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Transcript

The Woman In White - Private Business · 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: Before you decide what to believe, ask Anne about this. She was happy enough to use Laura's name when it suited her.
0:15
Nora: Did he change what you said?
0:17
Anne: Not that bit.
0:19
Nora: You told them you were Laura?
0:21
Anne: Yes. I did.
0:23
Nora (Narration): The screen went dark between us. I touched it before I meant to. There she was again, sitting at the desk.
0:31
Nora: When?
0:31
Anne: A few weeks ago.
0:33
Nora: How many?
0:34
Anne: Three. I think. I'd have to look at my messages.
0:38
Nora: Before you went to the clinic?
0:40
Anne: Yes.
0:41
Nora: Where were you?
0:42
Anne: Limmeridge. In the little room upstairs. It's used as an office.
0:47
Nora: You said you'd only been there once.
0:49
Anne: I have. The day I met Marian. With the dog.
0:53
Nora: Was she there when you did this?
0:55
Anne: She'd gone out by then.
0:57
Nora (Narration): Anne looked towards the door. Her friend was still outside with the bags. The room had been ready for us to leave before I'd come back into it.
1:05
Nora: What was the call about?
1:07
Anne: Business. People asking about dates. When things could be ready. There was a list on the screen, but I didn't understand most of it.
1:16
Nora: How long were you on it?
1:18
Anne: About twenty minutes. It felt much longer.
1:21
Nora: Did you speak?
1:23
Anne: You've heard me.
1:24
Nora: After that.
1:25
Anne: A little. I said I'd make a note. I said I'd have to check something. Mostly I listened.
1:32
Nora: Did anyone ask you to agree to anything?
1:34
Anne: They asked if the dates worked. I said I'd check. I didn't say yes to selling anything, if that's what you mean.
1:41
Nora: I didn't know there was anything to sell.
1:44
Nora: What was it?
1:45
Anne: I don't know. There were company names on the list. I was trying to follow which page they were on.
1:51
Nora (Narration): She pressed her lips together. I put the phone down on the bed. The woman on the screen was still waiting for someone to go ahead.
1:59
Nora: Were you paid?
2:00
Anne: No.
2:01
Nora: Promised anything?
2:02
Anne: No, Nora.
2:04
Nora: What were you wearing?
2:05
Anne: That dark top. One of Laura's. My own trousers. Nobody could see those.
2:12
Nora: And they thought you were her.
2:14
Anne: Nobody said I wasn't.
2:15
Nora: Have you done it before?
2:17
Anne: No.
2:18
Nora: Since?
2:19
Anne: I did that call. Once.
2:22
Nora (Narration): I waited. She looked at me as if the waiting was another question.
2:27
Anne: I know how it looks.
2:28
Nora: I'm asking what happened.
2:31
Anne: It was a favour.
2:32
Nora: For whom?
2:33
Anne: I can't talk about that tonight.
2:36
Nora: Anne.
2:36
Anne: I know. I know what you're going to say.
2:40
Nora: You don't.
2:41
Anne: That I should have told you.
2:43
Nora: You let me sit here while you told Shaw you'd been giving them your name all along.
2:47
Anne: At the clinic. I was talking about the clinic.
2:51
Nora: Yes. You were.
2:53
Nora (Narration): I could hear how cross I sounded. She hadn't asked me to believe she had never lied to anyone. I had made that part of the arrangement myself.
3:01
Anne: I gave them my name when I went in on Tuesday. I asked for my sister. I didn't go there to do this again.
3:08
Nora: All right.
3:09
Anne: Is it?
3:10
Nora: I heard you.
3:12
Anne: It was private. What the favour was for. It wasn't supposed to involve any of this.
3:18
Nora: But it does now.
3:19
Anne: I can see that.
3:20
Nora (Narration): She pulled the transfer page from beneath her hand and opened it. I thought she was going to show me the photograph again. Instead she turned it over. Shaw's number was written on the back.
3:31
Anne: Does she think it's Laura on the call?
3:34
Nora: I don't know what she thinks. Marian sent it to her.
3:37
Anne: Then I need to tell her.
3:40
Nora: Yes.
3:41
Anne: Will you let me use your phone?
3:43
Nora: Of course.
3:44
Nora (Narration): I closed the recording and handed it over. A different officer answered. Anne gave her name and asked for the information to reach Shaw. Then she said the woman in the business video was her. She'd used Laura's name. It had happened before Tuesday, and there was more she needed to explain. She listened for a while, looking at the number she'd written down.
4:04
Anne: Yes. Tomorrow. You can reach me on my friend's phone. You've got it, but I'll give it to you again.
4:11
Nora (Narration): Her friend came in to check the number and stayed beside her while she finished. Afterwards Anne held out my phone without looking at me.
4:18
Anne: Are you going?
4:20
Nora: Home, yes.
4:21
Anne: I meant are you still going to answer if I ring?
4:25
Nora: Yes. I might be asleep.
4:28
Anne: Right.
4:28
Nora: And I've got breakfast with my daughter at ten.
4:31
Anne: You said.
4:32
Nora (Narration): She folded the paper along the same crease. There were questions I could have kept asking. Her friend had taken her coat off and was holding it open for her. I stood up so there was room.
4:43
Nora: Have you got everything they gave you?
4:45
Anne: Yes. I checked.
4:47
Nora (Narration): She showed me the bag, impatiently, as if I were the one delaying us now. We went out together. At the entrance, her friend brought the taxi round while Anne waited with me beneath the lights. She asked whether my car was still there. I told her it had been making me pay for the privilege all day.
5:04
Nora (Narration): She almost smiled. When the taxi came, I held the door while she got her foot inside. She thanked me. I said goodnight, and watched them leave.
5:27
Nora (Narration): At home, I put my jacket over a chair and found the bowl I'd left in the sink that morning. The spoon had stuck to the bottom. I ran the tap over it and took a meal from the freezer. While I was finding somewhere to pierce the lid, Ben rang.
5:41
Ben: Have I caught you at a bad time?
5:43
Nora: I'm home.
5:44
Ben: Good. I didn't want you driving when we spoke.
5:48
Nora: What's happened?
5:49
Ben: The clinic's sent a written complaint. The duty manager's asked me to speak to you before we give you any more work.
5:55
Nora: You've got my account.
5:56
Ben: I have. They raise things we need you to respond to.
6:01
Nora: Such as?
6:02
Ben: That you took a patient away against clinical advice. That you didn't give the doctor an opportunity to arrange appropriate transport or handover.
6:10
Nora: She was outside when I found her. I'd finished my shift. I took her to A&E.
6:15
Ben: I know that's what you've said.
6:17
Nora: It's what happened.
6:19
Ben: They say you left without telling them where she was going.
6:22
Nora (Narration): The microwave door was open. I shut it with my hip, then remembered I hadn't put the food in.
6:28
Nora: I said emergency. I didn't name the hospital. I asked him which one he'd recommend, and he told me my agency would hear about it.
6:36
Ben: Put the words in the response.
6:38
Nora: They were in the first one.
6:40
Ben: Then refer to that. I'm not asking you to come up with a different account.
6:44
Nora: Can I see what they've written?
6:46
Ben: I'll send the points we're asking you to address. The manager's reviewing the rest with the information you've already supplied.
6:52
Nora: Is it from Reed?
6:54
Ben: It came through the clinic manager. I don't know who wrote each part.
6:58
Nora: All right.
6:59
Ben: There's another thing. Sunday's early has been covered.
7:03
Nora: I confirmed Sunday on Wednesday.
7:05
Ben: I know.
7:07
Nora: That's a different place.
7:09
Ben: Yes.
7:10
Nora: Have they asked you to take me off?
7:12
Ben: No. This is our decision while we review the complaint.
7:16
Nora: One person's complaint.
7:18
Ben: A client's complaint. I have to put it through the process.
7:22
Nora: And what am I supposed to do while you do that?
7:25
Ben: I can't give you another booking tonight.
7:27
Nora: I wasn't asking for tonight.
7:29
Nora (Narration): He went quiet. I heard a keyboard and, further away, somebody asking about a postcode.
7:36
Nora: You rang me twice about that shift. Nobody wanted the early start.
7:40
Ben: You helped us out. I haven't forgotten.
7:43
Nora: It isn't much use remembering if you give it to someone else.
7:46
Ben: I'm sorry.
7:48
Nora: Will I be paid anything for it?
7:50
Ben: I can't promise that. I've asked the manager to look at it. I'll put the answer in writing.
7:56
Nora: Please do.
7:57
Ben: Can you send the response tomorrow morning?
7:59
Nora: Before nine.
8:01
Ben: Thank you.
8:02
Nora: And the three nights at Limmeridge? The cancellation payment?
8:05
Ben: Still with the day team. I haven't got an answer.
8:09
Nora: Percival Glyde said to put it through the usual route.
8:12
Ben: I'll add that to the query.
8:14
Nora (Narration): I'd wanted to hear something in his voice when I said Percival's name. Recognition, perhaps. All I heard was Ben writing down another thing he couldn't settle before the end of his shift.
8:25
Ben: Nora. Send the response to me as well. I'll make sure it's attached to what you sent this morning.
8:30
Nora: Thank you.
8:31
Nora (Narration): After we'd finished, I looked at Sunday's booking. It was still on my calendar. I opened the bank app instead and checked the payments due on Monday. There was nothing new to find. I knew roughly what the numbers would be before they appeared.
8:44
Nora (Narration): The food went into the microwave. While it turned, I opened Ben's email. I began with the time my shift had ended. By the third paragraph, I'd mentioned the funeral and the business recording. I saved that version, started a clean reply and went back to the car park. Anne asking for help. The doctor's hand on the door. Where we'd gone afterwards.
9:05
Nora (Narration): The microwave finished. I let the food stand while I wrote, which was what the instructions had wanted all along.
9:13
Nora (Narration): I was halfway through eating when Marian called. She'd sent a message first, asking if I was still awake. I wiped my hand on a tea towel before answering.
9:22
Marian: Did you show her?
9:24
Nora: Yes. She says it's her. She made the call a few weeks ago.
9:28
Marian: She admits it?
9:29
Nora: Yes. She's rung the police contact. They're arranging to speak to her tomorrow.
9:34
Marian: Oh.
9:35
Nora: What were you expecting?
9:37
Marian: I don't know. That there was some explanation we hadn't thought of.
9:42
Nora: There may be. I haven't heard it yet.
9:44
Marian: He's sent more.
9:46
Nora (Narration): I moved the plate away from my sleeve. There were three new pictures in our messages. Each showed a section of Percival's conversation with Marian.
9:54
Marian: I'll read it. I asked again whether Laura could ring me. He said, you need to understand what you're getting involved in. Anne was willing to take part when it suited her. This has become a question of money.
10:07
Nora: Has she asked him for money?
10:09
Marian: I asked that. He said, Laura was generous to her. I won't discuss private arrangements while Anne is making these accusations.
10:18
Nora: That doesn't answer you.
10:20
Marian: No.
10:21
Nora: Did he send anything else? A message from Anne?
10:24
Marian: Only those words. And he sent the video again, as if I might have missed it the first time.
10:30
Nora (Narration): I opened the first picture. This has become a question of money. I'd just spent ten minutes looking at my bank balance. I could imagine him saying the same thing about me.
10:40
Nora: She told me she wasn't paid for the call.
10:43
Marian: Do you believe her?
10:45
Nora: I don't have anything that shows she was.
10:47
Marian: That wasn't quite what I asked.
10:50
Nora: I know.
10:51
Nora (Narration): I put the phone on speaker beside the plate. It was easier to speak with my hands free, although there was nothing I needed them for.
10:58
Nora: I was very sure of her this afternoon. I'm trying not to make another decision because somebody's upset me.
11:04
Marian: Which somebody?
11:06
Nora: Both, at the moment.
11:08
Marian: Yes.
11:09
Nora: Do you know what the call was about? She mentioned something being sold.
11:13
Marian: There's a sale being worked on. The care business. I've been supplying staffing figures and information about the buildings. There've been calls every week.
11:23
Nora: Was Laura on all of them?
11:25
Marian: I don't know. I wasn't on all of them. They were meant to keep the day-to-day work out of the negotiations. Then every other day they'd want something by five o'clock.
11:35
Nora: Could you find the meeting?
11:37
Marian: Perhaps. If I had a date. Does she remember one?
11:41
Nora: She thinks about three weeks ago. She said it was the day she met you.
11:45
Marian: Here?
11:46
Nora: Yes. She says you went out before the call.
11:50
Marian: I did. I had someone waiting to let me into a building. The heating had gone. I remember getting a message while we were dealing with the dog.
11:58
Nora: Have you still got it?
11:59
Marian: Probably. I can look.
12:01
Nora: That might help place her visit. It won't tell us everything about the meeting.
12:06
Marian: No. But I can start with it.
12:09
Nora (Narration): There was a faint clink. Marian told me she'd been clearing away the mugs from that afternoon. Mine had still been on the table where I'd left it.
12:17
Marian: Do you know what I asked him after that? Whether Laura had eaten.
12:21
Nora: What did he say?
12:22
Marian: That she was being well looked after.
12:25
Nora: Did he tell you by whom?
12:27
Marian: No. I was giving him questions he could answer without telling me anything. I could hear myself doing it.
12:34
Nora: You're allowed to want her to be all right.
12:36
Marian: So are you.
12:37
Nora (Narration): I looked down at the food. A skin had formed over the sauce.
12:42
Nora: I need to finish something for the agency. Then I'm going to bed.
12:46
Marian: I'll stop ringing you.
12:47
Nora: You haven't been a nuisance.
12:49
Marian: I have a bit.
12:50
Nora: Tomorrow, then. I'll be busy for a while in the morning.
12:54
Marian: All right. I'll send these to Shaw as well. The whole conversation.
12:58
Nora (Narration): We said goodnight. I finished the meal standing at the counter and left the reply to Ben ready to read in the morning. Before bed, I checked the alarm. There were two now. One for the email. One for breakfast.
13:12
Nora (Narration): I sent Ben my response at eight twenty. At five to ten I was outside Maya's building, carrying a bag of oranges I'd bought because arriving empty-handed had suddenly seemed wrong. She opened the door with a tea towel over her shoulder.
13:26
Maya: You're early.
13:27
Nora: Only five minutes.
13:28
Maya: I haven't put them in yet.
13:30
Nora: Don't rush.
13:32
Maya: I wasn't going to.
13:33
Nora (Narration): She took the oranges and looked into the bag.
13:36
Maya: Are we making juice?
13:38
Nora: You can eat them.
13:39
Maya: I know what they're for, Mum. There's quite a lot.
13:42
Nora: They were by the till.
13:44
Maya: Dangerous place.
13:46
Nora (Narration): She put them in a bowl that already contained two onions and a packet of batteries. I took my coat off. The table was set for two, with the butter still in its paper on a saucer.
13:56
Maya: Tea?
13:57
Nora: Please.
13:58
Maya: Have you slept?
13:59
Nora: Yes.
14:00
Maya: Enough?
14:01
Nora: More than yesterday.
14:03
Maya: That's an answer to a different question.
14:05
Nora: Six hours. Nearly seven.
14:08
Maya: Good.
14:09
Nora (Narration): The toaster lever wouldn't stay down. Maya pushed it twice, then held it while she checked the socket.
14:15
Nora: You haven't switched it on.
14:17
Maya: Thank you. I've lived here for two years, but it's a mystery every time.
14:22
Nora: Sorry.
14:23
Maya: You can put the kettle on. I give you full responsibility for that one.
14:27
Nora (Narration): I filled it. My phone vibrated against the counter where I'd put it down. I turned it over. Marian. A message, not a call.
14:37
Maya: Do you need to answer?
14:38
Nora: I can look later.
14:40
Maya: You can answer if it's important.
14:42
Nora: I'd rather have breakfast.
14:44
Nora (Narration): I put the phone in my bag. Maya watched me do it, then went back to the toaster.
14:49
Maya: Is the woman all right?
14:51
Nora: She's with a friend. She's had some care and she's got somewhere to stay.
14:55
Maya: Good.
14:56
Nora: There are still things to sort out.
14:58
Maya: Are you working tonight?
15:00
Nora: No.
15:01
Maya: Tomorrow?
15:02
Nora: That one's been taken off me.
15:04
Maya: Why?
15:05
Nora: The clinic complained about me taking her to hospital. The agency's reviewing it.
15:09
Maya: Have they heard your side?
15:11
Nora: I've sent it. Twice now.
15:13
Maya: Can they just take your shifts?
15:15
Nora: Apparently they can take that one. I've asked them to explain the position in writing.
15:20
Nora (Narration): Maya put two crumpets on my plate, then reached for the butter. She spread it without asking, the way I used to do for her.
15:28
Maya: Are you all right for money?
15:29
Nora: I'm sorting it out.
15:31
Maya: I didn't ask if you'd thought about it.
15:33
Nora: I've got enough for this week. After that I need some work. That's where I am.
15:38
Maya: Okay.
15:39
Nora: I didn't come to ask you for anything.
15:41
Maya: I didn't think you had.
15:43
Nora (Narration): She sat opposite me. Her own crumpets were much darker than mine. She scraped a small black patch with her knife.
15:50
Maya: I nearly didn't get up this morning.
15:52
Nora: Why?
15:53
Maya: I thought you'd ring. Say you'd been up all night again. It seemed sensible to wait until I heard from you.
15:59
Nora: I said I'd come.
16:01
Maya: I know.
16:02
Nora (Narration): She carried on scraping. I could have listed the times I had turned up. They would have sounded like quite a lot if I'd included everything since she was born.
16:11
Nora: I'm sorry I made you wonder.
16:13
Maya: You're here. Eat it before the butter goes cold.
16:16
Nora (Narration): I did. After a while she told me about a shelf she'd bought for the hall. It had arrived with three brackets and instructions for two. She'd spent Wednesday evening looking for somewhere the extra one could possibly go.
16:29
Nora: Perhaps it's a spare.
16:31
Maya: That's what I decided. Then I put a plant on it and spent the evening waiting for it to fall off.
16:37
Nora: Has it?
16:38
Maya: I'll show you after breakfast. You can stand well back.
16:41
Nora (Narration): We had another cup of tea. She showed me the shelf. It looked perfectly straight, but she said that depended where you stood. When I left, just before eleven, she put half the oranges back in my bag. I took them without arguing.
16:56
Nora (Narration): Marian's message said she'd found something about the sale. I rang before starting the car. She answered on the first ring, then asked me to wait while she put the dog out.
17:06
Marian: He wanted to go out. Now he wants me to go with him.
17:10
Nora: I can wait.
17:11
Marian: No. He can see me through the door. Have you got a few minutes?
17:16
Nora: Yes.
17:17
Marian: I've been through the emails I was copied into. And the requests for information. There was an update yesterday afternoon. The target for completing the sale is Friday. Next Friday.
17:28
Nora: Six days.
17:29
Marian: Yes.
17:30
Nora: You didn't know?
17:31
Marian: I knew it was getting close. The date kept moving. When I read yesterday's update, I checked the bits they wanted from me. I didn't sit and think about the rest of it.
17:42
Nora: What do they want?
17:44
Marian: Staffing figures. An answer about some building work. Ordinary things. There's still an unanswered question about a leaking roof.
17:53
Nora (Narration): I could hear a printer. Marian waited for it to stop.
17:57
Marian: The clinic's part of it. You know that?
18:00
Nora: Part of the business you work for, yes. I didn't know what was being sold.
18:04
Marian: The business includes the clinic and the other care sites. Most of it belongs to Laura. Percival deals with a lot of the people involved, but it isn't his to do whatever he likes with.
18:16
Nora: Does Laura want to sell?
18:18
Marian: That's the other thing I've found.
18:20
Nora (Narration): A message arrived. Marian had sent me an email she'd received from Laura, with the reply beneath it.
18:26
Marian: This was the Monday before she first went into the clinic. She sent it to Percival and copied me. Read the first paragraph.
18:34
Nora: I'm not agreeing to the sale on this timetable. The questions I sent on Friday still need answers. Please keep me copied on anything that changes.
18:42
Marian: That's all of her message.
18:44
Nora: What were the questions?
18:45
Marian: They weren't attached. I wasn't copied into that part.
18:49
Nora: Did you ask her?
18:50
Marian: No.
18:51
Nora (Narration): I read the next message. Percival said he and Laura would go through the outstanding points. He asked Marian to continue supplying the operational information.
19:00
Nora: So he said he'd deal with it.
19:02
Marian: Yes.
19:03
Nora: And did he?
19:04
Marian: I don't have anything from Laura saying she'd changed her mind. I've searched her messages to me. There's nothing after that about the sale.
19:12
Nora: She might have told someone else.
19:14
Marian: She might. I'd like to ask her.
19:17
Nora (Narration): Outside, someone was trying to get a folded pushchair into a car boot. I watched them take it out, turn it round and try again. On my screen, Laura was asking to be kept informed.
19:29
Marian: I remember reading that email when it came. I thought, this will hold everything up. That was my first thought. I'd spent days getting figures together.
19:39
Nora: Did you think her questions had been answered?
19:42
Marian: I let his reply stand. Then she went into the clinic, and when she came home for lunch we talked about whether she was sleeping. I didn't want to bring work up. I thought I was being considerate.
19:54
Nora: What happened after lunch?
19:56
Marian: She went back. I told you. And everything since has been messages and Percival telling me she needs quiet.
20:03
Nora: Did yesterday's update say she'd agreed?
20:06
Marian: It says they're working towards completion on Friday. It doesn't give me her decisions or the documents behind them. I'm being asked for practical information.
20:15
Nora: Could it go ahead without her?
20:17
Marian: I don't know what they still need from her. I'm not handling that side. I can ask, but I want Shaw to have this first.
20:25
Nora: Have you sent it?
20:26
Marian: Both emails. The original messages, with the replies. I've said what I know and what I'm still looking for.
20:34
Nora: What about the older call?
20:35
Marian: I've found the message about the heating. That gives me a day to check for Anne's visit. I'm looking through the meeting invitations. I haven't matched the recording to one yet.
20:45
Nora: Thank you.
20:46
Marian: Will you tell Anne about this? The sale. What Laura wrote.
20:51
Nora: May I show her the email?
20:53
Marian: Please. It might mean something to her.
20:56
Nora (Narration): I looked at the first paragraph again. Laura hadn't explained her objections there. She'd written to people who should already have known them.
21:04
Nora: My booking was Monday to Thursday morning.
21:07
Marian: Three nights. Yes.
21:09
Nora: And this is Friday.
21:11
Marian: You think that's why they wanted someone here?
21:14
Nora: I don't know. It puts the dates close together.
21:17
Marian: I'll point it out when I speak to Shaw.
21:19
Nora (Narration): We finished the call. I sat with the keys in my hand for a moment before contacting Anne's friend. Anne had already asked her to ring me. The police had arranged to see her that afternoon. She wanted to talk before they came.
21:33
Nora (Narration): They were staying above a pub, a short drive from the hospital. Anne's friend met me downstairs and took me up. There was a television fixed high on the wall, with a small red light beneath it. Anne had covered the light with a folded receipt.
21:47
Anne: It flashes.
21:48
Nora: Does it?
21:49
Anne: Every time you think you've gone to sleep.
21:52
Nora (Narration): Her friend pulled a chair out for me and said she'd be downstairs. Anne watched her take the empty mugs before turning back to me. She was wearing socks and a shirt her friend had lent her. The enormous slippers were lined up beside the bed.
22:05
Nora: Did you get any sleep?
22:07
Anne: Some. She kept asking if I was asleep. I had to pretend in the end.
22:12
Nora: She's worried.
22:14
Anne: I know. So was I. I kept asking her the time.
22:18
Nora (Narration): I put my bag beside the chair. An orange rolled out and stopped against the leg of the bed.
22:24
Anne: Have you brought provisions?
22:26
Nora: My daughter's given them back to me. I bought too many.
22:29
Anne: You went, then.
22:31
Nora: Yes.
22:32
Anne: Good.
22:33
Nora (Narration): I picked the orange up and offered it to her. She put it on the bedside table.
22:37
Anne: I wanted to tell you something before I see Shaw. About last night.
22:42
Nora: All right.
22:43
Anne: I heard how I sounded. Saying it was private. As if you were being nosy.
22:49
Nora: I did ask quite a lot of questions.
22:52
Anne: You were entitled to those ones.
22:54
Nora: You can ask me to stop. I can't promise not to wonder about the answer.
22:59
Anne: I know.
23:00
Nora (Narration): She looked at my bag, then at my face.
23:03
Anne: Has he said something else?
23:05
Nora: He's written to Marian again. He says this is about money. That Laura was generous to you.
23:11
Anne: He would.
23:12
Nora: Has she given you money?
23:13
Anne: She's bought things. Lunch. That sort of thing. She offered to pay for the train once. I said I'd already got the ticket.
23:22
Nora: What about Percival?
23:24
Anne: No.
23:24
Nora: Have you asked him for any?
23:26
Anne: No. Has he said I have?
23:29
Nora: He hasn't answered that question. Marian asked it.
23:32
Anne: She's got more patience than I have.
23:35
Nora (Narration): She pressed her heel into the mattress, then shifted it. I asked whether the dressing was comfortable. She said she'd been told how to look after it and would ask for help if it wasn't. I left it there.
23:46
Anne: Did you tell her what I told you? About not being paid for the call?
23:51
Nora: Yes.
23:52
Anne: Thank you.
23:53
Nora: She's found an email from Laura. About the sale. She said I could show you.
23:57
Nora (Narration): Anne took the phone. She read with it close to her face, moving it slightly when the light from the window caught the glass.
24:05
Anne: When did she send this?
24:06
Nora: Before she went into the clinic. Marian received it at the time.
24:10
Anne: And this underneath is him?
24:13
Nora: Yes.
24:14
Anne: Going through the outstanding points. What did he do about them?
24:18
Nora: Marian doesn't know. She has a new update about the sale, though. They're aiming to finish it next Friday.
24:24
Anne: Still?
24:25
Nora: That's what yesterday's update says.
24:27
Anne: They're carrying on?
24:29
Nora: Marian has given the messages to Shaw. She doesn't have anything from Laura withdrawing those objections.
24:35
Nora (Narration): Anne scrolled back to the top. She read the same paragraph again. Then she put the phone on the bed between us, carefully, with Laura's words still visible.
24:45
Anne: That call I did. It wasn't her agreeing to this.
24:48
Nora: You told me you hadn't agreed to a sale.
24:51
Anne: I hadn't. But she hadn't either. I thought there would be time for her to explain it herself.
24:58
Nora: To whom?
24:59
Anne: Everyone who needed to know.
25:01
Nora (Narration): She reached for the orange and began lifting the skin with her thumbnail. It broke off in a small piece. She put it on the receipt she'd taken from the television, leaving the little light uncovered.
25:12
Anne: She used to do things for me without asking. Then she'd act as if I'd done her a favour by letting her. It could be quite irritating.
25:21
Nora: Like paying for the train?
25:23
Anne: That. Ordering enough lunch for three people, then saying she couldn't eat hers. I could buy my own lunch. But she'd be sitting there, looking so pleased that I'd come.
25:34
Nora (Narration): A piece of peel came away in a long strip. Anne folded it into the receipt.
25:39
Anne: When there was something I could do, I wanted to. I liked being useful to her.
25:45
Nora: Did you know it would mean using her name?
25:47
Anne: Yes. I can't say I didn't understand that part.
25:51
Nora: What did you think would happen afterwards?
25:53
Anne: I'd go home. We'd talk about it afterwards. I thought she'd find it funny that I'd been so frightened of the camera.
26:00
Nora: And now?
26:01
Anne: Now he's showing people the bit where I say her name. And she's not here to tell them why.
26:07
Nora (Narration): She separated the orange and held half out to me. I took it. Neither of us ate any.
26:13
Anne: I didn't want to tell it badly. I thought if I left her out of it, they'd have to look at what happened to her in the clinic. They wouldn't be able to make it about something she'd done wrong.
26:24
Nora: Keeping that part back hasn't stopped him using it.
26:27
Anne: No.
26:28
Nora (Narration): Her copy of the transfer page was on the bedside table. She moved it to make room for the peel. I waited while she wiped her hands on a tissue.
26:36
Nora: Who asked you to do it?
26:38
Anne: Laura.
26:39
Nora (Narration): She was looking at me now. I left the phone where it was.
26:43
Anne: She gave me the top. Stood behind the chair and moved the screen until you couldn't see the door. She told me how to turn the microphone off if I needed a moment.
26:53
Nora: She got you ready for it?
26:54
Anne: Yes. She checked the picture. Moved my hair forward. We don't look so alike with it up.
27:01
Nora: Why couldn't she take the call herself?
27:03
Anne: She needed to leave the house.
27:05
Nora: Why use you?
27:07
Anne: So her husband would think she was still there.
27:14
Nora (Closing Credit): The Woman in White. A contemporary adaptation inspired by the novel by Wilkie Collins. Voices created using ElevenLabs. End of Episode Four.