Free Border Crossing by Pat Barker Page A

I’ve seen him I have to go home and lie down. But actually he’s also quite rewarding. He’s… I don’t know. Very empathic. At times it’s almost uncanny. You think, how the hell could he know that? I haven’t said anything.’ She paused to think. ‘He gets inside.’
    ‘Like a tapeworm, you mean?’
    ‘To-om.’
    ‘All right. I was starting to think I might consult him. So anyway, you think I should do it?’
    To his surprise she didn’t answer immediately. ‘I’m not sure. You know I said he was very good with people? Well, he is, but –’
    ‘He doesn’t like triangles.’
    She looked surprised. ‘How did you know that?’
    ‘Just a hunch.’
    ‘Did he say anything?’
    She was over-involved. ‘About you? No.’
    ‘Well, anyway, you’re quite right, he doesn’t. Mike Freeman – you know Mike? – and I were supposed to work together, they thought it would be good for him to have a man and a woman. And it simply wasn’t possible.’
    ‘It must’ve been quite bad if he actually split you?’
    ‘Yeah, well, Mike isn’t very experienced/
    He had split them. ‘And you think the same thing might happen with you and me?’
    ‘It’s possible.’
    ‘I don’t really see what you’re worried about. So okay, he’s not good at triangles? The general idea is that we’re supposed to be.’
    ‘It’s not just that. There’s a certain amount of antagonism there, Tom. Towards you.’
    ‘Yes, I think 1 detected that. Does he say why?’
    ‘He trusted you. In his mind, you let him down quite badly. He thinks if it wasn’t for you, he wouldn’t have been in court at all, he’d have been dealt with as a child. You were the one who said he understood what he was doing and that he was fit to plead in an adult court. He hasn’t forgiven you.’
    Tom nodded. ‘We’d need to talk about it. But the antagonism itself isn’t automatically a barrier. I mean, frankly, even if I was starting from scratch, I’d expect to be on the receiving end of a fair bit of hostility, because he’s angry. He hates the system, he hates what it did to him.’
    Martha shook her head. ‘No, it’s more than that.’
    A long pause. Tom said, ‘There’s no question of my going ahead without your approval.’
    ‘And I think he needs to do it. So that’s that, then.’ ‘
    You could try getting him to talk to somebody else.’
    ‘I have.’ She smiled. ‘It’s you or nobody.’
    ‘Which raises doubts about his motivation.’
    She hesitated. ‘He wants to get at the truth, Tom. I’ve no doubt about that.’
    He looked at her. ‘You’re very concerned about him, aren’t you?’
    ‘Over-involved, you mean?’
    Tom smiled. ‘How much is over? I don’t know.’ ‘I’m concerned about you, as well. What do you want to do next? What do you want me to tell him?’ ‘I need to see him again. And I’d quite like that to be in your office. You know, establish a fairly formal framework.’
    ‘All right. Normally I don’t see him there, because… because Ian hasn’t got a record, for one thing.’ ‘I suppose you do know how bad for him that is?’ ‘But there’s no choice, Tom. If the press found him, his life wouldn’t be worth living.’ She picked up her bag. ‘Anyway, I’ll fix something up, and give you a ring. Oh and by the way, if you ever phone the office, you will remember he’s Ian Wilkinson, won’t you?’ He nodded. ‘Thoughhe’s gotto be Danny withme.’ ‘Yes, I know. Well, I think he’ll welcome that.’
    Talking to Ian on the phone, half an hour later, she was fully aware of how much he welcomed it. ‘Dr Seymour hasn’t said he’s going to do it,’ she warned.
    ‘No, I know. But he will.’
    She put the phone down, thought about ringing Tom with suggested times, then thought she wouldn’t disturb him yet. The cursor on the computer screen winked at her. She felt slightly sick, a combination of VDU glare and sunshine coming through the window. That day she went to fetch Ian back