The Invisible Code(47)

The answer came back: That she’s innocent, and that she’s telling the truth. No matter how crazy she sounded, no matter how ridiculous her claims were, what if he assumed they were real? Then the key question became: What did she discover that could possibly make her so fearful?

He asked himself, What would you do if you discovered something unthinkable? You might run away, bury your head, pretend you didn’t know anything. But if you were brave enough you would try to get proof, to stop people from implying you were mad. And that was exactly what Sabira said she did, stealing a file from Edgar Lang’s office, but somehow her evidence turned into a bundle of taxi receipts. Either she had made a mistake, or somebody switched the folder to make her look crazy.

If you decide to go down this route, old boy, Bryant told himself, you had better be damned sure of your facts, or you’ll end up looking as loopy as she does.

‘Are you ready for more bad news?’ asked John May a little later. ‘Sabira smashed up her room at the clinic in the early hours of this morning. When the duty nurse arrived she attacked her with a knife, then tried to cut her own wrists.’

‘Both wrists or just one?’

‘One, the left – what does it matter? She tried to kill herself, Arthur. They’ve been forced to sedate her. It looks like she’ll definitely be moved on Monday, no matter what the psychiatric report has to say about her condition. And don’t bother calling the clinic, because the staff are under strict instruction not to talk to us or anyone else until they’ve conducted their own internal investigation.’

‘Who allowed that?’

‘Who do you think?’

Bryant picked up the phone and called Oskar Kasavian’s direct line. ‘Why have we had our access to the clinic cancelled?’ he asked.

At the Home Office Department of Security, the call was recorded.



KASAVIAN: Do you understand the serious condition my wife is now in, Mr Bryant? It’s quite clear to me that your detective sergeant upset her with news of the photographer’s death.



BRYANT: It would have been worse if she had discovered the news for herself. It’s all over the papers. If we can’t talk to her directly, can you answer some questions?



KASAVIAN: I don’t suppose you’ll desist until I do.



BRYANT: How did you find out what had happened?



KASAVIAN: I received a call to say that my wife had attempted suicide, and had tried to stab her carer. The poor woman was trying to calm her down—



BRYANT: Do you remember the exact time this happened?



KASAVIAN: No, and I hardly think it’s relevant.



BRYANT: Do you have any idea what sparked off her attack?



KASAVIAN: She was apparently difficult at dinner, refusing to eat and so on. I looked in on her in the day lounge at around eight thirty p.m. and found her asleep in her chair. She went up to her room at half past ten, and the nurse was disturbed by the sound of furniture being thrown about a couple of hours after that.



BRYANT: So the nurse went up to the first floor and found your wife in a state of distress.



KASAVIAN: That’s right. She had overturned her dressing table, smashed a wall mirror and torn her clothes. It appeared she had also started to cut her wrist with a knife.



BRYANT: Where did she get the knife from?



KASAVIAN: She had taken it from the dining room. She warned the nurse not to come any closer or she would kill herself. When Miss Medway took a step forward, Sabira lunged at her. Luckily, Medway managed to disarm her. She called a doctor, and one of the other nurses stitched and bandaged my wife’s wrist.



BRYANT: Why didn’t Medway see to her wound?



KASAVIAN: My wife wouldn’t let her near.



BRYANT: Did she give any reason for her actions? Make any demands?



KASAVIAN: Nothing. The nurses agreed there were no warning signs. There’s no rationality behind my wife’s actions. Mental instability is unfathomable by its very nature, although I understand it can be inherited. I assume you are cognisant of the fact that both her aunt and grandmother suffered mental breakdowns and were institutionalized for periods?



BRYANT: So you informed me. I ran some checks but was unable to verify the details.



KASAVIAN: Then I suggest you check the files more thoroughly; it’s all on record. There seems to be little more I can do for my wife now, so if you have no more questions—



BRYANT: Can you tell me: the cut on her wrist, was it transverse or vertical?



KASAVIAN: Across, I believe, although I don’t see what that has—



BRYANT: And you saw the knife? KASAVIAN: Yes.



BRYANT: How sharp was it? Was it serrated, very sharp, a bit blunt?