The Health of Strangers

by Lesley Kelly

  Bernard had a hand pressed to his forehead as he tried to process what was going on. ‘So these girls are friends of Colette’s? Do they know she’s pregnant?’

  ‘One of the things I want to find out.’ Maitland thump, thump, thumped again, to the same effect. After a second’s thought he turned on his heel.

  ‘Where are we going now?’

  Maitland didn’t answer, and strode off down the corridor, ignoring the heads that had appeared in Kate’s neighbours’ doorways, summoned by his pounding. Bernard watched him go until he turned the corner, at which point he unwillingly decided to follow him rather than negotiate his way solo back out of the rabbit warren of Milne’s Court. ‘Are we still looking for Colette’s friend? I thought we were focusing on Heidi for the moment?’

  Maitland stopped abruptly at another door. ‘Louise? Are you in there?’

  After a brief pause it opened to reveal a thin girl, with long, straight hair and a tear-stained face. She seemed to recognise Maitland, and held the door open for them both to enter. Another girl – bigger, with curly hair – was sitting in a chair. The room screamed heritage: long red velvet drapes around a bay window, walls feet thick, solid stone everywhere. He’d have loved a room like this at uni. His undergraduate bedroom had been a six by four cell, with walls so thin he could hear his next-door neighbour breathing.

  ‘Where is she?’ Maitland walked toward the seated girl. ‘Kate?’

  ‘We don’t know.’ The girl had her hair tied back in some kind of hair-clasp. A few irrepressible curls had fought their way out, and she pulled absent-mindedly on them. ‘We already told you that.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Maitland. ‘But I thought you were lying then, and I think you’re lying now.’

  Bernard waited to see how she would respond to this accusation. In his experience Defaulters and witnesses never responded well to being accused of deception. Even when evidence of their duplicity was laid out in front of them like a row of playing cards, people tended to continue to protest innocence. I never missed my Health Check. I was there, the nurse never wrote my name down. Kate, however, showed no such emotion. She walked to the bay window, and stood in the alcove, staring down into the courtyard. ‘I think you should leave now, Mr Stevenson.’

  Maitland swivelled round and approached the other girl, who was now sitting at the end of the bed, knotting an edge of the duvet in her hand. ‘Louise, tell me where Colette is.’

  She glanced over at her friend’s back, looking for direction.

  Maitland knelt down next to her on one knee. It looked like the unhappiest proposal ever. ‘Louise, Colette is pregnant.’

  The girl was shaking now, and moved away from Maitland, as if putting physical distance between them could stop his questioning.

  Maitland’s voice was soft and authoritative. ‘She needs proper medical care. It could be fatal for her if she caught the Virus now.’

  Bernard guessed if Maitland pushed just a little bit more she might give in. It was a pity Carole wasn’t there. She was so good at this stuff; two minutes of her motherly concern and the girls would have been crying everything out on her shoulder.

  ‘Louise, we can help her. The HET will get her all the medical support that she so desperately needs right now. Just tell me where she is.’

  The girl buried her face in her hands.

  Maitland exhaled, a long angry sound of exasperation. He looked over at Bernard, and then, as if sensing he wouldn’t get any inspiration there, got to his feet. Bernard tried not to be offended. After all, his colleague wasn’t wrong. He was uncomfortable enough at the fact they weren’t looking for Heidi, without having to cross-examine a couple of teenagers.

  Maitland had changed his focus. He walked over to Kate and stood beside her staring down at the cobbles and students.

  ‘What did you mean the other day, when you said it was unfair the things that were said about Pastor Mackenzie?’

  Kate moved further behind the curtain.

  ‘You meant that people talked about him having inappropriate relationships with women in the congregation, didn’t you?’

  No response.

  ‘Kate?’ Maitland hauled the curtain back. The girl flinched at the sudden movement. She looked exposed, like a tiny animal that they had backed into a corner.

  ‘Maitland,’ said Bernard, a warning tone in his voice.

  ‘This is a friend of yours that is missing, isn’t it? Not just some random stranger you don’t give a shit about?’

  ‘You obviously know it all already.’ She went to move away but Maitland shot his arm across to the wall, effectively trapping her in.

  ‘Shall we discuss this all at the nearest Police Station?’

  ‘Fine!’ she shouted, and pushed him.

  He stumbled and pulled on the curtain to keep himself upright. The crimson velvet came away from its rail and pooled on the ground between them.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she yelled. ‘And I’ll tell the Police the same thing. I do not know where Colette is!’

  ‘Really, Kate?’ he shouted back. ‘You don’t seem all that surprised to find out that your friend is pregnant, news which is pretty hot off the press. When did you last speak to Colette?’

  She didn’t answer.

  ‘Your friend is going to end up dead at this rate! Is that what you want?’

  The room was silent, punctuated only by the sound of Louise sniffing. Kate wasn’t meeting Maitland’s eye, and Bernard wondered if his colleague was actually getting through to them.

  ‘Look,’ said Maitland. ‘I’m going to think the best of you. I’m going to assume that you two have enough common sense to realise that you have to tell me where Colette is, but you just want to speak to her first. So,’ he looked at his watch. ‘I’m going to give you until noon today to either get her to call me, or for you to tell me where she is. And if I don’t hear from you by then,’ he walked over to the door, ‘I’m having you both arrested. See how good that looks on your graduate CV.’

  He slammed the door.

  Bernard apologetically picked up the curtain and placed it on the chair. ‘Sorry about that.’ He backed out of the room, Kate glaring at him, and Louise still sobbing quietly to herself.

  ‘Maitland – wait up!’ His colleague was already weaving his way through the maze of corridors in the direction of the High Street.

  ‘Bernard, just leave me alone.’

  He trotted after his colleague. ‘What’s going on? Shouldn’t we be taking them in for a formal interview? They obviously know something they’re not telling us.’

  ‘I would if I could.’

  ‘But we can. Under the powers given to the HETs under the Virus legislation . . .’

  ‘Yes, Bernard, I know all that. But the Guv doesn’t actually know that we’re here and not working full-time on the German girl case.’

  Bernard’s heart leapt into his mouth. ‘I assumed you’d cleared this with him. Mr Paterson will be furious.’

  ‘Yeah, well, only if he finds out. But we can’t exactly turn up with a couple of interviewees from a different case.’

  ‘But . . .’

  ‘Stop being such an old woman.’

  ‘But . . .’

  ‘Bernard, go and do something else!’

  Spending the rest of the afternoon somewhere Maitland wasn’t seemed like a very good idea, the only problem being he didn’t know where that somewhere should be. ‘What should I do?’

  Maitland started walking again, and flung a dismissive arm in his direction. ‘Go and check on Carole. Didn’t she have some kind of lead at the hospital?’

  4

  Paterson was sitting with his head in his hands.

  Stuttle was being surprisingly supportive. He’d insisted that they go back to his office for a ‘debrief’. His assistant had provided them with drinks and a range of chocolate biscuits of such good quality that Mona had had a moment or two’s reflection on the size of SHEP’s hospitality budget. Stuttle had been happily holding
forth on the subject of Ms Carmichael MSP for the best part of ten minutes.

  ‘The thing you have to remember about Carlotta, John, is that she’s trying to make a name for herself on the back of this Virus. And she’s none too pleased about the German’s comments about the Scottish approach. Doesn’t reflect well on her, what with her being the political lead on all this.’

  Paterson grunted.

  ‘But she’s overplayed her hand this time,’ said Cameron. ‘We’ll put in a formal complaint, of course, that she’s breached the confidentiality of a Health Defaulter by mentioning her nationality. She did say she was German, didn’t she? I didn’t imagine it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘This could work out well for us. Probably won’t get her sacked but might get her off our backs for a while.’ He reclined on his seat, his hands behind his head. ‘Yes, this could work out pretty well all round.’

  Stuttle’s PA reappeared with a tray full of correspondence. Stuttle idly picked up the first letter and glanced at it. Something in it caught his attention and he snapped forward, his earlier relaxed pose disappearing. His head turned in the direction of the Guv. ‘Did you pay a visit to Victor Thompson’s bar?’

  The Guv suddenly seemed to be finding his luxurious leather seating uncomfortable. ‘Yes, but . . .’

  ‘Mona, can you leave us, please?’

  ‘Eh . . .’ She looked at her boss, who was contemplating his feet.

  ‘Now, Mona.’

  Stuttle’s tone brooked no argument, so she picked up her bag and headed out. As the door closed behind her, she heard an explosion of curses from the SHEP boss. Stuttle’s PA stopped typing at this unexpected noise.

  Mona indicated the room she’d just vacated. ‘You might want to stick the kettle on again.’

  ‘Mona!’

  Marcus’s look of surprise quickly turned into an overeager smile, and he cleared a pile of papers, topped by what looked like a number of computer games, off a seat for her. It was a measure of how badly the morning had gone that she felt almost pleased to see him. It was certainly nice to have someone making her feel welcome, after her unceremonious exit from SHEP’s offices.

  ‘So, to what do I owe the honour?’

  She forced a smile. ‘I’m here to see if you’ve turned up anything new from the German girl’s e-mail.’

  If anything could stop the Guv being booted out of the HET, it would be a swift resolution to this case.

  ‘Ah, les enfants de Camus.’

  He was looking at her over the top of his glasses, to see if she was impressed by his grasp of European languages. She wasn’t.

  ‘Anyway, I was about to ring you because I have some news that I think will make you very happy.’ Marcus sat back in his chair and smiled at her, a Cheshire cat of smugness. ‘Care to guess what it is?’

  ‘Quit pissing about, and just tell me,’ Mona snapped. She felt a twinge of remorse at his hurt expression.

  ‘Take a look at this.’ He swivelled the screen round to face her. ‘This is Heidi’s G-mail account. This e-mail came in about eight o’clock this morning.’

  Mona perused the contents.

  ‘Who’s it from?’ asked Mona.

  ‘Dr Beeching, apparently.’

  Marcus laughed. Mona didn’t. Detecting that she was having a sense of humour failure today, he continued at a faster pace.

  ‘In reality, an anonymous G-mail address. Check out the wording.’

  She leaned in toward the screen, and read the message out loud. ‘Dr Beeching invites you to attend a select gathering of friends at the Railway Tavern this evening. Usual terms. K.’

  This was good. This was very, very good. She felt a sense of excitement stealing over her, and grinned at him. ‘Fancy a trip to the Railway Tavern, Marcus?’

  He looked delighted at the invitation. ‘I’ll get the first round.’

  5

  The security turnstile beeped, and Carole waved to him as she entered the hospital.

  ‘How did it go? Are Edinburgh’s teenagers now safe from risky Virus behaviour?’

  She laughed. ‘It went OK, I think. The kids mainly just looked bored.’

  ‘Not sure I entirely blame them.’ Bernard took the large cardboard box Carole was carrying out of her arms, catching sight of the red lettering of the leaflets ‘Ten things every Young Scot needs to know about the Virus’ as he did so. ‘Sorry to drag you back here. You must be desperate to get away.’

  ‘I’d have been up here later anyway to visit Michael.’ She frowned. ‘Can’t say I’m ecstatic about bothering that poor woman though.’

  ‘I know, but I think there is something in your suspicions that she’s connected to our case.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yup. I checked out with our colleagues at Police Scotland and one of the Church of the Lord Arisen girls who overdosed on the drugs was called Kirsty McLeod. So, all very similar to the situation with Colette and Heidi. Have you any idea why Maitland’s so worried about his Defaulter?’

  Carole looked surprised. ‘You’d probably know that better than me.’

  He made a small non-committal noise.

  ‘Did Maitland not say that she is pregnant?’ Carole continued. ‘I mean that would be a good reason to be worried.’

  ‘True. I just got the impression that it was more personal. Did he ever mention Pastor . . .?’

  Carole took his arm. ‘This is it.’ She pointed to a small sign on the wall which indicated Sanctuary. ‘This is where I met her.’

  Bernard admired a piece of hospital art while Carole disappeared inside. He’d being staring at the pastel hues for a matter of seconds when she reappeared.

  ‘Empty.’

  ‘What about trying the ward?’

  ‘Not the easiest places to get access to. I mean even aside from the Virus, there are all the child protection issues . . .’ She tailed off. ‘I suppose we could go up to the ward and cause a fuss until they let us in?’

  Bernard thought for a minute. Causing a fuss wasn’t exactly his strong point. He tended to stand an embarrassed distance behind Mona while she blagged and bullied her way into places. He definitely lacked the throwing-your-weight around skills that their ex-Police colleagues had. ‘Shall we check out all the public areas first?’

  ‘Good idea.’ She looked relieved. ‘Let’s have a wan-der.’

  They walked through the central hall of the ERI, eyeing up the people buying magazines and gifts in the shops. Carole grabbed his arm. ‘I’ve spotted her – she’s in the café. Far side, in the red coat.’

  Bernard looked over. Kirsty’s mother was focused on her half-drunk cup of coffee. He wondered, in fact, if she was almost asleep. Her posture radiated exhaustion. Her hair needed washing, and grey roots were showing through the auburn.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ he asked.

  ‘I suppose we go over and talk to her. I’d better make the first move, seeing as I spoke to her before.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I wish I was back working in the NHS, or in my shop. This isn’t my area of expertise at all.’

  He nodded sympathetically, but had a slightly shameful feeling of relief that again he could fall in behind someone else’s lead. He followed Carole as she walked over to the woman, and said hello.

  Kirsty’s mother stared at her for a second before recognition set in. ‘Oh, it’s you. I thought it was a doctor with some news.’

  ‘Sorry. I just wondered how you were doing?’

  Carole sat down at the table, uninvited. Bernard followed suit.

  ‘I’m Carole, by the way, and this is Bernard.’

  ‘Aileen.’

  ‘How’s your daughter?’

  ‘The same as yesterday. And the day before that. As she will be tomorrow. And every day after that.’ She looked up. ‘Who are you? Are you from the Police?’

  ‘No, no.’ Carole raised both hands. ‘We don’t work for the Police. But we do work for the Health Enforcement Team.’ She laid her ID on the table. ‘And I want
ed to speak to you about the Church of the Lord Arisen.’

  The woman closed her eyes. ‘Them. The people that ruined my daughter’s life.’

  ‘You think they were responsible for her drug overdose?’

  ‘My daughter was not suicidal.’ There was fury in the woman’s tone. ‘She was scared of the Virus, of course she was, but she would never have done something like that. They did this to her.’ The woman played with her coffee cup, rolling it from side to side against her palms. ‘Of course, the Police don’t believe me. All I know is that my daughter changed when she got involved with them. That long-haired minister and all his groupies.’ She looked up suddenly. ‘Who are you looking for?’

  ‘Of course this is all confidential under the terms of the Health Enforcement Act . . .’ Carole tailed off.

  ‘I understand,’ said Aileen.

  ‘But two girls from the Church, Heidi Weber and Colette Greenwood, both missed their last Health Checks. We’re obliged by law to try to find them.’

  ‘I know Colette – she visits my daughter regularly. Why did she run off?’ Aileen looked panicked. ‘She’s not involved in drugs, is she?’

  ‘We couldn’t rule it out, but it’s not the line of enquiry that we’re following. It would really help if you could tell us the last time you saw her?’

  Aileen thought for a moment. ‘It’s difficult. You lose all track of time in this place. Monday, perhaps?’

  ‘And how did she seem? Did you speak to her?’

  ‘Not really,’ said Aileen. ‘I usually go and have a shower when Colette comes in. Glad of the break.’ She laughed, without any humour. ‘I left them as usual. When I came back she was talking to my daughter, and crying, but to be honest, we all do that.’

  ‘Did you hear what she was saying?’

  Aileen thought hard. ‘I think she said something along the lines of “this can’t be happening”, but I assumed she meant Kirsty’s situation.’

  ‘Have you any idea at all where Colette might go if she was in trouble?’

  She pondered the question. ‘Sorry, I don’t.’

  ‘Thanks for your time. I won’t bother you any longer.’