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Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for The House of Whispers
  3. Title Page
  4. Note to Readers
  5. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  19. Twelve
  20. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  21. Thirteen
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  25. Sixteen
  26. Seventeen
  27. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  28. Eighteen
  29. Nineteen
  30. Twenty
  31. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  32. Twenty-One
  33. Twenty-Two
  34. Twenty-Three
  35. Twenty-Four
  36. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  37. Twenty-Five
  38. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  39. Twenty-Six
  40. Twenty-Seven
  41. Twenty-Eight
  42. Twenty-Nine
  43. Thirty
  44. Thirty-One
  45. Thirty-Two
  46. Thirty-Three
  47. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  48. Thirty-Four
  49. Thirty-Five
  50. Thirty-Six
  51. Thirty-Seven
  52. Thirty-Eight
  53. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  54. Thirty-Nine
  55. Forty
  56. Forty-One
  57. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  58. Forty-Two
  59. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  60. Forty-Three
  61. Forty-Four
  62. Forty-Five
  63. Forty-Six
  64. Forty-Seven
  65. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  66. Forty-Eight
  67. Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019
  68. Forty-Nine
  69. Fifty
  70. Fifty-One
  71. Fifty-Two
  72. Fifty-Three
  73. Fifty-Four
  74. Fifty-Five
  75. Fifty-Six
  76. Fifty-Seven
  77. Fifty-Eight
  78. Fifty-Nine
  79. Sixty
  80. Priory Hospital North London: 20 December 2019
  81. Acknowledgements
  82. About the Publisher

My dream that night was different. I don’t know if it was the food we’d eaten or the conversation we’d had about Grace, but this time I woke with a twitch, a huge twitch that made the bed bounce. ‘No!’ I shouted at the shadowy figure that dodged, unidentified, between slices of the universe, and then I felt Rohan’s hand on my arm, the warmth of his fingers reeling me back in.

‘Abs?’ he whispered in the dark. ‘Can you hear me?’

I turned and took in his face, a dark mass against the white of the pillow; a scent of home.

‘Yes.’

‘What’s not good enough?’ he whispered. ‘You were saying “never good enough”. It’s not about your art, is it?’

My mind was blank. ‘No idea.’ But even as I mouthed the words, the shadowy figure slipping through the blackness between sleep and wakefulness took on the shape of Grace. Something about the flip of a ponytail and the turn of a hip. Never good enough.

‘Is there anything bothering you?’ Rohan whispered. His arm snaked around me, pulling me closer, and I felt his breath on my cheek. ‘I mean, your paintings… If there are things that you want to talk about, we can get you counselling or therapy, or something. Something to help you get it straight in your head. It might help with the dreams.’

‘I’m fine,’ I said, and fell back asleep with Rohan’s arm around me but, when I woke to the chattering of the birds in the trees outside, and to the grey of the dawn squeezing around the edge of the curtains as if it were intent on suffocating us, Rohan’s eyes were still wide open; his brow furrowed.

Transcript of interview with Mr Rohan Allerton, husband of Abigail Allerton: 20 December 2019

‘And so, given what you now know, how did you feel about Grace when you came home from New York that weekend? Did you feel that she could, in any way, be responsible for the changes you noticed in Abigail?’

‘Yes. I guess there was something about her that made me uneasy. But I couldn’t put my finger on it. Do you know what I mean? I felt that she had some sort of a hold over Abi. But it seemed to be positive, at least in terms of her art. Abi told me that Grace was her muse. To be honest, I was a bit jealous. Why couldn’t I inspire her to paint like that? What was it that Grace had that I didn’t?’

‘But you didn’t broach the topic with Abigail?’

‘No. No, I didn’t. No more than I’ve already said. Abs was difficult to talk to. Prickly. I guess I just hoped it would all work out in the end. These things usually do.’

Forty-Nine