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did he ever talk to her?’
    He shook his head. ‘There wasn’t time and she
wouldn’t have seen him anyway. She was quite determined
to plead guilty. I assume Mr Crew told you
that she wrote to the Home Office demanding an
independent psychiatric report to prove that she was
competent to plead?’ Roz nodded. ‘After that there
was really nothing we could do. It was an extraordinary
business,’ he mused. ‘Most defendants fall
over themselves to come up with excuses.’
    ‘Mr Crew seems convinced she’s a psychopath.’
    ‘I think I’d agree with him.’
    ‘Because of what she did to Amber and her mother?
You don’t have any other evidence?’
    ‘No. Isn’t that enough?’
    ‘Then how do you explain that five psychiatrists have all diagnosed her normal?’ Roz looked up. ‘She’s
had several sessions, as far as I can gather, in the
prison.’
    ‘Who told you this? Olive?’ He looked sceptical.
    ‘Yes, but I spoke to the Governor afterwards and
she verified it.’
    He shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t place too much reliance
on it. You’d have to see the reports. It depends who
wrote them and why they were testing her.’
    ‘Still, it’s odd, don’t you think?’
    ‘In what way?’
    ‘You’d expect some measurable level of sociopathic
behaviour over a period of time if she was a
psychopath.’
    ‘Not necessarily. Prison may be the sort of controlled
environment that suits her. Or perhaps her
particular psychopathy was directed against her family.
Something brought it on that day and once rid of
them, she settled down.’ He shrugged again. ‘Who
knows? Psychiatry is hardly an exact science.’ He was
silent for a moment. ‘In my experience, well-adjusted
people don’t hack their mothers and their sisters to
death. You do know they were still alive when she set
to with the axe?’ He smiled grimly. ‘She knew it, too.
Don’t imagine she didn’t.’
    Roz frowned. ‘There is another explanation,’ she
said slowly, ‘but the trouble is, while it fits the facts,
it’s too absurd to be credible.’
    He waited. ‘Well?’ he asked at last.
    ‘Olive didn’t do it.’ She saw his amused disbelief
and hurried on. ‘I’m not saying I go along with it,
I’m just saying that it fits the facts.’
    ‘ Your facts,’ he pointed out gently. ‘It seems to me
you’re being a little selective in what you choose to
believe.’
    ‘Maybe.’ Roz remembered her extremes of mood
of the previous evening.
    He watched her for a moment. ‘She knew a great
deal about the murders for someone who wasn’t responsible
for them.’
    ‘Do you think so?’
    ‘Of course. Don’t you?’
    ‘She doesn’t say anything about her mother trying
to ward off the axe and the carving knife. But that
must have been the most frightening part. Why didn’t
she mention it?’
    ‘Shame. Embarrassment. Traumatic amnesia. You’d
be surprised how many murderers blot what they’ve
done from their memories. Sometimes it’s years
before they come to terms with their guilt. In any
case, I doubt the struggle with her mother was as
frightening for Olive as you suggest. Gwen Martin
was a tiny woman, five feet at the most, I would think.
Physically, Olive took after her father, so containing
her mother would have been easy for her.’ He saw
the hesitation in Roz’s eyes. ‘Let me put a question
to you . Why would Olive confess to two murders she
didn’t commit?’
    ‘Because people do.’
    ‘Not when they have their lawyers present, Miss
Leigh. I accept that it happened, which is why new
rules were introduced governing the taking of evidence,
but Olive did not fall into the category of
either forced confession or having her confession subsequently
tampered with. She had legal representation
throughout. So I repeat, why would she confess to
something she didn’t do?’
    ‘To protect someone else?’ She was relieved they
weren’t in court. He was a bruising