The Night Counsellor by LK Pang

Author:LK Pang [Pang, LK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronos Publishing
Published: 2024-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Twenty-Three

1953

Jane

Day

As a guard leads me through the secure block, I look into Cleo’s cell to check that she’s in, but the cell is empty.

“Where is Cleo?” I ask the guard.

“Who’s Cleo?” he says.

“The girl in Unit 5.”

He shrugs and opens the door to the meeting room for me. I watch him close it behind him and dread fills me. I pace around, planning my next steps. I need to move quicker. I have to get my patient to reveal more. The door opens again a beat later and Mary supports my patient’s arm as they walk in. She is about to sit her down on the chair opposite me.

“There’s no need,” I say, learning that any pleasantries I give her go unappreciated. “Please could you bring in a wheelchair. I’d like to take her out.” She retrieves one without saying a word and I can tell that she is unhappy at the thought of me taking my patient outside again. I ignore her sly stares, place a blanket over my patient’s knees and wheel her outside, away from Mary’s line of sight as quickly as I can.

I wheel her straight to the memorial gardens, but I don’t stop there and head to the other side. There are some wooden steps down a steep embankment before the railway line and the white cottage at the top of the hill is present. Dare I take her there? Where they found the body? I falter and look back from where we came. Even if we make it past the steps and over the railway track, the thinning tyres of the wheelchair will not cope with the rugged farm track to the top.

I stoop down to meet my patient’s eyes. “Shall we walk?”

Draping her blanket over her shoulders, I gently place my hands under her arms and encourage her to stand, and she follows my direction. I lead her down the steps slowly. The wooden treads are smooth from years of use, and I have to make sure that she plants her feet securely each time so she doesn’t slip. We pause at the railway line which cuts through a narrow forest. The wind pushes past branches of trees, making them sway and rustle.

“Let’s cross over.”

She shuffles along next to me, and we make our way across the woodland and through to the trail at the bottom of the hill. Her steps are slow and steady, and it is not long before the sky becomes thick with threatening clouds and a breeze picks up. I hunch my shoulders around her to protect her as much as I can.

The path weaves its away to-and-fro through barley grass that brushes against our legs. With each step, doubt worms its way in – I’m making a mistake. I’m going too far. We are not even halfway up towards the cottage yet and the sky’s growing darker. I know turning back would be the sensible thing to do but her silence pushes me onwards. I do not want to leave with nothing gained.

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