Borderliners, page 18
We went through to my consulting room and after a brief talk with Linda, I picked up my phone to dial the number of the local psychiatric ward.
‘You've got a bed tomorrow? Good.’ I put the phone down and explained to Linda that I wanted her to go to hospital the next day.
‘You’re sectioning her?’ asked Kate, her voice shrill.
‘Not me, I can’t do that.’ Again I turned to Linda. ‘But I strongly recommend you take my advice and go to hospital for a check-up tomorrow. When you get there, you’ll need to be evaluated, and yes, the consultant there may decide to section you for a period.’
Linda looked up, as if seeing me for the first time. ‘They’re going to get me tonight. They’re after me.’
I regarded her for a moment, trying to comprehend her response. ‘You need to go home, go to bed and get some sleep tonight. I don’t think you should be going anywhere or meeting anyone. Just home to rest.’ And then to Kate. ‘She should be all right overnight until you can get her into the hospital, but if you’re worried, take her straight to Accident and Emergency.’
Remembering the clippings file, I continued. ‘Don’t leave her alone if you can help it please. She needs to have someone with her until she goes into hospital tomorrow.’
Kate nodded and took Linda's hand. Linda was shaking and as I watched them go, I bit my lip. Once they were gone, I typed some notes up in Linda's records and closed my computer down.
An icy shiver grasped my body, compelling me to pull my shrug more tightly around my shoulders. I couldn’t rid myself of negative thoughts tonight – of Vince and his games, of Julia’s menace and of Tony. Where was Tony? I hadn’t seen him or contacted him since our discussion about the clippings file, and the omission suddenly clung to me, squeezing at my heart.
Chapter 26
When I returned to the ball the band was playing and there was a large crowd on the dance floor. It didn’t surprise me that I could see no sign of Dan anywhere. I knew he’d be in the thick of it. Scratching my head, I looked around the room. Most people had finished eating: plates were already being cleared away and the after dinner band looked like it was in full swing. I scanned the room for a clock, noting when I found one that it was a lot later than I had presumed. After another second of waiting in the doorway I made up my mind to push through the crowded room towards the bar. I brushed past a man drinking a pint of bitter whilst chatting amiably to a woman with bleached blond hair in a black dress and matching black knitted shawl. They glanced at me briefly, dispassionately. Community members, I wondered, but dismissed it. I glanced back at the man again, just to make sure and he caught my eye, a nasty smile crawl across his features before he turned back to his partner. I shuddered, regretting the eye contact immediately.
I reached the bar and turned to the man next to me. He was alone there, presumably getting drinks for his friends.
‘Hi Vince.’
He turned, eyes flickering over me to rest on the tattoo at the base of my spine before returning to hold my gaze. ‘I’m getting some drinks in. Did you want one?’
‘No thanks, I’ll get my own,’ I replied, my gaze as steady as his. ‘Are you enjoying the evening?’
‘Hmm. It's a laugh, isn't it? And you ladies do like to dress up.’ He jerked his head towards the corner table where his sister and his friends were playing an uproarious drinking game. Lucy and Louise were cackling at Emma, who appeared to be leading the proceedings. I looked over at them, tight lipped, not attempting to hide my disdain.
‘However, I’ve got things to look out for, as have you.’ There was a brief silence before he continued, a theatrical upturn to his voice. ‘Well!’ He picked up his three beers and a glass of wine. ‘I’d better go and keep them out of trouble.’
He left me standing at the bar.
I remained where I was for a few moments considering his words, keeping my shoulders straight whilst I looked down at the slender expanse of silver dress which reached to the floor. My hair was irritating me, so fetching a clasp out from my bag, I started twisting my hair into a loose bun before a voice behind made me jump.
‘Leave it, it looks lovely down.’ It was Dan and I relaxed into a smile. He reached over and ruffled my hair, winking as he did so. I laughed and ruffled his back.
‘Dan, you scared me! I thought you’d gone.’
‘Who's your friend?’ he said, glancing over at Vince’s table. ‘I’m still waiting for you to introduce us.’
'Oh he's not a friend,' I said, quickly twisting up my hair once again. 'I know him from the village council.'
'What about the girlfriend? She a friend of yours?' Dan asked, eyes still twinkling.
'I don’t think she’s a girlfriend.'
He raised his eyebrows. 'Look, why don’t you join me on the dance floor?’
'All right, I’m coming.'
We started walking over towards the dance floor, weaving our way through tables and past knots of people dotted along our route. When we were almost there, Dan stopped me. ‘I almost forgot. You never told me exactly what was up with that Julia person? She’s the leader of that crackpot community you told me about, isn’t she? Cold fish, if you ask me.’
I opened my mouth to reply but quickly shut it again. Julia had appeared behind us.
‘Hello again.’ She greeted us with the same tight, bright tone as before. ‘I noticed that you disappeared for a while earlier.’
‘Patient emergency,’ I retorted.
‘Anyone I know?’
‘Sorry, I can't break patient confidentiality.’
‘I see. Yes, of course.’ Again, the tight-lipped smile. ‘I wanted to ask you about something actually. Shall we take a walk?’
‘Actually, I need to go to the bathroom. Please excuse me. I'll be back in a minute.’
I pulled Dan’s arm and together we exited the Great Hall in the direction of the bathrooms. Once in the corridor, I changed direction and led Dan outside where we strolled for a few moments together down the path leading from the stately home to its gardens, before I stopped and turned to face him. Putting my arms around him I pulled his head down to my ear.
‘Steady on, love.’
‘You misunderstand me, darling,’ I said. ‘I need to tell you something but I don’t want to be overheard. I need cover!’
He chuckled and put his arms around me, pulling me closer. ‘I reckon this is as good a cover as you’ll get – nobody’s going to hear us. Fire away.’
‘I’m going to need to stay here a while,’ I hissed. ‘I have to take care of something and I might be late – if you want to leave, just do so. You can let yourself into the house. There’s a key under the back door mat. Don’t ask questions, or come looking for me or anything else like that. I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.’
Dan raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
As we unlocked our embrace and turned to walk back into the stately home, I noticed a dark shape in the doorway swivel round and saunter into the building. Had he been watching us?
Dan steered us to the dance floor, and I stayed there for a while, making a reasonable show of enjoying myself, until it dawned on me Julia was nowhere to be seen. I frowned and touched Dan’s arm, indicating I needed to take a quick break. He nodded but continued dancing.
It had begun to rain outside, but despite this, I decided to walk away from the stately home. Turning left outside the French doors I walked through the rain into the gardens. Hurrying along, head bent against the rain, I nearly ran straight into Vince, who was standing under his umbrella ahead of me on the path. I hadn't seen him leave and blinked in confusion. He nodded a cursory hello but I felt as if his intention was anything but to greet me politely. His eyes glinted but at the same time his voice wavered and I couldn't really discern what was behind this mismatch of sound and gesture. I stopped and waited in silence, letting droplets of rain drip from my hair onto my nose.
‘I saw you talking to Julia,’ he said.
‘She came over to talk to me. Not the other way around.’
‘Where is she now?’ He was watching me carefully.
‘I don’t know. I was wondering that, too.’ I took a breath. ‘A few people have disappeared from the ball - can you guess which ones? They may have gone home, of course, but considering what we discussed in the pub a few weeks ago about a certain ceremony, I thought I’d take a walk around, maybe venture into those woods and see what I can find.’
I made to move past him, but he grabbed my hand. For a second we stared at each other.
‘Come on, Elena,’ he said, keeping his voice low. ‘You can’t be taking a walk inside those woods on your own?’
‘I can look after myself.’
The stately home nestled behind us in the darkness of the gardens. A halo of light surrounded it although the steady hum of voices which usually caressed the ears of those outside was now inaudible over the aggressive patter of the rain. As we continued to stare at each other in silence, the umbrella clattered to the floor, falling unnoticed from Vince's free hand. A peal of laughter from inside the banqueting hall registered and I took my cue to pull away.
Turning towards the woods beyond the stately home’s gardens, I began to walk again.
Vince fell into step with me. ‘I’m coming with you.’
I didn’t reply and we were both silent as we marched forwards.
The sky stretched across my sphere of vision like a membrane. Thinner at the top and thicker at the sides, the orange of the lights outside the Hall directly above us turned the sky a menacing shade of purple at the edges. Further away, the horizon was flecked with sparkling dots which crept across the night sky. I strode along, looking up towards the heavens rather than down at my feet and the undergrowth, which grabbed at my dress as I pounded through it.
After several minutes, we stopped and I took stock of where we were. We had ended up in a large clearing where the thick tree mass had lightened to give way to a clearer expanse. My dress was ripped in three places and my feet felt too large for my body as I dragged them through the damp undergrowth. I was soaked. Voices reverberated and strained at the edge of my consciousness. I slowed my pace down, suddenly aware of the sodden, autumn leaves beneath my feet and my breath cutting through the night air. At some point the rain must have stopped, giving way to clearer skies. It was already cold and the temperature was dropping fast. I made for the edge of the clearing to avoid the clarity of the moon and the voices in the near distance.
We glanced at each other. Backed up against the edge of the shadows, I stooped over to catch my breath, wondering if we were anywhere near the site of the clandestine Walpurgis ceremony. Gradually, I gained control of my breathing and concentrated on my surroundings. The voices I’d heard earlier seemed a lot closer and I frowned as I attempted to tune in to them. I could make out other sounds mixed in with the low hum of voices: a low moan and a shrill, but constant whine. My breathing became irregular as I strained to listen more closely, my instincts on alert.
Indicating to Vince that he should follow behind, I edged up to a large, low branch on the periphery of the clearing and parted its leaves to see. In the clearing, I saw a terrible face contorted in both ecstasy and power. With long, dark hair and willowy legs, the central figure stood with her arms outstretched towards the sky in the middle of a crowd of onlookers: men and women still dressed in their ball gowns and tuxedos but transformed into creatures of another universe. Their eyes aloft, glazed and otherworldly, they chanted softly looking as if a spell had been cast on them. Shrinking back into the shadow and protection of a large, maternal oak tree, I squinted through its remaining brittle leaves, paper-thin now that autumn had advanced to claim their former lushness. There was a silence, suddenly deafening.
‘This woman has broken the rules,’ said the central figure in a voice which although lilting and low was powerful and direct.
I edged closer to the side of the tree trunk, gripped by slow release panic as I tried to see who the people were. There was no mistaking the woman in the middle whose voice carried through the night air to where I hid. The assembled group were concentrating intently on the proceedings but still, I felt as if my breathing alone could be heard all around the clearing. I couldn’t work out who was whom as tuxedos and ball gowns merged into a mass of black and white and colour. But I recognised the girl in the middle: my patient, Linda, who at odds with the rest of the company, was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. There was no sign of her sister.
And I recognised the man too.
As I caught sight of him, he turned to look directly over at the branch behind which I was hiding. He was standing to one side of the main group in the middle, his blue eyes haunted, mournful and pleading as they bored through the surroundings to strip everything away. In his left hand he was clutching a sheaf of papers of differing sizes which looked worn and tatty at the edges. And I felt as if I was standing right before him, my soul exposed and bare, lain open for all to see. I had failed him. His eyes conveyed this as he stared over at me, sad and resigned. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out and I just stood there, helplessly contorted.
Julia, who had been chanting incoherently, slid across to where Tony was standing before gliding back to the middle. ‘THIS, ladies and gentlemen,’ she said slowly and deliberately, ‘is an example of the sickness the world bestows on you if you meddle where you are not welcome!’
A tremor passed through the waiting crowd: they appeared to sway in time with Julia’s slow, lilting words. The invisible thread connecting me to Tony strengthened as I continued to stare over at him, paralyzed. Breaking his sightless gaze, I took a deep breath, recognising the hard kick of adrenalin which coursed through my veins, as I prepared to burst forth from the bushes to run into the circle.
Julia floated back over to Linda, her lilting tones breaking through my train of thought. ‘Tonight is our annual ceremony, where evil must be banished.’
The assembled crowd took this as a sign and, moving together in one, fluid mass which flowed around the two stricken figures in the centre, they started chanting. Three, two, one, I prepared to lunge myself out of the foliage towards the group.
I was stopped by a hand thrust over my mouth and an arm thrown around my waist. Damn Vince! I kicked and thrashed about but he held me tight, pinning my hair back as he bent his head to my ear. ‘Quiet!’ he hissed. I breathed in and kicked out backwards. Ignoring his muffled cry, I yanked myself away before turning to face him.
‘What was that?’
His green eyes flashed as he rubbed his right calf where I’d kicked him. ‘This way. Come on!’ There was no mistaking his urgency, so as he turned, I followed, ploughed unevenly through the undergrowth. Unable to keep up I broke into a run to the cover of a thick mass of trees beyond.
‘They’ve seen us,’ I thought I heard him say, his voice lost in the rustling of our feet on the leaves and twigs below. We stopped, my breathing hard and painful as we stood staring at each other. Then Vince moved forward to take my hands in his, clenching them roughly. I noticed how several locks of coarse, shaggy hair had fallen in front of his eyes, making it difficult to read his expression.
‘What were you about to do then?’
‘I have to put a stop to it.’
A long silence stretched between us as the moon went in, finally, behind swift clouds which thickened and crowded around it to engulf their prey. Darkness closed in.
A shrill screech carried across from the clearing to where we were standing, breaking both the silence and the spell. My mind cleared and I remembered what had seemed so important only moments before.
‘That woman there, in the jeans, she’s a patient!’
‘The one right in the middle?’
‘Yes. She’s not supposed to be here.’ I pulled my hands away.
‘I agree. She’s far too young to be messing about with that lot. What’s her name? Lana or Linda or something?’
‘It’s not only that. She’s not well…’ I broke off, afraid to say too much, my brow furrowed. ‘She’s my patient and she’s in danger. Other people too! Whatever they are up to – it’s not good.’
‘You can’t just go running into their midst,’ he said, not releasing his eyes from mine. ‘We need to expose her. But Elena, let’s do it properly, let’s not put ourselves in danger too. You don’t know what those people are like, what they’re capable of.’’
‘Vince! I know! But time’s running out!’ I kicked off my shoes, grabbed them with my free hand and took flight once again. I heard a growl of frustration behind me, but I kept running until I got back to the clearing. As I re-joined the trees encircling the clearing where the gathering had been, I stopped, rooted to the spot.
‘Here!’ he ordered as he caught up. ‘Give me your phone. Quick.’
I fished out my phone. It was tricky, as the chain on my bag was both wrapped around my neck and caught in the sash I had wound around my waist. My bare feet were exposed to the uneven autumn ground which was strewn with dank leaves and sharp, brittle twigs. I shuffled up behind him and peered over his shoulder to the clearing. ‘They’ve started up again,’ I whispered, well aware there was no need for commentary. Vince put his forefinger on his lips and I fell silent again, watching as he used the zoom function on my phone to view a close up of the proceedings. I allowed my eyes to adjust to the group who were about fifty metres away, close enough for us to see and hear them, close enough for them to see us too. But not near enough for them to hear the wild beating of my heart. Only Vince was privy to this.
As moonlight escaped the rain clouds above, biting cold swept in. My toes curled as I tried to keep my circulation going, to keep a semblance of feeling in them. I told myself it wasn't important as I screwed up my eyes to get a better look at what was going on in the clearing.
