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Transcript

The Woman In White - The Name on the File · A Different Telling

0:00
Annabel (production disclosure): This audio drama uses AI-generated character voices, music and sound effects, created using ElevenLabs.
0:08
Marian: You told me Anne was dead.
0:10
Percival: That's what I was told.
0:12
Nora: By whom?
0:13
Percival: The clinic. I'm still trying to establish how they could have made that mistake.
0:18
Anne: That's me.
0:20
Nora: Laura Fairlie.
0:21
Anne: Read the rest.
0:23
Nora: Proposed destination. Limmeridge. Planned arrival, Monday. Overnight nursing arranged through agency.
0:30
Anne: You weren't coming to look after Laura. They'd booked you for me.
0:35
Nora (Narration): Anne pushed the page towards me, then put her hand over it.
0:39
Anne: They won't take this one away?
0:41
Nora: We can ask for another copy.
0:43
Anne: I'd like to keep this one.
0:45
Nora: All right.
0:46
Nora (Narration): The hospital doctor came back with the nurse. He asked Anne about the photograph, then checked which parts of the page she recognised. She answered without looking at me. When he asked about Limmeridge, she said she'd been there once. She hadn't agreed to live there.
1:00
Nora (Narration): They were asking the clinic to clarify the identity. Her plans for the evening were being made with her, here. Nothing on the page changed that. Anne asked the doctor to say it again, and he did.
1:12
Anne: Can they send it to the police?
1:14
Nora: Shall we ask?
1:16
Nora (Narration): She asked the nurse herself. Then we rang the number we'd been given that morning. Anne held my phone with the paper beside her. She said her name, where she was, and that the hospital had received something she wanted the officer to see. She didn't tell the whole story before she'd finished the first sentence. I'd been doing that all day.
1:35
Nora (Narration): The nurse helped pass the page on. The officer was coming back. While we waited, Anne took the corner of the paper out from under a water cup.
1:43
Anne: I thought she wanted to check what I looked like.
1:46
Nora: The woman who took the photograph?
1:48
Anne: She turned the tablet round. Laura on that wall. I said, that's my sister. She said, yes, lift your chin a little.
1:56
Nora: Did you see the picture she took?
1:58
Anne: No. I asked about my phone. She said someone would bring it.
2:03
Nora (Narration): Her own face was beside the cup now. I could see why she'd wanted the paper back. It was the first thing from the clinic that she could put in front of someone else.
2:12
Anne: Marian ought to see it.
2:14
Nora: I can show her the photograph and the booking details. If that's what you want.
2:19
Anne: Tell her I know which one I am.
2:21
Nora: She saw you this morning.
2:23
Anne: I know. Tell her anyway.
2:26
Nora (Narration): I put my phone down. Anne had stopped touching the page. She was looking at the door, waiting for someone she'd asked to come.
2:46
Nora (Narration): Shaw was the officer who'd spoken to us that morning. She had the same coat over her arm and a packet of biscuits sticking out of a pocket. She asked me to come into a room where someone had left a half-finished jigsaw on the windowsill.
2:59
Nora (Narration): She let me go through the visit to Limmeridge before asking me about the parts she wanted to check.
3:04
Shaw: You went to Limmeridge this afternoon?
3:06
Nora: Yes. Marian invited me.
3:09
Shaw: Did Anne go with you?
3:11
Nora: No.
3:12
Shaw: And you met Percival Glyde there.
3:14
Nora: He came in while we were talking. He knew I'd be there.
3:17
Shaw: How do you know that?
3:19
Nora: Marian had told him she was speaking to me. He knew my name. He'd brought three sandwiches.
3:25
Shaw: Did he say he'd bought one for you?
3:27
Nora: No. I assumed.
3:30
Nora (Narration): She waited while I opened the note on my phone. I'd started it in the corridor. The time I'd arrived at the house. The things he'd said. I'd written that he knew who I was, then gone back and put in the question he'd actually asked.
3:43
Nora: He said, Marian, is this Nora?
3:46
Shaw: Thank you. Keep your note as well.
3:49
Nora: He told us he'd seen Laura yesterday. At the clinic. That he'd made the video then.
3:54
Shaw: Did he give a time?
3:56
Nora: No. Before the move, he said. He wouldn't tell Marian where she'd gone. He said Laura wanted privacy.
4:03
Shaw: Was Marian there for all of that?
4:05
Nora: Yes. She kept asking him to get Laura on the phone.
4:09
Shaw: Did he try?
4:10
Nora: Not while I was there.
4:12
Nora (Narration): I turned the phone slightly towards her. There were more lines than I'd remembered writing.
4:17
Nora: He cancelled my booking. He admitted that. The doctor rang him after we left the clinic, and he asked the coordinator to cancel it.
4:24
Shaw: The doctor you described this morning?
4:27
Nora: Reed.
4:28
Shaw: Is that a name you knew at the time?
4:30
Nora: No. Percival gave it to me today.
4:33
Shaw: What did he say?
4:34
Nora: I asked who'd told him I was with Anne. He said, Dr Reed. He was concerned about where she'd gone.
4:41
Shaw: So Glyde identified the caller as Dr Reed.
4:44
Nora: Yes. I didn't hear the call.
4:47
Nora (Narration): She wrote that down. The distinction irritated me, although I'd made it myself. I wanted the call I'd seen in the mirror to be the call Percival was describing. It probably was. I couldn't tell her that I'd heard it.
5:00
Nora: He called her Anne at the car. The doctor. I heard that.
5:04
Shaw: Can you remember the words?
5:06
Nora: Anne? Come on. Let's get you inside.
5:09
Shaw: Had you told him her name?
5:11
Nora: No.
5:12
Shaw: Could he have heard you use it?
5:14
Nora: Before he reached us, possibly. I don't know how close he was when I opened the door. He was looking between the cars.
5:21
Shaw: And he tried the passenger handle.
5:24
Nora: Yes. She was inside. I'd locked it.
5:27
Nora (Narration): Shaw looked up at me then.
5:29
Shaw: Did you tell him which hospital you were going to?
5:32
Nora: I said emergency. I told him he could send her notes. I asked which hospital he'd recommend. He didn't answer.
5:39
Shaw: You didn't name this one?
5:41
Nora: No.
5:42
Nora (Narration): At Limmeridge I'd said I'd told him where we were going. Here, with someone asking me exactly what I'd said, it was less definite. Emergency. Somewhere he wasn't in charge. I corrected the note on my phone and left the earlier wording visible underneath.
5:57
Shaw: Is there anything else from the house?
6:00
Nora: He offered to get me paid for the cancelled shifts. Through the agency.
6:04
Shaw: What did he ask you to do?
6:06
Nora: Send the invoice through the usual route. I said I'd discuss it with them.
6:10
Shaw: Anything in return?
6:11
Nora: No.
6:12
Nora (Narration): I could have made it sound worse. She'd left me room to. I was relieved when she closed her notebook.
6:18
Nora (Narration): Shaw spoke to Anne on her own after that. I waited outside and bought a bottle of water I didn't want. When Anne asked me back in, the bottle was warm from my hand.
6:29
Anne: I told her about Tuesday. About them saying Laura wanted me there.
6:33
Nora: Good.
6:34
Anne: I had things in my bag for her. A book she'd lent me. She used to fold the corners right down. Half the page.
6:41
Nora: Annoying.
6:43
Anne: Very. Then she'd tell you books were for reading. As if you were keeping yours in a glass case.
6:49
Nora (Narration): She smiled and looked towards the bag of white clothes. Her own bag was still at the clinic.
6:55
Anne: I kept asking when I could see her. Then on Wednesday they took the photograph. They took me downstairs afterwards. I told Shaw that. In that order.
7:05
Nora: And Thursday?
7:06
Anne: The tablet. The funeral. I asked who'd given them my picture for it. Nobody answered me.
7:13
Nora (Narration): She pulled at a loose thread on the borrowed tracksuit.
7:17
Anne: It's odd what you remember wanting. My bag. My shoes. A proper answer. I thought if I could just get my things together, they'd understand I was leaving.
7:28
Nora: What happened when you asked?
7:30
Anne: Someone was coming. The doctor was coming. The person with my bag was coming. I needed to wait until they'd spoken to someone else.
7:39
Nora: Did anyone come?
7:40
Anne: Different people. They'd bring a drink, or ask if I'd eaten. I'd have to start again. I kept thinking I hadn't explained it properly.
7:49
Nora (Narration): She had worked the loose thread round her finger. I watched her unwind it.
7:54
Anne: On Wednesday I still thought they might take me to see her. So I waited. Even after the photograph. I didn't want to be difficult and miss her.
8:04
Nora: You weren't being difficult.
8:06
Anne: I know that now.
8:08
Nora (Narration): She said it sharply. I let her. I'd been about to tell her what she should have done, dressed up as reassurance.
8:15
Anne: I told Shaw that too. That I waited. She didn't seem surprised.
8:20
Nora: No.
8:21
Anne: I wish I hadn't.
8:23
Nora (Narration): I opened the bottle of water. Anne held out her hand for it, and I gave it to her.
8:29
Nora (Narration): I went out to ring Marian. With Anne's permission, I'd sent her the photograph, the printed name and the proposed nursing arrangements. She answered without saying hello.
8:40
Marian: Where did this come from?
8:42
Nora: The clinic's reply to the hospital. Anne's been given a copy.
8:45
Marian: Who says it's Anne in the picture?
8:48
Nora: Anne does. She says they took it on Wednesday morning.
8:51
Marian: I can see why. I can. But the hair's different, and the print isn't very good.
8:57
Nora: It looks like the woman I've been with. She's wearing the clothes she arrived in.
9:01
Marian: Could they have put the wrong photograph on it?
9:04
Nora: They could have.
9:05
Marian: People do.
9:07
Nora: Yes.
9:08
Nora (Narration): I heard her moving paper. Then a drawer opened, and something dropped onto a hard floor.
9:14
Marian: Sorry. I've got everything out. The folder you saw. My emails. I'm trying to find the version I actually sent.
9:22
Nora: Take your time.
9:23
Marian: That's what everyone keeps telling me.
9:25
Nora (Narration): She stopped searching for a moment. I could hear her breathing through her nose.
9:30
Marian: I'm sorry. You haven't done anything.
9:33
Nora: Neither has that drawer.
9:35
Marian: It's been asking for it for years.
9:38
Nora (Narration): A short laugh, then the tapping of keys.
9:41
Marian: Here. To the agency. I sent the photograph separately because it wouldn't fit in their form. The one on the garden wall.
9:49
Nora: That's the one I received.
9:50
Marian: Monday, three nights. The downstairs room. Meals here. I put that the nurse wasn't expected to look after the dog.
9:59
Nora: I remember.
10:00
Marian: It's Laura. Her name. Her photograph. I haven't sent anyone that other one.
10:05
Nora: And the clinical information?
10:08
Marian: The clinic was supplying it. I didn't have it to send. Percival said they'd deal with that directly.
10:14
Nora (Narration): Her voice had become more familiar. She knew how she'd arranged the room and what she'd written about the dog. These were things she could answer without asking her cousin's husband.
10:24
Marian: So what I sent was right.
10:26
Nora: It matches what I got. The different photograph is on the clinic's page.
10:30
Marian: But they've used my arrangements.
10:33
Nora: The address and the nights, yes.
10:35
Marian: Anne in Laura's room. Me downstairs, making sure there was food in the fridge.
10:41
Nora: We don't know how they expected it to work.
10:44
Marian: I'd have known.
10:45
Nora (Narration): I looked through the glass panel in the door opposite. Anne was sitting on the edge of the bed. Someone had brought her a tray.
10:52
Nora: You'd have asked questions.
10:54
Marian: Yes. I would.
10:56
Nora (Narration): The paper moved again. Marian was still comparing the photographs.
11:00
Marian: I've only met Anne once. I keep forgetting that. Laura, I'd know. But if someone brought Anne here and told me she was unwell, told me she might seem different—
11:11
Nora: You don't have to work that out tonight.
11:14
Marian: I keep looking at this and wondering what I'd have accepted.
11:17
Nora: I nearly let the doctor take her back. He sounded as if he knew what he was doing.
11:22
Marian: What stopped you?
11:23
Nora: She said she didn't want to go.
11:26
Nora (Narration): It sounded very simple when I said it. At the time, with him standing beside the car, it hadn't been.
11:32
Nora: Give Shaw what you sent. The messages as well as the attachments. She's taking our accounts separately.
11:38
Marian: She rang me again. I told her what Percival said about Thursday.
11:43
Nora: Thank you.
11:44
Marian: You don't have to thank me for that.
11:46
Nora: Habit.
11:47
Marian: Have you heard from him since you left?
11:49
Nora: No.
11:50
Marian: Neither have I. He went out. Said he had something to sort out, and I let him go without asking what. I was halfway through washing the mugs before I realised.
12:01
Nora: You can still ask.
12:02
Marian: I've asked where Laura is three times today.
12:05
Nora: Ask her to ring you.
12:07
Marian: If she tells me to leave her alone, I'll leave her alone. For tonight, anyway. She can be quite convincing.
12:14
Nora: Anne said to tell you she knows which one she is.
12:17
Nora (Narration): Marian was quiet.
12:19
Marian: I know. I didn't mean—
12:22
Nora: I'll tell her you're sending the original information.
12:24
Marian: Yes. Tell her that.
12:27
Nora (Narration): Anne's friend arrived while I was putting my phone away. She had a wheelie case and a carrier bag from a supermarket at the station. Anne stood up too quickly. Her friend put the shopping down and caught her by both arms. For a while they stayed like that, Anne saying something into the shoulder of her coat.
12:44
Nora (Narration): I went to find another chair. When I came back there was a packet of biscuits open on the bed and a pair of slippers beside Anne's feet. Her friend had bought three sizes. She couldn't remember which Anne wore, and hadn't wanted to ring the clinic to ask.
12:58
Anne: None of them fit.
13:00
Nora: How did she manage that?
13:02
Anne: Two small pairs and an enormous one. She panicked.
13:07
Nora (Narration): Anne was wearing the enormous ones. Her friend had booked a room for them nearby. She gave her number to the nurse and went into the corridor to speak about the arrangements. Shaw came back a few minutes later.
13:18
Shaw: Anne, there's something in the clinic's response I need to ask you about. Would you like Nora to stay?
13:25
Anne: Yes.
13:26
Nora (Narration): Shaw pulled the spare chair round. Anne moved the biscuits out of the way. Her copy of the transfer page was underneath them.
13:33
Shaw: They've replied to our questions about the woman who left last night. They say that woman is Laura Fairlie.
13:40
Anne: They've got my name.
13:42
Shaw: They have the name you've given us. They're saying the person under that name, Anne Catherick, is the woman who died.
13:49
Anne: That's what the page says.
13:51
Shaw: Yes. We've asked them about the difference. They're maintaining that the patient in the photograph is Laura.
13:58
Nora (Narration): Anne looked from Shaw to me. I hadn't spoken. She smoothed one side of the paper with her palm, then the other.
14:05
Anne: What did they say happened to Laura?
14:08
Shaw: That she left the clinic without completing her care.
14:11
Anne: So that's me. I'm dead, and I've left without permission.
14:16
Shaw: They're describing two women. We need to establish how they identified each of them.
14:21
Anne: They knew when I went in. I gave them my name. I told them who I'd come to see.
14:26
Shaw: I have that in your account.
14:28
Anne: Then why are we doing it again?
14:30
Nora (Narration): Shaw let her finish. Anne drew breath for another question, but it didn't come.
14:36
Shaw: Because they've now given us an answer we can put questions to. I wanted you to hear it from me.
14:41
Anne: Have they said I'm confused?
14:44
Shaw: They've questioned the account you've given. I need to check what happened, including who was there when you arrived.
14:51
Anne: Have you asked them where my bag is?
14:53
Shaw: Yes. And your phone.
14:55
Anne: My purse is in it. My cards. There's a photograph of me on one of them. A worse one than that, actually.
15:02
Nora (Narration): She tried to laugh. Shaw didn't make her try again.
15:06
Shaw: We're asking for your belongings. There are people we can speak to who knew you before Tuesday. Your friend. Sal at the shop.
15:14
Anne: Sal will tell you.
15:16
Shaw: You've given us permission to contact her. We will.
15:19
Anne: She shuts at six. She'll still answer, though. If it says unknown number she might not. Can you leave a message?
15:26
Shaw: We'll make sure we get in touch.
15:29
Nora (Narration): Anne nodded. She seemed more comfortable discussing Sal's telephone than her own name. I moved the water closer, and she drank some.
15:37
Nora: The doctor called her Anne. At the car.
15:40
Shaw: Yes. You've given me those words.
15:43
Nora: Does their reply explain that?
15:45
Shaw: Not yet.
15:46
Nora: And Percival said Laura had moved yesterday. Now they're saying she was there until she left with me this morning.
15:53
Shaw: We'll need to ask about the move he described. Where, and when. Whether they're saying she came back.
16:00
Nora: He said she was somewhere quiet. Somewhere Marian couldn't visit.
16:04
Anne: She was here. If that's what they're saying. She was here all day.
16:09
Nora (Narration): Anne pushed the page away. On it, Laura's name sat above the photograph of the woman beside me. I'd been thinking about a mistake someone could correct. They'd been asked to correct it. They were using it to explain what had happened.
16:23
Anne: Is he coming here?
16:24
Shaw: Has he contacted you?
16:26
Anne: I haven't got my phone. I mean to collect me. If I'm supposed to be his wife.
16:32
Shaw: Nobody has arranged that with us. If he contacts you through anyone else, tell us. The staff know you don't want him visiting.
16:40
Anne: I don't want to go to Limmeridge.
16:42
Shaw: I understand.
16:44
Nora (Narration): Shaw waited until Anne was looking at her again.
16:47
Shaw: We also need to establish who supplied the identification for the funeral. You've shown us what was on the recording. That doesn't tell us who was buried.
16:56
Anne: I know who they showed me downstairs.
16:58
Shaw: You've told me. I'm asking about the steps between that and the funeral.
17:03
Anne: I wasn't allowed to go.
17:05
Shaw: I know.
17:07
Nora (Narration): For a moment nobody spoke. A trolley went past outside, one wheel catching on every turn.
17:13
Anne: Will you keep my account under Anne?
17:16
Shaw: Yes. Under the name you've given me.
17:19
Anne: Anne Catherick.
17:20
Shaw: Anne Catherick.
17:21
Nora (Narration): Anne took the paper back. She asked what she should do if she remembered something later. Shaw gave her the contact details again and explained that another officer might answer. Anne wrote the number on the back of the copy herself.
17:35
Nora (Narration): By the time I left the room, Anne and her friend had agreed the plan with the care team. There were still a few things to finish before they could go. Anne thanked me for coming back, and I took my jacket from the chair. The damp patch where she'd washed the cuff was nearly dry.
17:50
Nora (Narration): Outside, I couldn't remember which row I'd parked in. I pressed the key and watched a car halfway down the next row flash at me. My car. Nobody waiting beside it. I was so pleased by that I stood still for a moment.
18:03
Nora (Narration): I paid for the parking and sat behind the wheel. Maya's crumpets were still the last picture in our messages. I wrote, See you at ten. Then I checked the alarm I'd set that morning. It was on. I checked it anyway.
18:16
Nora: Marian?
18:17
Marian: Have you gone home?
18:19
Nora: Not yet. I'm in the car.
18:21
Marian: Are you driving?
18:22
Nora: No.
18:23
Marian: He's sent me something.
18:25
Nora: Laura?
18:26
Marian: A different recording. There's a message with it. I asked him to have her ring me, and he sent this instead.
18:33
Nora (Narration): I put the key on the passenger seat.
18:35
Nora: What does the message say?
18:37
Marian: Before you decide what to believe, ask Anne about this. She was happy enough to use Laura's name when it suited her.
18:44
Nora: Those are his words?
18:46
Marian: Yes. There's more. You haven't been told everything.
18:50
Nora: Did he say when it was recorded?
18:52
Marian: Only that it was before the clinic. A business call. He says he has the recording.
18:58
Nora: Have you watched it?
18:59
Marian: Twice. It's very short.
19:01
Nora: Is it Laura?
19:03
Marian: It looks like her. At first. But listen to it.
19:07
Nora (Narration): A file arrived, then a picture of Percival's message. I didn't open either while Marian was speaking.
19:14
Marian: I've sent it on to Shaw. With his message. I told her I don't know when it was made.
19:19
Nora: Good.
19:20
Marian: Do I send it to Anne's phone?
19:22
Nora: No. The clinic still has it.
19:25
Marian: Of course. Sorry. Would you show her?
19:28
Nora: I'll ask her.
19:29
Marian: I didn't ask him for proof against Anne. I asked him to let me speak to my cousin.
19:34
Nora: Has he answered that?
19:36
Marian: No.
19:37
Nora (Narration): After she'd gone, I looked at the still picture. A woman in a dark top, sitting at a desk. Her hair was down. It could have been the photograph from my booking, if the room and the clothes had been different. I could hear Anne explaining how she'd been told to sit up for the camera.
19:53
Nora (Narration): I locked the screen before pressing play. I wanted to hear what Anne said about it. I also wanted, for a few more minutes, not to hear it at all.
20:04
Nora (Narration): Anne's friend was fastening the carrier bag when I came back. The slippers that didn't fit had gone in on top. Anne was sitting in the large pair, her copy of the transfer page folded once on her lap.
20:15
Anne: Did you forget something?
20:17
Nora: Marian rang. Percival's sent her another recording.
20:20
Anne: Of Laura?
20:21
Nora: He says it's from a business call. Before you went to the clinic.
20:25
Nora (Narration): She looked at my phone. Her friend stopped tying the handles.
20:29
Nora: Marian's given it to Shaw. She thought you should see it. Do you want to?
20:34
Anne: Yes.
20:35
Nora: Would you like me to leave it with you?
20:37
Anne: No. Stay.
20:38
Nora (Narration): Her friend took the bag out to the corridor. I sat where I'd been sitting when we'd watched Laura's message. The one about the books and the dog. This picture was different. A desk, a pale wall, the edge of a framed print. Anne looked at it without asking me to make it larger.
20:55
Anne: Play it.
20:56
Anne (Recording): Laura Fairlie. Yes, I can hear you. Can you give me a moment? I've got the agenda on the other screen. Sorry, yes. There it is. Please, go ahead.
21:07
Nora (Narration): The last picture stayed on the screen. The woman at the desk was looking down at something out of sight. Beside me, Anne had put both hands flat on her knees.
21:17
Nora: Is that you?
21:18
Anne: Yes.
21:19
Nora: Your voice?
21:20
Anne: Yes.
21:21
Nora (Narration): I looked at the message above the video. Before the clinic. That was Percival's description. I knew better than to turn it into a date. I knew better than to accept his explanation because he'd sent a picture with it.
21:34
Nora (Narration): I still wanted Anne to tell me he'd done something to the sound.
21:38
Nora: Did he change what you said?
21:39
Anne: Not that bit.
21:41
Nora: You said Laura Fairlie.
21:43
Anne: I know.
21:45
Nora (Narration): My finger was over the play button. I moved it away. Anne looked up at me. We'd spent the evening asking people to use her own name. She'd let me.
21:54
Nora: You told them you were Laura?
21:56
Anne: Yes. I did.
22:02
Nora (Closing Credit): The Woman in White. A contemporary adaptation inspired by the novel by Wilkie Collins. Voices created using ElevenLabs. End of Episode Three.