The Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

homespecifically for people with dementia – no more than eight or so patients at a time. The emphasis, as far as I can gather, is on individual care and one-to-one therapy.’
    ‘It’s very much needed,’ Cat said. ‘A lot of new work is being done on dementia care. There isn’t a cure but some of the ideas are quite positive.’
    ‘I knew you’d be up to speed with this. I told Leo as much.’
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘We weretalking about things here. I’d like you to see what he’s doing – the house has been renovated and updated, made fit for purpose. But they plan to take people in quite soon.’
    ‘Then I should go over. It’s important to see what’s available – people expect an honest report from their doctor.’
    ‘I did have another thought. Leo will be running the home with his wife, Moira – and of course staff – butI think he will have some free time. He’s always had business interests, via a family firm, as well as being a doctor, but those don’t occupy him much nowadays and he would make a first-rate chairman of our new committee. Leo knows a lot of people.’
    ‘Not what you know …’
    ‘Indeed. He has a way with him, lots of contacts, but he’s also new to this part of the world and so without prejudice, ifyou take my point. That can be a positive asset.’
    ‘It needs someone with energy and a real commitment to the work of a hospice. Not going to be easy, John.’
    ‘We should show him round – you’re the best person to do that, I think. Initially I would sound him out – if he says he won’t do it there’d be no point in wasting your time. But if you feel it would be worth my making the approach …?’ Heput a hand briefly on her arm. ‘Though you may have someone in mind already. Forgive me.’
    ‘Absolutely not. I can’t think of anyone who isn’t already very committed.’
    ‘This is where we miss your mother so much.’
    ‘People found it hard to say no to her.’
    They left the conference room together and then, as she turned to the ward area, Cat glanced at John Lowther’s back as he went down the corridor.He was stooped and walked slowly, as if he had given everything he had to conducting the meeting and, in order to do so, had somehow set aside what had happened, but now, remembering it, he was cowed under the weight of his grief, all over again.

Nine
    NOW, SHE HAD said to herself. Do it now. Don’t wait. Don’t dither. You know what you want, you have thought about it, gone into every aspect of it, lain awake thinking about it, written it all down to try and make it even clearer.
    You haven’t any doubt and you know what the specialist will say without needing to wait for the appointment and the scan. So tell her now. Ask her now.
    Penny’scase at the Crown Court was likely to continue for another week. The amount of evidence, she had told Jocelyn, was considerable and difficult for a jury to follow and there were a larger than usual number of witnesses.
    Laying the small table by the French windows for their supper, she wondered again if she ought to have postponed this – not for her own sake but for Penny’s. Was it fair to giveher this news and then to tell her what she hoped she would do, while she was the defending barrister in a major criminal trial?
    Anyone else would have spared their daughter from all of it for another few weeks. What stopped Jocelyn was Penny herself, the person Penny was. Competent, organised, controlled, frighteningly capable of putting a dozen things into separate compartments of her mind,her emotions, her life, and never letting their boundaries blur. Penny would walk out of the court at the end of each day and set the trial aside, once she had done any reading and preparation for the next day. She would not let it keep her awake, she would not worry about it or dream of it.
    That was the only reason Jocelyn was not putting off what she had to say. Penny would be annoyed if shedelayed. Penny had stood on her own two feet and