A Question of Blood

Rebus touched his arm, stilling him, knowing he was probably about to toss a grenade into the room: Your pal’s dead, and he took some schoolkids with him… Dr. Lesser got up and walked to the doorway, reassuring herself that Niles wasn’t hiding just out of sight. Satisfied, she took the chair he’d just vacated.

“He seems pretty bright,” Rebus commented.

“Bright?”

“In control. Is that the medication?”

“Medication plays its part.” She crossed one trousered leg over the other. Rebus noticed that she wore no jewelry at all, nothing on her wrists or around her neck, and no earrings that he could see.

“When he’s… ‘cured’… does he go back to jail?”

“People think coming to a place like this is a soft option. I can assure you it isn’t.”

“That’s not what I was getting at. I just wondered -”

“From what I remember,” Hogan interrupted, “Niles never explained why he slit his wife’s throat. Has he been any more forthcoming with you, Doctor?”

She looked at him, unblinking. “That has no relevance to your visit.”

Hogan shrugged. “You’re right, I’m just curious.”

Lesser turned her attention to Rebus. “Maybe it’s a kind of brainwashing.”

“How so?” Hogan asked.

Rebus answered him. “Dr. Lesser agrees with Niles. She thinks the army trains men to kill, then does nothing to switch them off before they’re returned to civvy street.”

“Plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest just that,” Lesser said. She leaned her hands on her thighs, the gesture telling them the session was over. Rebus got up, same time as she did, Hogan more reluctant to follow her lead.

“We came a long way, Doctor,” he said.

“I don’t think you’ll get any more from Robert, not today.”

“I doubt we can afford the time to come back.”

“That’s your decision, of course.”

Finally, Hogan rose from the sofa. “How often do you see Niles?”

“I see him every day.”

“I mean, one-on-one.”

“What is it you’re asking?”

“Maybe next time, you could ask him about his friend Lee.”

“Maybe,” she conceded.

“And if he says anything…”

“Then that would be between him and me.”

Hogan nodded. “Patient confidentiality,” he agreed. “But there are families out there who’ve just lost their sons. Maybe you could try thinking of the victims for a change.” Hogan’s tone had hardened. Rebus started steering him towards the door.

“I apologize for my colleague,” he told Lesser. “A case like this, it takes its toll.”

Her face softened slightly. “Yes, of course… If you’ll wait a second, I’ll call Billy.”

“I think we can find our own way out,” Rebus said. But as they entered the corridor, he saw Billy approaching. “Thanks for your help, Doctor.” Then, to Hogan: “Bobby, say thank you to the nice doctor.”

“Cheers, Doc,” Hogan grudgingly managed. Freeing himself from Rebus’s grip, he started down the corridor, Rebus making to follow.

“DI Rebus?” Lesser called. Rebus turned to her. “You might want to talk to someone yourself. Counseling, I mean.”

“It’s thirty years since I left the army, Dr. Lesser.”

She nodded. “A long time to be carrying any baggage.” She folded her arms. “Think about it, will you?”

Rebus nodded, backing away. He offered her a parting wave, then turned and started walking, feeling her eyes still on him. Hogan was ahead of Billy, and seemed in no need of company. Rebus fell into step with the orderly.

“That was helpful,” he commented, speaking to Billy but knowing Hogan could hear.

“I’m glad.”

“Well worth the trip.”

Billy just nodded, satisfied that someone else’s day was turning out as bright as his own.

“Billy,” Rebus said, laying a hand on the young man’s shoulder, “do we look at the visitors’ book here, or over at the gatehouse?” Billy looked baffled. “Didn’t you hear Dr. Lesser say?” Rebus plowed on. “We just need the dates for Lee Herdman’s visits.”

“The book’s kept at the gatehouse.”

“Then that’s where we’ll give it the once-over.” Rebus fixed the orderly with a winning smile. “Any chance of a coffee while we’re at it?”

There was a kettle in the gatehouse, and the guard made two mugs of instant. Billy headed back into the hospital.

“Think he’ll go straight to Lesser?” Hogan said in an undertone.

“Let’s be as quick as we can.”

Not easy when the guard was so interested in them, asking about life in CID. Probably stir-crazy, cooped up in his box all day, a bank of CCTV monitors, a few cars to process every hour… Hogan offered him tidbits, most of which Rebus suspected he was making up. The visitors’ book was an old-fashioned ledger, broken up into columns for date, time, visitor’s name and address, and person visited. This last was subdivided, so that both patient’s and doctor’s name could be recorded. Rebus started with visitors’ names and ran his finger quickly down three pages until he found Lee Herdman. Almost exactly a month back, so Niles’s estimate hadn’t been far off. A month further back, another visit. Rebus jotted the details into his notebook, holding the pen lightly. At least they’d be taking something back to Edinburgh.

He paused to take a sip from the chipped, flower-patterned mug. It tasted like one of those cheap supermarket mixtures, more chicory than coffee. His father used to buy the same stuff, saving a few pence. One time, the teenage Rebus had brought home a more expensive substitute, which his father had shunned.

“Good coffee,” he said now to the guard, who looked pleased with the compliment.

“We about done here?” Hogan asked, tiring of telling stories.

Rebus nodded but then let his eyes glance down the columns one final time. Not visitors this time, but patients visited…

“Company’s on its way,” Hogan warned. Rebus looked up. Hogan was pointing at one of the TV screens. Dr. Lesser, accompanied by Billy, striding out of the hospital building and down the path.

Rebus went back to the ledger, and saw R. Niles again. R. Niles/ Dr. Lesser. Another visitor, not Lee Herdman.

We didn’t ask her! Rebus could have kicked himself.

“We’re out of here, John,” Bobby Hogan was saying, putting down his mug. But Rebus wasn’t moving. Hogan stared at him, and Rebus just winked. Then the door flew open and Lesser was standing there.

“Who gave you permission,” she spat, “to go trawling through a confidential record?”

“We forgot to ask about other visitors,” Rebus told her calmly. Then his finger tapped the ledger. “Who’s Douglas Brimson?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“How do you know?” Rebus was jotting the name into his notebook as he spoke.

“What are you doing?”

Rebus closed the notebook, slipping it into his pocket. Then he nodded to Hogan.

“Thanks again, Doc,” Hogan said, preparing to leave. She ignored him, glaring at Rebus.

“I’ll be reporting this,” she warned him.

He shrugged. “I’ll be suspended by the end of the day anyway. Thanks again for all your help.” He squeezed past her, following Hogan to the car park.

“I feel better,” Hogan said. “It might have been cheap, but we ended up scoring a point.”