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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

Now I turned to look at Rohan with the hazy image of the girl still in my eyes, my brain slow to understand the meaning of what he’d said. At the same time, Rohan focused on the canvas.

‘Oh,’ he said. Then ‘oh’ again. He started to back out of the room. ‘I thought you were doing the dog. Stay here. Keep going. It’s fine, I’ll grab breakfast on the way. And I’ll tell the hospice you’re not coming, shall I?’

His words snapped me out of my trance. I looked at my watch: 7.15. I was due at the hospice by 8.00.

‘Oh my God! No, I’m coming,’ I said, quickly cleaning my brushes.

‘They wouldn’t mind if you missed it, just once…’ Rohan said. ‘You’re so conscientious. Surely your…’ he pointed to the canvas with his eyebrows raised, ‘is more important?’

‘It’s a commitment,’ I said. ‘I can’t let them down. I need to go.’

‘But Abs…’

‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘I know what I’m doing now,’ and I knew I was right. It was as if my subconscious had unblocked in a torrent of image and emotion. Suddenly I could feel the series spanning ahead of me; I could feel where it might take me.

Rohan was out of the door when he turned back to me. ‘Oh, who is it, by the way? You said a portrait, but you didn’t say who.’

I paused, trying to find my voice – but my pause was too long for him because he said, ‘Tell me later,’ and disappeared down the stairs.

‘No one,’ I said to the empty doorway. ‘No one you know.’

Fifteen

Given the strength of their love, and the belief they had in their future plans, Alex and Grace didn’t take long to implode. They limped through the first half of the first term, lurching from visit to visit – but how long can a long-distance relationship survive when you’re eighteen and living two hundred miles apart? I was surprised Alex went through the motions at all.

Grace, however, was one of those girls who really made an effort. Despite being, from what she said, the academically smarter of the two, she reverted to being a Fifties housewife around him, planning their weekends in meticulous detail: what she’d wear, where they’d go, what they’d eat, how she’d entertain him. To begin with, she’d come back from her time with him fresh-faced and bouncy, but soon the visits started to thin out.

‘He’s doing a lot of sport,’ she said. ‘The matches are at the weekends. It’s fine. He’s always thinking of me.’ She tapped her phone and turned it to face me. ‘See? Miss you, Wish I was with you, How are you, gorge? – short for gorgeous, obv. That was just this morning. He sends messages all the time.’