Chapter 14
Robyn felt in high spirits. After two more mind-numbingly boring days, punctuated by visits from David and Gayle, who had done their best to relieve the tedium of Robyn being stuck in a hospital bed under observation, Dr Jamieson had stuck to her word and had told her that she would be kept in for just one more day. Robyn would be discharged on the 30 th of December, as promised. As far as Robyn was concerned, it couldn’t come soon enough.
She still had no money, not in terms of cash in her purse, although she was hoping there was some money in her bank account. That wasn’t the only thing worrying her; she had no idea where she was going to go. But she was doing her best to look on the bright side; at least she’d be walking out of there and not being carried out in a box. If that thought didn’t lift her spirits, nothing would.
Robyn plucked another tissue from the large box sitting on her lap and extended her arm. ‘Here,’ she said softly to Gayle as she passed her the tissue.
Gayle looked up through tearful eyes, sniffled a thank you and took the tissue. She dropped the sodden tissue in her hand into the wastepaper basket, which was by now overflowing.
‘Look at me. Aren’t I just the big fool?’ she sniffed.
Gayle’s father had passed away peacefully in the night. It had not been a surprise to anyone; he had been well into his eighties and suffering with a plethora of health issues. Although Gayle acknowledged that it was a relief, she was understandably still heartbroken. There was never a right time to lose a member of your family, Robyn thought as she slowly started to pull out another tissue in readiness.
Then she had a terrible thought; she had no idea who her own parents were or whether they were alive or dead. She was beginning to feel a lot less enthusiastic about leaving the hospital. She had no idea what she was going to find out once she left. Suddenly she didn’t feel ready – not at all.
Robyn handed Gayle another tissue.
‘I really shouldn’t be bothering you like this,’ said Gayle, blowing her nose. The flow of tears was ebbing and the passing of tissues was slowing.
Robyn tutted. ‘Don’t be silly. What are friends for?’
Gayle wiped her eyes. ‘That’s a lovely thing to say, us being friends, because I don’t know another soul in town. Well, apart from Mother, and she’s, you know …’
Robyn had seen Gayle’s mother wandering past the door, a dreamy smile on her face, singing while her husband was dying. She was oblivious to his passing. It was very sad that Gayle couldn’t share her grief with her mother, but she said she was glad of it; her mother and father hadn’t been apart for fifty years, and Gayle hoped she remained unaware that he had gone.
‘Oh, I assumed you were from around here.’ Robyn realised she’d made an assumption, especially as Gayle seemed to know of David Gillespie’s past as an ice hockey star.
Gayle wiped her nose and shook her head. ‘I am. I grew up here, but I wanted to move way to see the world. Familiar story.’
‘And did you?’ Robyn leaned forward.
‘Move away? Yes. See the world?’ She chuckled. ‘Not exactly.’ I got as far as London, then I met someone. And my dreams were put on hold. You know how it is.’
No, Robyn didn’t – at least she didn’t think so. Robyn was just about to ask Gayle a bit more about her life in London, and the someone she’d met there, when she saw the nurse appear at the door.
‘Well, aren’t you popular today?’ said the nurse. ‘You’ve got more visitors.’
‘I have?’ Robyn said excitedly, looking at Gayle. ‘Do you mean that David has come today too?’ So far, Gayle and David seemed to have visited her in shifts. It hadn’t been intentional; it was just the way the days had turned out. David visiting in the evenings, and Gayle visited during the day.
The nurse shook her head. ‘No, it isn’t David.’
Robyn sat up straighter in bed, staring at the open door, waiting to see who it was. She couldn’t wait to find out who had come to see her. Her parents, perhaps, or her siblings. Robyn glanced at the newspaper that still lay forlornly in the corner of the room by the door where she had thrown it the previous evening. Someone must have recognised her name after all.
Gayle said, ‘Robyn, is it your family, do you think? Would you like me to leave now?’
Robyn was just shaking her head at her new friend, about to tell her she wanted her to stay, when she heard someone call her name.’
‘Miss Parker?’
‘Yes?’ She looked over at a portly older gentleman who was standing in the doorway. She recognised his uniform immediately: black t-shirt, dark trousers, and a high-viz yellow and silver tabard that she knew would have the word Police written on the back. He was holding a police cap in his hands.
Her chin dropped to her chest. She had thought it might be her family. Was she in trouble? Robyn didn’t dare ask.
‘I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am.’ He lingered in the doorway. ‘The doctor said you were well enough for us to see you now.’ Robyn looked up. She’d had no idea that the police were going to pay her a visit, although she imagined it was routine after a car accident – at least she hoped it was.
Robyn caught the officer looking Gayle’s way.
‘My friend stays,’ Roby said, then looked at Gayle. ‘If that’s alright with you?’
Gayle nodded and reached for her hand. ‘Of course it is, sweetheart.’
Robyn felt like she was a fugitive from the law. But she had no reason to feel that way. She had done nothing wrong. At least she hoped she hadn’t, because she wasn’t sure of anything. That was the problem with the blasted memory issue. At least Gayle’s presence made her feel reassured that she had friends in her corner.
‘This won’t take long,’ said the officer as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. ‘The doctor has informed me of your condition.’
‘Oh.’ Robyn looked at Gayle. She couldn’t very well tell her to leave now she had invited her to stay. Besides, maybe Dr Jamieson was right: it would be far easier in the long run to tell her friends the truth about her selective amnesia.
The officer stood at the end of her bed. ‘I understand you have amnesia. Can you tell me if there’s anything you can remember about the accident?’
Robyn opened her mouth to speak, but the officer held up his hand. ‘Could you hold on for a minute? I nearly forgot something.’ He placed his hat on the end of her bed and started tapping his trouser pockets. ‘Ah here we are.’ He produced a small notepad and flipped it open. ‘Now, where were we?’
‘I think you were asking me what I remember.’
‘That’s right, that’s right. Thank you.’
‘Well all I do remem—’ she stopped when he held up his hand. ‘You wouldn’t have a pencil handy?’
Robyn shrugged and cast a glance at Gayle, who was already opening her handbag. She brought out a diary. She picked at the spine with her fingernail and a small thin pencil popped up. She got up and handed it to the officer. When she turned back to Robyn, she rolled her eyes before taking her seat. Robyn smiled at her, although she wasn’t really amused. This was going to take all afternoon.
The tiny pencil disappeared in the officer’s chubby fingers. ‘Right, where were we?’ He licked the pencil tip, for what reason Robyn couldn’t fathom. ‘Oh yes.’ He answered before anyone else could respond. ‘You were going to tell me what you remember of the accident.’
Robyn stared at him. His hand hovered over the notepad as though he were a scribe waiting for divine inspiration. She thought that a toga wouldn’t have been out of place either. Robyn caught Gayle’s expression and wished she hadn’t. She had the impulse to laugh. Instead, she reached over for the beaker of water on the side table and took one large gulp. It would not do to laugh at the police officer.
‘I remember the aftermath of the accident.’ Robyn wished she could remember what had led up to it, or even driving the car. But there was nothing – no recall, no memories before waking up after the accident.
Recalling how she had come to be there, who she was, and why she’d been out on the road on the afternoon of Christmas Day, when most other people were at home with their families, was still a mystery. She had thought that by now, someone who knew her would have come forward.
She looked at the officer hopefully. It occurred to her that perhaps someone had contacted the police, reporting a missing person. Maybe he would tell her after she’d answered his questions.
She told the officer, ‘I remember David, Mr Gillespie, talking to me, asking my name over and over.’ That wasn’t all she remembered in the aftermath of the accident. She had woken up and had lifted her head from the steering wheel. Her forehead had felt wet. She’d realised afterwards that it was blood. When she’d turned her head to look out of the driver’s side window, there had been a man, soaking from the sleet and snow, with blood on his face, banging on her window.
She had been frightened. She’d attempted to start the engine, pumping the gas in desperation for the car to start; to be able to get away. She’d stolen a glance at the lunatic outside the car. He had been even more frantic than before, waving his arms like a mad man, and this had made Robyn even more determined to get the car going. But as the engine had started sputtering to life, she’d got the shock of her life. The mad man had been running towards her at full pelt with something in his hand, held high above his head. As he had come closer, Robyn had thrown herself across the passenger seat. Something had been hurled at her side window, and the shattered glass had sprayed over her.
The door had opened, and she had been dragged, kicking and screaming, back over the driver’s seat and out of the car. She was sure she had got some good right hooks into his ribs. Then she had realised he was lying next to her, very still. Only then had she stopped and looked back at her car to see the front wheels dangling over a precipice. The last thing she remembered was a huge crashing sound and then a smell of smoke.
‘He saved me, and that’s all I can remember.’ Robyn looked away, embarrassed. She was not going to tell the officer what a fool she’d been, mistaking David’s intentions when all he had been trying to do was save her from going over the cliff in her car. She was very surprised that David came to see her so religiously after the way she had treated her rescuer. But he had never made fun of her for behaving like a fool and, much to her relief, they had never spoken of the accident – not once.
The officer stopped writing. The one sentence didn’t take him long. Robyn expected a barrage of further questions about why she had been travelling in such awful conditions – the road conditions had been very poor with the snowfall. But to her surprise, he just flipped his notebook shut. ‘There. I told you it wouldn’t take long.’ He handed Gayle her pencil.
‘What happens now?’ said Gayle as she took the pencil.
‘That’s a good question. Now, let me see.’ He took a moment to think about it while Robyn and Gayle stared at him. ‘I’ll go back to the station and write up a report from what you’ve told me.’
‘What’s it going to say, this report?’ Robyn asked.
‘It was an accident. I imagine that not being from around these parts, you got lost as the weather closed in.’ He paused. ‘You know, you were one lucky lady. If it wasn’t for David, you’d most likely be at the bottom of that quarry, and I’d be seeing the coroner. And between you and me,’ said the officer, pointing his little notepad at her, ‘I’d rather see your pretty face than his any day of the week.’
Robyn could feel the colour rising in her cheeks. It had only just occurred to her that the officer must already have spoken with David about what had happened. She really hoped he’d left out the part where she’d attacked him, although she’d clearly been confused and concussed at the time.
He tucked the notepad back into the jacket pocket and picked up his hat from the bed.
‘This is why I joined the force.’
‘To get to the bottom of difficult cases such as this one?’ Gayle said innocently.
Robyn turned wide eyes on Gayle. Was she seriously taking the mickey right now? She marvelled at her audacity.
‘Well, kind of,’ he said seriously. ‘But really I like the uniform; especially my hat. I think I look good in it – don’t you?’ He looked from Robyn to Gayle for approval.
They nodded, both lost for words.
‘Thought so.’ He said with satisfaction.
‘Is he for real?’ Gayle whispered as he busied himself putting the notebook back in his trouser pocket.
Robyn sighed. She hoped he was. Although it occurred to her that perhaps he was the one taking the mickey. All the same, she was relieved that she was leaving the hospital the next day just in case he wasn’t a real officer and was just some kind of reporter, and the real cops would come to grill her even further.
He looked up, but he didn’t appear to have heard Gayle’s comment. ‘This is my second career. I’ve just got through my probationary period. I wanted to do something with the rest of my life that makes me feel I’m making a difference, at least until I have to retire from this job in a few years.’
Robyn looked at him sheepishly, wondering if he had overheard.
He left the room.
‘Have you really got amnesia?’
Robyn sighed. Gayle finally asked what Robyn had been expecting.
‘Uh-huh.’ Robyn really didn’t want to talk about it.
‘Can’t you remember anything ?’
Robyn shook her head and held back the tears. ‘Nothing before the accident.’
‘But you remembered your name?’
Robyn shook her head. ‘Not exactly. There were some letters addressed to me in the car.’
‘Oh.’
‘So, those letters. Who are they from?’
‘My mum. From the letters, I gather she’s abroad.’
‘Oh dear. It’s times like these you could do with your mum. You could get in touch. I’m sure she’ll fly back.’
‘That would be a good idea if I had her mobile number, or I even knew where she was.’
‘But the letters …?’
‘They were dated a while ago. She could be anywhere now.’
‘Oh dear.’
They sat looking at one another until Gayle broke the silence. ‘What happens tomorrow, when you leave hospital?’
Robyn sighed. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Where will you go?’
‘I said I don’t know!’ Robyn said, then hastily retreated from her outburst. ‘I’m sorry, Gayle. I didn’t mean to be rude. I just don’t know anything except these four walls.’ She turned to Gayle. ‘I feel scared.’
Gayle got up and sat on the side of her bed. She patted Robyn’s hand. ‘I’ve got a wild idea.’ She chuckled, and Robyn couldn’t help but smile.