The Passengers(67)
She let out another shrill cry, this time as bottles containing flaming rags and liquid shattered against the windscreen, side windows and doors. Eventually the car accelerated away from the crowds, like a blazing comet.
Chapter 46
Haunting images of Sofia’s burning car driving itself through the streets dominated the inquest screens, black and grey plumes of smoke trailing in its wake.
Drones nudged each other mid-air, competing to get as close as possible to Sofia’s car to capture her horror through the windows. Eventually one managed to catch a glimpse of the fallen star, revealing a terrified woman shielding herself from the flames outside and covering her dog with her coat. The Hacker had cut the sound feed, giving her silent screams additional gravitas.
‘What they’re doing to her is barbaric,’ said Libby, horrified by the public’s behaviour. ‘They’re no better than the Hacker. No matter what she’s been accused of, she’s still a seventy-eight-year-old woman.’
‘I’m afraid her age doesn’t come into it,’ said Matthew. ‘She’s at the mercy of mob mentality.’
‘But what pleasure are they getting from this?’
‘I don’t know if it’s pleasure or if they’re just getting caught up in the moment. When people are part of a mob, they stop being individuals, their inhibitions disappear, they don’t follow their normal moral compass. Would any of them have turned up alone to hurl a brick or a petrol bomb at Sofia’s car? It’s unlikely. But when they’re surrounded by like-minded people, they don’t see themselves as violent individuals, it’s the group that’s responsible for the violence, not them personally.’
‘Thank you for that fascinating insight, doctor,’ sighed Jack. ‘Or perhaps she deserves it. Her chickens have come home to roost.’
‘Ignore him,’ Libby urged.
‘I’m only vocalising public opinion.’
‘Is that what’s happening on social media too?’ asked Libby.
Matthew nodded. ‘Humans are gregarious and we look for people like us to associate with. Nowadays, the easiest way to find that is online. Under ordinary circumstances your average person doesn’t post on Twitter demanding the death of a pensioner. But mob mentality and the anonymity of being behind a keyboard means people are braver when they’re together.’
A fire truck following Sofia’s car swapped places with an armoured vehicle ahead. Fire fighters clambered from windows while others hung on to the harnesses and aimed jets of water at her vehicle to dampen the blaze until the final flame was extinguished. It did little to reduce the knot in Libby’s stomach.
‘Time is once again our enemy, ladies and gentlemen,’ warned Fiona. ‘We really need to start discussing the next Passenger, Sam Cole.’
‘Ah, the bigamist,’ said Jack. ‘Compared to a murderess and a paedophile, it’s hardly the crime of the century, is it?’
‘Try telling that to his wife,’ said Fiona. ‘I cannot possibly imagine the level of deceit required to lie to someone for such a long period of time. Maintaining two separate lives without either wife knowing about the other … surely whatever satisfaction it gave him was tainted by the fact he could never really relax for fear of letting something slip?’
‘I say he should be applauded for having got away with it for so long,’ said Jack. ‘Aside from his questionable morals, is what he has done enough to send him to his death?’
‘By not choosing to vote for him, we aren’t sending him to his death,’ corrected Muriel. ‘It just means there are other Passengers I would prefer to lend my support to.’
‘You interviewed him and now you’re not supporting him. Your lack of loyalty says much about your depth of character.’
‘I have the same loyalty as you do to Claire,’ she retaliated and Jack gave a derisive snort.
‘He doesn’t get my vote because of the very obvious way in which he tried to manipulate us,’ said Libby. ‘He played the poor, hard done by dad at his wife’s expense. He’s a disgusting human being.’
‘Have his infidelities hit a raw nerve with you, Miss Dixon?’ asked Jack. ‘You and Matthew have much in common; perhaps you should swap numbers when this process is complete as I doubt you’ll be sailing off into the distance with Mr Harrison.’
Libby held herself back from hurling her bottle of water at Jack’s head.
‘Sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures,’ he continued. ‘We cannot condemn Sam for his will to survive. Who knows what any of us might do in his circumstances? And, in my view, he didn’t say anything that was factually inaccurate. Men do get a much rougher deal than women when it comes to relationships with their offspring.’
‘Oh, Jack, don’t give me that rubbish,’ said Fiona.
‘You seem to be conveniently putting to one side the fact that his wife is just as an accomplished liar as he is. And as a police officer, she is expected to be honest beyond reproach. If she can’t keep her own house in order and has blackmailed Sam, I wonder how many other times she has bent the law to serve herself?’
‘We don’t know how much she knew,’ said Matthew.
‘That’s as maybe, but I am still awarding Sam my vote,’ said Jack defiantly. ‘Is anyone else with me? Matthew? Fiona?’