10 Great Rebus Novels (John Rebus)

by Ian Rankin

  All this the hospital’s medical director, Dr Frank Forster, told Rebus in his pleasant but purposeful office. Rebus had spent a long time last night on the telephone with Patience, and she’d told him much the same thing. Fine, thought Rebus. But it was still a place of detention. The people who came here came with no time limit attached, no ‘sentence’ that had to be served. The main gates were operated electronically and by guards, and everywhere Rebus had gone so far the doors had been locked again behind him. But now Dr Forster was talking about recreation facilities, staff/patient ratios, the weekly disco . . . He was obviously proud. He was also obviously overdoing it. Rebus saw him for what he was: the front-man whose job it was to publicize the benefits of this particular special hospital, the caring attitude, the role of treatment. The likes of Broadmoor had come in for a lot of criticism in previous years. To avoid criticism, you needed good PR. And Dr Forster looked good PR. He was young for a start, a good few years younger than Rebus. And he had a healthy, scrupulous look to him, with a smile always just around the corner.

  He reminded Rebus of Gregor Jack. That enthusiasm and energy, that public image. It used to be the sort of stuff Rebus associated with American presidential campaigns; now it was everywhere. Even in the asylums. The lunatics hadn’t taken over; the image-men had.

  ‘We have just over three hundred patients here,’ Forster was saying, ‘and we like the staff to get to know as many of them as possible. I don’t just mean faces, I mean names. First names at that. This isn’t Bedlam, Inspector Rebus. Those days are long past, thank God.’

  ‘But you’re a secure unit.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You deal with the criminally insane.’

  Forster smiled again. ‘You wouldn’t know it to look at most of our patients. Do you know, the majority of them – over sixty per cent, I believe – have above-average IQs? I think some of them are brighter than I am!’ A laugh this time, then the serious face again, the caring face. ‘A lot of our patients are confused, deluded. They’re depressed, or schizophrenic. But they’re not, I assure you, anything like the lunatics you see in the movies. Take Andrew Macmillan, for example.’ The file had been on Forster’s desk all along. He now opened it. ‘He’s been with us since the hospital opened. Before that, he was in much less . . . savoury surroundings. He was making no progress at all before he came here. Now, he’s becoming more talkative, and he seems about ready to participate in some of the available activities. I believe he plays a very good game of chess.’

  ‘But is he still dangerous?’

  Forster chose not to answer. ‘He suffers occasional panic attacks . . . hyperventilation, but nothing like the frenzies he went into before.’ He closed the file. ‘I would say, Inspector, that Andrew Macmillan is on his way to a complete recovery. Now, why do you want to talk to him?’

  So Rebus explained about The Pack, about the friendship between ‘Mack’ Macmillan and Gregor Jack, about Elizabeth Jack’s murder and the fact that she had been staying not forty miles from Duthil.

  ‘I just wondered if she’d visited.’

  ‘Well, we can check that for you.’ Forster was flipping through the file again. ‘Interesting, there’s nothing in here about Mr Macmillan knowing Mr Jack, or about his having that nickname. Mack, did you say?’ He reached for a pencil. ‘I’ll just make a note . . .’ He did so, then flicked through the file again. ‘Apparently, Mr Macmillan has written to several MPs in the past . . . and to other public figures. Mr Jack is mentioned . . .’ He read a little more in silence, then closed the file and picked up the telephone. ‘Audrey, can you bring me the records of recent visitors . . . say in the last month? Thanks.’

  Duthil wasn’t exactly a tourist attraction, and, out of sight being out of mind, there were few enough entries in the book. So it was the work of minutes to find what Rebus was looking for. The visit took place on Saturday, the day after Operation Creeper, but before the story became public knowledge.

  ‘“Eliza Ferrie,”’ he read. ‘“Patient visited: Andrew Macmillan. Relation to patient: friend.” Signed in at three o’clock and out again at four thirty.’

  ‘Our regular visiting hours,’ Forster explained. ‘Patients can have visitors in the main recreation room. But I’ve arranged for you to see Andrew in his ward.’

  ‘His ward?’

  ‘Just a large room, really. Four beds to a room. But we call them wards to enforce . . . perhaps enhance would be a better word . . . to enhance the hospital atmosphere. Andrew’s in the Kinnoul Ward.’

  Rebus started. ‘Why Kinnoul?’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Why call the ward Kinnoul?’

  Forster smiled. ‘After the actor. You must have heard of Rab Kinnoul? He and his wife are among the hospital’s patrons.’

  Rebus decided not to say anything about Cath Kinnoul being one of The Pack, about her having known Macmillan at school . . . It was no business of his. But the Kinnouls went up in his estimation; well, Cath did. She had not, it seemed, forgotten her one-time friend. Nobody calls me Gowk any more. And Liz Jack, too, had visited, albeit under her maiden name and with a twist to her Christian name to boot. He could understand that: the papers would have had a field day. MP’s Wife’s Visits to Crazed Killer. All those possessives. She couldn’t have known that the papers were about to have their story anyway . . .

  ‘Perhaps at the end of your visit,’ Dr Forster said, ‘you’d like to see some of our facilities? Pool, gym, workshops . . .’

  ‘Workshops?’

  ‘Simple mechanics. Car maintenance, that sort of thing.’

  ‘You mean you give the patients spanners and screwdrivers?’

  Forster laughed. ‘And we count them in again at the end of the session.’

  Rebus had thought of something. ‘Did you say car maintenance? I don’t suppose somebody could take a look at my windscreen wipers?’

  Forster started to laugh again, but Rebus shook his head.

  ‘I’m serious,’ he said.

  ‘Then I’ll see what we can do.’ Forster rose to his feet. ‘Ready when you are, Inspector.’

  ‘I’m ready,’ said Rebus, not at all sure that he was.

  There was much passing through corridors, and the nurse who was to show Rebus to Kinnoul Ward had to unlock and relock countless doors. A heavy chain of keys swung from his waistband. Rebus attempted conversation, but the nurse replied with short measures. There was just the one incident. They were passing along a corridor when from an open doorway a hand appeared, grabbing at Rebus. A small, elderly man was trying to say something, eyes shining, mouth making tiny movements.

  ‘Back into your room, Homer,’ said the nurse, prising the fingers from Rebus’s jacket. The man scuttled back inside. Rebus waited a moment for his heart rate to ease, then asked: ‘Why do you call him Homer?’

  The nurse looked at him. ‘Because that’s his name.’ They walked on in silence.

  Forster had been right. There were few moans or groans or sudden curdling shrieks, and few enough signs of movement, never mind violent movement. They passed through a large room where people were watching TV. Forster had explained that actual television wasn’t allowed, since it couldn’t be pre-determined. Instead, there was a daily diet of specially chosen video titles. The Sound of Music seemed to be a particular favourite. The patients watched in mute fascination.

  ‘Are they on drugs?’ Rebus hazarded.

  The nurse suddenly became talkative. ‘As many as we can stick down their throats. Keeps them out of mischief.’

  So much for the caring face . . .

  ‘Nothing wrong with it,’ the nurse was saying, ‘giving them drugs. It’s all in the MHA.’

  ‘MHA?’

  ‘Mental Health Act. Allows for sedation as part of the treatment process.’

  Rebus got the feeling the nurse was reciting a little defence he’d prepared to deal with visitors who asked. He was a big bugger: not tall, but broad, with bulging arms.

  ‘Do any wei
ght training?’ Rebus asked.

  ‘Who? That lot?’

  Rebus smiled. ‘I meant you.’

  ‘Oh.’ A grin. ‘Yeah, I push some weights. Most of these places, the patients get all the facilities and there’s nothing for the staff. But we’ve got a pretty good gym. Yeah, pretty good. In here . . .’

  Another door was unlocked, another corridor beckoned, but off this corridor a sign pointed through yet another door – unlocked – to the Kinnoul Ward. ‘In there,’ the guard commanded, pushing open the door. His voice became firm. ‘Okay, walk to the wall.’

  Rebus thought for a moment the nurse was talking to him, but he saw that the object of the command was a tall, thin man, who now rose from his bed and walked to the far wall, where he turned to face them.

  ‘Hands against the wall,’ the nurse commanded. Andrew Macmillan placed the palms of his hands against the wall behind him.

  ‘Look,’ began Rebus, ‘is this really –?’

  Macmillan smiled wryly. ‘Don’t worry,’ the nurse told Rebus. ‘He won’t bite. Not after what we’ve pumped into him. You can sit there.’ He was pointing to a table on which a board had been set for chess. There were two chairs. Rebus sat on the one which faced Andrew Macmillan. There were four beds, but they were all empty. The room was light, its walls painted lemon. There were three narrow barred windows, through which some rare sunshine poured. The nurse looked to be staying, and took up position behind Rebus, so that he was reminded of the scene in Dufftown interview room, with himself and Corbie and Knox.

  ‘Good morning,’ Macmillan said quietly. He was balding, and looked to have been doing so for some years. He had a long face, but it was not gaunt. Rebus would have called the face ‘kindly’.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Macmillan. My name’s Inspector Rebus.’

  This news seemed to excite Macmillan. He took half a step forward.

  ‘Against the wall,’ said the nurse. Macmillan paused, then retreated.

  ‘Are you an Inspector of Hospitals?’ he asked.

  ‘No, sir, I’m a police inspector.’

  ‘Oh.’ His face dulled a little. ‘I thought maybe you’d come to . . . they don’t treat us well here, you know.’ He paused. ‘There, because I’ve told you that I’ll probably be disciplined, maybe even put into solitary. Everything, any dissension, gets reported back. But I’ve got to keep telling people, or nothing will be done. I have some influential friends, Inspector.’ Rebus thought this was for the nurse’s ears more than his own. ‘Friends in high places . . .’

  Well, Dr Forster knew that now, thanks to Rebus.

  ‘. . . friends I can trust. People need to be told, you see. They censor our mail. They decide what we can read. They won’t even let me read Das Kapital. And they give us drugs. The mentally ill, you know, by whom I mean those who have been judged to be mentally ill, we have less rights than the most hardened mass murderer . . . hardened but sane mass murderer. Is that fair? Is that . . . humane?’

  Rebus had no ready answer. Besides, he didn’t want to be sidetracked.

  ‘You had a visit from Elizabeth Jack.’

  Macmillan seemed to think back, then nodded. ‘So I did. But when she visits me she’s Ferrie, not Jack. It’s our secret.’

  ‘What did you talk about?’

  ‘Why are you interested?’

  Rebus decided that Macmillan did not know of Liz Jack’s murder. How could he know? There was no access to news in this place. Rebus’s fingers toyed with the chessmen.

  ‘It’s to do with an investigation . . . to do with Mr Jack.’

  ‘What has he done?’

  Rebus shrugged. ‘That’s what I’m trying to find out, Mr Macmillan.’

  Macmillan had turned his face towards the ray of sunshine. ‘I miss the world,’ he said, his voice dropping to a murmur. ‘I had so many – friends.’

  ‘Do you keep in touch with them?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ Macmillan said. ‘They come and take me home with them for the weekend. We enjoy evenings out at the cinema, the theatre, drinking in bars. Oh, we have some wonderful times together.’ He smiled ruefully, and tapped his head. ‘But only in here.’

  ‘Hands against the wall.’

  ‘Why?’ he spat. ‘Why do I have to keep my hands against the wall? Why can’t I just sit down and have a normal conversation like . . . a . . . normal . . . person.’ The angrier he got, the lower his voice dropped. There were flecks of saliva either side of his mouth, and a vein bulged above his right eye. He took a deep breath, then another, then bowed his head slightly. ‘I’m sorry, Inspector. They give me drugs, you know. God knows what they are. They have this . . . effect on me.’

  ‘That’s all right, Mr Macmillan,’ Rebus said, but inside he was quivering. Was this madness or sanity? What happened to sanity when you chained it to a wall? Chained it, moreover, with chains that weren’t real.

  ‘You were asking,’ Macmillan went on, breathless now, ‘you were asking about . . . Eliza . . . Ferrie. You’re right, she did come and visit. Quite a surprise. I know they have a home near here, yet they’ve never visited before. Lizzie . . . Eliza . . . did visit once, a long time ago. But Gregor . . . Well, he’s a busy man, isn’t he? And she’s a busy woman. I hear about these things . . .’

  From Cath Kinnoul, Rebus didn’t doubt.

  ‘Yes, she visited. A very pleasant hour we spent. We talked about the past, about . . . friends. Friendship. Is their marriage in trouble?’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  Another creased smile. ‘She came alone, Inspector. She told me she was on holiday alone. Yet a man was waiting for her outside. Either it was Gregor, and he didn’t want to see me, or else it was one of her . . . friends.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Nursie here told me. If you don’t want to sleep tonight, Inspector, get him to show you the punishment block. I bet Doc Forster didn’t mention the punishment block. Maybe that’s where they’ll throw me for talking like this.’

  ‘Shut it, Macmillan.’

  Rebus turned to the nurse. ‘Is it true?’ he asked. ‘Was someone waiting outside for Mrs Jack?’

  ‘Yeah, there was somebody in the car. Some guy. I only saw him from one of the windows. He’d got out of the car to stretch his legs.’

  ‘What did he look like?’

  But the nurse was shaking his head. ‘He was getting back in when I saw him. I just saw his back.’

  ‘What kind of car was it?’

  ‘Black 3-series, no mistake about that.’

  ‘Oh, he’s very good at noticing things, Inspector, except when it suits him.’

  ‘Shut it, Macmillan.’

  ‘Ask yourself this, Inspector. If this is a hospital, why are all the so-called “nurses” members of the Prison Officers’ Association? This isn’t a hospital, it’s a warehouse, but full of headcases rather than packing cases. The twist is, the headcases are the ones in charge!’

  He was moving away from the wall now, walking on slow, doped legs, but his energy was unmistakable. Every nerve was blazing.

  ‘Against the wall –’

  ‘Headcases! I took her head off! God knows, I did –’

  ‘Macmillan!’ The nurse was moving too.

  ‘But it was so long ago . . . a different –’

  ‘Warning you –’

  ‘And I want so much . . . so much to –’

  ‘Right, that’s it.’ The nurse had him by the arms.

  ‘– touch the earth.’

  In the end, Macmillan offered little resistance, as the straps were attached to his arms and legs. The guard laid him out on the floor. ‘If I leave him on the bed,’ he told Rebus, ‘he just rolls off and injures himself.’

  ‘And you wouldn’t want that,’ said Macmillan, sounding almost peaceful now that he’d been restrained. ‘No, nurse, you wouldn’t want that.’

  Rebus opened the door, making to leave.

  ‘Inspector!’

  He turned. ‘Yes, Mr Macmillan?’
>
  Macmillan had twisted his head so it was facing the door. ‘Touch the earth for me . . . please.’

  Rebus left the hospital on shakier legs than he’d entered it. He didn’t want the tour of the pool and the gym. Instead, he’d asked the nurse to show him the punishment block, but the nurse had refused.

  ‘Look,’ he’d said, ‘you might not like what goes on here, I might not like some of what goes on, but you’ve seen how it is. They’re supposed to be “patients”, but you can’t turn your back on them, you can’t leave them alone. They’ll swallow lightbulbs, they’ll be shitting pens and pencils and crayons, they’ll try to put their head through the television. I mean, they might not, but you just can’t ever be sure . . . ever. Try to keep an open mind, Inspector. I know it’s not easy, but try.’

  And Rebus had wished the young man luck with his weight training before making his exit. Into the courtyard. He stooped by a flowerbed and plunged his fingers deep into it, rubbing the soil between forefinger and thumb. It felt good. It felt good to be outside. Funny the things he took for granted, like earth and fresh air and free movement.

  He looked up at the hospital windows, but couldn’t be sure which, if any, belonged to Macmillan’s ward. There were no faces staring at him, no signs of life at all. He rose to his feet, went to his car and got in, staring out through the windscreen. The brief sunshine had vanished. There was drizzle again, obscuring the view. Rebus pressed the button . . . and the windscreen wipers came on, came on and stayed on, their blades moving smoothly. He smiled, hands resting on the steering wheel, and asked himself a question.

  ‘What happens to sanity when you chain it to a wall?’

  He took a detour on his way back south, coming off the dual carriageway at Kinross. He passed Loch Leven (scene of many a family picnic when Rebus had been a kid), took a right at the next junction, and headed towards the tired mining villages of Fife. He knew this territory well. He’d been born and brought up here. He knew the grey housing schemes and the corner shops and the utilitarian pubs. The people cautious with strangers, and almost as cautious with friends and neighbours. Street-corner dialogues like bare-knuckle fights. His parents had taken his brother and him away from it at weekends, travelling to Kirkcaldy for shopping on the Saturday, and Loch Leven for those long Sunday picnics, sitting cramped in the back of the car with salmon-paste sandwiches and orange juice, flasks of tea smelling of hot plastic.