Broken Memories (Sequel to Return to Belli Castle)

Chapter Five: Something's wrong with Catherine

Matilda sat around the round table, looking to her colleagues, Toby and Riccardo. She tapped her pen on the table as she thought, turning her gaze to the few pictures on the table in front of her. 

The first one, the smallest of the three, was of Catherine Belli before she had went missing ten years before. She was smiling, dressed in an old school dress with her hair tied back and her eyes seemed to shine with joy of what was back then Catalina.

In the second picture, the largest, Catherine and Jenny stood either side, inbetween them was the eiffel tower. They both smiled to the camera. Catherine didn't seem at all ready for the picture with her brown hair flying into her face and with one eye shut to keep the sun out of her face. 

In the final picture it was of Catherine when she had been arrested by the Police due to her sister's death. There was no lovable glint in her eyes and she seemed so miserable, tears collecting in her eyes as Matilda could see when she moved the picture closer. 

"There's got to be some explanation," said Toby, moving the second picture towards himself. "This isn't the same girl... it can't be. I mean, have you ever seen Catalina smile?" 

"It's Catherine," said Matilda, immediately. "And why should she? So much is happening to her that even a fake smile is too much." 

Riccardo leaned back in his chair, drinking his coffee. When he placed it down on the table, Riccardo glanced at the first picture, an immediate hate redeveloping. "Maybe she has a personality  disorder? Schrizophrenia? These are all possibilities." 

"Maybe if we knew more about her past," suggested Tony. "Haven't you been working with her, Matilda? You must know something about her during the time of her disappearance. She couldn't have hid in the shadows for ten whole years. She must have had some friends, somebody who knew about her." 

Matilda looked away from him, remembering the promise she had made to Catherine and how Catherine now finally trusted her. But it was only too obvious that she knew something so Matilda sighed and looked at them. "Catherine said to me that she was in a castle, held captive by her uncle, Riccardo," she said. "There was a maid who seems to have mania- she was completely Catherine said after the fight when I'd calmed her down. But she seemed to take a liking to her and protected Catherinen from Riccardo... until she was put an end to. There was also the man who the Police found dead, Debilitas, who had the mind of a child and was the castle's handyman. The only others mentioned were Catherine's uncle, her grandfather and her sister, who had also been kidnapped."

"You don't actually believe all this, do you?" asked Riccardo, fury in his eyes. He tried to hide it but the more he denied everything, the more Matilda believed the possibility that Harry could be Riccardo. "That girl is insane." 

There was a long silence as Matilda thought. "Well... Maybe she could be telling the truth," she said.   "None of this has to be impossible."

"You're spending too much time with Catherine."

"That's my job!"

A knock on the door to her office cut off the argument. Officer Adams wandered into the room, looking over to Matilda. "You called?" he said, his hat in his hands as he walked over to the table.

He had been the Police Officer who'd intergated Catherine about the disappearance of her best friend. Officer Adams knew from the start that Catherine had been trying to hide that she knew Riccardo Belli. He'd also worked out that Catherine would be with Fiona Belli when she'd disappeared without telling the Police. 

"She's been put into the cooler," said Matilda, glaring at Toby in the corner of her eyes. "It's down the  corridor and I'm sure Toby will assist you." 

Officer Adams nodded. 

As soon as Catherine had stepped out of Matilda's Office, calm, Toby had grabbed her by the arm and escorted her down to the cooler room where they usually put patients for a few hours after being in a fight or causing serious trouble.