Chapter 2: Johari's Window

Unsolicited Caller

Joe is at his desk when his mobile rings.

The screen announces an 02 number he does not recognise.

Joe sighs. He has had a rash of marketing calls recently of the “Hi, according to our records you were involved in a road traffic accident recently. Text YES to this number to discuss applying for compensation” variety. Ironically, Joe has suffered a major trauma in his life which has left him injured, and his wife even more so, but there is no compensation on offer for these all-too-real injuries. This will probably be yet another time waster — but equally it could be related to one of the projects he is involved with. He answers the call, anyway.

“Can I speak with Joseph McEwan?”

“Yes”, says Joe with more brightness in his voice than he feels.

“Oh hi, Joe. It’s Annie Elba...”

Joe’s heart sinks. The Police Psychologist, for goodness sake. Someone he could definitely do without speaking to just at the moment. He is definitely not in the mood to have to deal with Dr Elba. Joe makes a guess that she probably wants to ask if Jenny has said anything “funny” which might give a clue to what happened during her “absence.” Absence is what they call it. Abduction, Joe has decided, is what it was. Of all the people he has had to deal with, Joe now prefers to speak with Inspector Ackroyd. His flat, slow black-country voice is a very effective antidote to the dismay and fear which stalks Joe almost every day. Reluctantly, he tries to engage with whatever it is the woman actually wants.

“Have you a minute? I thought if I called about now I would catch you at the end of the morning but before you went for lunch. Is this an OK time?”

Joe smiles at the studied casualness of Dr Elba’s patter. He hardly knows her, but she still says “Hi Joe. Is this an OK time?” Nevertheless, Dr Elba’s choice of words is disarming and Joe begins warming to her, despite his feelings of the moment.

“Er, yes, I am pretty well done. How can I help?”

“That’s actually the wrong way round. It’s more ‘how can I help you’? Can I see you in person sometime soon?”

“To talk about Jenny?”

“No. To talk about you.”

“Me?” Joe begins to feel very much more anxious now. Have the police begun to wonder if he was in some way involved in Jenny’s abduction?

“Yes. You and Jenny have both suffered a really significant psychological trauma. I know Laura Malvern is looking after Jenny and it’s probably best if she does not also look after you. It avoids a conflict of interest and Jenny will want to know that what she says to Laura can’t accidentally leak out in any session Laura has with you. Anyway, I just thought you might find it helpful if we had some time together ourselves. What do you think?”

“Isn’t there another conflict of interest here as well? Jenny doesn’t really like you. I don’t want to feel I am some sort of informer — well obviously I don’t — so what about the things I might say to you? Where would they go?”

“I think if you have any information about Jenny’s time away, you should tell it to Brian Ackroyd. I was just thinking about you. Why don’t you think things over and let me know?”

Joe sighs. The feeling of fatigue begins to build inside him again, yet here was an offer of help...

“OK. Let’s meet. But where? I do not think the house would be good. I don’t really want to see you here at the office...”

“The house? The office? No way, but I could find some neutral ground in Coventry. Would that work?”

“Neutral ground sounds like a building site.”

“I was thinking about a redevelopment site. A friend of mine works at the Cathedral. I could borrow a room. It’s easy to get to. What do you think?”

Blitz and Reconstruction

On the night of 14 November 1940, the Luftwaffe razed Coventry almost completely to rubble, destroying 4,300 homes, two-thirds of the other buildings, and leaving the city centre in ruins. Amongst the buildings lost was the sublime Gothic Cathedral of St Michael. In the years after the war, the building was replaced by the flashy and confident architect Basil Spence, and the new cathedral has become something of a symbol of regeneration and reconciliation (1.) (2.).

Joe plays with these ideas in his mind as he approaches the building, the gaunt and blackened skeleton of the old cathedral standing in attendance to one side.

Joe feels no desire for “reconciliation” with Jenny’s abductors. He would like to feel that he was reconciled with his wife and there was no doubt at all concerning the need to see regeneration in their relationship. Perhaps, he thinks, Dr Elba has chosen a suitable venue for their meeting after all?

She is standing in front of the main door. She does not disappoint his first memory of her. She is wearing a black leather biker jacket with a bright blue scarf at the neck. She wears blue denim jeans which end far enough above her ankles to show a pair of bright blue-and-white striped socks disappearing into a pair of cherry red Doc Martens shoes, the red of the uppers set off by the yellow stitching joining the uppers to the dark brown soles.

Despite himself, Joe feels a thrill of sexual interest in her — and then feels a stab of guilt about wanting a woman who was not his wife and wanting that other woman here, of all places.

Dr Elba sees Joe, smiles broadly, and walks up to him, shaking his hand. Joe’s hand is cold and rough. Annie Elba’s hand is warm and soft.

“You need coffee — and cake,” she says. “Let’s eat before we talk. There is a branch of Starbucks over in Broadgate.”

The short walk through the city centre and the conviviality of Starbucks warms Joe both physically and emotionally. Now, sitting with Annie in a small quiet room in the Cathedral, he feels much more relaxed and ready to talk. This is probably one of the techniques used by psychologists, he thinks, to help their clients open up. He has to admit that the technique clearly works. He also wonders if this is one of the ways Jenny’s abductors wormed themselves into her mind and her affection? Did she ever sit with one of her abductors, drinking coffee?

Joe begins. “So, why the interest in me?”

“I am still attached to the case, as you might say. I am also a psychologist.

“You are a victim of crime — well, we are not exactly sure, but it’s a fair guess. Jenny is getting looked after by Laura Malvern, so I thought I should look after you.”

“I am paying for Jennifer’s care — and I am glad to pay, but how much are you going to be?”

“Ah, well, you are part of the investigation so I am being paid for by the ‘Met’.”

“So, is this an interrogation then?”

“No, it’s really not. I just wanted to see if you are OK and I thought it was part of my duty of care to touch base with you, to see how you are getting on, to talk a bit about how it’s been with you and Jenny, and to give you some advice on how you should deal with some of the things she might say or do. If it looks as if you are going to need more extensive counseling yourself, I will point you to someone here who could look after you, but not Laura Malvern, for reasons we both know.”

“Were you in Coventry anyway?”

“No, I came up specially to see you when you agreed to meet me.”

“Ah.”

“So, what’s it been like?”

“Odd.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t really know where to begin.”

“Mmmm?

“If I say things, do you have to report everything to Inspector Grantby?”

“If Jenny was planning to rob the Bank of England, I’m sure Chief Inspector Grantby would be interested to hear all about it, but surely we are not talking about that sort of thing, are we?”

“Jenny attacked — sexually attacked — her friend.”

Annie Elba visibly winces. “Oh, now that is serious. You had better tell me about that.”

“It was just before Jenny began to see Laura Malvern...”

“Before we go on, has she done anything similar since she has been seeing Laura?”

“No, not at all.”

“Does Laura know?”

“I am not exactly sure. Jenny and Laura meet on their own.”

“Oh ... well, Joseph, I did not expect to be in so deep, so soon. I think you should tell Laura — or I could, if you would prefer?”

“Can I tell you what happened, first?”

“Yes, please...”

“Jenny had gone back to work to see their Human Resources people and had a pretty unpleasant encounter with her Professor. You know Jenny’s friend, Cathy Corbin. had identified some academic work Jenny had done here before she disappeared, written up in a foreign journal after she went away?”

“Yes, I had heard that.”

“I think Professor Dawney accused Jenny of deliberately giving data away to the Professor’s foreign competitors. Anyway, Jenny went to see Cathy afterwards, to recover from the verbal attack she had suffered at the hands of the Prof, and Cathy asked too many questions. The result was that Jenny had a major flashback and tried to rape Cathy. Cathy told me that she thought Jenny was doing some of the things she must have been forced to do or was expected to do when she was away.”

“So how on earth did matters end?”

“Cathy managed to talk Jenny down. Told her to stop and she stopped. Like an automaton.”

“She has been all right since? She has not behaved like this to anyone else?”

“No. Jenny has not been back at work. She stays at home till I get back. She goes to see Laura Malvern — well, I take her.

“The only other thing was when she came to Birmingham with me. I had a meeting at Aston University and Jenny went to the shops. She got lost...”

“Anyone could get lost in Birmingham...”

“I know, but she called her abductors to ask for help, not me. I was so ... so ... well, I didn’t know what to think.”

“Mmm, I heard about that, too. Strange foreign women ringing you up and giving you orders...”

“Yes. Not very nice, really.”

“No. Not nice at all.”

Dr Elba looks carefully at Joe and says:

“Are you afraid of Jenny, now she has attacked her friend?”

“Afraid?”

“Yes. Afraid she might do the same to you?”

Joe sits back in his chair and takes a deep breath. It had not occurred to him to be afraid of his wife. Should he be? Although she was a woman she was now an Amazon of a woman. He had seen her at the Gym. He had seen her lift weights easily that he struggled to lift at all. When he thought about it, she could most likely overpower him in a fight, or in a rape...”

“Do you know”, says Joe, “I have spent two years longing to be back with Jenny that it never occurred to me that I should be afraid of her. Cathy – that’s the girl Jenny raped – said she did not think I was in any danger but just to get professional help for her, to keep Jenny calm and to keep her away from people she could not handle, like Professor Dawney. What you are asking me to think about is if I have I got back the girl I lost? That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is. Jenny will be deeply marked by her experiences. That will make her a different person. And you are different, too. In due course, you might need counseling as a couple if you find your relationship is becoming difficult.”

“Do you think I should be afraid of Jenny?”

“No, I don’t but I just wanted to know if you yourself had concerns and plant the idea that you have both changed, that you will never get back to exactly where you were before and for some couples it proves difficult to the point of impossible to go on in life together. You two might need other help. Do not be afraid to ask for it. Ask me or ask Laura Malvern and we will make the best arrangements we can but both of you would have to want help. You can’t have counseling for someone else or on someone else’s behalf. If you need relationship counseling, both of you have to want it.”

“Let’s change the subject,” Annie Elba continues, “So what’s it like at home?”

“It’s like being married to one of the Stepford Wives (3.). Jenny is obsessed with cleaning. All the tins and packets in the cupboards are aligned. The house is immaculate. You could eat your dinner off the kitchen floor. All our clothes and the sheets and towels are perfectly organized in the drawers. When Jenny and I go to the supermarket, she has me buy ... I suppose you would call it ‘athlete’s food.’ Salad. Vegetables. Fish. Lean meat...”

“So, no burgers?”

“Absolutely no burgers. No cake or sweet stuff, either. Porridge for breakfast. Only rye bread. Fruit — well, berries, but no sugary fruit like grapes — and we mostly drink black tea and water and hardly ever any wine and she always wants us to be in bed for half past nine in the evening.”

“Did she...”

“Buy this sort of stuff before? No. We bought ‘normal’ things. I mean, I suppose this is very good for me — for us — but it is very different to what we did before and now she will not vary from it. I just feel someone else has taken over our lives and is dictating how we live. Even down to how we clean our teeth.”