Where the Memories Lie

 

But now I realised that she’d never said anything about a lot of horrible things that would’ve been going on in her life, and I was too stupid to understand back then. If I’d been her, I would’ve been complaining to my best friend about the state of them – that I had to fend for myself, get myself to school, wash my own clothes, make myself dinner, survive on pennies because both parents were living off their unemployment benefits and using most of it to buy alcohol – but Katie had never complained. She just got on with things. And that was how she survived, until she turned eighteen and left it all behind.

 

After my last patient I had a half-hour gap before Elaine came in and took over from me. There was no way I could call every single doctor’s surgery in the country trying to find any trace of 97

 

Sibel Hodge

 

Katie, but every patient was registered in the NHS database, and they would definitely have a record if anyone had ever requested her medical notes. For the first time in my career I found myself wishing a patient had had an operation or an illness over the years, just so I could try and find her.

 

I called the NHS records line and got through to a woman called Linda who I’d spoken to in the past. She checked once, and I made her recheck, but she still gave me the same answer.

 

Katie Quinn’s records hadn’t been updated or requested in the last twenty-five years.

 

My head was still spinning when I took Poppy out for a walk along Chesil Beach later. The pebbles crunched under my trainers as I stared out to sea, thoughts crashing into each other like the waves onto the shore.

 

Had Jack sexually abused Katie? Had she really written that goodbye letter or was it all a convenient cover-up? I had only Jack and Rose’s word that it even said she was running away.

 

Maybe Jack had killed her and faked the letter. But if that was the case, why was Tom saying he’d killed her? Tom couldn’t stand Jack and Rose. I was sure he wouldn’t have had anything to do with Jack.

 

So, what, then?

 

Tom’s words drilled into my head again. I was sure now that this wasn’t just a confused old man mixing up fragments of memories.

 

Somewhere in those words was the truth about what had happened to Katie. A truth I had to find out.

 

Move over, Pandora. Katie’s box was about to be prised wide open.

 

98

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eleven

 

 

Nadia returned the favour the next night and had Anna over for tea. Nadia was making sweet and sour chicken balls and jasmine rice. From scratch, not out of a jar.

 

I don’t know how she found the time. Lucas was on his way to New York on a two-day stop-over and Nadia said she wanted the company, although I’d forbidden Anna to talk about death row prisoners whilst she was there. Not only was it depressing, but I thought her latest obsession was a bit unhealthy. She’d been signing online petitions the last few days, trying to get the death penalty abolished in America! Luckily, she was distracted enough by the excitement of being able to go through Charlotte’s and Nadia’s stuff to search for anything they could give her for the car boot sale and hadn’t mentioned it once all day. Anna had always been a bit of a magpie. As a kid, she’d always loved anything shiny and sparkly, but she also had this urge to examine other people’s things. If we went to a new house she’d pick up people’s photos and ornaments and knick-knacks and study them, asking how they got them and if there was a story behind them.