Chapter 3 - Favours

Imogen left the room with the police officer. Karen was alone with her thoughts. Then she had an idea. She dialed for her friend Julie, who taught at Mt Lockyer primary school. “Hi Hun, how’s your memory today?”

“Hmm, try your luck”.

“Imogen Thomas, she’s sixteen now. Were you teaching her at the age of seven?”

“Whew, now you’re asking.. Oh yes, how could I forget Imogen. She was struggling with her maths like most kids when all of a sudden, ZOOM!, she took off with it.”

“Anything else about her?”

“She seemed to have some odd moods about that time. Never could put my finger on it. There never was an incident that I could link to these moods and so it was forgotten about. Come to think of it the opposite happened. Some of the other girls were giving her a hard time but then cut her some slack and she became more popular.”

The two women caught up on gossip and the conversation ended very amiably. A voice in the back of Karens head spoke up: She’s the monster that Mummy and Daddy warned you about. Karen silently chided herself. This girl was sick, if she couldn’t be treated then society would have to be protected from her. But the primary goal was treatment. She was a professional.

The following day Karen could sense the appreciation from her colleagues that Imogen had been taken off their hands. Hans waved her into his office. “How was yesterday?” The fact that Imogen had taken 90 minutes from an eight hour day was beside the point. Karen knew who he was asking about. They were close enough that Karen could help herself to his coffee machine as they spoke, “Imogen is highly unusual, possibly unique.”

“This is where scientific progress is made, yes.”, stated Hans

Fuck, the politics had already started. “If we can hold on to her, the judge may have a different opinion.”

Hans gave a satisfied smile, “You will find the judge is being very reasonable with this case.” The phone rang, Hans handed it to her. “Sorry about interrupting you Dr Watson, It’s Barbara, Imogens carer. Imogen has requested textbooks not in our library. Tough ones at that. Einstein, math, electromagnetics.”

“Are they genuine textbooks, not parodies.”

“They’re the real deal, she found them online. The local bookstore has them, all three books together are under the $200 limit. Imogen said that having declared him, Einstein that is, to be true the least she could do was to read what the gentleman had to say. Are you sure she is only sixteen.”

“Positive. Make the purchase, observe her. Ciao.”

Hans continued, “We need to find out everything we can about her background. Herself, her parents, in laws, neighbours, friends, teachers, parents work colleagues. Some very high profile people that we know have watched your interview with her yesterday and they are very curious to establish her developmental pathway.”

“She is not some animal in a zoo, Hans”

“No, she is a child in need of treatment, the sooner we can understand her condition the better off she shall be. You are indulging in mutually exclusive thinking, perhaps?”

Karen silently conceded that he had a point. “All this is going to take time, which unfortunately is not available in my schedule.”

“As of now you have been relieved of all your other clients who have been spread out among your colleagues. You are to devote all your resources to Imogen and any others like her which may, or may not, come your way. Think of it as a measure of my faith in your abilities. There is a possibility we have a new mental illness on our hands. We don’t want to be caught off our guard like we were with autism.”

“That’s hardly fair on the rest of the team.”

“Agreed, but they have accepted the situation for now. This is an exciting opportunity for you Karen. I hope you enjoy it.”

“Well, yes. Your faith in me is appreciated. It’s just come in such a rush. Thank you.”

Karen went to her office and took a deep breath. Ok, so she had an unusual client. But why so much fuss so quickly. Not only was Imogen unusual, but she was also headline material with what she had done. Maybe Hans knew he was running out of time to put his name to a new disorder? Probably.

She had a thought, dismissed it with a smile but it came back to her. She reached for her mobile and couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. She had met William while at Curtin University. He was athletic, tall, a good talker and fun to be with. It sounded exciting when he told her that he was undertaking an anti-terrorism degree. Then she read about places like Guantanamo Bay so she shied away from him.

They met at a bar a few years later when both had graduated. It was an amiable night out for them but they did not progress further. They exchanged business cards. She read the number from the card and dialed.

“Hello Dr Karen Watson. How’s it going.”

“Hi, how did you know it was me?”

“Your number.”

“But it’s set to private.”

“Ha ha. Not private enough. We see many things.”, he answered in a wizard like voice. His voice normalised. “If you could make free calls by setting your number to private you could trust the feature. But how else could you be billed if your phone didn’t send out the number anyway. Think it through baby and tell me I’m not some crazy conspiracy theorist.”

Karen chuckled light heartedly. “Can I ask a really big favour from you? It shouldn’t be too hard.”

“That’s an oxymoron.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Fire away.”

“I have a client, Imogen MacBeth, 16 years old. Daughter of Roger and Darlene MacBeth, residing in Albany.”

“Hmm, just a sec, got her. Goes to Mt Lockyer Senior High School. Lets get an independent opinion of your little angel. Last school report: Imogen is a brilliant student who has achieved an outstanding result. She upholds the values of her school and is supportive of her fellow students. What’s a nice girl like that doing with a shrink like you?”

“Sorry William. Confidential.”

“Oh come now Karen, we have a country to think about. Besides, I’d rather hear it from you than your PsychoPy version 1.78 software.”

“William, I’m serious. I have a professional code to abide by!”

“That same professional code requires you to computerise your records and keep a daily back up off site, I have to wonder why, don’t you? One way or the other we are going to collect our end of the bargain. You may as well cooperate and reap the benefits of a constructive relationship.”

Karen slammed the phone down.