‘Mrs Francini, you’re in hospital. You’ve been very ill but now you’re getting better. Just take it easy, will you. Relax.’
‘Stop calling me stupid names,’ stormed Jane. ‘I want my mother. Where is she? Why isn’t she here?’
Macandrew stayed in the background while Karen switched on her recorder, adjusted the levels and approached the bedside. She nodded to the nurse to step aside and took her place.
‘There’s obviously been some kind of mistake here,’ she said soothingly.
‘Yes... a mistake. Have you seen my mother? Why isn’t she here? Did she send you?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ said Karen. ‘But maybe I could find her for you. What’s your name?’
‘Emma.’
‘And your last name, Emma?’
‘Forsyth.’
‘And your address?’
‘Address?’
‘Where do you live, Emma?’
‘Fulton Grange.’
‘Sorry, Emma, I’m new around here. Is that the name of a town or a house?’
‘A house, of course.’
‘Sounds like a big house Emma. Is it?’
‘Yes. Why are you asking me this?’
‘So we can be friends. I’d like us to be friends. Wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes... at least, I think so...’
‘Tell me about the house. Tell me about your room.’
‘Oh, it’s just perfect,’ said Emma, starting to relax. ‘It’s round, you see, and I can see just about all the garden from the windows.’
‘Round?’
‘It’s in the tower. Father didn’t want me to have it because of the stairs but I begged him so in the end he let me if I promised to be careful; the stairs are very steep. If we are friends, maybe you could go there and ask my mother to bring my doll? It’s in the secret place.’
‘What secret place Emma?’
Jane paused for a moment.
‘You can trust me.’
‘If you promise never to tell?’
‘I promise.’
‘There’s a big stone in the wall beneath the big window in the middle; it has a mark on it like a rose. If you push one of the petals in a special way, the stone turns and there’s a secret place inside. Father showed me. He said it was to hide valuable things from robbers so I always put Lucy there when I go out so I know she’ll be safe.’
Karen smiled and took hold of Jane’s hand.
‘Please will you go there and tell my mother to come?’ asked Jane.
‘Of course,’ said Karen. ‘But first you’ll have to tell me exactly how to get there.’
‘I told you. I live in Fulton Grange.’
‘Yes but that’s the name of your house. I need to know what town Fulton Grange is in so I can go there.’
‘It’s not in a town. It’s in the country, silly.’
‘But surely it must be near a town, Emma?’
‘It’s near Moscow I suppose but I don’t see what that has to do with it. Everyone knows Fulton Grange.’
Karen turned and looked at Macandrew who shrugged. Up until that moment he had been worried by what he was hearing. It almost came as a relief to have something remind him that he was listening to the ramblings of a sick woman.
‘So you live near Moscow, Emma,’ said Karen, ‘but you don’t speak Russian.’
‘Why should I?’
Karen smiled at the absence of logic in Jane Francini’s reply. ‘Tell me about Moscow, Emma. Do you go there often?’
‘Jane Francini opened her mouth to reply but suddenly froze as if she’d been struck dumb then she let out a loud, harsh wail of anguish.’
‘What is it, Emma?’ asked Karen. ‘What’s the matter?’
Jane Francini had totally changed in demeanour. Gone was the timid little girl who wanted her mother and her doll. In her place was an angry woman who let out a stream of unintelligible words at Karen who stepped back in surprise.
Jane Francini was now completely out of sedation and obviously in great distress. She threw her head from side to side and slapped her hands angrily down on the bed. There would be no further discussion with her.
‘Aren’t you going to give her something?’ asked Karen who had stepped back to join Macandrew near the door.
‘Her husband has forbidden us to sedate her. If I give her a shot, he’ll sue the Med Centre.’
Karen asked, ‘Has he seen her like this?’
‘No, it’s only when the sedation has completely worn off that she gets like this. He’s only seen the little girl character.’
‘So that happens under partial sedation...’ said Karen thoughtfully. ‘Interesting, I’ve heard about this and I’ve read about it in the journals, but I’ve never actually seen it for myself,’ said Karen. ‘Your patient seems to have developed Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder as they’ve started calling it these days. We’ll talk further when I’ve listened to the tape and had a think about what’s going on.’
She returned to Jane’s bedside and switched off her recorder. She had to move smartly out of the way to avoid a flailing arm. ‘I’m sure her husband will change his mind about sedation when he sees her like this,’ she said.
‘What in Christ’s name have you done to her?’ stormed Tony Francini when he entered the room and saw the disturbed state of his wife. Two nurses were trying to restrain her.
‘She has been allowed to recover full consciousness on your instructions,’ said Macandrew coldly. ‘I strongly recommend that she be put back under sedation immediately in view of her cardiac history.’
Francini’s eyes were wide and unblinking as he watched his wife rant and rave. He appeared to have been shocked into silence by the sight.
‘Mr Francini, do you understand what I’m saying?’
Francini turned slowly towards Macandrew and nodded. ‘I understand all right,’ he said. ‘You’d rather no one saw the full horror of what you’ve done to Janey, you butchering bastard!’
‘Mr Francini, your wife’s condition is the result of a brain tumour, nothing else. Now, can I sedate her?’
‘Go ahead. Do what you have to to get her through the night,’ said Francini with a shake of his head. His shoulders slumped forward in obvious despair. ‘After that, you leave her alone. Understand? My man’s flying into Kansas City in the morning.’
Macandrew nodded and told one of the nurses what he wanted given to Jane Francini. He wrote it into her treatment records.
‘Oh Janey,’ murmured Francini as he stood at the foot of the bed. ‘What have they done to you, honey?’
Much as he disliked the man, Macandrew felt his heart go out to him. ‘I’m very sorry,’ he said.
Francini’s eyes hardened. ‘Sorry?’ he mocked. ‘Oh no... but you’re gonna be, pal. Promise.’ With that he left the room.
Jane’s ranting subsided almost immediately the injection was given and became a murmur as she relaxed on the pillow. Her eyelids flickered briefly before she fell into a deep sleep.
Macandrew returned to his office and called Saul Klinsman. ‘Did Francini say who he was bringing in?’ he asked.
‘Kurt Weber, from the Mayo in Rochester.’
‘Jesus,’ said Macandrew.
‘Almost as good, I hear,’ said Klinsman.
‘He’s going to have to sell extra harvesters for that one,’ said Macandrew. ‘And all for no good reason.’
‘You think so?’
‘I know so. She’s going to have to be certified: that’s what happened to all previous Hartman patients according to Carl Lessing.’
‘Lessing was absolutely sure about the nature of the tumour wasn’t he?’ asked Klinsman. ‘I have to be sure of our position. Francini is determined to apportion blame for this one and with his financial muscle he’s going to be a formidable proposition.’