Borderliners (26 page)

‘Don’t people ever learn?’ I asked, not liking the way he smiled as I did so.

‘Elena, I know you’ve been here for eighteen months or so, but in village terms, you’re still new around here.’ He took another sip. ‘I suspect you are also new to villages. You don’t look like you’ve ever lived in one before.’ I shook my head, not returning his smile.

‘Places like this attract a certain kind of person. And odd practices.’

‘But isn’t it all rather…untoward?’

‘Possibly. Whatever it is, we need to put a stop to it. Personally, I’ve had enough. My concerns are not the same as yours: this is my home and I don’t want to see it tainted like this. It’s my livelihood, too, and I don’t want people scared off.’ Another sip. I noticed he was nearly at the bottom of his glass.

‘It’s pretty bloody weird, that’s for sure,’ I said. ‘Before all this happened, I went over to have tea with Tony one afternoon and –‘

Vince raised his eyebrow ‘Who?’

‘Tony, you know, the guy who was staying with Julia and Iain. He was at their party.’

‘No, I don’t know.’

‘He’s the one who came to the pub after our council meeting one night but you didn’t see him.’

‘I remember. Not the guy, but your odd behaviour.’

I stared at Vince. ‘Well, anyway, one afternoon Tony showed me a file belonging to Julia, of newspaper clippings dating back more than ten years. They were all about people who had gone missing without a trace. And some of the clippings mentioned some secret rituals or ceremonies that were taking place in the autumn and winter months. That ritual we saw in the woods…’

I stopped for a second to gather my thoughts whilst Vince leaned forward again and looked over at me very directly, all traces of a smile now gone. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

‘The ritual we saw in the woods. We need to put a stop to all that.’ He lifted up his empty glass. ‘Got any more of this?’

I nodded and picked up the whisky bottle to refill his glass. ‘Help yourself next time, OK?’

He continued, ‘So what else did you want to tell me?’

‘That my phone’s been wiped. The one you took the photos on.’

‘What?’

‘When I saw that there was an ambulance next door, I rushed over there and dropped my handbag in the doorway on the way in. They were trying to stop me going in, so I pushed past Iain in the doorway and some women who were blocking the stairs. Linda was in one of the bedrooms but I couldn’t get to her. They caught up with me and stopped me before I had the chance. Some of Julia’s henchwomen escorted me out.’

‘Also, as those people were escorting me out of Julia and Iain’s house.’ I stopped. This was painful. The air around us changed again, becoming thick and soupy, hiding the details of my living room from sight, so that all I could focus on was Vince, who was staring over, his eyes intent. He had stopped sipping his whisky.

I changed tack. ‘Iain’s a psychopath, I mean it. Even with my professional hat on. While I was upstairs trying to get in to see Linda, he did something with my phone. I’d left in my handbag. He must have taken it out of my bag and broken it deliberately. Because when I got back down stairs again, he handed it to me.’

‘You all right?’ Vince asked, standing up. Glass in hand, he stepped over to the sofa I was sitting on, and sat down, arms wide, resting one on the sofa inches from my back, and one on his knee, which he propped up on the opposite leg.

I looked away. ‘Not really, but to continue…I drew level with Iain, and he had this kind of half-grin, half-snarl on his face. Like a rabid dog.’ I closed my eyes to shut the image out. ‘Well, a sane rabid dog. Or a murderer. He stretched out his hand and I saw that he was holding my phone – broken, wet. It was obvious he’d done it. He was so pleased with himself.’ I shuddered.

There was a long silence before he spoke again. ‘Tell me more about the Walpurgis ceremonies. What’s the connection?’

‘Oh, back to the clippings file. I was getting to that. That afternoon when I had tea with Tony and he showed me Julia’s clippings file about villagers who went missing shortly after suspected ceremonies, he told me about the “Walpurigis night” connection. Apparently, Walpurgis was a ritual held in northern Europe to rid people of winter demons before welcoming the summer in, but it seems the Charismatic Community – or should I say
cult
– here has adopted the idea. It’s almost as if they use the concept as a label for whatever it is they get up to on the night of the annual village ball. As if they’ve stolen the idea of ridding their community of anything that gets in the way. In
their
way. I think they use it to silence people who might blow the whistle on their more untoward practices, or maybe they are covering something else up. I can’t quite work it out. They could also be using it to get rid of people who are trying to escape the community. Like Linda, for example. The clippings I read referred, in some cases, to patients. People my predecessor dealt with – I looked some of them up.’

‘This cuttings file, where is it now? I’d like to have a look.’

‘Well, that’s another thing. On that afternoon, I removed the file from Julia’s house and brought it over here. But I only had it a few hours as the next day someone broke in here and the item I found missing, as a result, was that file.’

Vince leaned over and took hold of my shoulders. ‘Someone broke in here? Do the police know?’

I stared, but he did not remove his hands. ‘I don’t really do police, Vince. I can look after myself. Don’t forget, in this case, there was no evidence of a break in and the only item missing was not something which belonged to me anyway, something I had, myself, stolen.’

He expelled breath through his teeth, sliding one of his hands up to clutch the back of my head.

‘I feel like I need to shake you, Elena. What do you mean there was no evidence of a break in?’

‘I mean just that. I suspect they may have a key.’

‘They?’

I flinched slightly. ‘I think you know who I mean.’

He let go.

‘That’s it. I’ve had enough of this. We have to get them out of the village,’ he said. ‘It’s late and you’re tired. Much as I’d like to stay…’ His eyes glinted behind a couple of thick strands of hair which had fallen forwards. ‘I’m gong to insist you go straight to bed. Don’t talk to anyone and don’t answer the phone. Above all, don’t go on any more of your walkabouts. I’ll be back tomorrow with a plan.’

He got up and I followed him to the door. I felt woozy and my head was beginning to ache. We stood at the door briefly before I opened it, and he took my face in his hands.

‘You have to take better care of yourself, Elena. Please.’

Then he turned on his heel and was gone.

Click, click, buzz, the phone rang quietly, so quietly my heartbeat overpowered the sound as it purred in the distance. I let it ring for much longer than I could normally bear. Finally, a louder click and a voice came on the line, sharp and suspicious.

‘Yes?’

‘Kate? It’s Dr Lewis. I wondered if there was any update on Linda.’

‘Hello Dr Lewis,’ Kate replied, her voice softening a little. ‘She’s in hospital, she’s stable now, but other than that, there’s no news.’

‘I wanted you to know something,’ I said, lips suddenly parched and dry. ‘I think there may be a connection between Linda and some other patients of mine.’

For a moment I thought the line had dropped, or Kate had put the phone down on me, but then the voice replied, assuming its biting tone once more.

‘Why would you think that?’

‘I’m sorry, Kate. I’ve had some other patients in a similar position to Linda recently, and there is something which connects them all. It probably isn’t relevant. I can’t tell you who the other patients were. Are, I mean.’ I coughed, ‘but it might be.’

‘Look, Dr Lewis, my sister is very ill. We need to get her better. She came to you for therapy and it made her worse rather than better. So thanks, but no thanks for the meddling.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Not as much as I am. Now maybe you could get off the phone line. I need to keep it open in case Linda wants to ring me.’

‘Please, Kate. I’d like to help. Is there anything I can do?’ I persisted.

‘Why do you want to help us? What have you got to do with it?’ Kate replied.

I hung up and sat looking at the phone. I was shaking, my body awash with remorse as I saw myself through Kate’s eyes: nosy, interfering. But not only that, I saw someone who had not halted the chain of events taking place inside Linda’s mind. I hoped one day soon, Kate would be the bearer of good news, but I felt there was unlikely to be any. Still, hope springs eternal, I thought.

Frost coated the landscape outside. My hands, already chapped and frozen were curled into the sleeves of my tracksuit top as I picked up speed to banish the cold. Ears tingling, headphones on, I filled my senses with running beats to drown everything else out. As my heartbeat rose I struggled with my breathing to regulate it and allow my body to run on auto pilot whilst I took the time to think and meditate. Julia’s face floated around in my mind’s eye as I ran across hardened, once-muddy ground. The Tarot cards swam in next, the echo of their real-life counterparts all the more vivid as they took shape in my mind.

On the road home I met no-one, the sharp frost having delayed the day and banished many to the safe insides of their houses. When I passed Julia and Iain’s house their car was missing from its usual position at the front and the place looked shut up and empty. After getting back inside, I did fifteen minutes of yoga to steady my mind, before quickly showering and changing, firm in my resolve to visit Linda in hospital. I could guess which hospital she had been taken to and I would get access to her somehow.

Remembering my mobile phone was broken, I picked up my handbag and left the house, phoneless. I wondered if I should have told Vince of my plans, but shook myself at the thought. I was an independent woman, and a professional – if I wanted to check on a patient who was ill, why wouldn’t I? I really needed to see how she was for myself.

The hospital didn’t have a great reputation, and as I walked through the double doors leading to the psychiatric ward at the end of the corridor, I couldn’t suppress my revulsion at the place. It was dirty and soulless. God forbid one day I would finish up in such a place. I buzzed my way onto the ward and with my fingers crossed behind my back, I introduced myself. Just as I was doing so, I noticed a nurse on the other side of the nurses’ station rubbing Linda’s name out on a whiteboard above her head. As her colleague tapped on the computer keyboard I knew what she was going to say, and braced myself.

‘Linda Mason discharged herself earlier today.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m talking English, aren’t I?’

‘Sorry, I mean, when and why?’

‘Can’t tell you that. You’re not family.’

‘I’m her psychotherapist,’ I said, wondering if it would work.

‘Yes, I know who you are. I’ve seen your name before. But we’ve been told you’re not treating her anymore?’

‘Look, I’m also a friend and I have good reason to believe she shouldn’t have been discharged so early.’

‘I agree, but we can’t stop people unless they’ve been sectioned. She hasn’t been.’

I sighed, heavily. ‘No?’

‘No,’ she confirmed.

What was it with some of the consultant psychiatrists in these places? Sometimes I really wondered.

‘Any idea where she went? Home to family?’

‘No idea, sorry.’ She picked up a ringing phone receiver in front of her, leaving me standing at the desk.

As I left the hospital, I noticed Julia on the other side of the car park. I slunk in behind an off-roader and watched her as she entered the hospital. Checking my watch, I waited another ten minutes before clocking her exit, this time rushed and agitated. My heart leapt as I considered the implications. I had no idea how to contact Linda if I was correct in my assumptions, I just hoped she’d had time to get right away.

I waited for Julia to drive away from the hospital car park before starting up my own car and making slower progress back to the village, where my practice was awaiting me.

At lunch time, I went back to my house. Opening up my laptop, a new email sat waiting in my inbox:

Elena, what are you doing? I thought I told you to stay home and keep out of trouble.’

I wrote back.

Vince, I have to work. To do otherwise would be foolish. In the meantime, Linda has been discharged. Can you help me find out where she might be?

I drove back to the surgery for my afternoon patient list, beleaguered by hailstone which hurled themselves at my windscreen and the thought that there was still no sign of Tony anywhere.

That evening a storm raged. Trees shed leaves which whirled round as if they were unable to find a place to fall and the wind howled as if it foresaw the pain it would inflict all around. The temperature had risen a bit, so after my afternoon surgery had finished I’d taken myself off for a long walk, letting myself in through the back gate when I returned. For a while I just sat on the bench in my back garden looking up at the sky, staying like that long after the heavens opened and the rain soaked into my clothes, plastering my hair to my face, shoulders and the back of my neck. I kicked my shoes off and let my bare feet dangle off the edge of the bench onto the ground. As the storm progressed and the torrent showed no sign of abating, I planted my feet into the soft earth beneath me, so that the mud squelched between my toes.

Lightning struck somewhere on the horizon, flashing across the sky like a jagged stab wound. Increasing in intensity and volume, thunder crashed and reverberated off the buildings and trees all around. My tears mixed with droplets from the sky and I couldn’t tell how long I’d been sitting there, considering what I had to do. Demons danced around in the shape of wild trees and shrubs which were being pulled this way and that by the wind. If there was a time when you had to decide something, it may as well be this, I thought. For a while longer, I just sat there and let it all wash over me: the village and its inhabitants, the bottomless pit of solitude I now found myself in, the lust and greed, the need for power and gratification.