“I suppose not.” Officer Leonard gave Sabrina his amiable smile and moved to stand behind us. “I assume I can count on you gentlemen to dispose of their trays.”
Officer Leonard didn’t wait for an answer. He just tunnelled us and it was one of the smoothest experiences I’d ever had. We landed in the garden of a stately home. I’d visited it a billion times on school trips, it had always been the last school excursion before we broke up for summer holidays, but the beauty of the gardens still took my breath away.
The lawns were littered with flower beds and huge gnarled tress. The house stood tall and grand just behind us, set in the centre of flowers and ponds and bees and trees and gardeny things. It was almost like cultivated wilderness, not quite wild but not quite tame either. In the distance I could see the privet hedge maze that my schoolmates and I had tried, and failed, to complete every year.
“You’re expected so I’ll leave you to it,” Officer Leonard said and then disappeared.
“Did he mean we’re expected or you’re expected?” Sabrina asked me.
I grabbed her arm. “Oh my god! Haven’t I told you?”
“Told me what?” she asked, her eyes darting over our surroundings as though she were already planning an escape for us from whatever drama I was about to reveal.
“I’ve lost my telepathic powers.”
Sabrina removed my grip from her arm. “You could have just said you didn’t know what he meant.”
I nodded. “I could have, couldn’t I?”
“Do you think we need to register with someone?” she asked.
“Yes. We need to register with the tall guy who limps,” I said.
Sabrina frowned at me for a second and then her face smoothed out. “Again, you could’ve just said you didn’t know.”
“I could have, couldn’t I? Hey, how’s your hay fever?” I asked, since I didn’t even feel the slightest tickle.
She gave a tentative sniff. And then another. Nothing happened. “Okay, I guess. I must be becoming a better adjusted dead person.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s definitely what’s happening.”
Things like migraines, hay fever, stomach bugs were all signs that you were clinging to your alive life, since ghosts weren’t supposed to be troubled by those things.
“It’s beautiful here. What a view,” Sabrina said, gazing out over the acres of greenery.
“Just got better,” I said and pointed over her shoulder at the refreshment table. Tea and biscuits were a pretty decent substitute for a proper meal, right?
We picked our way through the small, spread out crowd of people, nodding politely as we went, and made it to the refreshment table. There was the usual tea and coffee but also a small selection of sandwiches. I picked up a paper plate and helped myself.
“Do you know why Anna wanted you to attend this?” Sabrina asked as she scanned the group.
“You are killing me with your questions right now. If I knew, don’t you think I’d have told you?” I took a bite of a triangular tuna and cucumber sandwich.
“I just thought you might have forgotten.”
I covered my mouth with my hand and spoke with my mouthful. “I haven’t. What else did you find out from the omniscient files?”
“Not really anything we don’t know,” Sabrina said as she picked up a paper plate and suspiciously eyed the tower of triangular sandwiches. I grabbed several and slapped them onto her plate. She frowned at me and peeled the top piece of bread up to peer inside one. “Jason, the dead nurse, was in charge of outward processing, which means that anyone being released would have to get his sign-off.”
“Wouldn’t that come from Dr Mendall?”
“Yeah, but the patients have to jump through a few nurse hoops first. If he didn’t recommend their release their cases wouldn’t even have been put in front of Mendall to be considered. And he could revoke his approval at any time. The only person set for release was Alex, and I checked to make sure no one had had their approval pulled. They hadn’t.”
“So, if Alex was worried Jason might pull his approval then that means Alex has just waded into our suspect pool,” I said. “Though I don’t know why Alex would be worried about that. It seemed like he was doing okay.”
Sabrina made a noncommittal noise. “Well, if Jason and Anna were at it illegally, maybe Jason threatened her or tried to bribe her and she had to kill him. Or maybe she killed him because he was at it with several other people.”
“Well, Officer Leonard seems to have taken quite the interest in her,” I reasoned. “Maybe he thinks it’s her.”
“Maybe. I’ll check after lunch to see if he’s filed any reports about it. If he suspects her he would have to.” Sabrina surveyed the group. “Don’t you think it’s weird he offered to bring you here?”
“I feel there’s a theory behind that comment which is going to put me off my lunch.” I shoved the rest of my small sandwich into my mouth and picked up another ready to stuff in after it before she could tell me.
“Officer Leonard wanted to speak to Anna at the asylum but wouldn’t let you tunnel home from that cupboard. Instead, he directed you past Katie’s room. Now he’s relieved you of Anna yet again and dropped you here …” Sabrina let the sentence trail off as she scanned our surroundings as if looking for sign with an explanation for that action. “And then there’s that mysterious pass to see Alex that you didn’t apply for.”
I slapped the sandwich back onto the plate. “I knew it.”
“I think he wants you to solve this murder and Katie’s escape.”
“I think that’s your wishful thinking.”
“Partially, maybe,” Sabrina admitted. “But I definitely think he’s moving you around the chessboard.”
“No! You think Officer Leonard has an ulterior motive?” I gasped and covered my mouth in faux surprise.
“Where’s the nicey-nice Bridget that everyone else gets? How come I never see her?”
“Because you’re my best friend, which means you’re the only person I can be my true self around without worrying you’re going to cry.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment.”
I nodded. “Good for you.”
“Oh!” Sabrina snapped her fingers at me. “I also checked out that Lily person. It was her birthday a few days ago, so that might be what spurred on Crazy Katie’s escape. And I checked the evidence that put Katie away. Initially it seemed like a lot, but when you get down to brass tacks it’s all pretty much circumstantial. Katie’s GA leader was the only witness to her arguing with the two other members of her GA group that she allegedly killed, although several other members of the group had witnessed her arguing with Lily for weeks before she died.”
“And Oz had to pull her off Petal,” I added.
Sabrina pointed a sandwich at me. “That too. Interestingly, though, Jason was working as a GA asset with her GA group during that period. An asset is like an assistant GA leader,” Sabrina explained before I could ask. “They get drafted to help GA leaders if that have a particularly difficult group. And her GA leader is the resident GA consultant at Mendall Asylum.”
“Isn’t that interesting? All roads lead back to Mendall. What did you find out about the other two people she killed? Were there any other suspects?”
“There wasn’t much on them. No other suspects. No connection between them. One was a woman in her mid-forties and the other a guy in his early thirties. Blow to the head like usual.”
“Do you think she did it?” I asked. I was getting the same not-totally-guilty vibe from Sabrina that I’d gotten from Oz.
“Nope.”
“Do you think she didn’t do it because you want to keep investigating or do you genuinely think she didn’t do it? Oz had to pull her hands from around Petal’s neck, remember?”
“Oh, I totally believe she tried to strangle Petal. I just don’t believe she killed everyone else. And not because I want to investigate but because the whole thing doesn’t feel right. And that
whole ‘remember Lily’ wall gouging? Totally not what you do when you’ve killed someone.”
I picked up my sandwich and then slapped it back on the plate again. “Yeah, I agree.”
“I thought maybe we could go and have a chat with her GA leader when we’re done here. See if he knows anything.”
“And how exactly is that going to work out?” I asked.
“Well, you’ve already met him at Mendall Asylum, right? So I thought maybe you could strike up a conversation with him about that.”
“You want me to just drop in on a GA leader and strike up a conversation about a mental asylum?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Sabrina asked.
I shook my head. “So much.”
“Worth a try though, right? He holds like a drop-in type of GA meeting at a place called Monolith House. It’s here in Scarborough. I was hoping you’d know it. What?” Sabrina asked when she saw all expression drop from my face. I gestured around us and her mouth dropped open. “No!”
“Something tells me this just isn’t a happy coincidence,” I said.
“Huh. So, first you get an expedited tour around Mendall Asylum, then a surprise visitor’s pass and then Officer Leonard brings you here? I wonder if Anna really had planned for you to attend this meeting? I bet she didn’t.” Sabrina slapped my bicep with the back of her hand. “Isn’t this exciting?”
“Yes. It’s very exciting.”
“There’s no need for the attitude,” Sabrina picked at the salmon and cucumber sandwich on her plate without even attempting to eat it. “Do you think Officer Leonard knew about the writing on the walls in Katie’s room?”
“I don’t think there’s a whole lot of anything that man doesn’t know. Just like Oz. Who knew about my pepper spray, by the way.”
“Did he take it off you?”
“Nope.”
“Well, that’s something. At least he’s coming around to your way of thinking.”
I seriously doubted that was happening. I was about to argue the point when a small group approached the refreshment table.
“Well, I heard that she left a heap of dead people in her wake,” said a short rotund man with ginger hair and a lengthy beard who practically jostled me out of the way to get to the plate of mini sausage rolls. He reminded me of a red-headed Santa, only more gossipy than jolly.
“No, she massacred her housemates,” a professional looking lady in her mid-thirties said, also a redhead, as she poured herself some coffee. “Over breakfast. And they still didn’t arrest her. It wasn’t until she strangled a livie with her stockings that they put her away.”
“You’d think they’d have kept someone so dangerous a little more closely guarded,” piped up an elderly man who still had a full head of thick, gingery curls. He leaned over Ginger Santa to grab a fistful of the sausage rolls.
What was wrong with this group? Were they separating people by hair colour now?
“How do you all know about this?” Sabrina interrupted, and they all turned to stare at her, clearly not happy about her eavesdropping. Sabrina lowered her voice and checked over her shoulder as though she were going to share some secret knowledge. Whether they realised it or not the rest of the group all leaned in to hear. “You’re talking about the girl who escaped from Mendall Asylum, right? I only ask because I know someone who lives with her parole officer.”
“No!” Ginger Santa gasped and edged away from the snacks. I dived back in and saved a couple of sausage rolls for Sabrina and me.
“Uh-huh,” Sabrina said with a nod. “Obviously, I’m worried about her. Is there anything you can tell me? I thought this was all hush-hush.”
The professional looking redhead glanced around the group and then over her shoulder. “We only know because our GA leader used to be her GA leader.”
“No!” Sabrina gasped. “How do you know that?”
“The GBs came by to question him this morning just before our meeting.”
“You have your meetings in the mornings?” I asked, which won me a “be quiet” frown from Sabrina and a suspicious glare from the other three. It seemed as though everyone was telling me to be quiet lately.
After a long moment of judging me, the professional redhead spoke. “We have one in the morning before work—”
“It’s really more of a powwow really,” Ginger Santa interrupted.
“—our lunchtime get-together, which is an open drop-in session, and then our proper one after work.”
“Isn’t it the same for you?” asked the older man.
Sabrina and I exchanged a glance. Were we allowed to say? Should we say?
“Wow, so he was her GA leader?” Sabrina said, deciding just to ignore the whole thing. “I wonder what they asked him.”
Ginger Santa waved away Sabrina’s question. “Nothing interesting. Just standard TV questions.”
“TV questions?” Sabrina asked and I was glad she didn’t get it either.
“Yeah,” Ginger Santa said as he dusted some pastry crumbs from his jumpsuit. “Things that TV detectives ask. Like what they talked about when he’d visited her, how had she seemed, where she would go now she was out, that type of thing.”
“Did you hear the whole conversation?” Sabrina asked.
“Pretty much. I was …” Ginger Santa let the sentence hang as though he were searching for a good explanation and then shrugged. “I was eavesdropping.”
“He visited her while she was locked away?” I asked.
Ginger Santa nodded. “That’s what the GB man said but Timothy didn’t really tell him anything.”
“What else did he say?” Sabrina tried to keep her voice casual but I could hear the desperate-to-know tone seeping in. I think the others heard it too because they straightened up out of the huddle and began fiddling and fussing with their clothes. “Did he mention that she might return home? Does my friend need to worry?”
The reminder that Sabrina was asking out of concern for her friend seemed to pull them back in a little.
“I think that whenever a mass murderer escapes there’s always cause for concern,” Ginger Santa said. “There was no mention of her going home, though, so your friend should be as safe as anyone.”
Sabrina made a show of looking relieved. “Really? Well, that’s something at least. Do any of you know who she murdered?”
They all looked at each other, waiting for someone else to speak. I was taking that as a no.
“People,” the professionally attired woman said.
“I heard that she went crazy because someone murdered her friend,” I said. I figured if Sabrina could do it then I could too.
Ginger Santa wagged a finger at me. “I heard something about that.”
“Did you know her?” Sabrina asked.
Ginger Santa shook his head. “She was before our time.”
“Bridget, isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind me. I turned to find Timothy smiling a polite but confused smile. “You were at the tour of Mendall Asylum yesterday.”
“Yes, yes, it is, and I was,” I said, offering him my hand. He took it and shook it delicately, as though I were made of tin foil. The redheads we’d been talking to drifted away from us as one and I gestured to Sabrina. “And this is Sabrina.”
“I’m Timothy. I’m the GA leader here. It’s lovely to meet you both. Is Anna not with you?” he asked, looking around the gathering.
“She was otherwise engaged but I knew I was supposed to be here so I thought it would be all right to turn up without her. It is, isn’t it?” I asked. I don’t know why I didn’t want to mention she was with Officer Leonard or that he had brought us, but something told me it wouldn’t be wise to say.
“Of course. The more the merrier,” he said and gestured around the group. “This is more of an open get-together than an actual meeting, so there are no issues with confidentiality.”
“I’m just going to use the facilities,” Sabrina announced and darted away before Timothy could object. Behind his b
ack she made and gesture that looked as if she were squeezing an invisible beach ball. I took that to mean she wanted me to pump him for information. Or she was going to pump someone for information. Or she wanted to go to the beach.
“How do these meetings work?” I asked Timothy while giving Sabrina a subtle nod. Yes, I wanted to go to the beach too.
“The morning and lunch meetings aren’t really structured. Not like the evening meetings. It’s more about socialising and support,” he said as we wandered around the flowerbeds. “You were meant to be in my group, Bridget, but your parole officer had you reassigned. Did you know that?”
“No, but I’m sure he does lots of things I don’t know about.” I’d meant it in an off-the-cuff type of way but Timothy nodded solemnly.
“I’m sure he does. I was just wondering if he’d spoken with you about why he requested you be reallocated.”
“Surely people get moved around all the time,” I said. I wasn’t getting a very positive vibe from his questions. They made me feel a lot less forthright than usual. And considering I wasn’t an open person in general he couldn’t have crowbarred information out of me.
“Not really.” Timothy shook his head and stared into the distance for a moment before turning back with a small smile. “Don’t tell him but it hurt my feelings a little.”
“Don’t be offended but I’m much better off with a female GA leader. Men are far too easy to manipulate and my parole officer is very astute about those types of things.” I gave him a self-deprecating smile. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to give him a solid reason for Oz changing my group but my gut told me it was important. As disgustingly overbearing as Oz could be, I trusted him and his judgement.
“Ah.” Timothy smiled back and nodded. “Now that makes more sense as to why he chose Anna as your adjustment companion. Speaking of Anna, she didn’t actually mention you’d be coming by.”
“Oh, right,” I said. I couldn’t think of any sort of intelligent response. Hadn’t Officer Leonard specifically said that Anna had arranged this? Had he been mistaken? Did I want to mention that Officer Leonard had dropped me off? Or that Anna was still somehow helping him with his enquires? “Must have slipped her mind,” I said. It was the best I could do.
A Little More Dead Page 15
