She swallowed hard, and her face turned pale.
‘Why would she say that? I don’t even know her. Not personally, that is. Why has she said these things? This is unbelievable .?.?. I feel like I’m going to cry.’
Clearly distressed, she reached for the glass of water beside her and took a shaky sip. The pen disappeared briefly between her lips again; Greg saw it was a habit, as he spied a second one chewed up on the desk.
‘Why would she say these things?’ she said again. ‘Why me? I don’t understand. Do I have to make some sort of statement? Prove that I didn’t do this?’
Greg nodded. ‘Yes. We’ll ask you where you were at particular dates and times.’
‘My God. You’re serious. I actually have to do this? What has she said I’ve done?’
He kept his eyes on her and his voice was calm. ‘She stated that you abducted and attempted to murder her, have murdered two other women, and that last night you attempted to murder her again.’
Her eyes instantly glazed over and he could see her trying to swallow. Her voice was strained as she spoke. ‘Last night .?.?. last night I was here. I started my shift at 9 p.m., and as you can see I’m still here now. We’ve had a very busy night. Three caesareans, one of which involved delivering twins, and a woman with a post-partum haemorrhage. She died .?.?. It’s been an awful night .?.?. and now this.’
‘And you’ve been here all night?’
‘Yes,’ she said firmly. ‘I’ve been here. In this office. In the operating room. I’ve been up to intensive care to check on my patient. Do you want me to gather all the staff who have seen me tonight?’
‘No, not right now. If Dr Taylor continues with this allegation, we will then have to take statements.’
Tears hung on her lashes and she quickly reached for a tissue.
He gave her a second to compose herself, and then said, ‘Dr Cowan tells me you’re the doctor who examined Dr Taylor when she was brought into A & E a couple of months ago?’
‘That’s right,’ she said, taking the pen from her mouth and sounding and looking a bit calmer. ‘Tom Collins was in attendance as well. It was a .?.?. strange situation.’
‘And have you seen her since?’
Her nod was firm, but her voice sounded husky again. ‘Here, of course, but also at my house. She turned up out of the blue, some weeks ago. How she got my address I don’t even know, but I suppose she felt she could come and see me. I’d left a recorded message of her results on her answer machine – the results of her examination – and I told her if she needed to talk she could call me. I never expected her to turn up at my house, though. And she didn’t really want to talk about the results anyway – she wanted me to help her catch the man who abducted her. I felt terribly sorry for her.’
Maggie Fielding rubbed her face hard. ‘I suggested she get in touch with someone I know, a therapist. I’ve used him in the past for some of my patients and they found him very helpful. Richard Sickert. I can give you his number if it helps? After she left, I immediately contacted Dr Cowan, because I was concerned. Dr Cowan said she would deal with it. I have to say, I found it very upsetting.’
‘Because she wanted your help?’ Greg asked bluntly. He was getting tired of hearing of the number of people who had turned her away.
‘No!’ she vehemently denied. ‘I was more than happy to help. But the stuff she was saying went beyond my abilities to help. A dead woman in her car park. Phone calls she got, her car .?.?. I wasn’t about to help her find someone who didn’t exist.’
Greg accepted her explanation. He could only imagine how he would react if a colleague of his presented with a tall story like this. He too would have sent them to get professional help. He felt she was telling the truth, and knew it wasn’t her fault that all this had happened; he was just looking to share the blame. His chest had become increasingly heavy as he stood, unseen, in the bay beside Alex, and it had almost broken him to hear her unravel.
‘I just have a couple more questions,’ he said. ‘The first: have you ever been out with a man called Oliver Ryan?’
She shook her head.
‘He was an actor, and he was here in this hospital for a short while last year. Not sure what date.’
Again she shook her head. ‘I started here in August. I wasn’t here last year. But even so, I don’t know this man.’
Greg’s expression was candid. ‘Dr Taylor said he was your boyfriend.’
‘What! This is truly unbelievable. Why would she make up such a story?’
He shrugged. ‘We don’t know yet. The other question I want to ask is did you ever meet Amy Abbott? She was a nurse here and your paths may have crossed.’
Her head tilted slightly and she gave a little sigh of despair. ‘The one and only time I met her was on the day she died. Our paths never crossed before. Again, I’ve only been here since August. We probably would have met eventually. And the fact that you’re asking questions about her is telling me that you are suspicious about her death?’
Greg stood up. He would let her carry on with her work. ‘I’m sorry to have upset you.’
‘You have upset me – not only with what Dr Taylor said, but also hearing how in trouble she is. She is a fine doctor. I wish now I hadn’t been so hasty in calling Dr Cowan and instead found the time to talk to Dr Taylor properly myself.’
As Greg wandered back along the corridor, making his way to the exit, he found himself wishing that they’d all taken the time to talk to her properly. She had been crying out for their help, and each in their own way had not listened. He counted himself and Laura Best among the people who turned her away. Patrick Ford, Caroline Cowan and even Maggie Fielding; they each were accountable in some measure for letting this happen.
The sky outside was still black, but the morning had arrived. The day shift workers would be arriving soon and care would continue uninterrupted. He would have to come back later and formally arrest Alex Taylor, and he was not looking forward to it. He had a mountain of paperwork to fill in before then, but it could all wait.
When he got in his car he had no intention of going back to the station. He would make one stop at home and then head for Oxford to see his son.
*