The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Read Online Free PDF

news. I thought you'd emigrated without telling me.'
    'Unfortunately I'm still here.' She sees a traffic-light ahead turn amber, presses the accelerator and the car leaps beneath her. 'It's been an average day, so far. I had breakfast, I interviewed someone for the shop and I found out that I'm responsible for a mad old woman I never knew existed.'
    Behind him, in his office, she hears the shug-shug-shug of a printer. 'What?' he says.
    'A great-aunt. She's in Cauldstone.'
    'Cauldstone? The loony-bin?'
    'I got a call this morning from—' Without warning, a van swings out in front of her and she slams her fist on the horn and shouts, 'Bastard!'
    'Are you driving?' Alex demands.
    'No.'
    'Have you got Tourette's, then? You are driving. I can hear you.'
    'Oh, stop fussing,' she starts to laugh, 'it's fine.'
    'You know I hate that. I'm always convinced I'll have to listen to you dying in a car crash. I'm hanging up. Goodbye.'
    'Wait, Alex—'
    'I'm going. Stop taking calls while you're driving. I'll speak to you later. Where are you going to be?'
    'At Cauldstone.'
    'You're going there today?' he asks, suddenly serious.
    'I'm going there now.'
    She hears Alex tapping a pen on his desk, him shifting about in his seat. 'Don't sign anything,' he says eventually.
    ***
    'But I don't understand,' Iris interrupts. 'If she is my grandmother's sister, my ... my great-aunt, then why have I never heard of her?'
    Peter Lasdun sighs. The social worker sighs. The two of them exchange a look. They have been sitting in this room, round this table, for what feels like hours. Peter Lasdun has been painstakingly outlining for Iris what he refers to as Routine Policies. These include Care Plans, Community Care Assessments, Rehabilitation Programmes, Release Schedules. He seems to talk permanently in capital letters. Iris has managed to offend the social worker – or Key Worker, as Lasdun calls her – by mistaking her for a nurse, causing her to start reeling off her social-work qualifications and university degrees. Iris would like a glass of water, she would like to open a window, she would like to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.
    Peter Lasdun takes a long time lining up a file with the lip of his desk. 'You haven't discussed Euphemia with any members of your family,' he asks, with infinite patience, 'since our conversation?'
    'There's no one left. My grandmother is away in the world of Alzheimer's. My mother's in Australia and she's never heard of her. It's possible that my father would have known, but he's dead.' Iris fiddles with her empty coffee cup. 'It all seems so unlikely. Why should I believe you?'
    'It's not unusual for patients of ours to ... shall we say, fall out of sight. Euphemia has been with us a long time.'
    'How long exactly?'
    Lasdun consults his file, running a finger down the pages.
    The social worker coughs and leans forward. 'Sixty years, I believe, Peter, give or take—'
    'Sixty years?' Iris almost shouts. 'In this place? What's wrong with her?'
    This time, they both take refuge in their notes. Iris leans forward. She's quite adept at reading upside-down.
Personality disorder,
she manages to decipher,
bi-polar, electro-convulsive—
Lasdun sees her looking and snaps the file shut.
    'Euphemia has had a variety of diagnoses from a variety of ... of professionals during her stay at Cauldstone. Suffice to say, Miss Lockhart, my colleague and I have worked closely with Euphemia during our recent schedule of Rehabilitation Programmes. We are fully convinced of her docility and are very confident about her successful rehabilitation into society.' He treats her to what he must think is a caring smile.
    'And I suppose,' Iris says, 'that this opinion of yours has nothing to do with the fact that this place is being closed down and sold for its land value?'
    He fidgets with a pot of pens, taking two out, laying them on the desk, then putting them back. 'That, of course, is another matter. Our question to you is,' he gives her that