c8

"Not when the responsible party's signed her in,"Dr. Samuels replied. "We're a private hospital."

"The responsible party. Was that Superintendent Nies?"

Samuels shook his head impatiently. "Not at all. We don't take people at random from the police."He scanned Roberta's chart. "It was…let me see where…Gibson, Richard Gibson. He names himself as her closest relative. He's the one who got the court to agree and filled out the paperwork."

"Richard Gibson?"

"That's the name on the form, Inspector,"Samuels replied tersely. "He's signed her in for treatment pending the trial. She's in therapy daily. There's no progress yet, but that isn't to say there never will be any."

"But why would Gibson—"Lynley was speaking more to himself than the other two, but Samuels went on, perhaps in the assumption that he was being addressed.

"She's his cousin, after all. And the sooner she's better, the sooner the trial. That is, unless she's proven incompetent to stand trial at all."

"And in that case,"Lynley fi nished, his eyes fixed grimly on the doctor's face, "she's in for life, isn't she?"

"Until she recovers."Samuels led them up to a heavy, locked door. "She's just in here. It's unfortunate that she has to be alone, but considering the circumstances…."He gestured with his hands, unlocked the door, and swung it open. "Roberta, you've visitors,"he said.

He'd chosen Prokofi ev—Romeo and Juliet— and the music had begun almost immediately when he started the car. Thank God, Barbara thought brokenly. Thank God. Let the music of violins, cellos and violas drive thought away, drive memory away, drive everything completely, irreversibly away so that there is no existence but that of audition, so that she needn't think of the girl in the room and, even more frightening, of the man in the car.

Even staring steadfastly ahead, she could still see his hands on the wheel, could see the gold hair on them—lighter even than the hair on his head—could see each finger, note its movement, as he guided the car back to Keldale.

When he leaned forward to make an adjustment in the sound, she could see his profi le. He was very lightly tanned. Gold and brown. Skin, hair, and eyes. Straight, classical nose. The fi rm line of jaw. A face that spoke clearly of tremendous inner strength, of resources of character that she couldn't comprehend.

How had he done it?

She'd been by a window, not looking out but rather staring fixedly at the wall, a lummox of a girl nearly six feet tall who must have weighed well over fifteen stone. She sat on a stool, her back hunched over in an arc of defeat, and she rocked.

"Roberta, my name is Thomas Lynley. I've come to talk to you about your father."

The rocking continued. The eyes looked at nothing, saw nothing. If she heard at all, she gave absolutely no sign.

Her hair was filthy, foul-smelling. It was pulled back from her broad, moon-shaped face with an elastic band, but greasy tendrils had escaped imprisonment and hung forward stiffl y, kissing on her neck the pockets of fl esh that encased in their folds the incongruous ornament of a single, slender gold chain.

"Father Hart came to London, Roberta. He's asked us to help you. He says he knows you didn't hurt anyone."

Nothing. The broad face was expressionless. Suppurating pimples covered cheeks and chin. Bloated skin stretched over layers of fat that had long ago erased whatever defi nition her features might have had. She was dough-like, grey and unclean.

"We've been talking to a great many people in Keldale. We've seen your cousin Richard, and Olivia, and Bridie. Bridie cut her hair, Roberta. She's made quite a mess of it, unfortunately, in an effort to look like the Princess of Wales. Her mother was quite upset about it. She said how good you always were to Bridie."

No response. Roberta was dressed in a too-short skirt that revealed white, fl abby thighs upon which the flesh, dotted by red pustules, quivered when she rocked. There were hospital slippers on her feet, but they were too small, and her sausage toes hung out, their uncut nails curling around them.

"We've been to the house. Have you read all those books? Stepha Odell said that you'd read them all. We were amazed at how many you have. We saw the pictures of your mother, Roberta. She was lovely, wasn't she?"

Silence. Her arms hung at her sides. Her enormous breasts strained against the cheap material of her blouse. Its buttons struggled to hold the thin garment closed as the pressure of the rocking continued, each movement causing the flesh to heave to and fro in a rebarbative pavane.

"I think this may be a bit difficult for you to hear, Roberta, but we saw your mother today. Do you know that she lives in York? You have another brother and sister there. She told us how much your father loved you and Gillian."

The movement ceased. The face neither acknowledged nor changed, but the tears began. They were silent, ugly rivers of mute pain dipping and plunging through the crevices of fat, climbing the peaks of acne. With the tears came the mucus. It began its descent from her nose in a slimy cord, touched her lips, and crawled onto her chin.

Lynley squatted before her. He removed a snowy handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her face clean. He took her pulpy, lifeless hand in his own and pressed it fi rmly.

"Roberta."There was no response. "I'll find Gillian."He stood, folded the elegant, monogrammed linen square, and returned it to his pocket.

What had Webberly said? Barbara thought. There's a lot you might learn from working with Lynley.

And now she knew. She couldn't look at him. She couldn't meet his eyes. She knew what would be there and the thought of its existence in this man she had been determined to believe was an absolute fop of an upper-class snob chilled her entirely.

He was supposed to be the man who danced in nightclubs, who dispensed sexual favours, laughter, and good cheer, who moved effortlessly in a gilt-edged world of money and privilege. But he was not supposed to be—never supposed to be—the man she had seen today.

He'd stepped neatly out of the mould she'd created and destroyed it without a backward glance. She had to fit him back into it somehow. If she didn't, the fires within her that for so many years had kept her alive would be swiftly extinguished. And then, she knew well, she would die in the cold.

That was the thought that carried her to Keldale, longing to fly from his presence. But when the Bentley made the final turn into the village, she knew immediately that there would be no quick escape. For Nigel Parrish and another man were having a violent quarrel upon the bridge, directly in the path of the car.