Corrine’s lips curled up, but Carlton lifted his hand. ‘Let me finish. Primarily my concern is for you, Corrine, of course it is. You haven’t had time to fully process what Angus has told you. What you believed about an extremely traumatic period of your life has been completely demolished. Whether you realise it or not, that makes you both fragile and vulnerable.’
Again, Corrine opened her mouth. Gus recognised the look on her face and waited for the angry explosion that often followed the narrowing of those laser eyes in that particular way. But once more Carlton held up a hand. ‘However … my concern isn’t only with you. I have to consider the effect you appearing from nowhere after all these years would have on Jimmy … and, more to the point, I suspect that his psychiatrist would have similar reservations. She was only too willing to allow you to visit with Rory – part of her treatment plan is to encourage Rory to interact with people. However, Jimmy is a different kettle of fish. He hasn’t been violent to others in the facility to date and has gained some rewards as a result. He’s allowed to garden, using specially modified tools – but, after speaking to her earlier, his psychiatrist is very concerned that seeing Corrine would result in a violent outburst. She says he still holds extreme resentment towards you and blames you for all the, what he calls ‘evil’ things that have happened to him. Over the years he has been at Bellbrax, the only violence he has ever demonstrated has been towards himself. We don’t want that to change, now do we? We don’t want Jimmy to be moved to a more restrictive unit.’
Corrine bowed her head. ‘Of course, I don’t want to disrupt Jamie – I really don’t, but have any of you considered that confronting me, hearing me explain what happened, might actually open him up?’ She straightened her back ram-rod stiff. ‘Also, not one of you has considered one very simple alternative scenario.’
Gus and Carlton exchanged a glance, but Corrine ignored them. ‘I know Jamie. I know my baby brother. He is incapable of doing any of the things you describe. There must be some other explanation. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. Not my Jamie.’
The stunned silence lasted only seconds, then Gus jumped to his feet, his cheeks warm, his heart thumping. ‘What the hell is wrong with you, Mum? How can you possibly, even for a damn nano-second, think that you know the brother you knew for only the first four years of his life better than his psychiatrist, all the doctors who have worked with him, the police officers who investigated him and … everyone else?’
Corrine, eyes flashing, cheeks similarly flushed, glared at her son. ‘I am a psychologist myself, Angus. I’m not just a dotty old woman. I have as much knowledge in my field as Carlton has in his. Jamie is incapable of doing what he has admitted to. I stake my career on this.’
A pulse throbbed at Gus’s temple. The woman is bloody impossible. Modulating his tone with difficulty, he sat back down. ‘Look, Mum, you’ve seen for yourself how children can react to trauma experienced during childhood – some never recover. Jamie is one of those kids. Circumstances made him who he is and he’s in the safest place for him and everyone else. He is ill, but there is no earthly reason why he would admit to such awful crimes. You’re wrong on this one.’
‘No, I’m not, Angus. I know my brother. You are the police officer. Work out why he lied. That’s your job.’
Her cold tone made the colour drain from Gus’s cheeks. He’d never experienced this tone from his mum before. Her eyes challenged him, and he wondered if in their depths there lurked disappointment. He couldn’t bear that. She’d never shown disappointment in him before and Gus couldn’t for the life of him work out why she would choose this particular test to judge him.
The room vibrated with tension until Professor Carlton, clearly distressed by the turn of events, shook his head. ‘His psychiatrist is resolute, Corrine. She will not allow you to see him. Instead, Angus and I will conduct an interview of sorts with him as he works in the garden. You can watch from one of the upstairs windows, but that’s the only concession that will be made. He’s been upset today already, and she doesn’t want his fragile peace of mind disturbed. We’re going to speak to him before our meeting with Rory.’
A single tear escaped Corrine’s eye and Gus wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms round her and hold her close, but when he stood up to do just that she shook her head, her eyes like pools of darkness, her words harsh. ‘No, Angus – No. I need to be strong or I’ll collapse completely. Now, if you could all give me some time, I’d like to phone Fergus.’
Staring helplessly at his mum as she turned away from him and moved to retrieve her mobile from the bedside table, Gus’s shoulders slumped. She’d excluded him … and it hurt. Thrusting aside the thought that, now he knew how she felt every time he closed her out, he left her alone.
Chapter 60
Bradford
The Man in Black is cramped and his right leg has long since gone to sleep when he hears the sounds from below – first the doorbell, trilling through the house, then shortly afterwards, the thumps of someone banging on the door, clearly impatient at their first ring being ignored. Naughty, naughty, Karen. He moves so he is in a better position to hear everything and as
