‘Check it out with the doctor,’ she agreed. ‘But there could well be a lot of denial going on, you know, from the friend. Alzheimer’s is the new scare, worse than cancer. People are very frightened. It’s understandable – you have to watch someone lose their identity, their personality. How do you keep loving someone who’s not there any more?’
‘She’s no fool, the friend,’ I defended Agnes.
‘I’m not saying she is. You could always get a second opinion – ask her old GP to come and see her or get a referral to a consultant.’ Rachel fished a sugar cube out of the bowl on her spoon.
I nodded. ‘What about her social worker?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I think there was a social worker involved with the move. Would they have made reports on the woman at the time, her state of mind and so on?’
‘Oh, yes.’ She lowered the spoon into the tiny cup, the sugar cube turned brown. ‘There’d be case notes. Probably just the standard things, a general outline of the case, assessment of needs. But from what you’ve said the social worker might only have seen her once. She’s not at risk. I wouldn’t rely too much on finding anything very illuminating there.’ She tipped the coffee-soaked cube into her mouth and sucked.
‘Wouldn’t they do any follow-up?’
‘No need. The home’s registered, they take responsibility for her care. Which one is it?’
I hesitated.
‘It’s all right,’ Rachel laughed at my caution, ‘I can keep a secret. It’s just that there’s a couple of places have got a bad name for themselves.’
‘Homelea, on Wilbraham Road.’
She shook her head. ‘Nope. Did it look OK?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Smell all right?’
‘What?’
‘It’s a good indicator. If it stinks of piss or even boiled cabbage you know they’re not doing all that they can.’
‘No, it was fine, nice. People looked busy, you know. Well, apart from the TV lounge.’
Rachel laughed. ‘There’s always a TV lounge. Mind you, we’ve all got them, haven’t we? Just looks different if you’ve a dozen people sat in high-backed chairs watching it.’
I asked Rachel a few more questions about the role of Social Services in the care of older people. She told me that in the situation I’d described it would be peripheral. My research complete I sat back and listened while Rachel chuntered on and sucked sugar cubes.
I paid the bill wondering whether it hadn’t been a rather pricey way of finding out virtually nothing. On the other hand I had enjoyed my time with Rachel. She was lively company, and when you work alone it’s fun to have lunch out. Later, though I didn’t know it then, her help was going to be invaluable. In a totally unexpected way.