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Coulter’s diary, written during his first year of confinement. The note that had accompanied it had reiterated that the inmate had given up writing the diary since transforming his life. I view the world differently now , it had said.
    Jeff Coulter had been ruled criminally insane after killing his six-week-old daughter. According to the pathology reports, he had simply snapped the baby’s spine.
    It had taken a month to get the authorities to agree to this initial meeting, which Magnus hoped would be the first of many. The apparent psychological transformation of such a man fascinated him. A study of Coulter would provide ample material for an academic paper and provide a good discussion topic for his advanced psychology students.
    There had been a great deal of controversy when Coulter had come to trial. Naturally the public were horrified by the crime of which he had been accused. This, coupled with the ongoing controversy over whether vulnerable children should be taken into care (Coulter’s child had been on the protection register), meant that social workers in charge of the case had taken a pounding. Once the prosecution had proved Coulter killed the child, a decision had to be made. Was he suffering from a mental illness at the time, or was he psychopathic? In any book on psychopaths, the chapter on treatment for the condition was pretty well non-existent, because there wasn’t one. If he was deemed mentally ill, however, he could be treated.
    Coulter and his defence counsel had opted to plead mental illness. After many interviews with professionals specialising in psychiatric and psychological conditions, the results were inconclusive. Despite this, Coulter was incarcerated in the building on the horizon, and prescribed medication. It had apparently worked. According to Coulter, at least, he was a new man.
    The State Hospital was due to move to a new purpose-built facility within the next two years. From what Magnus knew of the older building, it was not before time. The treatment of the mentally ill – criminal or otherwise – had improved considerably over the past decade, but still had some way to go. In previous eras cancer had been the dirty word. Mental illness, although experienced by a quarter of the population at some time in their lives, had replaced it as the Cinderella of the medical establishment. The fact that the general public tended to look to the criminally insane for their understanding of mental illness only served to reinforce its stigma, in spite of a string of high profile celebrities who’d recently admitted to conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder. Fear drove this attitude, and when you saw a hospital like this, you could understand why.
    Magnus followed the signs to the car park, which was half empty. He parked as near as he could to the modern glassed entrance, a welcome extension to the starker older building. The open plan interior, brightly painted walls and potted plants did succeed in softening the clinical atmosphere. Only the posters on the notice board indicated the true nature of the place he had just entered.
    ‘Can I help you?’
    Magnus slipped an identity card across the counter.
    ‘Professor Magnus Pirie. I have an appointment with Jeff Coulter at nine thirty.’
    The young woman gave him a pleasant smile, then examined the photograph, ticked off his name on her list and pushed a visitors’ book towards him.
    ‘Great accent. Where are you from?’
    Magnus was used to such questions when away from the islands, even though at home he was regularly accused of losing his accent.
    ‘Orkney.’
    ‘Like that guy Cameron on Big Brother ?’
    Magnus was surprised.
    ‘That’s right.’
    She grinned. ‘I voted for him.’
    Magnus wasn’t sure whether he was expected to thank her for supporting a fellow Orcadian. He covered his indecision by clipping the security badge she produced to his lapel.
    ‘Have you read the visitor literature?’
    He had.
    ‘Then