‘They were from Malden’s,’ she said. ‘Malden Medical Supplies – we deal with them for all our regular stock: dressings, zimmer frames, disposables – that sort of thing. When I saw the tablets I remember being surprised because I didn’t know they did pharmaceuticals too. I assumed it was a new departure.’
Malden’s. I was surprised too but I needed to concentrate on getting as much from Mrs Knight as I could while she was still reeling from the news I’d given her.
‘What about Ernest Theakston?’
‘Sorry?’ She narrowed her eyes as if to focus her hearing.
‘Ernest Theakston, he was here until he got transferred to Kingsfield. What medication was he on?’
‘I don’t know.’ She riffled through the card index on her desk and then stood up and opened the top drawer of the filing cabinet and pulled out another batch of file cards.
‘Was he on thioridazine too? Or anything from a different chemist?’
She found the card and scanned it. ‘No.’ She looked across at me puzzled. What was I getting at?
‘Mrs Palmer’s tablets, they were the first time Dr Goulden had supplied them directly?’
‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘Now and again he’ll give us a free sample. Like I said, he gets so much from the reps.’
‘But not in the case of Mr Theakston?’
‘No.’
‘And you’ve not had any drugs from Malden’s before?’
‘No.’
‘How long was Mr Theakston here?’
‘Four years.’ Nothing like the quick sojourn that Lily had made.
‘And why did he go into Kingsfield?’
‘He’d deteriorated. Dr Goulden wanted an assessment.’
‘Deteriorated? In what way? What was wrong with him?’
‘Alzheimer’s. We can cope with the early stages but when it really progresses and they need twenty-four-hour care there’s better provision elsewhere.’
‘What happened to Mr Theakston?’
‘I don’t know.’
It was frustrating. I’d anticipated some dramatic pattern linking the fate of Lily Palmer and Ernest Theakston but their histories seemed quite distinct. Ernest Theakston, like some of the people from Aspen Lodge, had stayed several years in the home before going to the Marion Unit and he’d not had any dodgy drugs.
She obviously didn’t know about Goulden’s connection with Malden’s and I wasn’t going to enlighten her.
‘This is awful,’ she said. ‘We certainly won’t want to use them in future, not for anything like that. This is just…awful.’ She put away the cards and returned to her desk. ‘What’s Dr Goulden said? He must be furious.’
‘I haven’t spoken to him yet.’
‘Oh dear. I’ll have to tell Mrs Valley-Brown. Look,’ she swallowed and swung back her hair, ‘what I said, about the tablets being found again, that doesn’t need to come out, does it? I’d no idea then…I was just following Dr Goulden’s advice. If I’d known…’