Poppet

Red T-Shirt

AJ IS IN his office, trawling the Internet for articles on MHRT tribunals and post-care plans, wondering how the hell Isaac Handel could have disappeared with all the so-called ‘safeguards’ in place. The phone rings. It’s DI Caffery. AJ gets up and closes the door to the office.

‘Yeah – hi,’ he says. ‘I was about to call you. How’s it going?’

‘Sort of OK, sort of not. Tell me – did you look through any of this stuff you brought me?’

‘Not really.’

‘You weren’t curious?’

‘Curiosity killed the cat. Not having a sense of curiosity is the chief reason I’ve survived in this job.’

At the other end of the line Caffery gives a small ironic laugh. ‘Strange, because curiosity is the reason I’ve survived in my job.’

AJ clears his throat. He goes to the window and looks out at the grounds. It’s a squally day; from here he can see the windows of Myrtle Ward. Above it a little electric light comes in slices through the lowered blinds in Melanie’s office. He drops his blind. Turns away from the window.

‘Is there news?’

‘Yes, it’s good news. You’ve convinced me. I’m opening an investigation.’

AJ bites his lip. Thinks about the light glowing in Melanie’s office window behind him. ‘Does that mean you’ve got to come out to the unit?’

‘It does. You know we’re taking this seriously, so maybe you can clear things your end.’

AJ scrunches up his face. What promise did he make himself yesterday? And has he kept it? No.

‘Can you give me a day or so? Is it urgent?’

There’s a tiny pause – a reticence from Caffery. ‘A day or so?’

‘Yes, it’ll give me time to open all the – uh – channels.’

‘I’d prefer it sooner. I’d like to be there this afternoon or first thing in the morning at the latest. We have to motor on this – we don’t know where Handel is.’

‘OK. OK, I’ll do my best.’

‘Please do.’ AJ hears Caffery shuffling papers at the other end of the line. ‘And something else, while I’ve got you, just so I can get some questions sorted – red T-shirt and red socks? Mean anything to you?’

AJ takes a deep breath. His heart hammers in his chest. ‘Red socks, red T-shirt? Meaning?’

‘The dolls – they look random, but they’re not. Didn’t you notice?’

‘No – I mean, I didn’t examine them.’

‘Each one symbolizes someone in Isaac’s life. Probably most are people from the unit, since those are the only people he’s had contact with the last eleven years. One of the dolls is dressed in a red T-shirt and socks, that’s why I’m asking.’

AJ’s heart sinks. He wishes everything that has happened was just his imagination. ‘Zelda,’ he says. ‘The red socks, the red T-shirt? We had to fight her all the time about the socks – the staff hated washing them because they turned everything pink …’ He trails off, his throat dry. ‘Mr Caffery, do any of them look like anyone else in the unit?’

‘Like you? No.’

‘Ummm – how about our clinical director. Remember? Blonde?’

‘Maybe you should look at them when I come to the unit. There’s one I think is Moses Jackson.’

‘Shit.’

‘And a very thin girl in pyjamas …’

‘Long hair? Blonde?’

‘Yes.’

‘Pauline,’ he murmurs. ‘She was wearing pyjamas when she …’

He stops speaking. Framed in the glass panel of his door is Melanie. She is smiling and waving through the window. He gives her a weak smile, holds up a finger. Won’t be a second, he mouths. He turns away from the window and speaks in a rapid voice.

‘I’m going to do what I can to sort things. I’ll let you know as soon as I have.’

‘OK. I really want to move on this so—’

‘I’m going to hang up now – it’s not a good time to talk.’

‘Fair enough. Let me know as soon as you can. I’ll be waiting.’

‘Will do.’ He presses his thumb on the red button. Takes a moment to calm himself. Turns and smiles at Melanie. Beckons. ‘Come in.’

She comes in. ‘Sorry – I didn’t mean to interrupt.’

‘That’s OK, it was nothing.’ She doesn’t ask him to explain, but he finds himself doing so anyway. ‘It was a sales call – I don’t know who sells our damned numbers on. An urgent message about my payment-protection policy, apparently. Can I make you a coffee? It’s not the best coffee, down here in the bowels of the unit, but I’ll do my best.’

‘That’s OK – I just had one.’

AJ gives a nervous cough. He’s lied. He’s lied again. ‘Did you … I mean, was there something you wanted to—?’

Before he can finish the sentence the phone rings again in his hand. His heart sinks. Melanie looks at it. There’s an awful awkward moment while his heart races, trying to think what he’ll say if it’s Caffery again.

‘Go ahead,’ she smiles. ‘I can wait.’

‘Yes, I mean, I …’ Resignedly he turns the phone over. Sees to his immense relief the name ‘Patience’ flashing on and off on the screen. He gives Melanie a pained expression. Holds it up so she can read it.

‘I’m going to have to …’ he says.

She nods. Blows a kiss, turns for the door and leaves. He stands at the door and watches through the window, waiting for her to disappear round the turn in the corridor before he answers the phone.

‘Now, AJ,’ says Patience. ‘Don’t get upset about this …’

‘That’s exactly the way to break news to someone, Patience.’ He turns from the door. ‘Something, I dunno, so soothing about it. What is it? You been gambling with our council-tax money again?’

‘No – it’s Stewart.’

‘Oh.’ All AJ’s bravado drains away. He sits down at the desk. ‘Is he …?’

‘He’s OK. He’s right here with me, AJ. Fast asleep. But he hasn’t been all right. I’ve been at the vet with him and he’s had his stomach pumped and blood taken off of him, and—’

‘What?’

‘I know – it’s cost a fortune. But I didn’t have my phone with me at the vet, so I couldn’t check with you, and this vet lady’s yelling at me how I’ve got to make up my mind, just like that, or Stewart’s liver’s going to stop working and his kidneys and …’ She takes a few gulping breaths. ‘AJ, I thought we’d lost him.’

AJ can’t make sense of this. A few hours ago Stewart was running through the fields with him, his tail wagging like a mad thing. ‘What the hell happened – what’s wrong with him?’

There’s a long silence at the end of the phone. He can pretty much hear Patience weighing her words, testing each one before she gives them voice. When she does speak, it’s with the heaviness she employs whenever she wants AJ to read between the lines.

‘The vet says Stewart got poisoned somehow. It’s nothing I’ve given him.’

‘Poisoned?’ It’s as if something cold and scaly has dragged itself down AJ’s spine. All he can see in his mind’s eye is the walk in the woods this morning. ‘Poisoned how?’

‘The vet doesn’t know. She’s on about how it could have been lots of things, nothing obvious came out when they pumped him. But he’s eaten something – a toadstool maybe. You know Stewart’s not all that discriminating when it comes to eating.’

‘It’s OK, Patience, you did the right thing, don’t get upset about it. I might be late home tonight, but don’t worry about the money, OK? We’re going to be fine.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ she says drily. ‘I truly hope you’re right.’ ‘I am.’ He looks out of the window as he says it – at the lights on in Myrtle – and Melanie’s office window. He’s got to build up his nerve to tell her about Caffery. Somehow it has to be done. ‘I am right. Give Stewie a hug for me.’