by K. L. Slater
There was nothing wrong with the set-up, yet Dana immediately picked up a peculiar prickling tension she hadn’t noticed before.
It wasn’t something that existed between Maddy and Brianna, but the two mothers.
Chloe Voce sat stock still, staring straight ahead. Her arms were folded, her mouth set in a flat, determined line.
Juliet Fletcher had turned her body slightly towards her daughter. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap and Dana noticed she swallowed frequently, a sure sign of nerves.
Neither woman looked at or spoke to each other. It was as though an invisible force field crackled straight down the middle of the two families.
The girls themselves looked braced to scoot, like frightened rabbits.
Brianna fidgeted in her seat, the nail of her index finger scratching at the side of her thumb. Maddy sat motionless as a statue with her fists balled and her jaw firmly locked.
Dana noted these crucial early observations. The way people actually felt inside compared to the way they wanted to appear externally was always an interesting study to begin with.
‘Hello again, girls,’ Dana said pleasantly as she sat down in the charcoal-grey upholstered chair. ‘I hope you both got something to eat and drink. If you need anything else, you will let me know?’
No reaction.
She addressed only the girls. The mothers had been briefed that they were there only as silent support and they should not contribute or intervene at any point.
Neary had expressed surprise when Dana told him she wanted to interview the girls together again, this time with their mothers present. She’d stipulated the mothers only, adding that Tom Fletcher could observe from the viewing room. She had her reasons for this, although in the event, he was absent anyway.
Family dynamics were fascinating things, and in Dana’s experience, they best revealed themselves when there was a balance. The dynamic between the sisters, Juliet and Chloe, was of great interest to her, and would have been skewed if Maddy’s father had also been present.
She placed her notes and pen on the low table in front of her and sat back in a relaxed manner.
‘I spoke to your teacher, Miss Barr, earlier, and she wanted me to tell you that she’s thinking of you both and sends her love and best wishes.’
Both girls stared into the space ahead.
‘Miss Barr tells me that during lessons, you are both so good at speaking up. You, Brianna, aren’t afraid to put your hand up and have a go at answering when the teacher asks a question. Maddy, you have a quick brain for remembering facts and nearly always get the answer right when asked.’
Chloe Voce tapped a fingernail on the side of her hand.
‘So your teacher was quite shocked when I explained that neither of you had said a word yet.’
Dana left a pause, and Juliet Fletcher filled it with a small cough.
‘Miss Barr asked me what the reasons behind your silence could be.’
Brianna Voce shot a lightning-fast glance at the viewing window, but it didn’t escape Dana. Sitting behind the mirrored glass, the detectives were watching and listening. Both girls had been told this.
‘You know, there are lots of reasons why people stop speaking,’ Dana continued. She sat back in her chair, looked from one girl to the other. ‘Sometimes, when they feel very afraid, it’s easiest to say nothing at all, because they think it might make things even worse for themselves… or for others.’
Chloe Voce bit her lip.
‘But that’s very rarely the case. Talking about a problem often helps, because it provides an outlet for all that stress bottled up inside. Have you ever seen anyone blow up a balloon at a party? If you just keep blowing and blowing and filling up the balloon with air, what do you think happens?’ She paused for a moment or two and then carried on as if the girls had reacted anyway. ‘That’s right, the balloon bursts. All that air will find a way out in the long run, and it’s exactly the same with fear and stress. Saying nothing might feel like the answer right now, but in the long run it can just make things so much worse.’
She picked up the water jug from the table and poured herself a glass. The trickle sounded like a thunderclap in the small, airless room.
‘Another reason for keeping quiet might be because someone else has told you to—’
‘What are you trying to say?’ Chloe Voce snapped before pressing her lips together.
Dana completely blanked her interruption.
‘Sometimes we do things for other people that we know aren’t right. Usually we know it’s wrong because we feel it here.’ Dana tapped the waistband of her trousers, level with her solar plexus. ‘But we do it anyway because we’re scared or worried or just confused.’
She stretched her legs out and crossed them at the ankles.
‘I’m going to let you into a secret. Last year, I made a mistake in my job. I did something that broke all the rules and I did it because I wanted to help someone who was in serious trouble.’
The girls both looked at her.
‘It all went horribly wrong because the person I tried to help died and I found myself in quite a dilemma. I couldn’t take back what I’d done and I knew the right thing to do was to tell the truth, even if my bosses didn’t understand. But I was afraid of being blamed for the death and I felt so bad for the family of the person who died.’
The girls were actively listening now, interested. Dana took a breath and continued, trying to keep her voice relaxed and praying that neither mother intervened at any point.
‘I couldn’t sleep properly, I couldn’t eat. I didn’t want to leave the house, I didn’t even want to visit my family and I didn’t want to speak to anyone if I could help it. I felt so miserable, as if I’d caught myself in a trap. And then I suddenly thought, anything is better than this. I made a decision. It was a brave decision, I think. I decided I would just go to my bosses and tell the truth and let the consequences take care of themselves. And that’s exactly what I did. I was truthful, but I also explained exactly what happened and why I did what I did.’
Dana looked at the girls. Maddy Fletcher’s chest rose and fell with increasing speed.
‘It’s called accountability,’ Dana explained. ‘Facing up to your actions and working hard to try and put things right.’
Brianna suddenly sprang to her feet and kicked the metal leg of her chair, causing the whole thing to skitter back.
‘It was Maddy’s fault!’ Her screeching voice seemed to bounce around the walls as she staggered back towards the door. ‘Maddy was the one who hurt Bessie!’
In seconds, the tension dissolved from Brianna’s body and the girl seemed to deflate in front of Dana’s eyes. Her shoulders slumped and she wrapped her arms around herself as she leaned against the wall, apparently shocked at her own outburst.
Chloe leapt up and rushed over to her daughter, wrapping her in her arms. Seetal shifted in her seat but didn’t say anything.
The room fell silent again. Dana held her breath and looked at Maddy, who had barely moved. Juliet had grasped her daughter’s hand, her expression a mask of pure dread.
‘Maddy?’ Dana said gently. ‘Have you got anything you want to say?’
The girl’s face looked pale and haunted, her eyes like dark sunken pools of navy blue. Juliet had turned pale and her hands began to shake.
Dana held her breath. Waited.
‘It’s true.’ Maddy spoke so quietly that Dana had to lean forward in her chair to catch her words. ‘I’m the one who hurt Bessie.’
Twenty-Eight
As soon as the words left Brianna’s mouth, Chloe felt her shoulders drop. The tension that had kept her face, neck and chest rigid and almost painful to the touch for most of the interview seemed to seep away in seconds.
‘Good girl,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘Good girl.’
Juliet’s head jerked towards her, and Chloe saw disbelief and denial changing the very fabric of her sister’s face, distorting her pale features. She
was looking to Chloe to make it better, just like she used to do when they were kids. But that was a long time ago now. Things had changed and they were on a different playing field altogether.
There was nothing Chloe could say or do to help her. Her loyalty had to be to Brianna alone.
It had taken so much courage for Bree to speak up like that. There were times in the last few hours when Chloe had worried she didn’t have it in her to do so. But her daughter had come through in the end, and she was so proud of her.
She felt sad for Juliet and Tom. But they were their own worst enemies; they’d never been able to see Maddy’s faults. The flaws that were so glaringly evident to the rest of the family.
Like her solitary nature and unwillingness to compromise. A few months earlier, Brianna had got friendly with another girl in their class and invited her over to the house to play during the school holidays. The girl had gone home in tears early, before tea, refusing to say why.
Later, her father had called Chloe and told her that when Brianna went to the bathroom, Maddy told the girl that her cousin had put spiders and insects in her sandwiches and she’d have to eat them otherwise the adults would get very angry.
Chloe had a word with Juliet about it, but Maddy denied everything. She put on a pretty good show, too, a proper little actress.
That kid could be very dark. There was no doubt about it. And now the truth was out at last.
Once they got Brianna safely home, Chloe would do her level best to support her sister and niece. Of course she would. Despite everything, she was fond of Maddy. She’d always believed Brianna was innocent, but she was shocked that Maddy had proved to be such a monster. It chilled her to think what might have happened if the girl had turned her vitriol on her cousin.
The feeling of relief was fantastic. It was a good sign. Hopefully now Chloe could start to resolve the other problems she had.
Dana looked at her. ‘Chloe, if you’d like to leave the room now with Brianna and Carol, I can chat a bit longer here with Juliet and Maddy.’
Chloe stood up and took Brianna’s hand and Carol held open the door. Juliet didn’t look at her or say anything at all.
She placed a well-meaning hand on her sister’s shoulder as they left the interview room, but Juliet shrugged it off.
Twenty-Nine
Dana could see that Juliet Fletcher’s breathing had become erratic. Her chest was rising and falling and she was pulling in too much air and in danger of hyperventilating.
‘Just relax, Juliet.’ Dana told her. ‘Nothing is going to happen immediately because of what Brianna just said. I’m hoping Maddy can shed a bit more light on what happened in Bessie’s house.’
Maddy looked at her mother and back down at her hands.
‘Maddy?’ Juliet said gently, touching her arm. ‘You have to tell the truth and help yourself now in any way you can. Do you understand?’
Maddy gave a faint nod.
‘Anything you can tell us will help us to help you,’ Dana added.
Maddy began to tap the heel of her foot on the floor.
‘Your mum said you’ve not been sleeping well for a few weeks, Maddy. Is that right?’
Maddy shrugged then nodded.
When they’d had their brief chat in Room 15A, Juliet had explained about hearing Maddy walking around her bedroom in the early hours and how she’d started going downstairs and sitting in the armchair, alone in the dark. Juliet had also said Maddy seemed to have a bit of an attitude lately, answering back and refusing to do some tasks like her homework. Apparently this was out of character.
‘Do you know why you’ve felt more restless? Why you can’t seem to relax at night?’ Dana pressed her gently.
Juliet nodded at her daughter to encourage her to speak.
Dana allowed a few moments’ pause. Just as she was about to ask another open-ended question, Maddy spoke up.
‘I just wake up for no reason and then I can’t get back to sleep.’
‘Horrible, isn’t it?’ Dana pulled a face. ‘That sometimes happens to me, too. Mostly when I have stuff on my mind, stuff I’m worried about that comes up in my dreams.’
Maddy nodded.
‘It’s not easy, I know, but I want you to think back to before you went to Bessie’s house. Can you remember if you were worried about something then?’
Maddy thought for a moment. She glanced at Dana and looked quickly at her mum.
‘It’s OK, sweetie,’ Juliet reassured her. ‘I promise you won’t get into trouble, whatever you say in here.’
Juliet was so helpful in this process. She seemed to know just what to say to support Maddy in the best possible way.
‘I… I’d been having bad dreams.’ Maddy wriggled a bit in her chair. ‘That someone was telling me to do something bad.’
Juliet looked uncomfortable but to Dana’s relief, she stayed quiet.
‘That must have been upsetting,’ Dana said. ‘Was it someone you know?’
Maddy nodded.
‘Was it Brianna?’ Juliet said and then bit back. ‘Sorry, Dana.’
‘Can you remember what the person was asking you to do?’ Dana continued, ignoring the interruption.
Maddy pressed her lips together, tapped the knuckles of her thumbs against each other.
‘Anything you can remember might be useful,’ Dana said softly.
She was almost certain by Maddy’s body language that the child could remember exactly who had tried to control her and what they’d asked her to do. But it was important Maddy felt safe enough to believe she had the upper hand.
‘They told me I had to do bad things otherwise awful things would happen.’ Maddy glanced at her mother’s stricken face. ‘It was just a dream, Mummy.’
‘Yes,’ Juliet said faintly.
‘And do you know who the person in your dreams was, Maddy?’ Dana asked her. ‘The person who wanted you to do bad things?’
‘I’m not sure,’ she said quickly. ‘I think I knew them but…’
‘That’s OK.’ Dana smiled. ‘Can you remember what they asked you to do?’
‘They wanted me to wake Bessie up by shouting in her ear,’ Maddy said. ‘They said I had to stay silent to stop the bad things happening.’
Thirty
Chloe sat alone in Room 15A.
Carol had said Brianna and Maddy’s interview was still ongoing. What a turn-up for the books when Brianna had spoken up. Chloe felt so proud of and relieved for her daughter.
Her peace was shattered when Ray and Joan burst in, her mother’s eyes bloodshot and puffy.
‘Mum? What’s wrong?’
‘People back at the house.’ Ray frowned, rubbing Joan’s back as he helped her into a chair. ‘Onlookers. Press, asking bloody questions and upsetting your mother. The sooner this nightmare ends the better.’
Ray shook his head and sat down next to Joan with a sigh.
‘It might be ending sooner than you think, Dad.’ Chloe blew out air. ‘Bree found the courage to speak up finally and Maddy just admitted she was the one who hurt Bessie.’
Ray’s face dropped. ‘Oh no, not Maddy!’
‘Would you rather Brianna had kept her mouth shut and taken the rap for something she didn’t do?’ Chloe scowled. ‘The girls don’t know yet but that old lady is dead, Dad. Dead! Of course I’m gutted Maddy is capable of that but I’m so relieved Brianna is in the clear.’
‘Have they said that?’ Joan looked up. ‘Have they said Brianna is in the clear?’
‘Not in so many words but she’s got to be, right? Maddy has admitted it.’
‘Hmm.’ Joan didn’t elaborate and Chloe ignored her.
‘What do you think, Dad? Do you think Brianna should take the blame for something she had nothing to do with?’
‘Don’t ask him, he knows nothing about how the law operates,’ Joan sneered.
‘Of course I don’t want Brianna to take the blame! It’s just… she was there and the police may need more than just a confession from
Maddy.’ Ray gave a heavy sigh. ‘I don’t know what I expected, to be honest, but it wasn’t this.’
She looked at her father. His hair seemed greyer, his wrinkles deeper since this morning. But after Maddy’s admission, Chloe felt lighter inside than she had done for days. Even before this terrible incident, she’d felt incapacitated by worry.
The family had been fractured by what the girls were going through here, and it would be fractured again when Chloe had a heart-to-heart with her sister and came clean. She didn’t know if the family unit would survive it.
She knew that stuff hadn’t gone away in terms of Brianna’s involvement, far from it. But she had a right to feel relief for a short time.
Chloe looked down when her phone suddenly illuminated.
She had turned it on to silent mode during the interview, so when the screen lit up with an anonymous incoming call, she simply pressed a button to end it. But then the answerphone icon popped up, and a creeping uneasy feeling started in the pit of her stomach. Making an excuse, she stepped outside to listen to the message.
Turned out it was the call she’d been dreading. She listened to it twice, trying in vain to extract clues from the tone, the inflections of the voice on the other end of the line.
It took her a few minutes to pull herself together enough that she could go back inside without her legs giving way beneath her.
She craned her neck around the door.
‘I’ve just got to pop back to the house,’ she told her parents, aware that her voice sounded thinner and higher than usual. ‘I’m going to insist Seetal gets Bree out of here today and I need to make sure everything is ready at home.’
‘I can sort that for you, love.’ Ray spoke up. ‘If you tell me what you—’
‘It’s OK, Dad. I’ll go, if you don’t mind lending me the car. The break will do me good.’
‘You’ll have to brave the mob outside the house. At least let me come with you then,’ Ray insisted.
‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, irritated now.
