fifteen years old. 'Looks like she spent her whole life in an asylum,' Nigel murmured to Foster as he scanned down the document, which covered two pages.
The first part was biographical information. Age, occupation, religion, address, none of which seemed remarkable.
Then it mentioned 'Age on first attack ... 11' before going on to state that she had had several more attacks.
In legible hand, under the heading 'Facts Specified in Medical Certificate upon which Insanity was Founded', the reasons for her being deemed insane were listed.
She says that she and her family are cursed by a past event. She believes they will be hunted down and killed for the deaths of others. She exhibits strong symptoms of paranoid behaviour which often degenerate into seizures and fits. Her next of kin dismiss the idea that they are in any way in danger and deny any knowledge of her misdemeanours that may explain Miss behaviour.
Nigel read it out to Foster, together with another paragraph under 'Other Facts Indicating Insanity' in which the doctor, presumably the one who committed her, noted that her family were frightened by her frequent mood swings, her delusions and her constant reiteration that they would all die for their sins. In their view she had become a danger to herself and a nuisance to them.
The second page carried a black and white photograph of a terrified and bewildered-looking girl. Her eyes were hollow, her cheekbones sharp and her face devoid of any discernible tone. He showed it to Foster.
'Jesus, that's a kid. How many people were in this place?'
'Back then? Around three thousand people.'
What exactly was wrong with her?'
Nigel scoured the page. Alongside the photo was a line stating 'Form of Disorder'. Next to it were written the words 'Paranoid Schizophrenia'.
There followed a more detailed physical description.
Her physical condition was 'feeble'. Her temperament 'volatile'. Her skin also showed bruises from her latest 'attack'. There were more details of the history of her condition -- a series of attacks between the age of eleven and her admittance, of increasing severity and duration.
No mention was made of any paranoid behaviour. She was admitted to Ward 4.
The next set of case notes was dated little more than a year later. It noted the effects of treatment on Margaret.
The handwriting was, even for a physician, almost impossible to decipher despite Nigel's years of practice in the art. There was one phrase he could make out and it made his stomach turn. Electroconvulsive therapy.
'They gave her electroshock treatment,' he told Foster.
'When?'
'It had started by the time these case notes were written, just over a year after she was admitted. The handwriting is difficult to make out. But there's a sentence here that says she was responding well to the treatment and her delusional episodes were getting more infrequent.'
'Let's hope someone made a note of what those episodes were before they shocked her into becoming a zomb
'She must have retained some lucidity if she was able to scare Edith Chapman.'
'Do we know when Edith Chapman visited her?'
'I presumed it was over a period of time, and sometime near the birth of her son. But we have no way of knowing.
I suppose she could have come to see her aunt when she was younger and whatever she heard and saw stayed with her.'
'That would make sense to me,' Foster said. 'I can see why a kid would be scared by the rantings of a mad woman, particularly if she visited her in some Gothic madhouse where people screamed and climbed the walls.
But as she grew up, got older, why would she believe the words of a schizophrenic?'
'There's a long history of people who suffer from mental illness being viewed as possessed, either by spirits but more often the Devil. Edith Chapman was a religious woman. Perhaps she believed God was sending her a message. I don't know. Maybe her aunt was so convincing she couldn't believe it was anything other than true.'
He ploughed on through the file. Nothing for several years, until 1947, more than two decades after she was admitted. A different doctor this time, thankfully one with decipherable handwriting. Nigel scanned it first, but as he realized its importance he began to read out loud to Foster.
The patient continues to make slow yet gradual progress. Discussion was taken about whether to carry out a surgical operation, but rejected in favour of continued elelectrocompulsive therapy. The patient last experienced a seizure more than a year ago an encouraging sign. A possible discharge has been discussed, but the patient herself states that she would rather stay where she feels safe. It is her delusion that she and members of her family are at risk from persons unnamed for acts perpetrated towards the end of the last century. The patient swears that on her death bed, her Grandmother informed her of a horrible family secret. According to the patient, her grandfather was eventually found and killed by people seaking revenge for the deaths of the inocent, and that they would not stop until every descendant of the family has been dispatched in a similar manner. She is convinced that if she were to return to the outside world she would fall victim, so asks to stay. She can provide no proof of this wild story. She says her Grandmother took the secret to the grave with her.
Very few of the family, apart from her young niece, who comes once or twice a year call in to visit her. When I approach them to test out the veracity of Miss Howell's claims they insisted there was no truth in them whatsoever. No matter how well she responds to the ECT treatment, her paranoia shows no sign of subsiding. I fear Miss Howell will be in our care for most of her life, unless she dissists in making these wild claims and seaks to live a life in the outside world. Alas, she is showing every sign of becoming institutionalized.
Nigel felt like punching the air. A breakthrough. Here was the first mention of a past crime, the 'deaths of the innocent', that could provide a motive for the present-day murders. But what was the horrible crime that left so many dead, if indeed it did exist? Foster was more concerned with a different unsolved crime.
'What did Horton Rowley's death certificate say?'
'Killed beneath an omnibus.'
'There was no indication of foul play?'
'None mentioned on the death certificate. They held an inquest but the coroner must have deemed it was an accident.
I would get the records from the inquest but I know for a fact that no records exist from 1909. They tended to destroy them when a coroner stood down, or kept many of them for fifteen years afterwards. Not much help to us.
There might be a few newspaper accounts, but omnibus accidents were not rare occurrences and we'd be lucky to find more than a news item in brief. Might be worth a try, though.'
Foster didn't respond. He took the records from Nigel and read the entry again. He put it down. 'Then we have absolutely no proof this woman was telling the truth. This isn't enough. Her words alone won't help us. We need to corroborate her story if we can. If not, it's just a mad woman ranting. What else is in here?'
In 1950 Margaret was admitted to the infirmary with a fractured pelvis incurred when she was being pinned down during her ECT treatment. Her treatment was altered in 1952, when a medical note stated that she had been given a leucotomy. Nigel took off his glasses and rubbed his brow wearily.
'What's that? Foster asked.
Nigel knew exactly what it was. He remembered tracing the family history of one client, which had led him to the asylum and the depredations that took place there in the name of treatment. 'A lobotomy,' he said.
'Jesus.'
'They went into the brain under the eyelid with an instrument shaped like a small ice pick. Then they cut the nerves at the front. It was very quick. Some surgeons prided themselves on how many they could do in one shift.'
'But what good could it possibly do?' Foster asked.
Who knows? I suppose you might be less inclined to have a fit or a bout of hysteria with half your frontal lobe severed. It was quite popular for a time. Particularly on women.'
