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Two years later
London
1
Marlow Kane
It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.
—George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (opening line)
‘Lady Swanson is here for her appointment,’ Beryl said into the intercom, her voice at once professional and terribly impressed.
‘Send her in,’ I said, and rose from my desk.
The door opened and a classically beautiful woman entered. Her skin was very pale and as flawless as porcelain. It contrasted greatly with her shoulder-length dark hair and intensely blue eyes. Her dress and long coat were in the same cream material; her shoes exactly matched the color of her skin. The overriding impression was of an impossibly wealthy and elegant woman. Women like her lived in movies and magazines. They did not walk into the consulting rooms of disgraced hypnotists.
‘Lady Swanson,’ I said.
‘Dr. Kane,’
she murmured, her accent polished.
‘Please,’ I said and gestured toward the chair.
She came forward and sat. Looking directly into my eyes she crossed her legs. They were long and encased in the sheerest of tights.
I smiled.
She smiled back.
‘So, I believe you refused to tell Beryl your reason for coming to see me?’
‘That is correct.’
‘What can I do for you, Lady Swanson?’
‘It’s not for me. It’s for my daughter. Well, she’s my stepdaughter, but she is just like my own. I’ve raised her for the last twenty years. Since she was five years old.’
I nodded and began to raise the estimation of her age upwards. She must have been at least forty, but she didn’t look a day over twenty-eight.
‘She met with an accident about a year ago.’ Lady Swanson paused for breath. ‘And she nearly died. She had extensive internal injuries and was in hospital for many months. When she recovered she had lost her memory. She could remember certain things—like how to cook, or wear make-up—and, strangely, certain places and certain people, but she could not remember her past.’ A look of sadness crossed her lovely face. ‘She could not even remember her family.’
I nodded.
‘I was hoping hypnotherapy could help her.’ She leaned forward slightly, her lips parted. ‘Do you think you could…hypnotize her?’
I watched her and thought of the men in her life. How easy it must have been for such a beautiful woman to get anything she wanted from a man.
‘Lady Swanson, I’m not sure I am the right man for the job. Usually I treat people who want to lose weight, kick a bad habit, or who are afraid of spiders.’
‘Yes, I understand that, but you were recovering memories, were you not? You had just discovered a new experimental method when your research was cut short by that awful tragedy.’
I froze at that.
Instantly her face lost some of its glowing enthusiasm. ‘I hope you don’t think I was snooping into your private affairs. I was only interested in your professional credentials…’
Even now the reference to my family was like a knife in my heart. I struggled not to show any emotion in my face. I smiled tightly. I was aware that search engines brought the personal stuff up with the professional stuff. After the accident the two had become inextricably entwined.
