Unforgotten by Clare Francis Read Free Book Online Page A

of Desmond roughing it on a Welsh mountain.
    Walking back to court, Hugh fell in beside Tom. ‘I’m so glad you had the boys for half term, Tom. That’s wonderful news. Things are better with Linda, are they?’
    ‘Yeah. She doesn’t put the phone down on me like she used to.’ Tom spoke in a matter-of-fact way, without his usual bitterness. ‘That’s because she’s having another brat, and she’s glad to get the boys off her hands.’
    ‘Another baby? Good God. I thought she’d only just had one.’ But Hugh had lost track of time. It was eighteen months since Linda had left Tom for the third and last time, and moved to Devon with her new boyfriend.
    ‘Lover-boy’s out of work,’ Tom said. ‘They’ve got money troubles. Suddenly she doesn’t mind talking to me again. Funny, that.’
    ‘Well, so long as you can see the boys.’
    ‘Yeah. Even better . . .’ There was reticence in Tom’s voice, but also a note of suppressed excitement. ‘She’s saying I can have the boys full time.’
    Hugh stared at him in astonishment. ‘You mean . . . custody?’
    ‘Yeah. With access for her.’
    Hugh hardly knew what to say. ‘Tom . . . I’m so pleased . . . That’s wonderful . . . And the boys? Is that what they want, to live with you?’
    ‘ ’Course,’ said Tom, a touch defensively. ‘They’ve always wanted to live with me.’
    ‘Well, in that case . . .’
    They paused at a pedestrian crossing, a bus thundered past, while Hugh thought of all the reasons why it would surely be impossible for Tom to have full care and control of his children. His illness for a start, the poor prognosis and depressiveepisodes. His drink problem, which flared up at regular intervals. The tiny rented cottage, riddled with damp, with no prospect of getting anything better till he was awarded his damages. The chances of Linda changing her mind.
    ‘You’ll go back to the family court for a new order, will you?’ Hugh asked.
    In one of his rapid changes of mood, Tom seemed to withdraw abruptly. ‘Yeah . . . But it won’t be a big deal. Not when Linda’s thrown in the towel.’
    Tom’s divorce had been heard in Exeter where to save on costs he’d hired a local solicitor called Emma Deeds. Hugh only hoped she hadn’t raised Tom’s expectations too high. ‘Well . . .’ he said. ‘I wish you the very best of luck, Tom.’
    ‘Yeah . . .’ Tom murmured. ‘Thanks.’
    The afternoon began with the examination of delayed onset in post-traumatic stress disorder. Bavistock suggested that a year after exposure to trauma was the internationally accepted maximum period for symptoms to appear, while Ainsley argued that there were no hard and fast rules. For almost an hour Bavistock took Ainsley through the various scientific papers on the subject, trying to get him to agree that exceptions were so rare as to be insignificant. Finally, Bavistock came to his point.
    ‘Now, in Tom Deacon’s case it was over a year before he claims to have come down with PTSD. Fourteen months, in fact. That, you must agree, is almost unheard of?’
    ‘An exceptional person might try to struggle on for a long time before seeking help.’
    ‘But he sought help from his GP at regular intervals during those fourteen months – for depression. And according to his GP he never mentioned having flashbacks or panic attacks or an unusual fear of strangers. How do you account for that?’
    ‘I can’t comment.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because I didn’t assess him at the time.’
    ‘But you accept the GP’s notes, surely?’
    ‘Yes. But most GPs have only fifteen minutes to see eachpatient. That isn’t long enough to investigate the symptoms of PTSD.’
    ‘What, even when flashbacks are a universal feature of PTSD, and panic attacks a close second? Surely if someone was going through such frightening experiences, he would feel compelled to mention them?’
    ‘As I have said, a brave man might deny his symptoms for a long time, out of shame or pride