removed all memory of whatever he said or did. I think that was when you told him about the basement and the books.’
Jenny put her hands over her eyes. ‘No,’ she said.
‘It’s the only explanation, Jenny. It’s the only thing that makes sense. And I think you told him about my sister and how Barbara had helped get to the truth. So he decided to ensure that if Barbara did the same with you, you’d die. That’s why you stopped breathing. He wanted you dead.’
‘That’s one hell of a leap,’ said Barbara.
‘What other explanation is there?’ said Nightingale. ‘You saw how Jenny reacted when she was under. She wouldn’t tell us what was happening and she stopped breathing. If we hadn’t dumped her in the shower she’d never have woken up.’
Tears were running down Jenny’s face.
Barbara put her arm around her. ‘It’s okay, everything’s okay now.’
Jenny shuddered and shook her head. ‘No, it’s not okay. How can it be okay?’ She looked up at Barbara, blinking away her tears. ‘Why was I in the shower? What did he do to me, Barbara? Why did I have to shower?’
Barbara’s mobile rang from inside her bag, which was on the floor by the side of the sofa. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, patting Jenny on the back before grabbing her bag and hurrying to the kitchen to take the call.
Nightingale went to sit next to Jenny. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
‘Why? It’s not your fault.’
‘Because I pushed you into this. It was my idea.’
She shook her head. ‘If you hadn’t, I’d never have known.’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. ‘I’ve known him for ever, Jack. How could he have done this to me?’
‘I don’t know.’
She started to cry again and Nightingale put his arm around her. He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better; all he could do was to show that he cared. He gave her a hug and then kissed her on the top of the head.
Barbara came back into the room, looking strained. ‘My bathroom’s sprung a leak,’ she said. ‘That was Mrs Simmonds, who lives in the flat below me. There’s water pouring in and she says if I don’t get it fixed now she’s going to call the fire brigade.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Mrs Simmonds is in her eighties and has bad arthritis so doesn’t have much of a sense of humour, Jack. I’ve got to go. She says the water’s flooding into her bedroom.’
‘It’s okay, I’ll stay with Jenny,’ said Nightingale.
‘Jenny, I’m sorry,’ said Barbara. ‘I’ll get an emergency plumber in and I’ll be right back.’
Jenny looked up, wiped away a tear and forced a smile. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘I’ll be going to bed soon anyway.’
‘Seriously, Barbara, I’ll stay with her,’ said Nightingale.
Barbara nodded. ‘Okay.’ She fished her car keys out of her bag. ‘If you need me later, call me,’ she said to Jenny.
‘Stop worrying about me,’ said Jenny. She sniffed and wiped her nose. ‘I’m fine.’
Nightingale got up and showed Barbara out.
‘I’m serious, Jack,’ she said. ‘If you think she needs me, you call me.’
‘She’s had a shock, but she’s tough.’
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked. ‘About Fairchild?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Nightingale, but even before the words had left his mouth he knew that was a lie. He knew exactly what he was going to do about Marcus Fairchild.
56
‘You haven’t finished your coffee,’ said Nightingale, dropping down on the sofa next to Jenny.
‘I’m not sure that I need caffeine right now,’ she said. ‘You know what I would like?’
‘A chocolate muffin?’
Jenny laughed. ‘I was going to say a drop of brandy but if you’ve got a banana choc-chip muffin hidden away that would do the trick.’
‘No muffin, I’m afraid, and Starbucks is shut at this time of night. Where’s the brandy?’
‘Kitchen,’ she said. ‘Cupboard over the fridge.’
‘Funny place to store the booze.’
‘I cook with it,’ she said.
‘What a waste.’
He patted her on the leg and pushed himself up off the sofa. In the kitchen he found the bottle and two brandy glasses and took them back into the sitting room. He poured two large measures and sat down next to her. They clinked glasses and she gulped hers down before he could say anything. ‘Hey, careful,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, reaching for the bottle.
He grabbed it and held it out of reach. ‘You’re an amateur when it comes to booze,’ he said. ‘You should leave the hard drinking to the professionals.’
‘You, you mean? You drink that poncy Mexican stuff. Now give me that bloody bottle before I break it over your head.’
‘See? It’s already making you aggressive.’ He laughed and poured brandy into her glass, a smaller measure this time. ‘Try to savour it and appreciate the bouquet. Don’t just throw it down your neck.’
‘I hear and obey,’ she said, taking a sip.
‘Are you okay?’
She shook her head tearfully. ‘It’s going to be a while before I’m okay,’ she said.
Nightingale swirled his brandy around his glass. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Stop saying that,’ said Jenny. ‘It’s not your fault.’ She sipped her brandy again. ‘Why do you think he did it?’
‘He was getting information from you, about the books. Gosling was well known for buying up every Satanic book he could find, so when he died Fairchild must have figured that, as Gosling’s son, the books would have passed to me. So he hypnotised you to find out where they were.’
‘You think that’s all there was?’
Nightingale took a sip of his brandy. It slid down his throat and he felt the warmth spread across his chest.
‘You’re not answering my question, Jack.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Nightingale. ‘How can we know? He erased your memory so we might never know. And I don’t see him telling us, do you?’
‘Do you think he.?.?.’ She shuddered and didn’t finish the sentence.
She hadn’t said the words but Nightingale knew what she meant. ‘Don’t think about that, kid.’
‘How can I not think about it, Jack? There’s an hour missing from my life. And I was showering. Why the hell was I in the shower?’
‘I don’t know, and I’m not sure it’s worth guessing.’
‘That’s easy for you to say, Jack.’
‘I’ll take care of it, Jenny. I swear.’
‘Take care of it? How?’
He put his arm around her. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘What are you going to do, Jack?’
Nightingale took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘Can’t you just leave it, kid?’
‘I have a right to know, don’t I?’ She wiped her damp cheeks with her hands. Nightingale got up off the sofa and went to get her a roll of kitchen towel.
