Simon nodded. He reached for her hand and took her pulse again. ‘There is bound to be some concussion after a bang like that on the temple. Luke, can I suggest you go home and get some sleep yourself. I doubt she’ll wake again before morning now, and if she does the hospital will take care of her. Come again tomorrow. Not too early, OK? Provided there’s no real structural damage to that poor old head of hers – and we’re pretty sure there isn’t, the duty psychiatrist will pop in to see her tomorrow morning. We need to find out what she was doing in the cellar – why she fell – if she did. And we have to get to the root of the other problem with the children. It’s far more common than you may realise in women who have given birth reasonably recently – there is a tremendous strain, you know, and if the hormonal system is not quite running as it should it can just tip someone over into doing things they would never in a million years do under normal circumstances. As the boys have you and Lyn to look after them, I’m quite sure that at this stage we can sort this out in the family. So, don’t worry.’ He walked over to the window and looked out across the darkened car park towards the sleeping roofs of the town. ‘I might suggest, Luke, that you find somewhere Lyn could take Tom for a while so that Joss can have a complete rest. Joss has more or less stopped breast feeding now; she’s told me that Ned has begun to sleep through the night, so she might consider letting him go too. I don’t want to separate her from him, of course, unless she agrees, but we’ll have to take the advice of the psychiatrist.’ He turned. ‘Is there somewhere Lyn could go? Grandparents perhaps?’
Luke nodded. ‘Both sets would have them like a shot. But Joss – ’
‘Joss may need a complete rest, Luke. I’d like her to get away from that house for a bit. From what you’ve told me, it is the root of her problems. She’s had a tremendous emotional shock, you know, inheriting that place and all the history that goes with it – and with the birth so soon after you moved, she hasn’t really had time to adjust. I think a couple of weeks in the sun might do the trick. Any chance you could arrange that?’
Luke looked gloomy. ‘Money’s a bit tight. I could probably manage something.’
‘Well.’ Simon folded his stethoscope. ‘Just give it some thought. We can all discuss it tomorrow when we see how she is.’
The psychiatrist, bearded, grey haired, and gentle, sat on her bed, sharing her grapes as he talked. He pulled no punches. ‘A touch of what we call puerperal psychosis, I think.’ His calm voice was strangely comforting in spite of the intimidating words. ‘From what your husband and your GP say and from your own story, I’d say that’s the problem. It can make you imagine all kinds of very frightening things.’ He glanced at her from under bushy eyebrows. ‘Very frightening.’ He paused. ‘You are sure you can’t remember what happened to make you go down into the cellar?’
Joss shook her head. There was a wall in her mind – a wall of impenetrable blackness – a wall behind which she did not want to look.
He waited, watching her thoughtfully, the silence drawing out between them.
‘No.’ She shook her head again, as she spoke at last. ‘No, I can’t remember.’
He nodded. ‘Well, as I said, I’ve spoken to your GP and your husband and they both feel very strongly that what you need is a bit of time away from everything.’ He thought for a minute. ‘I’m going to give you some tablets and I’m going to let you go away for a few days with your husband.’ He paused and then went on carefully, ‘I think your doctor mentioned to you the possibility of leaving the children behind. How do you feel about that?’
Joss shook her head. ‘Not happy. Of course, not happy, but Lyn would look after them, I suppose. I …’ she hesitated. ‘I do want to rest. To sleep.’ To feel safe. She didn’t say it out loud, but the fear was there, lurking; the fear in the house. She closed her eyes, letting her head fall back onto the pillow.
He was watching her closely. He couldn’t decide whether she was suppressing the memory of what had happened to her consciously or not. Or was it just that she didn’t want to tell him. On the whole he thought it was a genuine amnesia, induced by shock. The interesting thing would be to find out exactly what had caused it.
He stood up, tweaking the bedcover straight behind him. ‘So, enjoy your break. And I shall need to see you as soon as you get back. Just to see how you are.’
‘Paris?’ Luke stared at her in astonishment.
He had expected protests at the thought of leaving Tom and Ned, refusal to leave the house, not this sudden almost feverish desire to cross the Channel.
‘We needn’t go for very long. The doctors are right. It’s just what I need.’ She had been reluctant to leave Ned and Tom with Lyn, but the suggestion that Lyn take the boys to Oxford to stay with the Grants had mollified her. She knew how much Tom adored his Granny Liz and their big house could easily absorb three visitors and two small cats, where the small terraced house in London where the Davieses lived would have bulged uncomfortably however much Alice and Joe would have loved to have them.
‘I suppose we could afford it with the wine money.’ Luke smiled. ‘The only real problem is time. We’ve promised the Lagonda by the end of next month and there’s a little Austin Seven coming in next month too but if I can persuade Jimbo to keep things ticking over while we were away I reckon we could do it. Yes. Why not? It would be fun.’
31
Putting down the telephone David sighed. He had been trying to phone Belheddon for three days. Where were they all? He paced up and down his small study once more, glancing at the piles of books and notes on his desk. There was so much information here. So much to tell Joss. Frustrated, he stared down at the notes he had been making that morning. He had planned to go down to Belheddon over half term and now he couldn’t raise them. Time was so precious when you were tied to a job like his.
He made up his mind in the time it took to pace towards the door and back to the window – four large steps, that was all. He would go down there anyway. Joss had to know what he had discovered. She had to know it as soon as possible.
The coach house door was standing open when he turned under the arch and brought the car to a rest near the kitchen door. He could see the lights on and hear from somewhere deep inside the raucous beat of heavy metal being played on something the tone of which left a lot to be desired. Rather apt, he thought with a wry grin as he climbed out of his car and made his way towards the noise. ‘Hello? Luke? Anyone at home?’
The radio was switched off abruptly and Jimbo appeared from the back of the garage, wiping oil off his meaty forearms. ‘Hello Mr Tregarron.’ He gave a grin.
‘Jimbo. Where are Luke and Joss?’
‘They’ve gone to France.’
‘France?’ David stared at him in shock. It had not crossed his mind that they might not be there at all.
‘Went two days ago. Joss had a bit of a fall. She hadn’t been well so they thought they’d get her away for a break.’
David was shocked. ‘What happened? Is she all right? My God, I didn’t know!’
‘She’s OK. They’ll be back at the end of the week.’