Free Broken Dolls by James Carol Page B

harassment,’ Flight said, his voice muffled by the carpet.
    I sat up, crossed my legs and looked down at him. As power plays went, this one was pretty good. I now had the height advantage by almost two feet. And he was being pinned down by a woman. The second part would have eaten into him more than the first. In Greg Flight’s world women were still very much second-rate citizens.
    ‘Technically it can’t be police harassment since I’m not a cop,’ I said.
    Templeton pulled Flight’s arm higher and he grimaced. ‘Let me go.’
    I tilted my head to the side so we were looking at each other eye to eye. ‘Look, Greg, nobody’s judging you here. To be honest, I really don’t care who you’re screwing. All I’m trying to do is get an idea of the state of your relationship with Sarah at the time she was kidnapped.’
    ‘Let me go,’ he repeated.
    ‘We’ll let you go when you start co-operating. And I’d think very carefully before answering my next question. Another couple of pounds of pressure and that shoulder’s going to pop right out of the socket. It hurts like hell having it put back in, like someone’s grinding glass into the joint.’
    I paused, gave him a second to process this. Flight was glaring across at me like he was dreaming up new and improved ways to hurt me.
    ‘Okay, here’s the million-dollar question, Greg: your marriage was a mess, wasn’t it?’
    ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    ‘And that’s the wrong answer. I’m afraid you don’t win the car.’
    ‘There was nothing wrong with my marriage.’
    ‘Yeah, that’s what you told the police. And because they were so focused on finding your wife they didn’t dig too hard, did they?’ I paused, softened my voice, made it quieter, more intimate. ‘Every time you have sex with your PA all you can think about is Sarah. You think about her wasting away in that hospital and the guilt eats you up.’
    Flight’s eyes darted downwards, seeking out his naked ring finger. Templeton pulled harder on his arm and he gave a yelp.
    ‘I’m reckoning another pound of pressure before that shoulder pops out, Greg. You might want to think about that.’ I paused again. ‘You know, we’ve just been to see Sarah. That private hospital she’s in isn’t cheap, but you’re doing well for yourself so I reckon you can probably afford it. Does it ease the guilt to see that payment going out of your bank account each month?’
    Flight broke eye contact and turned his head downwards into the carpet. When he looked back up at me again I could tell he’d come to a decision, and that the decision was the right one.
    ‘Things hadn’t been good between us for a while,’ he whispered.

15
    The lights came on with a dull thud, harsh, bright halogens that burned Rachel’s sight into blindness. The glare reflected off the white wall and floor tiles, dazzling her. It was too much, too soon.
    Rachel put a hand up to her forehead to block out the light, but it was still too bright. She closed her eyes then opened them slowly, a millimetre at a time, letting the light filter in until they were fully open. She’d been right about there being no windows and only one door. The door was painted white, gloss rather than matt, and was almost as reflective as the tiles. There was a large dog flap fitted to the lower part of the door. The ceiling was painted white, the mattress was white, the blankets.
    It was a cold, sterile space that made her think of a laboratory. Easy to clean. The thought made her shiver despite the heat. Adam had removed her favourite red dress and replaced it with a pair of shapeless grey jogging bottoms and a matching grey sweatshirt. He’d also removed her underwear, lace replaced with cotton.
    Rachel saw all these things without really seeing them, registered them without really registering. She was only vaguely aware of the mattress, and the drying puddle of vomit, of the black plastic bucket in the corner. She’d