No Longer Safe (30 page)

Psychiatrist
Report - Patient Alice Flemming

Dr
Henry Macleod – 23 December

Following a series
of medical examinations, mental assessments and in-lab sleep tests, I conclude
the following
:

Head injury

During her recent holiday in Scotland, Alice
suffered a trauma to the head, causing damage to the left frontal lobe. Alice
claimed she lost consciousness for no more than a few seconds, but given the
nature of the injury I believe this to be an underestimation. Alice made no
attempt to seek professional advice in spite of subsequent headaches.

The trauma to Alice’s left temporal lobe appears to have
affected the amygdala. Head injuries of this sort are known to cause a number
of psychological changes to the personality, often swift and dramatic,
including loss of control over emotions such as anger, rage and risk-taking. If
Alice had sought medical attention immediately after the injury, a full series
of tests (including a PET scan) would have highlighted this.

It is common knowledge in the medical profession that a
disturbingly high proportion of serial killers have sustained head injuries at
some stage in their lives.

The head injury alone, however, does not fully explain the
dramatic shift in Alice’s behaviour.

Aggression during sleep

Alice was prescribed sleeping tablets (Zoltratin)
in September this year and took the recommended dose (10g) on several occasions
during the holiday.

A series of EEG-monitored nocturnal tests were undertaken
over seven nights in the London Sleep Clinic as part of my assessment. The
results confirmed that following the administration of sleeping tablets, Alice
experienced four episodes of sleepwalking during this period.

During one of these episodes, Alice forcibly removed the
monitoring electrodes and attempted to smash the bed  into the door of the
sealed chamber. When restrained by the technician, she acquiesced immediately
and climbed back into bed. When shown a CCTV replay of the activity the
following morning, Alice responded with shock and disbelief. The analysis of
nocturnal rapid eye movement and slow-wave sleep confirms my assessment that
she had no knowledge of her actions.

Conclusions

I conclude that this unique combination of factors
led to uncharacteristic aggressive and violent behaviour in this patient. I
believe Alice was not aware of her actions and requires treatment in a secure
psychiatric facility until the prognosis regarding her condition is fully
established.

Two weeks later

I heard on the news that Alice had been
arrested and charged with Stuart’s murder. She went straight to a secure
psychiatric hospital. She hadn’t confessed; she had no recollection of doing
anything wrong. It’s not every day an old friend turns out to be a serial
killer! I’m so relieved it’s over.

So – what happened to me?

I didn’t get off scot-free. I was back where I started
– a mother without a child. And my lawyer reckons I’ll get a nine-month
suspended sentence for detaining Alice against her will. I hadn’t harmed her,
and as Alice was proven to be a danger to others, I had mitigating
circumstances. My lawyer fell back on a statement that went something like
this:

‘Any person detaining another person must have an
honest belief that detention is necessary and reasonable grounds for that
belief.’

Until Alice burst in and saw Brody in the bathroom,
I’d fooled everyone with the switch. Done such a good job of making sure no one
saw the baby’s face properly. Alice tried to tell the police I’d taken the boy,
but by then no one was paying much attention to her. During her first night in
hospital, before they started all the tests, Alice had to be restrained for
attacking a nurse with a bed pan. She was a completely unreliable witness by
then.

Apart from the obvious glitches, I chose my alibis
well. Alice was going to be a teacher, but when I first planned the reunion, I
did a bit of background research on her. I knew she was single, without
children, and at Leeds, she’d never been the least bit interested in babies.

Jodie and Mark were the same. Mark had a child, but he
was nothing more than a fly-by-night parent. Infants of a young age can look
similar and their gender isn’t always obvious. I read up about it when I first
started hatching my plan in Holloway, with Pam. My house guests didn’t pay much
attention and that was exactly what I wanted. The police contacted Mark and
Jodie, of course, but they both said Alice’s accusations were rubbish.

Charlie’s whereabouts is still a mystery and I pray it
stays that way. Thank goodness Alice didn’t take any photos when she killed
him, or I really would have been in trouble.

I had to intervene, otherwise my own scheme would have
been in jeopardy. We had to get rid of him and there was no way she could have
got him to the lake on her own. In any case, the whole business about Charlie
has gone quiet.

Right until the end, Alice kept her word and didn’t
mention him. I’m not sure if that was because, by then, her mind was broken
into pieces or whether she still had an ounce of loyalty left towards me. I
think, to be honest, it was probably because she was never quite sure about her
own part in his death.

Alice turned out to be the most shocking and
unpredictable of us all. Who would have thought it? I started locking my
bedroom door after we found Charlie, because I knew how dangerous she could be.

 I sent Stuart after her when she tried to take
off that morning, because we HAD to have one last conversation. I needed to
make sure our stories were solid and an assurance that she’d keep her mouth
shut about Charlie. One little chat to get everything straight was all I
needed. Just like the old days.

How mistaken I was in choosing her.

Alice – the one I thought I could trust.

Alice – the solid, law-abiding, dependable one.

~

AJ Waines is the number one bestselling author of
Girl on
a Train
, which topped the UK and Australian Kindle Charts in 2015. She was
a psychotherapist for fifteen years, during which time she worked with
ex-offenders from high-security institutions, gaining a rare insight into
abnormal psychology. She is now a full-time novelist with publishing deals in
France, Germany (Penguin Random House) and USA (audiobook).

Her first novel,
The
Evil Beneath
, went to Number One in 'Murder' and 'Psychological Thrillers'
categories in the UK Kindle Charts and
Dark
Place to Hide
reached Number One in ‘Vigilante Justice’. In 2015, the
author was ranked in the Top 20 UK Authors on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct
Publishing).

Alison has also written two self-help books:
The
Self-Esteem Journal
and
Making
Relationships Work
(Sheldon Press). She lives in Southampton, UK, with her
husband.

Find out more at AJ’s
Website
or follow her
Blog
.
She’s also on
Twitter
(@AJWaines),
Facebook
and you can sign up for
her
Newsletter
.

There’s a body in the water - and she’s wearing
your clothes…

Impulsive and intrepid psychotherapist, Juliet
Grey, can’t resist responding to an anonymous text message telling her to go to
Hammersmith Bridge at dawn. But it isn’t simply the dead body in the water that
disturbs her, it’s the way something uniquely personal to Juliet has been left
on the corpse.

Another obscure message - another London bridge -
and Juliet finds herself caught up with a serial killer, who leaves personal
mementos instead of collecting trophies. Teaming up with local detective, DCI
Brad Madison, Juliet strives to find out why she has been targeted and how it’s
connected to the accident that killed her brother, nineteen years ago.

Can Juliet use her knowledge of the human psyche to
get inside the mind of the killer, before another body is found under a bridge?
And how long before Juliet herself becomes the next target?

By AJ Waines

Everything points to suicide - but I saw her
face…

Headstrong Journalist, Anna Rothman knows what
suicide looks like - her own husband killed himself five years earlier. When
Elly Swift, an agitated passenger beside her on a train, leaves a locket in
Anna’s bag before jumping onto the tracks, Anna starts asking awkward
questions. But everything points to suicide and the police close the case.

Anna, however, believes Elly’s fears for Toby, her young
nephew, missing since being snatched from St Stephen’s church six months ago,
fail to explain the true reason behind Elly’s distress. Through a series of
hidden messages Elly left behind, Anna embarks on a dangerous crusade to track
down Toby and find Elly’s killer.

But nothing is as it seems and Anna opens a can of
worms that throws into question even her own husband’s suicide - before the
threads of the mystery converge in an astonishing conclusion.

By AJ Waines

She’s trying to tell you – if only you’d
listen…

About to break the news to his wife, Diane, that
he’s infertile, criminology expert, Harper Penn, gets a call to say she’s been
rushed to hospital with a miscarriage. Five days later, when Diane fails to
return from the village shop, police think she must have taken off with a
secret lover, but Harper is convinced the online messages are not from her.

In the same Hampshire village, plucky
seven-year-old Clara has retreated into a make-believe world after an accident.
Then she, too, goes missing.

As Harper sets out on a desperate quest to find
them both, he has no idea what he’s up against. Could the threat be closer than
he thinks? And is there a hidden message in Clara’s fairy tales?

DARK PLACE TO HIDE is a chilling psychological
mystery with a cold-blooded deviant lurking at the core.

(Samantha Willerby Series – Book 1)

The first in a series of three haunting
Psychological Thrillers that will keep you awake at night

Clinical psychologist, Samantha Willerby, is
mystified when three patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder recount
scenes from the same Tube disaster – an incident, she discovers, that they were
never involved in. She is horrified when, one by one, instead of recovering,
they start committing suicide.

When her partner, Conrad, begins to suffer the same
terrifying flashbacks, Sam is desperate to find out who or what is behind them
and a mysterious and chilling crime begins to unravel.

Then the flashbacks begin for Sam…