She looked determinedly into his eyes. In the sudden pause in conversation he found himself momentarily mesmerised by her grey unblinking stare. He dropped his gaze to the papers on his desk.

‘You took some personality tests when you came in here. They make interesting reading. They indicate that you are intelligent, resourceful and enterprising, but also obstinate and perhaps even a little arrogant. You are self-contained and you place a heavy value on autonomy. You are not averse to taking risks and, in fact, it appears that you almost crave uncertainty and a distinct amount of stress. Is that true?’

She nodded slowly, smiling slightly. ‘Spot on, Doctor. I guess I do get bored easily. I get antsy just sitting around.’

‘Is that why you embezzled the money?’

She shrugged.

‘Strange though,’ he said with a frown on his face.

‘What?’

‘Well, your tests reveal a certain degree of social conscience which just doesn’t gel with the nature of your crime, nor with a criminal personality generally. Quite a puzzling contradiction.’

She observed him silently, almost suspiciously, as if he had touched on something sensitive. The fact that she appeared to have clammed up again only stoked his interest in wanting to find out more about how she ticked.

‘You have a lot of potential, Bailey. I think you genuinely possess the capability to turn your life around and make something of it. But I sense something else, something which is troubling you. Something lying just below the surface which you’re not telling me. Something to do with the reason that you ended up in here.’

She gazed at him coolly with her grey eyes. He could tell she wasn’t about to reveal anything further.

She looked at her watch. ‘Can I go now?’

‘Not just yet. I’d like to administer some further tests. Is that okay? Just to be on the safe side.’

‘What kind of tests?’

Again that suspicious look on her face, as if she almost felt threatened by the prospect.

‘They’re just simple tests which can help me better understand your mental health.’

He took out several sheets of paper from a drawer and pushed them across the table to her, along with a biro. She looked at the long list of questions and emitted a puff of boredom.

The tests were commonly used psychological tools in his profession. One was the Beck Suicide Intent Scale. The other was the Wessex Dissociation Scale. With these two tests, he was hoping to establish the level of her suicidal thoughts and the possible explanations behind them.

‘You’ll see that each question asks you about how you feel. All you have to do is score each one on a scale of one to ten. Please fill it out honestly. It’s in your best interests to do so.’

She sighed and began to fill out the questions. He watched her as she did so, noting for the first time the ugly white scar running down the side of her face and neck. She worked fast and diligently, marking the paper with confident flicks of the pen.