The Therapy Room by Sam Baron

Author:Sam Baron [Baron, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-THREE

Ramon shoots a finger at me to let me know that the video feed is on.

I nod and slip on the headphones.

I hope this interview goes better than the previous ones.

The idea of talking to the friends and family of the Splinter victims slash patients seemed like a good idea but the first two people we spoke to seemed disinterested, even a little rude. The language and cultural barrier probably didn’t help, and a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of talking to the FBI, or the “world police” as one Thai lady just called me a few minutes ago, but I was really hoping for more. At least with this next one, one of those problems will be eliminated since the person is in the UK. And a bonus: he happens to be a cop, too.

“DC Hallett, thank you so much for agreeing to speak to us,” I say.

The thirty-something dark-haired man nods on the video chat screen. “Glad to be of assistance to the FBI, Special Agent Parker. Please, call me Tom.”

“Thanks, Tom. I’m Susan.”

“Susan, how can I be of assistance?”

“Tom, you’ve already told my associate Agent Regis that you were a colleague of Gennifer Mason at the Gloucestershire Constabulary.”

“That is correct, ma’am. Genny and I practically grew up together. We were neighbors in a hamlet only a few miles from Birbury Village. We’re fairly isolated out here in the Cotswolds and so we look out for one another. The Halletts and the Masons have known each other for, oh, I don’t know, generations, I’d suppose.”

“So you and Gennifer were friends even before you became colleagues?” I ask.

“Aye, ma’am. Except for the last couple of years, we were pretty close.”

“What changed in the last couple of years, Tom?”

“Well, it’s a sad tale, by any reckoning. Like I said, it’s a hard life out here. A good honest living, but hard, nonetheless. Genny and her older sister Gwen, that’s Gwendoline Mason, relied a great deal on one another. You see, ma’am, their mother was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, while Genny was only a young lass. She was eleven at the time, if I recall rightly. The two of them did their best, but it was hard going. By the time the cancer was detected, their mum was already fourth stage. Too far gone. The doctors said no point in chemo, it would only worsen her suffering. They prescribed pain medication and that was about it. She passed only a few months after. From there on, it was just Genny and Gwen, the Mason girls as we called them. Gwen was nineteen at the time, so she became Genny’s legal guardian. Otherwise the council would have taken Genny, I reckon.”

“Where was their father in all this?” I ask.

Tom shakes his head slightly. “Oh, he was a right old bugger. Long out of the picture. The old story, went out for a pack of smokes, never seen again. Genny said she and Gwen always suspected their mum

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