Father of Lies Read online

  She shook her head. God, the nausea. It was so hot in here. Radiators blasting out full heat. She took off her coat as heat flushed into her head and neck.

  “Are you okay? Shall we go up to the staff room and let you sit down for a bit?”

  He took the stairs two at a time and she lumbered after him feeling like lead weights were attached to the soles of her feet. There was a sensation of wading through water - not getting anywhere - each step a gigantic effort, the temperature wracking up until sweat surfaced all over her body.

  “God, I feel like I’ve got the flu or something. The heat in here!”

  Noel waited at the top. “You’re not at all well, are you?”

  “No.”

  Let me in…Let me in…

  “No!”

  Noel eyebrows shot up. “Pardon?”

  “Nothing. I just need to sit down. I thought you said something.”

  Behind her, Callum’s footsteps raced up the stairs. The two men exchanged a worried look over the top of her head.

  “She’s not well,” Noel said.

  “I know. Talking to herself an’ all…I reckon she must ’ave picked up a bug in t’hospital. It’s a fever. Becks - come on, I’ll take you ’ome. No matter what Kristy said - you’re not up to a meeting.”

  Callum’s voice was faint, miles away. What had he said?

  Let me in… Let me in…

  “No! I said no! I meant no.”

  She heaved herself on to the top step just as a door opened ahead. Kristy Silver stood silhouetted against the light. A tall, elegant blonde in her uniform of a black pencil skirt and crisp, white shirt belted today with red patent. Immaculately made up with cat flick black eyeliner and soft pink lipstick, her brow creased intently.

  “I’m really glad you came, Becky, and I’ve got a feeling it might be in the nick of time. The rest of us have got a few bits of the jigsaw to put together but we’ll have to act fast.”

  Don’t go in ..oh please don’t make me… don’t …no….. Chester’s whiny voice turned in to a childish tantrum.

  “Oh yes you are,” she said, quelling the sickness in her throat. “You most definitely are going in, and I will make you if I have to!”

  ***

  Chapter 21

  Inside the meeting room, all appeared normal. Except it was night.

  Sweeping across the moors, a low, moaning North wind occasionally buffeted the walls and shook the windows. While inside, under the fluorescent glare, each looked quizzically at the other.

  Kristy sat where Jack normally would - at the head of the table. Isaac Hayes sat next to her, then, around the circle - Claire Airy, Callum Ross (at Kristy’s request), Noel, Becky, Martha, and Amanda.

  “Thank you all for coming at such short notice,” Kristy said. “Particularly Becky, when you’re still on sick leave - we all really appreciate it. But this is a crisis, frankly like I’ve never known, and we really do need every single one of us on the case before it blows up into something none of us can handle.”

  “Is it about Jack?” Noel asked.

  “And the rest,” said Kristy. “But yes - Jack is the main reason why we’re here.” She sighed, keeping her eyes down for a moment. Eventually she seemed to pick up courage and took a deep breath. Eyed them all in turn. “This is going to sound way off beam, and I’m sorry for that, but everything and anything we say in this room tonight has to be totally confidential, okay? I wouldn’t normally say anything at all, but we need to be up to speed on recent developments because seriously - if you don’t know what’s going on, then you may inadvertently put yourself and others in danger. Oh - and every single one of us, myself included, needs to keep an open mind.”

  She took a sip of coffee, appearing to steel herself. “I think we’re all aware that Jack recently treated Ruby with hypnosis? Except something happened during that hypnosis session, which we, as yet, don’t understand.”

  She nodded towards Becky. “Becky, who was present, is unable to remember precisely what took place, which again, is strange. In her own words, she felt, ‘numb - as if time stood still.’ She recalls time having passed - hours - but not what happened.”

  She looked at Becky for confirmation and Becky nodded.

  “Then shortly afterwards, Jack’s behaviour changed dramatically - something everyone remarked on - appointments cancelled, smirking to himself, swearing in front of patients and colleagues. Not to mention his hair turning snow white! And all this while Ruby herself exhibited a quite remarkable and rapid recovery.

  No longer aggressive or abusive, she began to make direct eye contact, communicate coherently and take care of her own hygiene. And both Becky and Amanda noted her switching personalities. Amanda and I have spent a considerable amount of time with Ruby since then and she’s even drawn us a mind-map - exhibiting probably hundreds of alters, all of which you are aware of. What’s odd though, and possibly what you don’t know, is that her most aggressive alter seems to have vanished, a fact which appears to have set her free in terms of the others coming forward.

  “There are more oddities yet - Ruby’s case presentation, along with the location in which she committed her attempted murder, rang alarm bells with me because at around the same time, I was treating another client with a very similar history - and even more astonishing was that he came from the same village. So I took a wander.”

  “Where?” Noel asked.

  “Woodsend.”

  “Why?” He shook his head as if bemused.

  “A whim, I suppose. And this is why I wanted D.I. Ross to be here. Thing is - my client revealed some rather disturbing facts during his counselling sessions - he also has Dissociative Affective Disorder, by the way, although nowhere near as fragmented as Ruby’s. Coincidence?”

  Kristy took another gulp of coffee and tried to squash the residual feelings of terror as she recalled her trip. “That village - Woodsend - well I can tell you it’s a highly unusual place just past Bridesmoor Colliery. Well anyway, it was going dark and stupidly I took myself off for a look around all on my own. Like the victim in a horror movie, eh?”

  A couple of the team laughed.

  “Why is it highly unusual?” said Becky.

  “Well, nothing apparent at first except it’s a bit spooky being in the woods. Anyway, I parked down by the river, which is lovely - enchanting even - and set off walking up the forest path. I honestly thought I’d do a round walk and come home again. But Becky - here’s where it got unusual - the path sort of fizzled out and then as the light went, I can only describe what happened as having a nasty encounter: I kept walking up the track, against my instinct to tell you the truth, and there were strange marks on some of the trees, which I took photos of. Then at the top I took a wrong turn and discovered an old cemetery and the ruins of a church or an abbey.”

  “Five Sisters Abbey,” said Martha.

  “Oh right - you know of it? Well, yes, anyway, I realised I’d gone too far in the opposite direction but you know how it is - you’ve stumbled on something interesting so you linger? And then suddenly there was a really hostile man blocking my way. There was a bad atmosphere. …and I found him very threatening.”

  A wintry gust rattled at the windows.

  “I ran. I know it sounds silly but there was someone else coming and I just ran like a terrified kid. And I kept on running, through the fog and the dark, until I finally got to the main road. And then on the journey home, I felt I took something bad away with me.” She glanced at Isaac, who was shaking his head as if he thought she’d lost the plot. “ I know - I’m not making sense - but then nothing is making sense, is it? I suppose what I’m saying is that the terror followed me home and I can’t get rid of it.”

  “Terror of what?” Isaac asked, in a slightly mocking tone. “You were a woman alone in dark woods, and you met a man who unnerved you. I’d say that was reasonable. But terror? Really?”

  “I can’t explain it any better than this, Isaac - but in the car on the way home - s
omething happened - it was like a voice telling me to drive off the road, and no I’m not ready for anti-psychotics, thanks. I mean it - the compulsion to drive off the road was extremely powerful. And back in the woods there were those marks on the trees - like etched codes, just as my client described them. And the man - he was holding a cross. It was very very spooky, I’m telling you. And of course everything can be rationalised at this point - well, if it wasn’t for two childhood traumas…”

  “One. We don’t know about Ruby,” Isaac corrected her. “She attacked a man there but didn’t necessarily grow up there. There are no records to connect her.”

  Kristy sat back. “I know. I just have a feeling this is all interconnected. And then there’s Jack - because you see, I went to visit him and I have never in all my life seen anything quite like it. And we have to accept that what happened to Jack happened immediately after that hypnosis with Ruby. Okay, are you ready for this?”

  The others waited. What on earth was this woman on about? It was written all over their expressions.

  “Look - this is the God’s honest truth. When I got there, Hannah was in a terrible state. Physically sick with exhaustion and what can only be described as hyper-vigilance. And Jack was unrecognisable.”

  Kristy described what she had seen and how a chair had hurtled across the room aimed straight at her head. Without him touching it. And laughing like a demon. She related some of the conversation the two women had had, and the mention of a priest being allowed to help him.

  “He’s now in a secure unit - in isolation. But there won’t be a psychiatrist who can treat him - sedation is the only temporary solution we can offer. Hannah has insisted he see a priest. She believes, and after what I’ve seen I’m not in a position to argue, that Jack is possessed.”

  A cry of disbelief broke out.

  Except for Becky. “Jesus Christ! So that’s what it is!”

  She covered her face with her hands and started to sob, rocking herself back and forth, back and forth…. “Something did happen. It did. I couldn’t say -in case you all thought I was mad. It’s day and night - wearing me down…”

  Martha hurried to her side and put an arm round her. “What is? You can tell us - you’re quite safe - what is it, Becky? We really do need to know.”

  “He’s always there - a man speaking to me - every time I wake up he’s there. It started in the hospital, but I thought it was a knock to my head or being depressed. Thing is, though - he’s not going away. He’s everywhere and getting more and more insistent.” Her voice trailed away.. ‘let me in, let me in.’”

  Martha and Kristy exchanged a puzzled look.

  “Can you remember anything else from the day of the hypnosis,” Kristy asked.

  “Just sitting down at the far side of the room after Ruby settled down. Then it’s all a bit vague - a rapid darkening of the day, and then an odd feeling of detachment like I was at the bottom of the ocean and all the voices were muffled and far away. Almost like coming round from a general anaesthetic when you don‘t quite know where you are for a minute, and you don‘t know what happened while you were out. Like that. A sickly wooziness.”

  “Like you were hypnotised too?” Kristy said.

  “Yes. Except…I woke up facing the wall. I hadn’t put myself there. The chair must have turned around. I felt dazed for a few days afterwards too, a bit kind of drugged. Then when Jack came in for the meeting and was behaving oddly - cruel and mocking - I had an almost overwhelming feeling of terror. I knew I had to stop him seeing Ruby and so I followed him out of the room, and that’s when I must have tripped. You know the rest, except I didn’t tell anyone about Chester in case…”

  Kristy interrupted. “Chester?”

  Becky hung her head. “I’ve been in mental health too long - I thought if I said I was seeing a small guy in a black suit and hat on the edge of my bed, then hearing him speak to me - even making me laugh - that I’d have my card marked. I thought…I thought…that it was a temporary hallucination and it would wear off. Now though, I’m not so sure. Maybe something did happen that day with Ruby - and maybe Jack and I were attacked by some kind of evil spirit.”

  “This is patently ridiculous,” said Dr Hayes, standing up.

  “I would have said that too,” Kristy agreed. “I really would - before I visited Jack. And Woodsend. I really do think something is very, very wrong here. We can‘t pretend any of this is normal, and right now I believe we have to recognise it and pool our resources in an honest and professional manner. No one round this table is a fool and no one is making anything up. This is real terror talking.”

  “If this stems from whatever happened to those kids in Woodsend, are you saying there’s a paedophile ring there, do you think?” Callum asked.

  Martha nodded. “It’s not unheard of for people to affect each other in a negative way, you’ve only got to research mass hysteria: if Ruby’s experiences were so dark she suppressed them, it is perfectly possible that some material representation of that affected our colleagues to the detriment.”

  Kristy nodded. “Yes, well put, Martha. Yes, I think that’s highly credible. In which case D.I. Ross - yes I do think Woodsend should be investigated.”

  “On what grounds, though?” he said. “I need a bit more than a few ruins and a creepy forest.”

  “On the grounds that 90% of Dissociative Identity Disorder cases arise from child sex abuse, and we have two patients presenting with this at the typical age of twenty-five to twenty seven - one from the village in question and the other of no known abode but who attempted murder in the same location. The two men she attacked are from the Dean family are they not? Paul and Derek Dean? Well I’ve matched the newspaper photograph of Paul Dean and he’s the same man who creeped me out in Woodsend: same distinctive white widow’s peak. Prominent pale blue eyes. Medium height but wiry looking. It’s beginning to tie up.”

  “Where do we come in?” Amanda asked.

  “Talk to Ruby as much as you can - find out what she can remember and what her triggers are.”

  “She’s got a few - someone coming up behind her or breathing into the back of her neck,” said Amanda. “Also the smell of Brut aftershave, semen, urine, and wood smoke. Also people in black hoods, people lurking in corridors or doorways.”

  Kristy nodded. “Yes, and she’ll switch to a small child, a stroppy teen or an angry boy, sometimes with no control and sometimes with partial control. Slowly she’s coming to realise that she’s the host and this system was a genius way of saving herself from the horrors she’s endured. I think, believe, that we’ve only scraped the surface of what has been going on, and Ruby may never be believed or able to live a normal life. We don’t even have a birth certificate or a single relative who will vouch for her existence. But she is the key. What is unfathomable to us as mental health workers, is the other matter - this matter of an evil spirit - that’s what we can’t come to terms with and want to dismiss. None of us are religious. None of us believe in God and none of us believe in the devil. And yet…and yet…if you saw Jack - a man we have all worked with and respected for longer than some of us have even been qualified. Well - we have to do something for him if nothing else…”

  “Jack’s a huge atheist,” said Isaac. “We had a night drinking Bourbon once, discussing religion. Boy is he an atheist!”

  “I believe in God,” said Martha. “And I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve known Jack since he was a medical student and I’ll do whatever it takes to help him. Look, I’m ready for retirement and, frankly, I’m not afraid of anyone in authority, so I’ll do some digging on the Dean family - let’s see if we can get to the root cause! I’ve never been out to Woodsend because, as I said before, I was off sick in the mid-nineties and it was my colleague, Linda Hedges, who was working the area during the time when there was all that hoo-ha about a black witch. Then Linda died suddenly.” Her hand flew to her face. “Oh my goodness - another coincidence? I went to her funeral, you know - her husband
said she’d been fit and healthy. He was heart-broken. 1998 - both Ruby and Thomas would have been junior school age…! Do you think we’re talking about black magic or something like that? It does still go on, even in this day and age?”

  Callum sat up straight. “Bloody hell! Martha, I think you’ve just hit on something - this is beginning to fall into place! You won’t believe this but one night after I’d just joined the force - about eighteen months or so before your colleague’s funeral, Martha - we ’ad this call out, me and my sergeant, George Mason - we went out to this farm on t’ top road and there were this teenage girl spinning round on her ’ead. God, it were ’orrible. George died of a heart attack soon after. But it were at the same time! I remember noticing in the local paper about the witch woman and thinking it were odd.”

  Isaac shook his head. “Religion and pagan superstition by the sound of it. All in an isolated village: poor education, bit of the black arts going on. No wonder a couple of kids got damaged.”

  “I’m going to look into it anyway,” Martha insisted. “There may be nothing in it, of course, but let me investigate. I know Linda left some notes and I’ve never talked with her husband, so…well, I might start there.”

  “I think we should meet once a week from now on,” said Kristy. “Pool our knowledge - because separately it might seem like nothing - just a series of explicable coincidences - but together there’s a picture forming, and we may be able to help our clients, and Jack too. But only if we know what we are dealing with. We’ve got to be brave and share this now we see it in a different light. And above all we must keep an open mind. Strange things are happening to all of us individually and we have to talk about them, okay?”

  Isaac pulled his jacket on. “Dr Silver - I am more than happy for you to take over the care of Ruby. I am more than happy for you to correlate notes on both clients and work closely with Claire and Amanda. And of course,” he indicated Callum, “if there is anything untoward in Woodsend then a child abuse case is a distinct possibility and will receive our full and active co operation. However, what I cannot condone is this talk of evil spirits. I shall go and see my old friend, although I can tell you now that he is not the first and will not be the last, to suffer a breakdown….”