‘What happened?’ Meg asked Michelle, who stood by her side.
‘She was trying to tell Brooke something.’ Michelle’s voice was a low monotone. ‘When Brooke didn’t understand, Jenny got angry and hit her.’
‘Oh my God. I’m sorry,’ Meg said. ‘Is Brooke okay?’
‘She’s fine. Occupational hazard, I’m afraid. It’s not uncommon in dementia patients. Has she been violent before?’
Meg nodded, recalling the visceral jolt of her mother’s hands hitting her chest on Christmas Day.
‘I haven’t seen you here before,’ Michelle said. ‘Do you not visit often?’
‘I’ve been away.’ Meg prickled at the judgment in the woman’s tone. ‘Have you spoken to Brooke yet? We need to know who came to see her.’
‘I left her a message.’ The nurse checked her phone, shook her head. ‘I’ll try her again.’ She slipped into the corridor.
Meg stepped closer to the bed. Jenny’s face was loose, her pale lips slightly open, her soft breathing gently rhythmic. She seemed like a different person altogether from the one who had knocked Meg to the ground on Christmas Day.
A moment later, Michelle returned, brow furrowed. ‘Ah, I’m not sure what’s going on here. Brooke is absolutely certain that he introduced himself as Jenny’s son.’
‘What did he look like?’
‘She said he was a tall, skinny guy with tattoos. Late thirties.’
Meg’s frustration gave way to confusion. She shook her head. ‘I can’t think of anyone it could be. It’s just me and Mum. We don’t have any other family.’
Michelle shrugged. ‘A cousin perhaps? Someone she knew before you were born? All sorts of people come out of the woodwork when people get sick.’
‘Was Brooke in the room when this man was here? Does she know what they talked about?’
‘She was finishing her round when he appeared at the door. She left them to it. We like to give families privacy.’
‘Did Brooke tell you what Mum was saying to her, before she hit her?’
‘Yes, it was something about money. “I took the money.” Something like that. Brooke said she wrote it down. That can help sometimes, when patients are confused or agitated, it makes them feel like we’re really listening.’ Michelle went over to the side table by the armchair at the window and picked up a notepad. ‘“I should never have taken their money”,’ she read. She tore off the page and passed it to Meg.
‘I should never have taken their money …’ Meg repeated the words, trying to make sense of them. Had Jenny stolen money? Was that what all this was about? Was that what she’d been running from, all this time?
‘It probably means nothing, love,’ Michelle said. ‘Dementia patients get very confused.’
Meg nodded, but something told her the nurse was wrong about that. She remembered the cameras at the front entrance. ‘You have security cameras, don’t you? CCTV? Out the front?’
Michelle nodded.
‘I need to see the footage.’
Chapter 38
‘Issy! My darling!’ Rosa said as she opened the door at Kilmore. She pulled Issy into a warm embrace, just like she would when Issy was a girl. She still smelt the same, like bread and soap. When Issy was packed off to boarding school, Rosa became Heather’s housekeeper.
‘Hello, Rowie,’ Issy said, feeling strangely emotional at the warm welcome. When she was a toddler she couldn’t say Rosa, so she called her Rowie, which everyone thought was delightful. The nickname had stuck.
‘My goodness, look at you! So beautiful!’ Rosa stood back, smiling like a proud parent. ‘Come in, come in. I’ll make you a cool drink.’
Heather was flicking through a magazine at the kitchen table, immaculate in a white linen dress and a full face of makeup.
‘Isobel,’ she said. ‘What an unexpected surprise.’
It was impossible to tell from her tone whether it was a welcome surprise or an unwelcome one. Maybe coming here was a mistake, Issy thought, but she needed to talk to someone about Hugh. She’d spent the morning lying in bed, her thoughts ricocheting between Hugh’s cheating and Georgie’s poor dad.
