Outside on the pavement, Maud remembered something. She walked to the house and pressed one of the bells. She heard a crackly voice.
‘It’s Maud O’Connor,’ she said.
The crackly voice got louder.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I can’t hear what you’re saying.’
The voice continued. Maud just pressed the bell again and when she heard a click, she pushed the main door open. She walked up the stairs, to where Felix was standing at the open door of his flat, looking at Maud with an icy expression.
‘Has something happened?’
‘I’ll keep you in touch if there’s anything you should know.’
‘I assumed since you are here again unannounced, there must be something important you wanted to ask.’
Maud looked at Felix with a new interest. In her experience people usually felt nervous when they met police officers. They felt somehow guilty even if they were completely innocent. They would respond by going silent or starting to babble. But Felix didn’t seem intimidated at all. He was angry and a little contemptuous. Maud wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
But she only said with a stern courtesy, ‘I’m here to see Nancy.’
‘Nancy,’ said Felix, very loudly.
He didn’t take his eyes off Maud. It sounded like he was shouting at a dog that had strayed too far.
‘You could just tell me where she is.’
‘You can’t simply walk in on her. She’s in the bedroom. She may not be in a state to be seen.’
The bedroom door opened, and Nancy emerged. Her face looked pale.
‘What’s up?’
‘I just wanted a word with you.’
She looked round at Felix, signalling that she wanted to talk to Nancy alone. He frowned.
‘When you interviewed me, you didn’t have any problem with Nancy being there.’
Maud continued as if Felix hadn’t said anything.
‘Can we go into the bedroom?’
Nancy led Maud through and shut the door behind her. She leaned on it as if the extra weight were needed to keep it shut.
‘Making him angry doesn’t really help,’ she said.
‘I wasn’t trying to make him angry,’ said Maud. ‘I wanted a moment to ask if you’re all right.’
‘Is that why you came here, to ask that?’
‘No, I came about the blue fibres from the rope that you found. Have you still got them?’
Nancy opened a drawer in a chest, rummaged through it and then closed it and opened another one.
‘I’ve got it somewhere. Yes, here.’ She held up a plastic food bag containing the strands. ‘I thought I should put it in something to protect it. I don’t know whether it will be admissible as evidence.’
‘It doesn’t need to be admissible to be helpful,’ said Maud, taking the bag and pocketing it. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘What question?’ said Nancy.
‘How are you?’
Nancy didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she turned away and walked to the window and looked through it.
‘Is there something else you want to tell me?’ Maud asked.
Nancy looked back at Maud with a new alertness in her expression.
‘As I’m sure you have seen, I need to leave,’ she said. ‘Would it be all right if I went with you, right now?’ She smiled. ‘I don’t mean go with you to the police station or anything like that. I just mean go with you out of the flat until I’m well away.’
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ Maud said.
‘It won’t take long. I’ll just throw a few things into a bag.’
‘Take as long as you need.’
It took barely any time: after all, she had done it before. She pulled her bag from under the bed, and within five minutes she opened the door, letting Maud through first.
Felix was standing in the middle of the living room, obviously waiting for them. Both women separately wondered if he might have been listening at the door.
‘You took your time,’ he said and then saw that Nancy was carrying her bag. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I’m leaving,’ said Nancy.
Felix stepped sideways to stand between the two women and the front door.
‘That’s ridiculous. You can’t just walk out like that.’
‘I can.’
Felix looked at Maud.
‘Is this something to do with you? I can tell you, if it is, then I’m going to be talking to your superior.’
Maud smiled at that.
‘Talking to my superior? What do you think Nancy is, four years old?’
‘I’ll tell you what Nancy is,’ said Felix icily. ‘She’s a severely vulnerable woman who has twice been hospitalised as a protection not just to other people, but to stop her from harming herself. She was recently hospitalised because she threatened to kill a neighbour and then kill herself.’
‘Could you please move out of our way? Or are you actually trying to physically stop us?’
Felix took a step forward and, even though she was a police detective, Maud felt a sense of threat.
‘Do you realise what you’re doing?’ he said to Maud.
‘Nancy asked me if she could leave with me when I left.’ Her voice was calm. ‘I think she felt that if she tried to leave on her own, she might be at risk. Judging from your response, I can see what she meant.’
‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘I didn’t think it was a real question.’
‘Well, it was. Nancy is not well and she’s not safe. I’ve spent much of the last few months looking after and keeping her from harm. Once she leaves this house, if she does something to someone or something happens to you, then it’ll be down to you.’
There was a silence. Nancy looked at Maud. Was she about to be abandoned?
‘Will you move out of our way?’ said Maud.
‘I’m very tempted not to.’
‘That would be an extremely bad idea.’
‘Where are you going?’ Felix asked in a less angry tone.
‘You don’t need to worry about that,’ said Nancy.
‘I do need to worry about it. I want to be sure that you won’t just be wandering the streets.’
‘I won’t be.’
Felix gave a strange chuckle.
‘You’ve worked it all out behind my back.’ He turned to Maud. ‘How much do you know about Nancy? When she was in the hospital, she told a string of lies to get out. She told them what she thought they wanted to hear. As you can see, she’s also been lying to me. When she comes to you with this story about a so-called murder, why do you think she’s suddenly telling the truth?’
Maud hadn’t wanted to engage him in conversation; she simply wanted to get out of there. But she couldn’t resist saying something.
‘You’re talking about the woman you’ve been living with,’ she said. ‘Someone I suppose you were in love with. And she’s standing right in front of you.’
‘Someone I was in love with? How dare you? I’m still in love with her. Nobody could have done more for her than I have.’
‘She’s here,’ said Maud, still calm but raising her voice. ‘Don’t talk about her like she’s your dog.’
‘All right,’ said Felix and, almost theatrically, he turned towards Nancy. ‘You have an illness, Nancy. It’s as much of an illness as if you had diabetes or cancer. If you try to pretend that it doesn’t exist, then it will destroy you.’
Nancy turned to him. Her voice was clear and strong; her face was almost radiant.
‘You’re part of my illness, Felix,’ she said.
Felix turned to Maud and pulled a face as if to say: see what I mean? He looked back at Nancy.
‘Where do I forward mail?’
‘I’ll sort something out. Anyway, I don’t get much mail here.’
She pushed her way past Felix, who stood back, raising his hands as if he was allowing the two women to pass.
When they were out on the pavement, Maud turned to Nancy.
‘What do you do now?’
‘Give me just one minute.’
Nancy took her phone from her pocket and made a call. She turned her back as she talked; Maud could only hear a few apologies. When Nancy turned to her again, she was obviously relieved.
‘I’ve got a friend in West Hampstead. She was the person I rang when I was planning to leave before, when I came to the police station and saw you. I think she was a bit puzzled about the delay, but she’s still fine about me staying with her. It’ll just be for a few days until I find somewhere myself.’
‘Good.’
‘Can I ask one more thing? Could you walk with me to the bus stop and wait till the bus arrives? Just to make sure.’
‘Do you really think he’s a threat to you?’
Nancy looked at Maud almost in surprise.
‘I know he’s a threat to me. He had me put away in a mental hospital.’ Maud started to say something, but Nancy interrupted her. ‘Don’t say he was doing it out of concern for me. You saw the way he was with me.’
Maud smiled.
‘I wasn’t going to say that, and I did see the way he was with you. I think you’ve done the right thing.’
‘What were you going to say to me then?’
‘I was going to say that Felix was correct about one thing. You have been ill, and you do need to take care of yourself.’
Nancy took her hand from her pocket. She was holding a pill bottle, and she gave it a shake.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to stop taking my meds.’
‘I’ve got a car,’ said Maud. ‘I’ll drop you.’
‘It’s quite a way from here. I’ll get a bus.’