Fragile Minds Page 0,115

the table, but he knew she was tearing at her own bloodied skin.

‘I – I’m not sure.’ She eyed the toast warily. She wasn’t going to eat it, he could tell, although her face was hollowed, as if she had not had a square meal for weeks. ‘I think I will be OK.’

He sat now, opposite her, and he studied her. The circles below her eyes were dark and ingrained, her pallor tinged with grey. She was a pretty woman, but she was destroyed, it was absolutely obvious. What could he do for her?

‘Have we met before?’ he asked.

‘I don’t think so.’

‘You look a little familiar.’

She shook her head. There was a pen on the table; he turned it round neatly, thinking, and then he gave her a reassuring smile.

‘So, Claudie. In your own time, I need you to tell me why you’re here. How you came to be all the way out here. Did someone bring you?’

‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘And something’s not right,’ she repeated.

‘What?’ he said now. He could sense how frightened she was. ‘What’s not right?’

‘I can’t – it’s hard to explain.’

They locked eyes. He desperately wanted to help her. Something in her vulnerability reminded him of Lana. He thought of the two men he’d met earlier, Will Scott and the suave MP. How they’d failed her. He could see her attraction for Longley, who obviously liked lost causes.

‘That sounds stupid, I know.’ She was stuttering slightly. ‘I mean, I can’t quite put my finger on it.’

‘On what?’ He willed her on.

‘I think I might have done something bad. The Friday before last.’

‘What kind of bad?’ Silver asked. He thought about unwrapping his gum, but it seemed a little inappropriate. So instead, he sat back in his chair and looked at her. He knew he had to wait, and eventually she would tell him.

‘Very bad,’ she muttered. She stopped again. He could hear the scratch scratch scratch of fingernails on dry flesh.

‘Do you know my name?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘Sorry – I can’t remember.’

‘It’s DCI Silver.’ He wanted her to know he was a friend. He spoke gently. ‘Joe Silver.’

Kenton walked into the room now. She smiled at the woman and Silver remembered they’d met before. Claudie gazed back at Kenton. She might have attempted a smile, but her face was so stricken it was hard to tell.

‘And what happened to your face, Claudie?’

She raised her hand to her cheek. ‘Berkeley Square.’

‘Berkeley Square?’ Silver sat up straighter. ‘The explosion?’

She nodded.

‘OK, Claudie,’ he flicked the gum away and smiled at this broken soul again, ‘why don’t you start from the beginning? Who brought you all the way out here?’

‘I think I might have done something terrible,’ she repeated. She met his eyes this time. ‘I think I might have killed a lot of people.’

TUESDAY 25TH JULY SILVER

Silver drove Claudie Scott back to London early that morning after they had all had a few hours’ sleep in a local hotel. Claudie was exhausted; nervy and obviously frightened, and Silver couldn’t help feeling that, given her history, she certainly did appear a little delusional.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, she had seemed convinced that she had had something to do with the bombing in Berkeley Square, that she had been there or if she hadn’t, she should have been. But her memory was patchy, her brown eyes wide and staring, her raw, cracked hands shaking with an almost constant tremor. She had rambled about the Queen of Hearts and choppers chopping, and she kept saying ‘as you like it’ until Kenton and Silver’s worried eyes met above her head.

The police doctor in Norwich checked her over and said that apart from some bad bruising and a cracked rib, she seemed all right; although she was also complaining of stomach cramps, which he gave her some medication for. He took some blood too, but they’d have to wait a day or two for the results.

She’s under-nourished, that’s for sure,’ he explained. ‘There’s ketones in her urine. She’s been starving.’

They couldn’t persuade her to eat though; she kept muttering about poisoning and pushing food away. Helen Ganymede sat with her for a bit, until she slept, and Claudie seemed pleased to see her, which Silver hoped was a good sign, for Claudie’s sake.

On the plus side, she was able to tell them that she had seen Sadie Malvern at the farmhouse, and also Pritti Vershani, whom she identified from a photo. Silver felt a burst of relief at the