Gill was arrested, sectioned, and locked in a mental ward in Hanworth. Pat had not gone to see her for three weeks. He couldn’t. Whenever he thought of that day, bile rose in his throat. It was as though he had become physically allergic to his own wife. When he did go, she refused to see him.

His mother did visit her, though. Mairead reported back that Gill was heavily sedated, under 24-hour suicide watch, and not speaking at all. Gill had been told, of course, that Bonnie had survived and would be fine, but she became hysterical whenever either Patrick or Bonnie was mentioned.

Gill’s trial took place at Kingston Crown Court. Attempted murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She was found guilty and sentenced to be indefinitely detained in the local secure mental hospital.

People say, of things like that, that it was ‘all a bit of a blur’, but unfortunately for Pat, it wasn’t. Every detail of the trial was etched indelibly into his brain, and snapshots would pop back up in his mind with traumatic regularity at all hours of the day or night, regardless of what he was doing. It had got a little better of late, especially seeing Bonnie so hale and hearty, seemingly happy with the arrangement of living with his parents. Time was doing its much-trumpeted healing thing. He could only hope that the same was true for Gill.

But whether it was or not, he was really glad that she had finally decided she would see him. There were things that needed to be said.

Chapter 20

Chapter 20
Winkler – Day 4

The Philips bird was fit, in a damaged goods way, like a little sparrow that had fallen from its nest and needed looking after. DI Adrian Winkler had always been attracted to women like that. Vulnerable, with wounds that needed licking. Not mental birds, though, like Lennon’s missus. She was way beyond the pale, a proper nut job who’d tried to kill her kid, the type who should be sterilised and locked up forever. Though he supposed he could understand her going gaga with Lennon as her husband, probably writing down everything she said in that poncy notebook of his, not to mention having to contend with his massive crush on DCI Laughland. He almost felt sorry for the poor bitch. And another thing: if it was down to Winkler, tattooed Goth weirdoes would be barred from joining the Police even if they were ex-Goth weirdoes and kept the tats covered. It was a sure sign of not belonging, of not being normal.