stood up. ‘All right – then tell me this: do you usually communicate with your children at second hand by means of letters from your secretary?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Six months ago, just before you went to America, June wanted to see you. You fobbed her off with a form letter from your secretary, for God’s sake!’
‘I was very busy at the time. I had a big deal impending.’
‘She wanted your help. You wouldn’t give it to her, so she came to me. You promised to write from America. Did you?’
‘I was busy,’ said Hellier weakly. ‘I had a heavy schedule – a lot of flights … conferences …’
‘So you didn’t write. When did you get back?’
‘A fortnight ago.’
‘Nearly six months away. Did you know where your daughter was? Did you try to find out? She was still alive then, you know.’
‘Good Christ, I had to straighten out things over here. Things had gone to hell in my absence.’
‘They had, indeed!’ said Warren icily. ‘You say that you found June a job and set her up in a flat. It sounds very nice when put that way, but I’d say that you threw her out. In the preceding years did you try to find out why her behaviour had changed? Why she needed more and more money? In fact I’d like to know how often you saw your daughter. Did you supervise her activities? Check on the company she was keeping? Did you act like a father?’
Hellier was ashen. ‘Oh, my God!’
Warren sat down and said quietly, ‘Now I’m really going to hurt you, Hellier. Your daughter hated your guts. She told me so herself, although I didn’t know who you were. She kept that damned patronizing secretary’s letter to fuel her hatred, and she ended up in a sleazy doss-house in Notting Hill with cash resources of three shillings and four-pence. If, six months ago, you’d have granted your daughter fifteen minutes of your precious time she’d have been alive now.’
He leaned over the desk and said in a rasping voice, ‘Now tell me, Hellier; who was responsible for your daughter’s death?’
Hellier’s face crumpled and Warren drew back and regarded him with something like pity. He felt ashamed of himself; ashamed of letting his emotions take control in such an unprofessional way. He watched Hellier grope for a handkerchief, and then got up and went to a cupboard where he tipped a couple of pills from a bottle.
He returned to the desk and said, ‘Here, take these – they’ll help.’ Unresistingly, Hellier allowed him to administer the pills and. gulped them down with the aid of a glass of water. He became calmer and presently began to speak in a low, jerky voice.
‘Helen – that’s my wife – June’s mother – my ex-wife – we had a divorce, you know. I divorced her – June was fifteen then. Helen was no good – no good at all. There were other men – I was sick of it. Made me look a fool. June stayed with me, she said she wanted to. God knows Helen didn’t want her around.’
He took a shaky breath. ‘June was still at school then, of course. I had my work – my business – it was getting bigger and more involved all the time. You have no idea how big and complicated it can get. International stuff, you know. I travelled a lot.’ He looked blindly into the past. ‘I didn’t realize.…’
Warren said gently, ‘I know.’
Hellier looked up. ‘I doubt it, Doctor.’ His eyes flickered under Warren’s steady gaze and he dropped his head again. ‘Maybe you do. I suppose I’m not the only damned fool you’ve come across.’
In an even voice, trying to attune himself to Hellier’s mood, Warren said, ‘It’s hard enough to keep up with the younger generation even when they’re underfoot. They seem to have a different way of thought – different ideals.’
Hellier sighed. ‘But I could have tried.’ He squeezed his hands together tightly. ‘People of my class tend to think that parental neglect and juvenile delinquency are prerogatives of the lower orders. Good Christ!’
Warren said briskly. ‘I’ll give you something to help you sleep tonight.’
Hellier made a negating gesture. ‘No, thanks, Doctor, I’ll take my medicine the hard way.’ He looked up. ‘Do you know how it started? How did she …? How could she …?’
Warren shrugged. ‘She didn’t say much. It was hard enough coping with present difficulties. But I think her case was very much the standard form; cannabis to begin with – taken as a lark or a dare – then on to the more potent drugs, and finally heroin and the more powerful amphetamines. It all usually starts with running with the wrong crowd.’
Hellier nodded. ‘Lack of parental control,’ he said bitterly. ‘Where do they get the filthy stuff?’
‘That’s the crux. There’s a fair amount of warehouse looting by criminals who have a ready market, and there’s smuggling, of course. Here in England, where clinics prescribe heroin under controlled conditions to Home Office registered addicts, it’s not so bad compared with the States. Over there, because it’s totally illegal, there’s a vast illicit market with consequent high profits and an organized attempt to push the stuff. There’s an estimated forty thousand heroin addicts in New York alone, compared with about two thousand in the whole of the United Kingdom. But it’s bad enough here – the number is doubling every sixteen months.’
‘Can’t the police do anything about illegal drugs?’
Warren said ironically, ‘I suppose Inspector Stephens told you all about me.’
‘He gave me a totally wrong impression,’ mumbled Hellier. He stirred restlessly.
‘That’s all right; I’m used to that kind of thing. The police attitude largely coincides with the public attitude – but it’s no use chivvying an addict once he’s hooked. That only leads to bigger profits for the gangsters because the addict on the run must get his dope where he can. And it adds to crime because he’s not too particular where he gets the money to pay for the dope.’ Warren studied Hellier, who was becoming noticeably calmer. He decided that this was as much due to the academic discussion as to the sedation, so he carried on.
‘The addicts are sick people and the police should leave them alone,’ he said. ‘We’ll take care of them. The police should crack down on the source of illegal drugs.’
‘Aren’t they doing that?’
‘That’s not so easy. It’s an international problem. Besides, there’s the difficulty of getting information – this is an illegal operation and people don’t talk.’ He smiled. ‘Addicts don’t like the police and so the police get little out of them. On the other hand, I don’t like addicts – they’re difficult patients most doctors won’t touch – but I understand them, and they tell me things. I probably know more about what’s going on than the official police sources.’
‘Then why don’t you tell the police?’ demanded Hellier.
Warren’s voice went suddenly hard. ‘If any of my patients knew that I was abusing their confidence by blabbing to the
