A Plea of Insanity by Priscilla Masters Read Free Book Online

neighbour having heard mother and son rowing.
    Heidi had interviewed Barclay who had backed up his mother’s fable and nothing had been done. No charges had been pressed.
    But a year or two later a girlfriend, Sadie Whittaker, had also accused him of serious assault. She too had been badly injured by being run over with a car which Barclay had been driving. Later, like Barclay’s mother, she too had retracted her initial statement which had claimed that Barclay had driven deliberately, glassy-eyed, towards her.
    She now said it had been an accident, that she had stepped in front of his car following a row and that he couldn’t possibly have seen her. There had been no witnesses. The incident had happened late at night in a quiet,unlit road near where Ms Whittaker had lived so it had been her word against his.
    Once again the initial charge had been withdrawn.
    Claire could almost hear the police gnashing their teeth with frustration. There was such underlying brutality in both assaults and yet no conviction.
    She scanned quickly through the rest of the notes. There were other misdemeanors since youth. Most of his earlier criminal charges had been minor theft from shops, garage forecourts, some casual theft of money from his work and more specifically a couple of forged cheques from his mother’s bank account. She was a widow, Barclay’s father having died when he was ten years old.
    It was difficult to see why there was such a close supervision order on him. Heidi had spoken to Barclay every month and he was the one patient Rolf Fairweather had singled out to warn her against. Claire was very curious as she pressed the buzzer to call Barclay through.
     
    She waited for a minute, two minutes. He should have been here by now. The waiting room was only feet away. And he would already know the way. This was hardly his first attendance. She was just wondering whether she should call him in again or if the computer was wrong and that he had not arrived when he sauntered in, without knocking.
    She noted it as deliberate dominance – typical sociopathic behaviour. A kind of one-upmanship. Marking his territory and status like an animal peeing against a tree.
    She stayed seated.
    He was an unremarkable-looking guy – of medium height, around five nine, five ten, medium build, slightly pale skin, medium brown hair, cut neat and short. He was wearing loose-fitting grey Chinos and a cream sweater, sleeves rolled up to expose sinewy forearms, and he smeltvaguely of cinammon as though he’d just drunk a cappuccino. He gave her a brief smile as she introduced herself. His eye contact was good. Forthright and confident. Possibly arrogant.
    Which fitted
.
     
    It was time to get to know him.
    He watched her warily.
    ‘I already know a little about you, Jerome, from a brief glance through Doctor Faro’s notes.’
    He gave her an almost shy smile. She had meant to explain that he need not give all his past medical history but he interrupted her. ‘What do you know – exactly?’
    ‘I know that you are the subject of a supervision order in the community. I know that you have been convicted of a string of minor offences – robbery, forging cheques. I know that your mother suffered injuries a few years ago but no charges were ever pressed and I know too that your girlfriend suffered similar ill-fortune.’
    She knew these types. It was better not to mince words but to set out clear parameters in the early days. Not to let them believe that they had fooled you
.
    Barclay blinked.
    ‘Because of Doctor Faro’s death it’s been more than three months since anyone has seen you. Perhaps you could fill me in on what you’ve been doing.’
    ‘Some work.’ His voice was pleasant and that, combined with his shy, rather diffident smile made her wonder about him. Her hand wandered away from the panic button.
    ‘What sort of work?’
    ‘Office work – through an agency.’
    ‘Full time?’
    ‘Nah. Just when I want to go in.’ Another