Blythe.
Her eyes scanned the words etched on the plaque over the main doors as they walked her towards the building.
‘What’s Suite 136?’ she asked.
Jamie still wouldn’t look her in the eye. Instead, he simply stood there, awkwardly, waiting for someone else to answer her question, his eyes fixed on the ground. Anything to avert his eyes from her stare.
‘Suite 136 is a psychiatric unit. You are being detained under the Mental Health Act. We believe that you are experiencing a mental health crisis and for your own safety, we feel that it would be in your best interests to be assessed,’ one of the paramedics explained softly, her words startling Rebecca for a few seconds.
‘You’ve brought me to a mental hospital?’’ Rebecca’s voice was high-pitched, and full of panic.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘You’ve made a mistake. I don’t belong here! This is crazy…’ Even as she said the words she knew it was no good. They wouldn’t listen to her. Not now they’d brought her here. But she had to at least try to get them to see sense, to make them see they were wrong.
Whatever the CCTV footage had shown, Rebecca was sure she had seen the intruder.
‘Seriously, Jamie? You think this is right?’ Rebecca pleaded, feeling a wave of panic ripple through her as the gravity of the situation hit her. Her eyes turned to the double doors as they opened and yellow light flooded the pathway from inside, illuminating the silhouette of a woman in a cream dress as she held the door open for them.
‘Please, Jamie, you know I’m telling the truth. Please, tell them. You came back… You saw me tonight. You saw the state I was in. You know it was real. You know me,’ Rebecca said, recalling what she’d overheard Jamie say to Officer Blythe. That his business meeting the next morning had been cancelled, so he’d come back early.
Just in time by all accounts.