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He shrugged and moved restlessly in his chair, ‘Needless to say she wasn’t,
or she wouldn’t be here now.  Since she tried to kill herself I naturally recommended that she undergo a thorough psychological examination before any charges were considered, and the authorities accepted my proposal and remanded her to my care.’

‘Hold on a minute,’ interceded a frowning Kate, ‘I’m a bit confused.  If she wasn’t able to make a statement, why was she suspected of anything?’

‘The circumstances were pretty conclusive, if I remember correctly.  I told you her mother died in a fire at their home in Foxrock, just over a year ago.  The police found Grainne wandering aimlessly about in the garden, wildly agitated and completely incoherent, wearing only a dressing gown soaked with petrol.  She also had a box of matches in her pocket, though as she’s a smoker that doesn’t mean much.  Anyway, the house was totally destroyed and investigators quickly established that it was arson, so suspicion obviously fell on her.  Apart from the fact that she was cataclysmically stoned she already had a history of drug abuse and aberrant behavior.  To be honest I think the fire was probably a suicide attempt that went wrong, or even an accident, rather than deliberate murder.’

‘Were there no witnesses to the fire?’

He shook his head, ‘The two of them were alone in the house.  It was a neighbor who phoned the fire brigade.  She’s an only child and Riordan himself only got home after the blaze was pretty well out.  Apparently he was at his club.’

He
said this with a touch of disdain, which Kate ignored, knowing that he believed parents should entirely subsume their lives into those of their children until they reached adulthood.  Instead she asked, ‘So what’s happened since she arrived here?’

‘I told you; after she physically recovered, and started showing
some early signs of mental recovery, I conducted several interviews with her myself before passing her on to Sarah.  We learned a lot more from Sarah’s sessions than mine, but even so we’d hardly scratched the surface when Sarah left.  It’s
immensely
difficult to talk to Grainne, to snap her out of whatever make-believe existence she’s hiding in from day to day, but whenever she came into the real world long enough to discuss such matters she expressed terrible remorse for the death of her mother.  Thinking about this would then drive her back into fantasy, or into wild, paranoid rages.  She seems to have detached herself totally from reality and moved into a fantasy world of her own making, presumably to protect herself from the shock and guilt of her mother’s death.  I have to say I’ve never seen such extreme disassociation before; most of the time she has no links at all with the real world.  For quite some time she regressed in her own mind to the age of four or five, and refused to discuss anything that happened to her after that age.’

Kate pursed her lips,
already fascinated and feeling a strong desire to meet the girl who might become her first patient in so long.  In
to
o
long, perhaps.  But would she be able to help someone as damaged as Grainne sounded? ‘What treatment was she given?’

‘We haven’t tried any chemical therapy yet, just sedation.  She’s been here over a year and Sarah tried every test in the book on her
, both mental and physical, without finding any trace of clinical illness.  M.M.P.I., GAF, DSM; everything.  The only useful tests were the Rorschach and the T.A.T., which revealed extreme stress and fear of personal danger from unknown, malevolent figures.  And her dreams are unbelievable; full of sex and violence and death.  In all these dreams she’s the target of rapacious predators.  Such powerful, repetitive dreams can obviously be very revealing, but without more data they could have too many different meanings to be of any practical use to us right now.  Sarah became convinced that Grainne had no clinical illness, that she detached herself from reality as the result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by her mother’s death.  So she reduced her sedation to the bare minimum necessary to keep her calm and tried regressive counseling to get to the root of the problem.  She hadn’t got very far before she left us but she did at least re-establish Grainne’s personality and memories up to the age of ten or so.  If you discuss anything with her from that period of her life –when she talks at all- you talk to the real Grainne; a very sweet and lovable child-Grainne.  Mention any more recent events in her life and she slides away again, either into fantasy or a type of self-imposed catatonia.  Sarah was supposed to begin advancing her through the next few years into her teens but instead she got married and emigrated.’

Kate grinned
in spite of herself at his disapproving tone and said, ‘Bloody women, eh?  Buggering off and getting married before completing her job?’

He stared at her blankly for several long seconds before shaking his head
, ‘It wasn’t the marriage I objected to, it was her moving to America with her new husband that caused the problem.  With the recession came the return of the brain drain, alas.  But even re-establishing her real memories, her real
personality
, up to the age of ten was something, I suppose.  Though they weren’t very deeply sublimated, I have to say.  And now I need someone to carry on Sarah’s work, to bring her up to the time of the trauma and hopefully help her to face her own memories rather than retreat into fantasy again.’

Kate pursed her lips, ‘You’ve got me interested in th
is girl, Trev, but I’m not a psychiatrist.  If she’s as disturbed as you say I’m not sure I can help.’

He held up his hand to stop he
r, ‘I know she’s an extreme case but like I said, we think the problem is trauma related.  And you’re the best trauma counselor I know.  I think you can reach this girl.  If you fail I’ll go back to the drawing board but I’d like you to at least give it a try.  What have you got to lose?  I know you’re not short of money but the fees will be generous, to say the least, and you have to admit she’s an interesting case study.  And we’re only talking about one or two sessions a week, after all.’

Kate knew
that disingenuous tone of old and the ghost of a smile touched her lips as she said teasingly, ‘Unless I
want
to do more, is that it?’

Caught out, he grinned disa
rmingly and said, ‘Well, three or four sessions a week probably
would
be more beneficial to her, if you can spare the time.’  He laughed outright and confessed, ‘I know you, you see.  If she captures your interest you’ll work night and day until you find out what caused her breakdown.  And then you’ll work
twice
as hard until you help her face the problem, and get over it.’

‘Flattery will get you everywhere,’ she
replied with a smile, in truth not immune to his high opinion of her abilities, ‘but the connection has to come from both sides. Obviously I’ll need to meet her first, to see if we can form the necessary bond.  And I’ll need a vast amount of background on her.’

‘You’ll get it,’ he said instantly, ‘I’ve got a file on her as long as your arm.  And although she was
an only child she has an aunt who’s ready to tell you everything you want to know about her past.  And more.’

She noticed the
distaste on his face but remained silent and at length he continued, ‘I told you Grainne was a wild child.  Well, from the age of about fourteen or so all she was interested in was sex and drugs, booze and wild parties.  She was arrested more than once but Riordan covered up the various scandals, including her being arrested for soliciting.  That turned out to be a mistake, by the way; she wasn’t trying to sell herself, just offering sex to a stranger on the street.  She was arrested for possession of heroin too, along with her then boyfriend, a junkie who doubled as her pusher.  I believe he was also working on trying to become her pimp too and hit her, which is why she caused a scene in the street and got them both arrested.  She only got a suspended sentence, thanks to you-know-who.  And her age, of course; she was only sixteen at the time.  Her boyfriend got off pretty lightly too, thanks to Michael Riordan getting him a high-powered lawyer for his trial.  Rumor has it he later paid the boyfriend to clear off while Grainne was being treated for her addiction but I don’t know if that’s true or not.’

‘Rumor?’

He smiled, ‘Everything the Riordans do ends up in the nastier type of tabloid, and probably quite a lot that they actually
don’t
do.  You know what the gutter press are like.’

Kate shook her head in disbelief, ‘And you say she’s only eighteen
now?’

He
nodded, ‘And she’s been here a year.  A typical case of a girl showered with money but starved of time and affection.  It seems that before her breakdown her father more or less totally ignored her, and had little part in her upbringing.  Between first building up his business and now saving the country I guess he’s never had much time for his family.’

‘Is that why
you don’t like him?’ suggested Kate, noting the anger in his voice.

Trevor
shrugged his narrow shoulders, ‘I suppose.  You know how I feel about the duties of parenthood, and I get the idea he wasn’t around much in her childhood.  Though I must say since her breakdown he’s been pretty devoted.  In fact, he’s like a fly buzzing about my head, constantly asking for progress reports.’

K
ate thought for a moment, chewing her lower lip before asking, ‘Did you ever try and talk to her about her mother’s death?’

Trev nodded
, ‘All I got was a stream of gibberish and fantasy, which I could make no sense of.  I won’t prejudice you by talking too much about it, though.  It’s better if you meet her without preconceived ideas, in case you spot something I missed.’

Kate frowned, ‘You’re assuming I’m going to take her case.’

His mouth dropped and he said in amazement, ‘Aren’t you?’

Kate’s
full lips curved in a tiny smile and she looked at him from under her long lashes, ‘I think so, though if I’m honest the idea scares me to death.  But I don’t like to be taken for granted.’

He gave an equally
faint smile in return, ‘Is that why you dumped me all those years ago?  My assumption that we wanted the same things, and were going the same direction?  Did
I
take you for granted?’

Kate’s smile grew warm
with old affection as she replied, ‘Knowing the casual way you treat women, I’d say yes, probably.’

This was not true but they were both willing to let it g
o, knowing as they did that the reason Kate had left him was that he had getting too close to her, had been getting to know and understand her too well.  That had been quite enough to make her flee from him in something akin to panic, into the arms of another man she cared nothing for.

‘Thanks, Kitty,’ he said seriously, ‘If anyone can help this girl, it’s you.’

Kate shook her head doubtfully, feeling sick with dread that she might not be able to help, and excited at the challenge ahead, all at the same time.  ‘Perhaps.  I can try, at any rate.  But it won’t be quick or easy.  She clearly had problems long before her total breakdown and we may never get to the root of them.  If there
is
a single root cause.  We may never even discover what triggered her “episode”, as you call it.  Unless it was simply the drugs she had taken.  You said it yourself; her behaviour prior to her breakdown sounds like a classic case of a rich, privileged child running off the rails because of lack of parental attention.’

Trevor nodded, ‘And the promiscuity would fit in with a
ttention-seeking because of her father’s neglect.  But it isn’t wise to speculate too soon.’

‘No, it isn’t. 
Especially with her current aversion to men.  Is there any suggestion she was molested as a child?’

Trev waved a
hand in the air in frustration, ‘With her behaviour patterns that was the first thing we looked at, obviously, but so far we haven’t found anything to suggest it.  Not up to the age of ten anyway, which is as far as Sarah got with her memories.  She doesn’t have much time for her father but she’s better with him than any other man.  Not that
that’s
saying much.’

‘Well, it’s something else I’ll look at,’ said Kate, ‘
But even if we never get to the bottom of her personality problems we might at least find out the cause of her actual breakdown.  I have to say I’m dying to meet her but I’d better study her file first.  I’ll take it home with me tonight, if that’s okay.  What medication is she on?’

‘Well, she was on twenty
milligrams of Diazepam a day but after today’s incident I think we’ll up it to thirty.’  He smiled a little too widely, ‘Good old-fashioned Valium.  She’s isolated from the male patients, of course, and attended solely by women, so that should be sufficient for the moment.’

Kate looked at him almost admiringly
, ‘It’s also a small enough dosage to allow me to begin therapy sessions immediately.  That’s the real reason you cut her medication again, isn’t it?  You were that confident I’d say yes, you arrogant brute!’

‘No, n
o, her aunt really did complain,’ he protested instantly. Then he grinned disarmingly, ‘But I have to admit I was killing two birds with one stone.  But I was
hopeful
you’d say yes, not confident.  You don’t let your friends down, Kate.  Besides, how could you resist my good looks and charming personality?’