Medea's Curse by Anne Buist Read Free Book Online Page B

giggle into a cough.
    Wadhwa waved his hand dismissively. ‘The lie scale is always high in criminal cases.
She is trying to appear better than she is. Georgia has at least three different
personalities, so that’s Criterion One. They clearly have power over her—they caused
her to kill her children: Criterion Two. She has periods of lack of recall: Criterion
Three.’
    ‘The lie score does suggest we need to treat what she says with a certain amount
of scepticism does it not?’ Natalie replied. The test was designed to catch people
trying to fake symptoms. In over five hundred dull, repetitive questions, even smart
fakers were caught. ‘Besides, I haven’t ever seen any other personality. My reading
suggests that though the diagnostic criteria state there must be at least two distinct and enduring personalities that take control less than five per cent of those said
to have it actually fit this description.’
    There was a moment when it seemed everyone was holding their breath, but before Wadhwa
could open his mouth, Corinne spoke up, glaring at Natalie as she did.
    ‘Dr King, could it be that she decompensates and that these other personalities come
out with Professor Wadhwa because he is male?’ Corinne, prior to the MBA, had been
a psychiatric nurse. She didn’t often use this knowledge, but management-speak wasn’t
going to cover the current situation.
    ‘I guess it’s possible,’ Natalie conceded reluctantly. Her registrar spent more time
with Georgia than Natalie did, and hadn’t seen any different personalities. But she
was female too. ‘I’m not convinced I see anything other than her putting on an act.’
    ‘Is it possible that being a woman makes you less sympathetic?’ said Corinne.
    Natalie was too startled to be worried by Wadhwa’s smug expression. ‘Because she
killed her children and the maternal part of me can’t forgive her for that?’
    Corinne nodded.
    ‘Maybe.’ Actually Natalie was convinced the maternal part of her was either deeply
buried or had never developed. Still, dealing with women who killed their children
raised a range of feelings. When she first took on Amber, she’d experienced surges
of irrational anger. It had taken several sessions with Declan to work through and
redirect her feelings of anger at her own mother from a long time ago.
    ‘It might be good for you to keep working with her,’ Corinne suggested to Natalie.
    ‘I would be most happy to,’ said Wadhwa. ‘My research into Dissociative identity
will be most beneficial—’
    ‘Exactly why you can’t work with her,’ Corinne said. ‘Include her in your research
by all means, Professor Wadhwa, but if she gets bail, and she may well, the condition
of the court is likely to be that she continues to see a therapist. Natalie would
be better placed.’
    Wadhwa looked no happier about this than Natalie felt. At best, she felt ambivalence
towards Georgia. There was none of the sympathy she had for Amber. At least it gave
her a chance to both discredit Wadhwa’s diagnosis and to understand Georgia better.
Natalie could hang a label from the manual on her, but that wasn’t the same as deep
understanding. She had assessed other women who had killed their children; Georgia
was different.
    Natalie acknowledged Corinne’s curt nod, a vote of confidence from the manager, even
if she hadn’t won all the points in the round against Wadhwa.
    ‘You clearly have a problem with Georgia,’ Declan said, crossing his legs and leaning
forward.
    ‘I think my diagnosis is spot on, even if Wadhwa—’
    ‘You know I’m not referring to your diagnosis or your problem with Wadhwa, Natalie.’
    Natalie had known Declan Ryan since she was sixteen. A long stay in the orthopaedic
ward, then rehab, meant she’d been a captive audience—but determined all the same
not to talk to him. She had put him into the category of ‘boring old people’, always
immaculately dressed with a manner that bordered on ponderous. It was one