Page 17 of Guilty Mothers
‘You’re not at all intrigued?’ Stacey asked.
Penn shook his head.
‘It’s her mother,’ Stacey exclaimed. ‘I’m sure Freud has a lot to say on the subject, but from a layman’s point of view, our mothers are everything. We’re dependent on them from conception. They house us, they feed us for nine months and then we’re completely reliant on them once we pop out. It’s the most nurturing bond in existence. How does that transform into those crime-scene photos we saw earlier?’
‘It doesn’t endure,’ Penn said after a minute’s thought. ‘We don’t consciously recall the supplying and nurturing, so as we grow up, we become immersed in our own emotions. And there’s always some kind of emotion involved in taking a life, whether it’s anger, hatred, jealousy – or, for the really depraved, joy.
‘There are hundreds of examples. Remember the filmHeavenly Creatures? That was based on Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who bludgeoned Pauline’s mother because they didn’t want to be separated. Did you ever seeSavage Grace?’
Stacey shook her head. She had yet to discuss any subject with Penn where she didn’t learn something.
‘It’s about Antony Baekeland, who murdered his mother in 1972 at their luxurious London apartment. It was said that she’d raped him to cure him of his homosexuality.’
‘Jeez, even Freud would have his work cut out with that one,’ she said.
‘Susan Cabot, an actress in the fifties, was beaten to death by her son in 1986. Doctor Kathleen Hagen, a prominent urologist, killed her mother and father in 2000 and was acquitted on the grounds of insanity. Jennifer Pan staged a home invasion that led to the murder of her mother in 2010. Dee Dee Blanchard was murdered by her nineteen-year-old daughter, Gypsy-Rose, in 2015. Then there’s?—’
‘Hang on,’ Stacey interrupted. ‘Although I can’t reel off countless cases of matricide cos, like, I’m not a freak, even I know that some of those cases are extreme. Didn’t Dee Dee Blanchard terrorise Gypsy-Rose for years due to Munchausen syndrome by proxy?’
‘Exactly. Killing a parent, especially a mother, would require some intense emotion of some kind.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe Sheryl was the critical type and she just said the wrong thing over coffee.’
‘But the drinks weren’t touched,’ Stacey offered. ‘The boss said the cups were still by the kettle. It didn’t look like Sheryl had much chance to say anything. Doesn’t sound like a sudden fit of rage over elevenses, does it?’
‘You think it was premeditated, like Katie already had the plan in her head on the way over?’ Penn asked.
‘It sure looks that way. Almost like she discovered something and came to confront her mother.’
‘Well, if she doesn’t speak, we’re likely never gonna know,’ he said, looking at his watch. ‘And on that note I’m off back downstairs for the doctor’s verdict. Let’s just hope it’s the one the boss wants.’
Stacey’s head was still spinning with information when Penn left the room, but now another question was uppermost in her mind.
What intense emotion had propelled Katie?
FOURTEEN
‘Shit, shit, shit,’ Kim said after ending the call from Penn. She was annoyed but relieved at the same time.
She had known to proceed with caution after Katie’s performance in the custody suite, and it appeared the on-call doc agreed with her.
There were exceptions in the regs that allowed an interview to take place even when someone was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, or when someone had a mental disorder or disability, but to get permission she had criteria to prove. And that was a struggle here.
Katie was unable to interfere with evidence. She couldn’t interfere with other people; she couldn’t harm others or lose or damage property, confer with co-conspirators or delay recovery of property connected to the offence. There was no reason to question her urgently.
Kim understood the reasons for the protection. In England and Wales, a person could be convicted of a crime solely on confessional evidence, meaning that any interview was admissible.
‘So, what now?’ Bryant asked, taking the motorway island and heading towards Oldbury.
‘She’ll be transferred to Bushey Fields pending a full mental health assessment.’
Bushey Fields was a psychiatric hospital attached to Russells Hall Hospital. Within the facility was a suite where the police could place anyone with suspected mental disorders. The unit was secure but separate from other patients. During the seventy-two hours they were authorised to hold her, Katie would be assigned a team of professionals including a psychiatrist.
‘All I know is she’s now off limits. Can’t ask her anything. Not even why she lied to her landlord about her mum being dead. We need to get our information elsewhere, and let’s hope this is a good place to start,’ she said as Bryant parked the car in a road behind the Sainsbury’s superstore.
The woman who had answered the number they’d found at Katie’s had been very cagey about who she was until Kim had given her a brief rundown of why she had the card.
The woman had given them her address and stated she was free for the rest of the day. Free from what Kim had no idea.
The property was a two-storey detached Victorian terrace. There was no sign at the front door to indicate the occupant was practising her profession at home.