Chapters (43)
- Pronunciation
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Acknowledgments
Fin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Escape? This isn’t a prison, is it?”
“No, of course not. Residents are free to come and go as they please. But this happened in the middle of the night. And, naturally, the doors were locked for reasons of security. It seems that Mr. Macdonald spent yesterday evening spreading discontent among some of the other residents, and there were four of them trying to get out.”
Fin couldn’t resist a smile. “A one-man escape committee?”
“It’s no laughing matter, Mr. Macleod. Mr. Macdonald got up into the sink and smashed the kitchen window with his bare hands. He was quite badly cut.”
Fin’s amusement evaporated. “Is he all right?”
“We had to take him up to the emergency room at the hospital. They put stitches in one of his hands. He’s back now, all bandaged up, and in his room. But he’s been really quite aggressive, shouting at the staff, refusing to take off his hat and coat. He says he’s waiting for his daughter to come and take him home.” She sighed and moved away to her desk, opening up a beige folder. “We’d like to discuss medication with Miss Macdonald.”
“What kind of medication?”
“I’m afraid I can only discuss that with the family.”
“You want to drug him.”
“It’s not a question of drugging him, Mr. Macleod. He is in a very agitated state. We need to calm him down in case he does any more damage to himself. Or anyone else for that matter.”
Fin ran the probable consequences of such medication through his mind. A memory already fragile and fragmented, dulled by tranquillisers. It could only inhibit their attempts to stimulate his recollection of past events and establish his relationship to the dead man. But they couldn’t risk him doing further injury to himself. He said, “You’d better try calling Marsaili again and talk to her about it. But let me see what I can do to calm him down. I was going to take him out for a run in the car anyway, if that’s all right?”
“Oh, I think that would be a good idea, Mr. Macleod. Anything to reinforce the idea in his mind that this is not a prison, and he is not a prisoner.”
Sixteen
Sixteen
Who is it now? I’m not budging. They can all go to hell.
The door opens and there is a young man standing there. I’ve seen him before somewhere. Does he work here?
“Hello, Mr. Macdonald,” he says, and there is something comforting in his voice. Familiar.
“Do I know you?”
“It’s Fin.”
Fin. Fin. Strange name. Shark’s fin. Tail fin. French fin. “What kind of name’s that?”