The tone of the alarm on Eve's phone always began gently but never took long to escalate into an incessant jangling sound near to her head. Behind her, she heard a heaving groan from Niko and felt the bed shift as he rolled yet further from her. Eve slipped a hand out from beneath the duvet and snatched her phone, making several attempts to slide the on-screen switch across and effectively turn off the infernal noise.
06.15, time to start the day. It was going to be a day with an unusual amount of pressure to it too, as it brought with it the first appointment with her new case. There was, Eve was able to admit to herself, a certain level of intrigue there. Who was the woman that could commit such a crime at the tender age of 15? What was Eve like when she was 15? Certainly not somebody able to enact a mutilation on an adult male, that much she could say without a doubt. This morning called for a run, something to relieve the tension before it worsened.
Eve had first started running when Leo was about 18 months old. Those 18 months had not been easy for Eve and it was only after a friend suggested she tried running that things began to turn around. For a while, nothing had been purely about Eve. Suddenly she had found herself with a life dependent on her. Her time was not her own, her body was not her own, even her relationship was not her own any more. Eve had felt unable to take more than six months off from work without jeopardising her position and so she had been torn between her career, which she loved, and the guilt at leaving her son. Now, when she looked back, that guilt was easier to define. It was not guilt for leaving her son. It was guilt that she felt so able to do so, when all the other new mothers on were distraught over spending a whole eight hours without their baby.
But Eve was the main earner in the family. Niko's paintings sold for a fair amount, when they actually sold, but Eve provided a stable, respectable income and so their roles had become set in stone. Eve would work while Niko cared for their child. It sounded simple, but it had not been without its issues. Niko had found himself taking on a role he fitted surprisingly well, and Eve found herself… relieved to be back in her job, back in the world that she understood and flourished in. And in turn, there was that guilt again. Why did she not feel she could flourish in that other world? The world where she devoted her days to her child. That's where women were supposed to feel most at home, wasn't it?
The psychologist in Eve recognised now that in those early days with Leo she presented symptoms of postnatal depression. At the time she had tried, to her detriment, to squash those feelings down. If she never gave voice to that lack of connection with her new son, then she could starve that fact of oxygen, she could extinguish her failure before anybody was any the wiser. And for the most part, that had worked. Niko had been unaware of Eve's turmoil. He remained unaware. But Elena had seen her sister suffer similarly and, without ever using the diagnostic terminology, she had suggested that Eve find something that was her own and separate to work and family. So Eve had started running, and in many ways she hadn't stopped since.
Eve extricated herself from her bed and made her way to the bathroom, splashing cold water onto her face and tying her unruly hair back before brushing her teeth and returning to the bedroom to dress in her running leggings and a light hooded sweater. She passed the snores emanating from Niko and left the bedroom. On the landing there was one door that remained partially open and Eve pushed it open further, stopping it at the point just before she knew it would creak on its hinges. Leo was sleeping peacefully, one arm drooping over the side of the bed. That was the giveaway that he was really asleep and not merely pretending. Sleeping Leo was a game that Niko had invented to his son's delight some years earlier. Its rules were pretty self-explanatory really. But Leo wasn't playing this morning. If Leo were awake, then that arm would be up and out of the way of potential monsters under the bed. Boots the cat, who had been curled at the foot of the bed, opened her eyes slowly as Eve peered into the room before standing and stretching, her back arching and her tail quivering then hopping nimbly to the floor. Eve pulled the door back to its original position as Boots slipped out of the room and offered a morning mewl to Eve. Eve bent to scratch under Boots' chin and then made her way downstairs and out of the house with a minor detour to replenish the biscuits in Boots' bowl.
Running was liberating. The pounding of Eve's feet on the pavement, her regulated breathing, the burn in her calves and lungs, it soothed her soul. It had become her lifeline at times, the only way to work out the tension of work and anything else that arose. Sure, it made her days longer. She had to run early before her son awoke or she would run the risk of eating into yet more time of the day that she should spend with him. And today, well, today the running felt exceptionally good.
By the time Eve arrived back at her own front door, she was gasping for breath and the few wisps of hair that had struggled free from their tie were sticking sweatily to her flushed forehead. She made her way directly to the kitchen in search of cold water.
"That was longer than usual." Niko said as Eve entered the kitchen.
He was seated at the kitchen table with a steaming mug of coffee and his ipad, doubtlessly showing the morning headlines on the BBC News website. Opposite him sat Leo, still in his pyjamas, rubbing his hair sleepily with one hand and pushing a cut up slice of honey toast around a plate with the other.
"Oh yeah, I got carried away this morning," Eve panted, stepping over to Leo and placing a kiss on his head.
She pulled back with a hint of honey on her lips. Clearly at some point, that honey covered hand had also been rubbing at Leo's hair.
"Good morning Little Lion." Eve said and received a roar in return as the table was sprayed with bits of chewed up toast.
Niko wiped the screen of his ipad with his sleeve and cast a look at Eve as she crossed to the sink for water and then gulped it down with a one-shouldered shrug at her husband.
"Busy day today?" Niko asked, having returned his attention to his screen.
"Mmm," Eve hummed, "New client today."
Niko nodded.
"A new one!" Leo exclaimed. "A boy or a girl?" He asked.
"A girl." Eve replied.
"In jail?" Leo asked.
The prison aspect of his mother's work had been a source of immense interest to Leo for a few months now, ever since she made an attempt to explain her job more clearly to him. He certainly was no closer to understanding her role, but the idea of prison had fascinated him ever since. The whole subject had only been compounded further when Eve's brother had given Leo a junior version of Monopoly for Christmas. Leo was now convinced that Eve was the one who made the Get Out Of Jail Free cards. Eve had begun to explain that she also sometimes made it so that people had to stayin jail, but that fact didn't seem to have stuck.
"Yes, in jail." Eve agreed.
Leo nodded knowingly.
"Bad people go to jail." Leo pointed out authoritatively.
"Well, not necessarily." Eve began, "Sometimes good people do bad things. And sometimes people aren't very well and that makes them do bad things."
Niko looked up from his ipad and raised a sceptical eyebrow at Eve as Leo cocked his head on one side and pushed one sticky finger back and forth across the table-top.
"I got sick once. Do you remember? I got sick all on the sofa. That was bad." Leo said thoughtfully.
"Yes, well—" Eve started.
"People don't go to jail for being sick on the sofa." Niko cut in.
"Oh." Leo said, and took an overly large bite of toast. "What did she do? Your new one. Where did she get sick?"
"She didn't get sick anywhere." Eve said calmly, "People don't go to jail for being sick. That's just what happens when you're poorly, isn't it?" Eve pointed out.
"So what did she do? Was she naughty?" Leo asked again.
"She was naughty a long time ago. I am going to see if she can behave better now." Eve explained patiently.
There really was no good way to explain Oksana Astankova's crime to her six-year-old son over breakfast. Actually, there were probably very few people who would want to hear the details of genital mutilation over coffee and cornflakes. And those who did want to hear about it, probably weren't the kind of people anyone would want to have breakfast with anyway.
Leo appeared to consider this new information from Eve carefully.
"Will she be bad to you?" He asked finally.
"No," Eve laughed, "She won't be bad to me." She promised.
"OK." Leo replied, immediately becoming chirpier again, "At school today we are going to do swimming!" Leo replied, waving his arms about in what was presumably a swimming stroke. Gone was the concern for his mother's safety.
"That's great!" Eve exclaimed, "Swimming is really… good exercise."
Niko snorted into his coffee cup but Eve ignored him.
"What time will you be back tonight?" Niko asked as Leo busied himself with another colossal bite of toast.
"Might be late. This new one is a bit of a drive." Eve replied, snagging a banana from the fruit bowl and peeling it.
Niko nodded.
"Back for bath time?" Leo asked, thankfully remembering to swallow his toast first this time.
"Back for bath time." Eve confirmed. And then she caught sight of the time on the digital clock on the microwave.
"Oh Sh—Sugar snaps. It's nearly eight!" Eve exclaimed, "I've got to get ready."
Eve cast an apologetic look at Niko after her near linguistic blunder, but he merely raised his eyebrows.
"Sugar snaps!" Leo chuckled, shaking his head.
"Right young man, time to get dressed." Niko said decisively, standing from the table and taking Leo's finally emptied plate. "Say goodbye to mum."
"Bye mum," Leo parroted, allowing Eve to kiss the top of his head once more before she blustered out of the room and upstairs to get ready.
"Jacob in my class is naughty." Leo said to Niko as he pushed his chair under the table and out of the way. "He should go to jail."
Niko sighed.
This was a correctional facility that Eve had been to only once before, and that had been a couple of years ago now. But, once she had secured a parking spot and made her way to the entrance, the routine of entering one of these places was the same everywhere. She was walked through a metal detector arch and was given a visitor badge with her name and profession on it along with a hastily taken photo. Dr Polastri, Forensic Psychologist.
Eve had become well versed in making herself look good in these impromptu photos. As good as it was possible to look in harsh lighting against a white background anyway. Once, she had made the mistake of likening the photo to a mug shot. She had been joking, of course, but given the setting it perhaps had not been the best choice of humour. Either way her gag had fallen on the ears of a surly guard who remained thoroughly unamused and Eve had learnt her lesson.
Now she found herself seated in the reception area beyond the buzzing locked door and awaiting Oksana Astankova's caseworker. Eve had just opened the file in her lap to go over the meagre details of this new client one more time when a voice interrupted her.
"Eve Polastri, it's been too long."
Eve looked up from the file in her lap and took in the man who had just entered.
"Bill!" Eve let out, standing immediately and stepping towards the newcomer, "I didn't know you had transferred."
"Two years ago," Bill nodded, "I had hoped we might cross paths again, so imagine my joy at seeing your name come up." He added.
Eve embraced him tightly. The two of them had had reason to meet frequently in the past, when Eve's services were required in the prisons that Bill worked at, and they had quickly built up a rapport. It had been years since they saw each other now though. Acquaintances, it seemed to Eve, were easy to lose when life got in the way of work.
"It's good to see you, Bill." Eve said genuinely, still smiling at him.
"Good to see you too." Bill replied warmly, "Great mug shot." He said tapping the visitor badge around Eve's neck.
"What can I say? I'm a pro." Eve retorted with a shrug and a smile.
"I'm afraid you might be less pleased to see me when you meet who I've got lined up for you today." Bill said teasingly.
"Oh? She's a tricky one, is she?" Eve asked.
"Remember the bloke who poisoned his neighbour's milk?" Bill asked leadingly.
"He also stole her underwear and wore it when he handed himself in." Eve nodded.
"Oh, he did! I had forgotten that. The lace quite suited him actually." Bill mused, "Anyway, she's even more fun than that guy."
Eve groaned.
"But Eve Polastri likes a challenge, does she not?" Bill asked.
Eve let out a huff of laughter.
"That very much depends on the challenge. And I have read the file on this one." Eve intoned darkly.
"Ah. Yes." Bill nodded seriously. "You will find her interesting at the very least, I'm sure." He said diplomatically.
Bill led Eve down a corridor and through yet another buzzing door that he opened with an electronic fob next to his own identification card around his neck.
"Here we are," Bill said, opening a door to the left of the corridor and holding it open for Eve. "Make yourself comfortable and I will go and collect your date." He said with a twitch of his eyebrows.
Eve rolled her eyes. He hadn't changed at all, and she found herself glad of it.
"I'll open the wine." Eve replied sarcastically and Bill laughed.
"You're going to want a glass or five after this," he called over his shoulder as he left the room. The door clicked behind him as the automatic locking system was engaged. Beside the door there was a conspicuous button that Eve knew would call the nearest guard to the room if it was pushed.
The room was beige, with two chairs and a low coffee table on which there stood a plant that was definitely plastic. Its overly green leaves had gathered a thin layer of dust. It was clear that some vague attempt had been made to make the room seem calming and pleasant, but it was impossible to forget that it was inside a prison. Eve had come to the conclusion that these rooms were all the same. Plastic plant and a panic button. She placed her leather satchel down on the floor by her feet. It had been checked as she entered the building, but her drinks bottle, notebook and Dictaphone had all passed the test and made it across the security barrier. Eve placed her notebook and Dictaphone on the table in front of her and leaned back in her chair. It was leather and it squeaked slightly as she moved.
Eve let out a slow exhale. The first appointment was often the hardest. She didn't know what she was about to come up against. Eve flicked a non-existent piece of fluff from the arm of her blazer. She prided herself on her appearance and had always found it helped to look smart when it came to being taken seriously as a woman. Besides, Eve liked clothes. At home, she now resided in sweatshirts and jeans after her favourite pieces had too often been marred with felt tip pens and wayward snacks. At work, she felt more as though she could dress like herself. Today that meant her tailored blazer, a silk shirt and cropped, neatly pressed trousers above her polished brogues. She pulled her black-rimmed glasses from her bag and placed them on before running a hand through her loose hair and tying it back to keep it out of her face. She could only wear it like that for short amounts of time before it gave her a headache, but it looked more professional than having it loose.
Eve was just examining a potential scuff-mark on her left shoe when the door clicked metallically and opened once more and Bill re-entered the room, this time shuffling a young woman in ahead of him.
"Dr Polastri," Bill started, professionalism kicking in now that they were in front of the client. "This is Oksana Astankova."
Eve smiled at the young woman, trying her best to seem friendly and non-threatening but the other woman avoided making eye contact. She was curled in on herself, her shoulders hunched and her feet so close together that they were touching.
"Hello Oksana." Eve said calmly.
Oksana nodded, still not raising her head to meet Eve's eyes.
These initial meetings, Eve reminded herself, were not only tough for the psychologist. The thought of being assessed was bound to make the other woman feel anxious. Eve had seen this behaviour before, though from reading the file and from Bill's forewarning just minutes earlier, this timid creature had not been what Eve was expecting.
"Dr Polastri is the forensic psychologist that will be taking over your assessment as requested by your solicitor." Bill explained to Oksana, who appeared to be listening, though she made no noise to show she understood.
Bill glanced at Eve and shook his head with an expression that Eve couldn't quite read.
"Astankova." Bill said a bit louder, and Oksana looked up at him. "Dr Polastri is an old friend of mine." He said in a tone that suggested that what he was saying was important. "So behave." He ended firmly, keeping his gaze unflinchingly on Oksana's own startled wide eyes.
Oksana nodded rigorously and then turned her eyes to the ground once more, tucking her hands up into her sleeves and gripping the material tightly.
Bill sighed and moved to leave the room. Just as he turned to pull the door closed behind him, he caught Eve's eye and mouthed two words at her.
"Good luck."
