In Denial (52 page)

She handed Adam the glass of orange.

Tapping on the toilet door, she waited. ‘Madam, this is Jessica, the stewardess. Are you all right?’ She tapped the door again when there was no reply. ‘Madam?’

None of the other toilets was in use so she had to be in this one, Jessica concluded. She tapped a little louder but was afraid of disturbing those passengers who were trying to get some sleep. She beckoned one of the other stewardesses, then turned the emergency release and pushed the door, but it was jammed and they couldn’t get it to open fully.

‘
Madam?’

The stewardesses exchanged looks.

Jessica pushed the door a little harder until she could squeeze her head through the gap. Gabrielle was wedged between the toilet and the wall. Her head was slumped on her chest and she was shaking uncontrollably.

‘
Quickly! Go and get Peter, Christine,’ she told the other stewardess. Meanwhile she managed to move the door a little more so that she could get her whole body into the tiny compartment. She reached for Gabrielle’s wrist and felt her pulse. It was strong. ‘Madam,’ she said quietly, ‘can you hear me?’

Gabrielle moaned.

Jessica manoeuvred Gabrielle’s legs until they were straight and her feet were clear of the door. Peter and Christine arrived and between them they carried her to the rear of the plane.

Laying her on the bunk used by the air-crew, Jessica checked Gabrielle’s pulse again. ‘Seems okay and I can’t see any sign that she may have tried to hurt herself. ’

‘
What about pills, or drugs?’ Peter suggested.

‘
No evidence of either. I thought she might be having some sort of fit.’ Gabrielle’s eyes were closed and she was still shaking. ‘She could be in shock. I don’t know. She ...’ It was then that Jessica noticed the blood on the collar of Gabrielle’s shirt. She frowned. The blood had dried but it was definitely blood. ‘Can you go and check the manifest and see if there’s a doctor on board?’ she asked Peter. ‘I’m sure I saw a couple of doctors listed in business class.’

‘
Where was she sitting?’ Christine asked after Peter had left.

‘
Row 27 in economy, nearest the window. I checked the manifest. She and the man she’s with were a very late booking.’

‘
Is she with her husband?’

‘
I don’t think they’re married. They have different surnames for a start. He’s Harrison and she’s Brooks. I was keeping an eye on her anyway because she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since coming on board, and the people behind her thought there was something wrong with her.’

‘
Shall I go and call the man to come back here?’

Jessica hesitated. ‘I don’t think we’ve got a choice. No, tell you what, just tell him she fainted, he’s not to worry, we’re looking after her but because of the limited space back here we would appreciate it if he stayed where he is. And we’ll get her back to her seat as soon as we can.’

‘
It’s important I’m with her,’ Adam told Christine. ‘She hasn’t been well and if she sees nobody but strangers -’

‘
We’re locating a doctor, sir.’

‘
Another stranger,’ Adam said, getting out of his seat to follow her.

The other passengers were staring at him, probably pleased to have a bit of a diversion after nearly twelve monotonous hours in the air.

‘
There’s not a lot of room, sir.’

‘
I’m sorry, I don’t want to get in your way but I must let her see me.’ Christine stepped back as Adam started up the aisle.

A doctor was already there.

He was relatively young, casually dressed and bending over Gabrielle. She had stopped shaking. Her eyes were open and she was watching the doctor warily as he checked her pulse and temperature. He took a stethoscope from a bag, undid a button on her shirt and placed the stethoscope over her heart.

‘
What’s your name?’ he asked, but she did not reply.

‘
Gabrielle Brooks,’ Adam said from the behind him.

The doctor turned round. ‘The stewardess had already told me her name,’ he said a little impatiently. ‘Are you her husband?’

‘
No, but we’re travelling together.’

Jessica and Christine frowned and exchanged looks.

‘
She seems to be in shock,’ the doctor said.

‘
She said she felt unwell at the airport but insisted she was all right to fly.’

‘
Has she suffered any form of trauma recently, Mr -?’

‘
Harrison, Adam Harrison.’

Adam hoped the rising panic he felt was not obvious. He couldn’t tell them she’d been raped less than twenty-four hours ago and probably subjected to God knows what other forms of torture. He couldn’t tell them he’d found her lying naked in a disused warehouse where she had witnessed the deaths of his brother and a Chinese woman she’d never seen before. He couldn’t tell them the clothes she was wearing had been taken from the body of the dead Chinese woman. Nor could he tell them elderly friends of hers had been murdered, their throats cut from ear to ear - especially as Gabrielle still didn’t know about them

Adam felt beads of sweat erupt on his forehead.

‘
Mr Harrison?’ All their eyes were on him.

The doctor was holding Gabrielle’s hand but she was looking at Adam. He detected the slightest shake of her head, her eyes closing at the same time.

‘
No,’ Adam said. ‘No, there’s been no trauma and I would know.’

The doctor nodded. He let go of Gabrielle’s hand and went behind her head. ‘Can you explain the blood on the collar of her shirt?’

‘
Er …’

‘
That’s … that’s my fault,’ Gabrielle said huskily.

Everyone’s attention turned to Gabrielle. She was deathly pale. The doctor moved his hand to her forehead. ‘There don’t seem to be any bumps that shouldn’t be there, or even any abrasions.’

‘
I’m sorry,’ Gabrielle said. ‘I … I want to apologise. I must have fainted. I banged my head this morning in the bathroom but didn’t tell Adam. I’m sorry, very sorry, to have caused all this … this bother.’

‘
It’s been no bother,’ Jessica told her, her relief showing in her face. ‘We thought the blood …’ She looked at the doctor. ‘Do you think she’s well enough to return to her seat?’

‘
Yes, I think so, but only on condition that she promises to eat something and drink plenty of water.’ He picked up Gabrielle’s hand again. ‘You seem very dehydrated. If you feel faint again you must alert one of the stewardesses, and when you get back to the UK you must go and have a check-up. You could be concussed.’ He turned to Jessica. ‘In fact, if the Captain could radio ahead and have an ambulance waiting ...’

‘
No!’ Gabrielle said sharply.  ‘No,’ she repeated a little more quietly, ‘that won’t be necessary. ‘I’ll go and see my GP as soon as I get home.’

‘
If you promise ...’ the doctor told her.

Gabrielle managed a weak smile. ‘Yes, I promise. I really am sorry to have caused all this fuss.’

‘
As long as you feel all right now, that’s what matters.’

The rest of the flight to Heathrow was without incident.

Once back in their seats Adam tried to talk to Gabrielle but she was unresponsive and he eventually gave up. Following her promise to the doctor, she picked at some sandwiches Jessica brought for her but she did drink a lot of water.

By the time they were told to fasten their seatbelts in preparation for the landing at Heathrow, some colour had returned to her cheeks but she still didn’t want to talk.

As they left the aircraft she thanked Jessica and Christine for their help and apologised once again for causing a fuss. Both women smiled at her caringly but their faces were positively accusatory when they looked at Adam. He wondered what false conclusions they had drawn.

He hoped leaving the aircraft was the final hurdle before he could decide that they were at last safe. The incident on the aircraft had drawn too much attention and too many people, passengers and crew, might remember them. Although the cabin crew seemed to accept Gabrielle’s explanation about the blood on her shirt collar, which also could have explained why she had fainted, Adam was worried that they might not leave the situation alone. Whatever conclusions they had drawn could determine whether they took any further action. Had they told the Captain? Had he radioed on ahead and asked for not only an ambulance to be waiting for Gabrielle, but also the police?

Adam knew he was over-reacting. They had no grounds whatsoever to suspect anything untoward had happened or was happening.

Once off the plane, Adam steered Gabrielle so that they were directly behind a group of people who looked as though they were travelling together. He stayed close to them as they wended their way towards passport control. Other than the straight-faced immigration officials in the booths, he did not initially see anybody standing to one side who might be looking out for them.

But then he did.

There were four of them. To one side two men in their late-twenties dressed casually with bright anoraks above their faded jeans, and to the other side a man who looked in his early forties, standing with a younger woman, both equally casually dressed. The giveaway for Adam was when one of the men seemed to be having a conversation with the cuff of his left sleeve.

The queue slowly shuffled forward and at last it was their turn. Adam held both passports. ‘She doesn’t feel very well,’ he said to the straight-faced female immigration officer. ‘She hates flying.’

Without speaking or even smiling the woman took the passports. She looked at the photographs, then at Adam and Gabrielle before swiping the documents. Adam switched his attention to the four people he had spotted earlier.

‘
Sir,’ he heard the immigration officer say.

‘
Oh, sorry!’ he said as he took the proffered passports.

Taking Gabrielle’s elbow he guided her to the left, towards baggage reclaim. The man and the woman he’d spotted earlier were walking straight towards them. When they were a few feet away, Adam stopped and waited for them to speak. But they didn’t. They passed either side of him and Gabrielle and joined their colleagues who had apprehended two men and a woman, all of African origin.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief. Gabrielle had been completely unaware of his concerns although she was now more alert than she’d been since the incident on the plane.

After collecting their single case they passed through the Green Channel. Adam didn’t care whether they were stopped or not. But they weren't, and suddenly they were out among the eager crowd craning their necks in an attempt to spot the people who had come to meet them. Adam didn’t bother with a trolley but headed straight for the taxi rank.

It was only when they were in a black cab and the driver asked where they wanted to go that Adam realised he hadn’t the faintest idea where he wanted to go. His main concern was Gabrielle. He agreed with the doctor on the plane: she needed to see her GP but that was out of the question. She certainly wouldn’t go all the way back to Scotland just to tell her doctor she’d been tortured and raped. Adam doubted she would tell anybody what had happened to her. In his opinion what Gabrielle needed was counselling, but that would not happen soon either, if ever.

So for the time-being she was his responsibility.

Where should he take her?

He didn’t want to go to his flat in London because there were too many people in the area who knew him. And Gladys Moules would be particularly inquisitive as he hadn't been to the flat for such a long time.

He made a spontaneous decision.

It was somewhere he had stayed on a couple of occasions when he’d been hunting for his
pied à terre
.

‘
The Travel Inn County Hall, please,’ he told the driver. At least the hotel would be reasonably impersonal and anonymity was what he wanted.

‘
Travel Inn County Hall it is,’ the driver said.

It was late, maybe too late for shopping but he had to do something about finding clothes for Gabrielle to wear other than Leila’s. Gabrielle was lying on the other bed looking into the space directly in front of her. She did not make eye contact with Adam. He had resorted to asking closed questions because all he’d been able to get out of her between the airport and the hotel were nods and shakes of her head.

Booking into the hotel had not been a problem. He hadn’t even bothered to check whether she agreed with them sharing a room. There was no way he was going to leave her on her own; she had to be watched and if it meant every minute of the day and night then so be it.

‘
We must go out and get you some clothes,’ he told her, putting the last of his things into the wardrobe and drawers. ‘This is London, so we’re bound to find somewhere open even at this late hour.’