The Asylum Read Online Free Page A

who had managed to build a rickety structure out of fallen branches in one corner of the grounds. He simply climbed over the fence and disappeared.’ Högsmed looks over towards the houses again and goes on: ‘The police picked him up in the park that same evening, but by then he’d already made contact with a little girl. Apparently they were sitting on a park bench eating ice cream.’ The doctor looks up at the electric fence on top of the wall. ‘Security was tightened up after that, but I’m not convinced that anything nasty would have happened. Sometimes those who run away seek out children simply because they are looking for security. They are small and frightened inside.’
    Jan says nothing, he simply keeps on walking along the track in front of the wall. He has guessed correctly; they are heading towards a wooden building north of the hospital. The Dell.
    The wall curves away before they reach the Dell, crossing a grassy area before it disappears behind the hospital. There is only a low fence around the pre-school. Jan can see several swings, a red playhouse and a sandpit, but no children. Presumably they’re indoors.
    ‘How many children do you have here?’ he asks.
    ‘About a dozen,’ says Högsmed. ‘Three of them are staying here on a permanent basis at the moment, for various reasons. Six or seven come during the day. Then there are a few more whose attendance is more sporadic.’ He opens his folder and takes out a sheet of paper. ‘We do have a small number of rules when it comes to dealing with the children. Perhaps you could read through them now.’
    Jan takes the sheet of paper; he stops by the gate leading to the pre-school, and begins to read:
    STAFF RULES
    The children at the Dell and the patients at St Patricia’s Regional Psychiatric Hospital are to be kept apart. This applies AT ALL TIMES OF THE DAY AND NIGHT, except for pre-arranged visits to the parent of a child.
Pre-school staff do NOT have access to any of the wards inside the hospital. Only the administrative departments of the hospital are to be visited by pre-school staff.
Pre-school staff are responsible for escorting the children through the sally port between the Dell and the visitors’ facility within the hospital. The children are NOT allowed to go alone.
Under NO circumstances are staff to discuss hospital visits with the child, or ask questions about the child’s parents. Such conversations are to be conducted only by doctors and child psychologists.
In common with hospital employees, pre-school staff are obliged to maintain TOTAL CONFIDENTIALITY with regard to all aspects of St Patricia’s Regional Psychiatric Hospital.
    There is a dotted line at the bottom of the page, and when Jan looks up he sees that Högsmed is holding out a pen.
    He takes it and signs his name.
    ‘Good,’ says Högsmed. ‘As I said, I thought it was best if you had a look at it before we go in. All pre-schools have their own rules and regulations, after all. You’re used to that, no doubt?’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    But Jan has never come across any of these rules before. And the order from those in charge at the hospital is crystal clear:
    Keep quiet about St Psycho’s
.
    No problem. Jan has always been good at keeping secrets.

 
    Lynx
    Jan had started work at the Lynx nursery when he was twenty years old, the same hot summer when Alice Rami’s debut album came out – the two events were linked in his mind. He had bought her record when he spotted it in a shop window; he took it home and played it over and over again.
Rami and August
was the title of the album, but August wasn’t a person’s name; it was her band, which consisted of two guys playing drums and bass guitar. There was a picture of them with Rami, two guys with black spiky hair on either side of her angel-white head. Jan looked at the picture and wondered if either of them was her boyfriend.
    The following day he bought a cheap portable CD-player so that he could listen to