Beth Farlow waited inside the main reception area on the inside of the security barriers. She should have gone back to work but she’d seen Dr King go into the interview room and she didn’t think speaking to him would do any harm. Her own interview had unnerved her for a reason she could not quite explain. No, that wasn’t true. There was a reason for her disquiet, but she didn’t feel she could share it with the officers. The man, the sergeant, seemed nice enough, but the inspector, the way her eyes seemed to see right through her. Beth shrugged. How come the police made her feel guilty even though she hadn’t done anything wrong? And could she really be guilty by omission if that omission had no real solid basis anyway?

She mulled over all of this in her mind until, at last, King emerged from the room. As one of the senior consultants, he’d lectured to the nurses, both from a clinical standpoint and in terms of patient and staff safety. His was a familiar face. But today that face looked drawn and anxious as he stood outside the seminar room, stooping as he gathered himself. Beth hesitated and was on the point of abandoning her plan when he looked up and saw her watching him. He straightened and waved a greeting. Beth returned it and smiled, and that was enough for King to slide across the space towards her.

‘Dr King, sorry to bother you.’

King looked at her face and let his eyes drop to her badge. ‘Beth, isn’t it? Did I see you come out of the Spanish Inquisition earlier?’

‘Yes. They wanted to know about Colin Norcott. Something to do with Alison Johnson.’

‘Same here. Though you, of course, would have no knowledge of Alison.’

‘No. But it’s Colin I wanted to ask you about. I mean, am I OK to discuss his case with them?’

‘In what sense? Patient confidentiality?’

‘Well, yes, I suppose.’

‘If there is anything pertinent, it would be best to cooperate. The police have a job to do.’

‘Thank you. I don’t think there’s anything bad. I mean everything I told them would be common knowledge on the unit. Colin didn’t tell me any secrets. If he had, I’d have revealed them at the case conferences.’

‘Of course.’ King nodded approval.

‘It’s just that, for some reason, Colin’s been in my thoughts lately. It’s spooky, in a way.’

‘Oh, and what’s brought that on?’

‘Sometimes I see his paper golems. At least I think I do. I thought I saw one yesterday stuck on a bush. But it wasn’t. At least I don’t think it was.’

‘The mind can play tricks on us, Beth. Perhaps having been warned by Monica Easterby you were going to be questioned about him, subconsciously you’ve raised his ghost.’

King’s words were reassuring. Beth smiled.

‘You did a very good job with Norcott,’ King added. ‘There was a time when we never thought he’d get over his paranoia.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t worry, all this will pass. Poor Alison. And no matter how they try and swing this, I am sure they won’t manage to implicate Norcott.’

‘Implicate him? But he was a patient here at the time, wasn’t he?’

King nodded. ‘The police like nothing more than to mould the evidence around a suspect. If the cap fits and all that.’

‘Surely not,’ Beth said with horror.

King nodded sagely. ‘I suspect it will not be the last time you or I will meet the cool and calculating Inspector Gwynne. Don’t forget, if you’re worried about anything my door is always open.’

Inspector Gwynne emerged from the interview room. Beth caught her sharp eyes focusing in on the two of them in the reception area and, in sheer panic, sent a wave. The nod she got from Gwynne by return was less than effusive. And though King helped by sending his own affable goodbye by raising one hand, it left Beth feeling exposed and somehow caught out.

She turned away and hurried back to her duties, wondering again why being in the presence of the police made her so inexplicably uncomfortable when she had absolutely nothing to hide. It made her wonder, too, what sort of duplicitous personality you had to possess to believe you could get away with anything.