Chickenfeed (11 page)

Psychoanalysis was still in its infancy in 1924, but those who knew Elsie Cameron described her as mentally unstable. They said she was ‘depressed’, ‘neurotic’ and ‘nervy’. She had a fear of being left on the shelf and thought people laughed at her. Her co-workers complained that she was ‘moody’ and ‘difficult’.

Her problems grew during her four-year relationship with Norman. She couldn’t hold down a job. She wanted to be loved in a ‘fairy tale’ way and was obsessed with getting married. She swung between anger and depression when she couldn’t have her own way. A doctor tried to cure her condition with sedatives (probably an early form of barbiturates).

Elsie’s behaviour suggests she suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder. Sufferers of BPD have low self-image and are often depressed. They can be difficult to live with. They have constant mood swings and become angry when they feel let down. They think in black and white terms, and form intense, conflict-ridden relationships. Threats of suicide are common.

Whatever happened the night Elsie died, I am sure her disturbed state of mind played a part in her death. Either her stubborn refusal to leave provoked Norman into hitting her, or she staged a ‘suicide’ to make him feel guilty enough to give up Bessie.

At Norman’s trial, the jury was swayed by Sir Bernard Spilsbury’s testimony. They decided that Elsie collapsed as the result of an attack and that Norman had intended to kill her. Yet, even if he
had
hit her, there was no evidence she was dead when he left the shack. Nor that he could have predicted she would die later from shock.

I’m more persuaded by a sentence in Norman’s statement. He said he found Elsie suspended from the beam with her ‘frock off and her hair down’. Yet it was a cold December night. Norman himself would have been wearing an overcoat. Why would it even occur to him to say he found Elsie hanging naked . . .

. . . unless it was true?

With her debut,
The Ice House
, Minette Walters won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Award for the best first crime novel of 1992. Rapidly establishing a reputation as one of the most exciting crime novelists writing today, her second novel,
The Sculptress,
was acclaimed by critics as one of the most compelling and powerful novels of the year and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for the best crime novel published in America in 1993. In 1994 Minette Walters achieved a unique triple when
The Scold’s Bridle
was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. Her following five novels,
The Dark Room, The Echo, The Breaker, The Shape of Snakes
and
Acid Row
were also published to further critical acclaim throughout the world and her ninth novel,
Fox Evil,
won the 2003 CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction.

Minette Walters lives in Dorset with her husband and two children. Her latest novel,
The Chameleon’s Shadow,
is available in Pan paperback.

By the same author

The Ice House
The Sculptress
The Scold’s Bridle
The Dark Room
The Echo
The Breaker
The Shape of Snakes
Acid Row
Fox Evil
Disordered Minds
The Devil’s Feather
The Tinder Box
The Chameleon’s Shadow

To my good friend Paul

First published 2006 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2010 by Pan Books
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ISBN 978-0-330-52869-6 PDF
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Copyright © Minette Walters 2006

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