Black Fly Season. Giles Blunt

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      Cardinal sagged. ‘So we’re not going to get any info out of her?’

      ‘Afraid not.’

      ‘Can’t you use hypnosis?’

      ‘God forbid. Hypnosis has been thoroughly and completely discredited. You remember all those child abuse witch hunts? Satanic ritual abuse? Day-care centres that were the scene of orgies? There’s never been any corroborative evidence for any of it. Furthermore, the interview records show that those bits that weren’t infantile fantasy on the part of the children were memories put there inadvertently by overzealous police, prosecutors, and social workers. Same with sodium amytal. You’ll get what a patient thinks you want to hear, you won’t get the truth. Don’t worry. You’ll get lots out of this young woman eventually. Just not a direct memory of who shot her and where. Think of it like a computer. You know what happens if you’re typing something up in your word processor and there’s a power failure before you save it?’

      ‘Yes,’ Delorme said. ‘Unfortunately.’

      ‘It’s a pretty exact analogy. And I want to caution you before you talk to her. Please note my words, now. People in a confused state are extremely suggestible. If you go in there and suggest maybe her brother shot her, she’ll start “remembering” that her brother shot her. So please – for the good of this young woman as well as for the good of your own case – do not make any suggestions to her as to how she might have come to be shot, or even how she might have come to be here. If you hint that maybe she was going to school here, something like that, she’ll start remembering that she was going to school here. That’s why I videotape all my interactions with her; I want people to know that her memories are hers, not mine.’

      ‘False memories are the last thing we want,’ Cardinal said. ‘But we need to find out who might be after her.’

      ‘I hope you do. Just don’t ask her.’

      ‘Even without suggesting an answer?’

      ‘You’ll only slow her progress. She’ll try and try to remember, and it’ll upset her and that’s only going to set her back.’

      Dr Paley picked up a mug with a picture of a fat tabby on it. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’ve just made some tea. Will you have some? Or coffee? It’s pretty awful stuff, I’m afraid.’

      Cardinal and Delorme demurred.

      ‘You know what it’s like,’ Dr Paley continued, ‘when you’re trying to remember a name or a movie title that’s just on the tip of your tongue? You try and you try and you can’t do it. Then half an hour later when you’re not trying, it comes to you.’

      ‘So what are you going to do for her?’ Delorme said. ‘Just keep her in bed for three weeks?’

      ‘No, we’ll let her have the run of the ward when she wants. I go at things sort of sideways. I’ll be giving our young friend cues of various sorts. Various stimuli – music, images, smells that might provoke a response. Well, tell you what, why don’t you go in and introduce yourselves. She won’t remember you from the other day, Detective, but maybe you can establish some kind of rapport. Why don’t you meet me in the staff lounge when you’re done? It’s just down the hall on the right, past her room. I’ll have something to show you.’

      Cardinal and Delorme went down the hall. The door to the girl’s room was manned by a uniformed cop named Quigley. Cardinal was going to pass by with a nod, but Quigley was clearly relieved to have some company.

      ‘No one’s come to visit,’ he said. ‘Except Dr Paley. I think she’s getting a bit better though.’

      ‘Has she been out of her room, yet?’

      ‘Nope. But they leave the door open most of the time. I see her getting up and staring out the window. What do I do if she decides she wants to wander around, visit other patients?’

      ‘Keep track of anyone she visits. And especially keep an eye out for visitors. No one gets in to see her without talking to me or Delorme first. You make them wait right here. Anyone hanging around in a suspicious manner, you check ’em out and let us know right away.’

      ‘Will do,’ Quigley said. ‘Seems like a nice kid.’

      She looked small and frail lying back against the pillow. Her hair was a red blaze against the white of the bed, her skin, except for the freckles, almost a match with the sheets. The bandage on her temple was a miniature, pale flag. She stared at Cardinal with no sign of recognition, which was unnerving even though he was expecting it.

      ‘We met a few days ago,’ he said. ‘I’m Detective Cardinal. But here’s someone you haven’t met my partner, Lise Delorme.’

      The girl smiled shyly as Delorme shook her hand.

      There was a pause, during which Cardinal became aware that he was in an awkward position. If he couldn’t ask her questions relating to her injury, he didn’t know what he was doing here.

      ‘How’s your head, after your operation?’ Delorme asked. ‘You must have one nasty headache.’

      ‘My head?’ The girl touched her hair absently, fingers fluttering round the bandage. ‘It’s actually not too bad.’ She wrinkled her nose.

      ‘Maybe when you’re doing better, I can take you to a good stylist. See what she can do with that shaved patch.’

      ‘That would be nice. What’s your name again?’

      ‘Lise.’

      ‘Lise.’

      The young woman looked out the window. Down the hill, a train loaded with oil tankers rolled lazily past the school.

      ‘You know what I can’t understand? I can’t understand why I remember some things and not others. Why do I know what a stylist does, when I can’t remember my own name? Why do I remember how to speak, how to tie my shoe, but not where I’m from? How come I can’t remember any of the people I meet?’

      ‘You’ll have to ask Dr Paley that one,’ Cardinal said. He noted the irritation in her voice. The rise in her emotional temperature, slight though it was, seemed a harbinger of recovery.

      ‘I’m afraid to ask anybody anything,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid I’ve already asked it nine times and people will hate me.’

      ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ Delorme said. ‘Dr Paley only wants to help you. So do we.’

      ‘What I really want to do is get out of here. It’s boring lying in bed all day.’

      ‘It’s not safe for you to go out yet. You might be seen by the person who tried to kill you.’

      ‘Someone shot me. I keep forgetting.’

      Cardinal and Delorme looked at one another.

      ‘I don’t feel like I’m the kind of person people would want to shoot. Isn’t it possible that it was just an accident?’

      Cardinal shook his head. ‘You were shot from very close range. If it was an accident, why didn’t anyone go for help?’

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