Page 106 of The Boathouse By the Loch

Her shoulders sagged. They were in a small interview room. She’d waived her right to free legal advice before being questioned. She didn’t want to sit in a prison cell waiting for a lawyer to arrive. She just wanted to get on with finding out who the hell she was.

She glanced at the door. ‘Where would I go?’ She thought of Judith going back to Lark Lodge. Gayle had been quick to disownthe fake Robyn, as, no doubt, had everyone else. She had absolutely nowhere to go. Until she found out who she was, she had nobody.

She looked at Sean. If it turned out she had broken the law, then she’d just have to face the consequences. All she wanted at that moment was to know her own name. ‘Will you help me, Sean?’ she pleaded as he handed her a paper cup of water.

‘Yes. But you’ve got to help me.’

She frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Where is Robyn Parker?’

‘I … I don’t know. I told you, I can’t remember what I was doing on that road on Christmas Day. I woke up in hospital and didn’t even know my name. The police did a DVLA search on the vehicle and assumed I was the owner of the car. And I believed them. I had no reason not to.’

Sean nodded. ‘Yes, I know. As I said, I read the report.’

Robyn realised something just then. She wasn’t in handcuffs, but she wasn’t free to leave.

Sean leaned forward in his chair. ‘We want to know your identity.’

‘As do I!’ And she knew just the person who might be able to find out. It didn’t appear that the police were going to be much help. She just needed to contact the person she had in mind. ‘I still get a phone call – don’t I?’ They’d already offered her a phone call, but she’d declined because she hadn’t known who to call until that moment.

‘Yes, you can make one phone call. May I suggest you consider who you choose to contact wisely.’

She looked at his earnest expression. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I would suggest contacting a lawyer.’

She smiled. ‘That’s exactly what I intend to do.’ She wished she’d thought of it when they’d first asked her.

She sighed in relief when she got straight through to Melissa. She was nervous about making the call, thinking that Melissa wouldn’t be the slightest bit interested as she would be thinking she’d been deceived. But on the contrary, Melissa was very worried about her and relieved she’d phoned her. Melissa was going to get straight on her case.

When she got off the phone, Sean was looking at her thoughtfully. He leaned forward in his chair. ‘I do have an idea about how you might get your memories back – if you’re up for it.’

Chapter 38

She sat in the interview room, waiting to find out if Marnie would be prepared to see her at such short notice for another hypnotherapy session – and so late in the day, after office hours.

She’d been surprised by Sean’s suggestion. She didn’t think it would be something the police would entertain, but as Sean had said, he wanted to help her get her memories back.

While they waited for Marnie to pick up the message and phone back, she said, ‘My friend, Gayle, suggested seeing a hypnotherapist too, but she was hopeful that seeing my stepmum would trigger my memories instead.’

Obviously that hadn’t happened, so it was just as well she’d decided to start the therapy sessions beforehand. Under the circumstances, she couldn’t imagine just walking into a stranger’s office to attend her first session in her current circumstances. At least now she already knew Marnie, and what to expect. Who knew, perhaps today, if Marnie could see her, there might be the breakthrough she needed. Of course, that didn’t help when she thought of all the wonderful friends she’d probably lost that day. She couldn’t believe her fantastic week with David at the boathouse had culminated in this – the end of the amazing lifethey had been planning to have there.

‘Except she’s not your stepmother,’ said Sean, interrupting her thoughts.

She looked at him. ‘No, she’s not.’

‘So, are you okay having another session, if it can be arranged?’

She nodded. She was lucky that there had been someone qualified locally.

The phone rang. Sean took the call. Robyn listened. It sounded as though Marnie would do the session, but not surprisingly, she wanted to conduct the session in her own office, even though Sean had told her there was a missing person – Robyn Parker – and just then they had a woman in custody who might know her whereabouts, if only she could remember.

‘I’m up for anything that will get my memories back, and reveal who I really am, even if I have to see her here,’ she interrupted the call. ‘Will you tell her that?’ She remembered thinking before her first session with Marnie that she’d rather see a hypnotherapist than Dr Jamieson’s suggestion – a psychiatrist.

Sean waved his hand in the air for her to be quiet.

She mouthed,sorry.

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