Written in Red

by Annie Dalton

  Anna was confused. Wasn’t Isadora’s son in Australia? ‘I’m afraid she’s not here,’ she said apologetically, thinking he was phoning to wish Isadora a happy Christmas. ‘Your mother left a few hours ago.’

  ‘My mother is in the John Radcliffe,’ Gabriel informed her.

  Anna felt the blood leave her face. ‘Oh, my God, has she been in an accident?’

  ‘No.’ His voice was tight, almost angry. ‘She’s been attacked.’

  FIFTEEN

  Anna hurried through the sliding doors into the hospital foyer and was momentarily bewildered to see a Christmas tree and gaudy swathes of decorations. It felt like years since she and Tansy had carefully laid the table for Christmas lunch. It didn’t seem possible that this was still the same day.

  She had driven to the hospital on automatic pilot. Now the significance of Gabriel’s call was catching up, turning her vision fuzzy. She stared up at the map of all the different medical departments, but couldn’t make sense out of any of it. Outside the hospital, she’d seen a young woman jump out of a taxi and run into A&E with her small baby, screaming for someone to help her, leaving the car door flung open and the cabbie staring after her.

  Liam and Tansy arrived at Anna’s side. ‘Sorry,’ Tansy said, breathless. ‘We had to go round that fucking car park three times before we found a space.’

  ‘Where did Gabriel say they’d taken her?’ Liam asked.

  ‘Something like the emergency medical unit?’ Anna said,

  ‘That’s where people go to be assessed after A&E,’ said Liam.

  They were still wearing their silly Christmas sweaters. After Gabriel’s phone call they had just jumped in their cars and rushed straight to the John Radcliffe. Jake had gone to Isadora’s to check on Hero. Gabriel hadn’t seemed to know what had happened to Isadora’s little dog during the attack.

  Liam led the way to the emergency unit, but when they arrived, a rather weary staff nurse told them that Isadora had just been moved to the cardiac care unit.

  ‘Oh, my God, is something wrong with her heart?’ Tansy’s eyes went wide with alarm.

  The nurse suddenly looked doubtful. ‘I’m sorry, but are you all relatives of Ms Salzman?’

  ‘Tansy and I are her daughters,’ Anna told her without missing a beat.

  ‘And I’m with the Thames Valley Police,’ Liam said, officially sanctioning her lie.

  Out in the corridor Tansy said, ‘Her daughters? Seriously? Because obviously you and I look so much alike!’

  ‘We could have different fathers,’ Anna said.

  ‘I don’t think they need to know the exact circumstances of anyone’s conception, Tans,’ Liam said. ‘Just saying “daughters” is enough.’

  Anna tended to become quiet and withdrawn when she felt scared. Tansy chattered randomly about whatever came into her head. The thought that Isadora had worrying heart symptoms as a result of this violent attack was freaking her flatmate out. It was freaking Anna out too.

  They made their way to the cardiology unit, where they successfully repeated Anna’s lie to another overworked nurse and were directed to Isadora’s bay.

  Lying with her eyes closed, Isadora looked dazed and pale in her one-size-fits-all hospital gown. She’d been hooked up to a gently beeping machine which Anna assumed must be monitoring her heart. Her right wrist was encased in plaster. Her right eye looked painful and puffy. Her right cheekbone was badly bruised. Seeing her so vulnerable made Anna want to cry and also smash her fist into whoever had hurt her so badly.

  ‘Isadora?’ Tansy said softly. ‘Isadora, we’re so sorry.’

  Isadora couldn’t quite manage to open her injured eye, it was too badly swollen. ‘Oh, my darlings, how lovely that you came,’ she said in a weak voice.

  ‘We came as soon as we got Gabriel’s call,’ Anna told her. Isadora’s son had sounded almost hysterical with worry but, being Gabriel, there was also the unspoken accusation that his mother had somehow timed the attack to cause him maximum inconvenience.

  Isadora struggled and failed to raise herself from her prone position. ‘Can someone please adjust this stupid bed?’ Together Anna and Tansy helped Isadora to sit up. ‘Careful with my right side, darling,’ she told Tansy, wincing. ‘They think I’ve cracked a rib.’

  Propped up on her pillows, Isadora tried to smile then burst into humiliated tears. ‘I’ve lost all my beautiful presents!’ she wept. ‘Jake’s pilgrim badge, everything.’

  ‘The bastard took your Christmas presents?’ Liam was tight-lipped. He’d been keeping in the background until now, obviously not wanting to embarrass Isadora.

  ‘They took everything.’ Isadora’s voice rose like a hurt child’s. ‘My bag. My wallet with all my cards. My phone. My jewellery.’ Unconsciously, her uninjured hand went to touch her left ear behind hair that was still shiny and matted with blood.

  ‘What’s happened here?’ Tansy said abruptly. She carefully moved aside a bloodied strand of Isadora’s hair. ‘Oh, my God!’ she said appalled. Isadora’s attacker had savagely torn one of her crow earrings from her ear, ripping her earlobe.

  ‘He didn’t get the other one. So he didn’t get absolutely everything,’ Isadora said with an attempt at bravado. ‘But my poor cardigan is ruined, all dirty and bloody.’ Her face crumpled as she remembered.

  ‘We’ll get it cleaned, don’t worry,’ Anna said.

  ‘And I can’t seem to remember what happened to Hero.’ Isadora clutched at Anna with her good hand. ‘I remember her jumping out of the car, but after that …’ Her voice tailed off.

  ‘Jake has gone to your house to make sure Hero’s OK.’ Anna said, grateful to be presented with problems she could actually solve.

  ‘Did you get a look at the person who attacked you?’ Liam’s voice was gentle.

  ‘I don’t know. I can’t seem to remember.’ Isadora was becoming increasingly wild-eyed. ‘I think I remember taking my keys out of my bag but then after that everything is just a blank.’

  ‘Did they say anything to you?’ Liam persisted. ‘Can you remember the sound of their voice?’

  ‘Liam, she’s still in shock,’ Tansy protested.

  ‘I know she’s in shock, Tans, but in these types of situations time is of the essence.’ Anna wondered if Liam knew he’d slipped into his police sergeant’s voice. ‘If anything comes back to you, Isadora,’ he said earnestly, ‘the smallest little detail, however unimportant it seems, be sure to let us know. I want to catch the scumbag who did this to you.’

  Isadora was still fruitlessly trying to reconstruct the timeline of her attack. ‘I don’t think I’d got as far as opening the front door. If I’d opened it, Hero could have run indoors to hide, but I can’t remember if I’d put the key in the lock? Oh, God! I hope they didn’t hurt Hero!’

  ‘Isadora, listen,’ Tansy’s voice was firm but gentle. ‘I’m going to find some warm water and cotton wool. I’m going to sponge all that icky blood off your hair. You’ll feel much better when you’re properly clean.’

  But just then the harried nurse appeared to alert them that the cardiologist had arrived to examine Isadora, and they all had to decamp to the corridor.

  Liam took out his phone, checking for messages.

  ‘I am so ashamed of myself,’ Tansy told Anna in a low voice. ‘We should have seen this coming. Why the fuck didn’t we see this coming? I mean, this isn’t some opportunistic robber, this was deliberate. This was personal.’

  Anna felt sick. Tansy had spoken her own thoughts out loud. Isadora had been in danger and they’d just let it happen. ‘You seriously think this is connected with her friends’ deaths?’

  ‘It’s got to be! I mean, Jesus Christ, Anna, there were six in their little group. Now four of them are dead and whoever attacked Isadora had a really good crack at making it five!’

  ‘How can they all be connected though?’ Anna asked bewildered. ‘Hetty was murdered fifty years ago and Robert committed suicide.’

  ‘I didn’t say I
know how,’ Tansy hissed. ‘But we know Robert got another one of those mad letters, so it’s got to be something to do with all this weird spy shit.’

  Liam had put his phone away and was looking at them with an odd expression. ‘What mad letters?’ he demanded.

  Shit! Anna thought. Liam had been doing his invisible cop routine again. In their distress she and Tansy had forgotten he was there. They still hadn’t told Liam about either Isadora’s or Robert’s letters. Isadora had been adamant that they shouldn’t tell the police about hers, and somehow they’d never thought to report finding a second poison pen letter at Robert’s house.

  Liam was still waiting for an answer. ‘What letters?’ he repeated with a distinct edge to his voice. ‘You never mentioned any threatening letters.’

  Flustered, Tansy explained about Isadora’s beautifully hand-written letter warning of divine retribution for unspecified sins.

  ‘When was this?’ Liam’s eyes held none of their usual warmth.

  ‘The morning after the night Professor Lowell was attacked,’ Anna said.

  ‘And then you found a second letter while you were all at that banker bloke’s house?’

  ‘Yes, Robert Keane,’ Anna said.

  ‘And you didn’t think you should maybe pass this information on to the police?’ Liam lifted his hands as if to tear out his hair. Anna had never seen him so pissed off. ‘You should have told us about this. You should at least have told me, Tans,’ he said angrily.

  We should have, Anna thought. And they most probably would have. But Tallis had threatened Isadora with the Official Secrets Act, warning of dire consequences if her activities with the Oxford Six ever became known. And Tansy’s childhood with Frankie had left her with an aversion to telling the police anything at all if it could possibly be avoided.

  Without waiting for an explanation, Liam set off towards the lifts.

  ‘OK, so we made a mistake!’ Tansy called after him. ‘You don’t have to bloody storm off!’

  Liam turned, grim-faced. ‘I’m not storming anywhere. I’m just going outside so I can phone my boss and ruin his family’s Christmas for him.’

  After her brief flash of defiance Tansy looked as if she might cry with shame. ‘Do you really need to call him today?’ she said in a pleading voice.

  ‘He needs to know there’s a pattern. Isadora’s attack isn’t just a one-off.’

  ‘But Robert killed himself,’ Tansy’s voice shook with distress.

  ‘We found a similar letter in James Lowell’s room, Tans,’ Liam said, exasperated. ‘They all knew each other, didn’t they? They were all friends back in the day? There’s some weird link between them – which we might have picked up on sooner if you hadn’t kept crucial information to yourselves. And then your friend Isadora might not be lying injured in this hospital on Christmas Day,’ he added, as close to mad as Anna had ever seen him.

  Tansy’s face went ashen. ‘You don’t need to try to make me feel bad about Isadora.’ Her voice quivered. ‘I will never forgive myself for this. Never!’

  Liam took half a step back towards her. He looked stressed and upset. ‘I’m sorry, Tans, but you and your friends should have trusted the police to decide what is important and what isn’t. You should have trusted me,’ he added. The doors to the nearest lift slid open and he disappeared inside.

  Tansy tugged miserably at a stray tendril of her hair and a tiny Christmas bauble hit the floor with a tinkle. She bent down and started picking up the pieces. ‘You know that lyric?’ she said as she straightened up. ‘“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”?’

  ‘Yeah, I know that lyric,’ Anna said with feeling. ‘He’ll come round,’ she added, wanting to comfort her friend.

  ‘I’m not sure he will.’ Tansy’s eyes were bleak. ‘He feels like I betrayed him and I suppose I have in a way. I didn’t play by his rules.’ She gave a little shrug, refusing to feel sorry for herself. ‘I’m going to see if that doctor’s finished yet. I want to help Isadora clean herself up a bit. These poor nurses have enough to do.’

  ‘I’m going to call Jake,’ Anna said. ‘See if he’s found Hero. Then he can send a pic to my phone and we can show Isadora she’s OK.’

  ‘Good plan,’ Tansy said. ‘What if he hasn’t found her though?’

  ‘He’ll have found her,’ Anna said.

  Tansy went back into the ward and Anna turned on her phone. She was surprised to find a terse voicemail from Jake. ‘Can you come to Isadora’s as soon as you get this? There’s something I think you need to hear.’

  Anna caught Tansy up by the nurses’ station. ‘Tell Isadora I’m popping over to her house to fetch some of her things. She could be in for a couple of days.’

  ‘Did Jake say anything about Hero?’ Tansy called after her.

  ‘No, but I’m sure she’s fine,’ Anna said to deter further questions. ‘I’ll take a pic while I’m there!’

  Anna drove over to Summertown feeling a creeping unease. It wasn’t like Jake to be so enigmatic. Could he have found a clue to the identity of Isadora’s attacker? But then surely he’d have said, ‘there’s something I need you to see’?

  He opened the door before she’d even pressed the bell and hustled her towards the kitchen. ‘We’re in here.’

  Anna’s mind anxiously seized on that mysterious ‘we’. Hero must have been hurt after all and Jake had had to call the vet. Isadora would be distraught.

  But when she walked into her friend’s cluttered kitchen, she saw Hero in her basket curled into a furry black ball. With her back pointedly turned to the room, she seemed subdued, but not obviously harmed. Knowing Hero, Anna thought, she was mostly put out by this unwanted disruption to her routine. ‘Hello, you grumpy little dog,’ she told her. ‘Isadora will be so happy to know you’re safe.’

  A suppressed sob made her glance up. For the first time, she saw Sabina sitting in Isadora’s wicker chair, looking almost as small and woebegone as Hero. Her blonde hair hung loose around her face which was pale and tear-stained. A fluffy blanket had been draped around her shoulders. From time to time little shudders went through her. Shock, Anna thought. Gabriel hadn’t mentioned who had found Isadora and called the paramedics, but it dawned on her now that it must have been Sabina.

  Jake had begun to delve in Isadora’s kitchen cupboards. He emerged with a somewhat dented espresso pot and an unopened pack of Lavazza. ‘I don’t know about you,’ he said to Anna, ‘but I could do with a cup of strong coffee before we get started.’

  Started on what? Anna wondered. Jake’s grim expression suggested that whatever it was, Anna was going to need some serious reinforcement.

  Unscrewing the metal pot, he filled the lower chamber with water, put a couple of scoops of coffee in the upper compartment, carefully screwed the pot back together and put it on the smallest ring on Isadora’s cooker, doing it so meticulously that Anna thought she might scream. She opened her mouth to demand what was going on, only to receive a slight shake of the head from Jake.

  He brought the coffee pot and cups to the table, pulling out a chair for Anna. ‘First things first,’ he said. ‘How’s Isadora?’

  Sabina started to cry in earnest.

  ‘Not great,’ Anna said. ‘She’s got a broken wrist and a possible cracked rib. She’s almost certainly concussed. She can’t remember who attacked her or anything that happened after she got out of her car. She’s terrified something’s happened to Hero.’

  ‘Hero very sensibly ran off to hide in the bushes,’ Jake said. ‘She came out as soon as she heard Sabina on her phone calling the emergency services.’

  So it was Sabina who’d found her. Anna turned to her. ‘I’m so glad you were here …’ she began and was interrupted by Sabina’s racking sobs.

  It was obviously upsetting to find your landlady bleeding and unconscious, but Sabina’s reaction seemed excessive considering how remote she had always acted around Isadora.

  ‘What’s upset you?’ Anna ask
ed her. ‘Did you see who attacked Isadora? Did someone try to hurt you?’

  Sabina only shook her head, sobbing as if her heart would break.

  ‘Just tell her, Sabina,’ Jake said. ‘You know it’s got to come out.’

  Tears were running down Sabina’s face, but she couldn’t or wouldn’t speak.

  Jake gave a tired sigh. Christmas probably seemed like years ago to him, too. ‘Sabina’s the one who’s been sending the letters,’ he told Anna.

  ‘What letters?’ For a moment Anna’s mind was a blank. ‘Oh, fuck! Those letters?’ Her eyes widened as she tried to absorb this news. ‘Sabina sent them? Why would you do that?’ she asked bewildered.

  ‘Tell her who you are,’ Jake said.

  Sabina swallowed. ‘Hetty Vallier was my grandmother.’

  Anna just stared at her. ‘Oh, my God,’ she said faintly. She had a dizzy sense of worlds and times colliding. How had she not seen that Sabina looked so much like Hetty?

  ‘Tell Anna what you told me,’ Jake said.

  Still clutching her untouched espresso, Sabina haltingly began to fill in the gaps in Hetty’s story.

  In the summer of 1966, Hetty had not been on vacation or working at some underpaid holiday job like her Oxford friends but in a convent in Switzerland waiting out the last weeks of her unintended pregnancy. She had given birth to a little girl, Iona Grace, before returning to Oxford to resume her studies, leaving her baby daughter behind. Iona had very few memories of her life in the austere orphanage run by nuns. ‘Most of it Mum’s blanked,’ Sabina said. ‘My dad thinks it’s like post-traumatic stress, like soldiers get?’ She had to stop to wipe her eyes. ‘Some of the nuns were OK. But there were two – Mum used to call them “the twisted sisters” …’

  Sabina had dropped the stilted foreign-girl act, Anna noticed, and was talking in natural-sounding English. Anna thought she even detected a slight London accent.

  ‘My mum said the nuns taught her three things,’ Sabina said, ‘embroidery, perfect handwriting, and how to cry at night without anybody hearing.’ Her voice wobbled.