Chapter 22 Chapter 21

As a woman, Jackson has always been proud of his own judgment.After visiting the second patient, Jackson returned to the parking lot to find her car abandoned there alone, with an ominous sense of panic.Now how to do?Her eyes searched the well-lit road, and there was no sign of Acklan, and there was nothing under the car's windshield wipers to indicate where he had gone or why.If it wasn't for the lingering suspicion she had about what he had been doing the night before, she wasn't even sure what was scaring her. She dialed Daisy's cell phone, "Hey... no, everything is fine, but Charles seems to be missing again. Is he with you?"

"What do you mean by 'again'?" Daisy sounded annoyed. "Has he been back?" There was a lot of noise from customers around her. "He was waiting for me in the car when I made my rounds. He said he had been gone overnight." "Oh, come on! You must stop this, Jackson. It's ridiculous. You have no duty to him!" Jackson sighed. "We'll talk about that later. I just wanted to know if he was with you, that's all." "I don't know . . . unless he's in his room. Would you like me to check?" "No," Jackson said angrily, "leave him alone."

Daisy came out of the bar and came to the corridor, her voice became clear. "What's going on?" Her tone was puzzled this time, "Why are you so worried about him all of a sudden? You're not his mother, Jackson...although I'm beginning to doubt all of this." Jackson saw a slender figure behind a van about 50 yards away. "Forget it," she said briefly, "I'll talk to you later." "It can't go on like this," Daisy said sullenly. "You hardly even look at me these days." Jackson's expression was serious. "Okay, stop," she snapped, "I hate it too, but it bothers me too, for no reason."

"Then it bothers me to stop him from treating me like I don't exist at all...don't you notice?" "You're so nasty to him. He feels threatened by you." "Is that what he told you?" "yes." "You just believed him?" "Of course I can take into account that he doesn't know how to deal with a lesbian with sexy cleavage." Aclan walked towards this side, and Jackson lowered his voice, "He's back, I have to hang up in a minute .” "Then tell him that if he thinks I should be wearing a burqa that shows only the eyes, he's dead wrong!" said Daisy angrily, "for God's sake this is my house. If he doesn't like the way I do things, he can leave."

"That's exactly what he meant when he came out with me," Jackson said in a low voice. .Next time, I won't wait for you anymore." "That's what you should do this time. Your next patient is only two blocks away. If you don't wait for me, I'll meet you there too." "Thanks for telling me," she said sharply, "couldn't you leave a note or something . . . and save me the trouble of looking around for you?" He pointed to the van, "I can see you from over there. If you had just gotten into the van instead of calling, I would have run over."

She opened the trunk and put the bag in, "Why didn't you run?" A few humorous curves formed around Akram's good eyes. "Maybe I'm testing you. Maybe I want to see how long you can wait." "Let's talk nonsense," she said impatiently, "I'm not in the mood for jokes." He glanced at the mobile phone in her hand, "Daisy made you sad again?" "No." She put the phone in her pocket, "What happened to the truck?" "Nothing, I'm just using it as cover." "What are you covering for?" "Observe an apartment on that block." He pointed his chin at a modern masonry building across from the van.

"Great! So, now you're not only a stalker, but a voyeur?" The curve of humor around Ackram's eyes deepened. "That's Jen's apartment. Some of my stuff. I wonder if it's still there. I moved in there when we got engaged." He shook his head at Jackson. "Nothing. The shades are drawn." She met his eyes for a moment, remembering how he had always insisted that everything he owned was in his travel bag.She also had the same question as the police, how can a person live on such a little thing. "I didn't think you had any other property in London than what you're carrying."

"I don't really have any more, I have them for myself. I'm just curious if she still has some of them. There are some artefacts I brought back from South Africa a few years ago—" he cut off abruptly , as if I said too much. "Are you sure you don't want to take another look at Jen?" Jackson sat back in the driver's seat. Aklan shook his head, "About 15 minutes ago, I saw her leaving in a taxi. So I decided to go up and have a look." The corners of his mouth pouted slightly, "She was with a client... a little fat guy , about this high," he raised his palm to his shoulders, "I can't see it clearly, but it might be a small Japanese. She used to always say that the Japanese are the easiest to be fooled."

"about what?" "The difference between Uma Thurman and a cheap whore." On the way to the Crown Bar, Jones gave Bill an overview of his conversation with Ben, "He was ready to answer questions about attacking Walter Tudin, and quickly talked about why it couldn't be him." "Do you think he was involved?" "Not necessarily. He could just be afraid of being accused of a crime he didn't commit. It depends on what aspect of himself he thinks he needs to defend. He hasn't been off the TV since his incarceration, the Walter case certainly Big news for the weekend."

"Besides that, there's the rape in Richman Park, the knife attack in Lytton Stone, and all kinds of fights outside bars," Bill reasoned, "why would he Thinking of Walter, not the other assaults?" "That's what we need to figure out. If he's not responsible for the attack, he might be able to point to possible suspects." "Have you asked him?" "No," Jones said suddenly wearily, "I need something stronger than guesswork to compel that little guy to tell the truth." He was silent for a moment. "Any luck with Jock? Have you found him?"

"Not yet. Kahn has tracked down the women Charles Ackland mentioned, but they haven't seen him for weeks." "Which women?" "Five lesbians in Docklands," Bill told him. "According to Kahn, they said that Jock was lying if he claimed to have any friendship with them. They avoided him as much as possible...he was scary when he was drunk, and he was always abusive when he was not drunk Hurts. The last time they saw him was three months ago." "What about the hotels and rescue centers?" Bill shook his head, "Same story. We've left contact details, maybe he'll show up again. But they all said he never came over in the summer. Everyone said he didn't fit in and liked to hang out by himself. We There was no one in the homeless population who would admit to having stayed with him." "What about the alley?" "Patrol officers check twice a night, but he's not there either." "Is he still in London?" "Don't know...but we've alerted the police in the neighboring area, but nothing so far. He seems to have slipped completely under the radar." "Have you checked the hospital?" "London only. Should I extend the radius?" Jones seemed overly pessimistic that night, as if the prolonged stress had finally broken him. "I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Even if we did find Jock, what would he say to us? He told Dr. Jackson he'd only known Ben for a month, and Ben didn't say how long, six weeks at most." "Assume one of them is telling the truth." "Why didn't they tell the truth? Ben didn't know what Jock told Dr. Jackson." Bill shrugged. "I don't understand the relationship. Why would a sociopathic drunk notice if a kid is being stalked by gays?" He turned on his turn signal and turned from the main road to the Crown Bar. "If the other way around It's more reasonable—it's Ben who pities Jock." "why?" "Jock is the one who got pissed on by punks." Jackson was startled to hear Ackland call Jane a "cheap whore."For someone who is very private, this seems out of character - on purpose? — just like the last time he was willing to talk about his parents.She remembered that at the end of her last conversation with Robert Willis he had mentioned what Susan Campbell had told him. "According to the police, Jane is a high-class prostitute. They asked Susan if the reason why Charles wanted to marry Jane was to save her." The psychiatrist paused, "I think it's another matter...Charles just Completely unaware of what Jen was doing at first, only to find out later that he had been sharing Jen with clients, and he wasn't able to handle the situation properly." "Not many people can." "Indeed," said Willis, "I can imagine many people in the same situation taking revenge the way Charles did. Sex was a major issue for him—probably because she gave or refused as she pleased. " "That doesn't excuse him," Jackson said. "What if he had developed a penchant for rape?" "All the evidence is to the contrary," Willis said. "If he's comfortable with what he's doing, he's not as ashamed. Frankly, if you tell me he's sitting in a bar all day without saying a word I would have been more concerned if I stared at Daisy frantically. Predatory rapists have intense sexual desires and tend to use pornography and voyeurism to support their fantasies...but that description does not fit Charles." Yes, Jackson thought, the best description is the sheriff's "monk."She turned the key and started the car. "Are you saying Jane is a whore?" she asked Ackland, as if she hadn't known it before. "She's a high-priced waitress, nothing more than a whore." He sounded nonchalant. "What does she need money for?" Jackson said as he drove off. He stared blankly out the windshield, "She lost her meal ticket. It used to be me paying for everything until I stopped being a fool." He chuckled, "I thought she was a struggling Actress, can't afford the rent. It's ridiculous." "Where did she actually spend the money?" "You take your pick. The last time I went to her apartment, she was heating crack cocaine." The day of the rape? "What happened?" "She told me to take some cocaine too and just relax." "Did you smoke?" Akram shook his head. "when did it happen?" “The weekend before I left for Iraq at the end of September. It was a relief, in a ridiculous way. It would be easier to accept if the drugs could be blamed.” He fell silent. "whats the matter?" "Be an idiot. At the beginning, she was the most confident person I met. There was never anything to worry her about, just like a sudden windfall... appearance and personality are all wrapped up." He said in his throat A half-smile voice, "I should realize that such a nice person can't be real." Jackson gave him a sympathetic look. "What do you know about drug addiction, Charles?" "It destroys people." "It definitely changes a person's personality," she said calmly, "it can produce all sorts of effects—high pleasure, heightened libido, overwhelming self-confidence—but you don't recognize it as a drug-induced trait unless They tell you. The downside is the aggression and paranoia it creates, especially in people who have been using cocaine for a long time.” Acland said nothing. "When did you find out?" "About what? Drugs or prostitution?" "casual." "I told her the day the relationship ended." "At the end of September." Aklan shook his head, "It's closer to the beginning of the month. She's not happy to see me break up. Men don't dump Jane...not until they've been treated like a fool enough." Jackson stopped before the next ward.She found the timing and details of their engagement's end confusing, "Why did you go back to her at the end of September?" Aklan began to squeeze his knuckles again, "Go get my things. She shouldn't be there. We had an agreement, I used my key to open the door, and left the key when I left. She broke the contract, so Like she broke everything." "I'm surprised you thought you could trust her." He stared at his hands. "I don't trust her. I just wish she'd acted a little more rationally." Bill pulled the Toyota into the parking space in front of the Crown Bar and leaned forward to see a woman emerge from the side of the bar. "See that blond beauty?" he asked Jones. "That's Jean Morley...Charles Ackland's ex-girlfriend...the call girl I visited with Kahn the other night, that fantasy I am Uma Thurman's man." The sheriff followed his gaze and saw her brushed-back hair and high-necked bodysuit. "She might even pass Uma a bit tonight. It's not the last time I saw her." They saw her walk towards a waiting taxi, and a short, stocky man climbed out from the back seat and held the door for her. "Does she have a criminal record? Have you checked it?" Jones watched the taxi leave. "She was arrested two years ago, in a lightning raid on a crack cocaine den in south London, and she was classified as a drug addict, picking the wrong time to visit the dealer. She was warned, But no charges were made. I found no other records." Jones glanced again to the unlit passage on the side of the bar. "Is there a high chance there's a drug dealer there?" "High," Bill said matter-of-factly, "from the perspective of me and Kahn that night, she was very addicted to drugs. I don't think there is any support. She is unlikely to be with a client for hours at a time." The body of a man was found in the River Thames in Woolwich this morning.The deceased had a beard, gray hair, average build, and was wearing a brown coat. His identity was unknown.The police are investigating.