No Longer Safe(110)

Before I knew it, I was in a ward full of mad people; they must have run out of hospital beds or something. Lying there with no one sensible to talk to, I decided to go right back to the beginning in my mind and run through everything I could remember about the last two weeks. I wanted to secure it inside my head and remind myself about the parts I had to keep secret, before the sedatives they forced me to take turned the whole experience to fog.

I was right to do it; it wasn’t long before everything was a blur – they must have put me on even stronger tablets. I think Karen came to see me at one point, but I had no idea what she said. I could just picture her walking away. Although, when I thought about it later, I couldn’t even be sure it was her.





Chapter 56




Finding Stuart that final morning was a ghastly shock. He’d stayed over on the sofa in the sitting room and Alice must have taken another sleeping tablet.

At some stage during the early hours, she’d battered him with a rolling pin from the kitchen drawer. The evidence was on her camera, including a selfie she’d taken with the automatic timer. It showed her beaming face pressed next to Stuart’s, with his head split open – timed at 3.05am. Once the police saw that one, there was no question that Alice was seriously unhinged.

They asked me about finding his body.

‘Alice must have dragged him into the cellar after she’d killed him.’ I said. ‘I had no idea he was down there until I went to find the vacuum cleaner for a last-minute tidy up.’

‘What made you think Alice had killed him, Ms Morley?’

‘I didn’t think it could have been anyone else. There was no sign of a break-in and there were no fresh footsteps or tyre-tracks outside in the snow.’

‘Alice Flemming is your friend, isn’t she? Did you think she was capable of that?’

‘Well – I hadn’t seen her in a while. She used to be very quiet, but she’s come out of herself since then. She’s certainly more assertive. I should tell you that Alice had been having panic attacks and periods of anxiety. I think, on reflection, she was probably quite unbalanced.’

I knew what was coming. ‘This bang on the head – how long was she unconscious for?’

I pretended to think about it. ‘It would have been around fifteen to twenty minutes. I was quite worried.’

‘But you didn’t suggest she went to hospital?’

‘Oh, yes,’ I corrected, without a beat. ‘I insisted on taking her, but she categorically refused. She was adamant that she was fine. I kept an eye on her as far as I could. To be honest, I thought she was okay – until I found Stuart, obviously.’

‘Why didn’t you ring the police as soon as you found the body?’ they asked.

‘I panicked. I was terrified for myself and the little girl I was looking after.’

‘Did you touch the body?’

‘I think I might have touched him to check if he was still alive.’

I knew there was a chance they’d find my DNA on him when I’d hidden him in the cellar. In fact, I’d moved Stuart before Alice got up that morning, because I didn’t want her dragging the police in again before I’d decided what to do about Brody. That was my only crime. Otherwise, my conscience was clear.

I hadn’t killed anyone.

‘What exactly was your reason for tying up your friend, Ms Morley, and leaving her there in the cold?’

‘I was scared! – desperate to get out of the house and I knew if she was tied up, she couldn’t hurt us. I rang the police as soon as I got a signal outside.’

The officers could see that I’d left water and food at the top of the steps in the cellar and I hadn’t even locked her in. That stood in my favour. I didn’t tell them I’d rattled the key in the lock to make it sound like I’d shut her in.

Apparently, forensics found her fingerprints – and hers alone – on the rolling pin in the sitting room; it had rolled under the sofa out of sight. She had blood spattered on her night clothes too. Poor Alice. During the night, she turned into a different person.





Chapter 57




Psychiatrist Report - Patient Alice Flemming

Dr Henry Macleod – 23 December



Following a series of medical examinations, mental assessments and in-lab sleep tests, I conclude the following:



Head injury



During her recent holiday in Scotland, Alice suffered a trauma to the head, causing damage to the left frontal lobe. Alice claimed she lost consciousness for no more than a few seconds, but given the nature of the injury I believe this to be an underestimation. Alice made no attempt to seek professional advice in spite of subsequent headaches.