‘HELLO, SIDNEY. I’m Doctor Theo Clay,’ said a man standing in the doorway of her room, holding a clipboard.

She sat up on her bed. She’d been in here for — she wasn’t sure how long, but this was the first time she could remember seeing a doctor.

Doctor Theo balanced his clipboard on his knee and pulled up the chair beside her bed. He asked if they could have a chat. Her admission form was poking out of his clipboard; she could read it upside down.

Appearance: Slim build, hair tied back, wears gloves to cover burn injuries to hands from house fire during psychotic episode in 1991

Speech: OK

Affect: Blunted

Thought: Paranoid delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations

Cognition:

Theo turned the clipboard over. ‘Why do you think you’re in hospital?’

‘It says why in your report, doesn’t it?’

‘Yes, but I want you to tell me in your own words.’

‘I burned down my house?’ From the look on his face, she gathered that probably wasn’t right.

‘Anything else?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘Do you remember anything about driving from your mother’s house?’

She shook her head.

‘To your house, in Brunswick East?’

Do you remember, don’t you remember.

Theo wrote something in her file, and pulled out another document. ‘I’ve put you back on Olanzapine, but at a lower dose than Doctor Asada prescribed. There’s a new medication called Asenapine, fewer side effects. I think you should try it after …’

‘After what?’

‘Your blood-test results were pretty good. And,’ he smiled, ‘you’re pregnant.’ He paused, waiting for her reaction.

He was playing a trick — to see if she still believed in the Devil’s semen. She tried to grip onto the bed sheet, but couldn’t get purchase. ‘Pregnant?’

He must have mistaken for a smile her mouth twisting in horror. ‘Yes. Congratulations. Your husband says you’ve been trying for a long time.’

‘Dean?’

Theo frowned. ‘Christos.’

She shook her head. ‘Christos is a liar, a rapist, and a murderer.’ She must have said it aloud because Theo glanced at the emergency button.

‘Why do you think Christos is all those things?’

‘How many times do I have to tell you people? Christos is the Devil. Only one thing can absolve Him.’

Theo’s mobile rang in his pocket.

Moss.

‘Sorry.’ He checked the screen and dismissed the call. ‘Sidney, what year is it?’

She looked at his iPhone, unsure now. ‘Nineteen ninety-one?’ Too late for Dean Cola, but Aubrey hadn’t been born yet. She had plenty of time to save her, and to stop Dad from killing himself and all those people in Collins Street.