The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(15)

Tom shuffles in his seat and pats her leg as Carol brings over a box of tissues. I take a couple and dab gently at Maddy’s face.

‘It’s OK, sweetie, you’re doing so well,’ I whisper to her.

Seetal turns to Carol. ‘I don’t think Maddy can carry on like this. She needs a break.’

I hear DS March’s voice then, cold and officious.

‘Interview suspended at three fifteen p.m.’

I slide my arm around Maddy and we follow Carol out of the interview room and down the corridor. It’s cooler out here, but I still feel sick, and my heart is racing. It was so traumatic for Maddy in there, and we’re no further forward.

‘I don’t know what I expected the interview to turn out like, but it wasn’t that,’ I whisper to Tom, and he nods grimly.

I thought they’d go easier on her, be less formal. The creeping sense of unease that started in my solar plexus now fills my entire body.

Maddy’s silence is unnerving. That she’s capable of keeping up a brick wall even against me and Tom makes me shiver.

Carol stops walking and opens a door. Just before I follow my husband inside, I look back along the corridor and see Chloe and Brianna about to step into the interview room. I wish I could speak to them, so we can talk amongst ourselves about what happened in that house.

Our eyes meet for a moment and I shoot my sister a meaningful look to try and warn her; to convey how awful it’s going to be to see her child put through the wringer.

But Chloe turns her head away and steps inside the room. And she doesn’t look back.





Nine





The police station





The room felt hot and sticky as Chloe entered, but still, she’d been glad to escape Juliet in the corridor. She couldn’t handle that plaintive look of hers, not today.

This was no place to show weakness, and she intended to fight the allegations against Brianna tooth and nail. Both sisters needed to fight with everything they’d got, but Chloe could already see the doubt etched on Juliet’s face, and she couldn’t afford for that to undermine her own strength.

She squeezed her daughter’s hand as they took their seats under the gaze of the two detectives. She noticed that the female officer had already slipped off her tailored black jacket, and Neary had loosened his grubby tie.

‘Are there no windows in this place?’ Chloe said tersely, her eyes swivelling around the room. What a dump the station was; everything she laid eyes on was make-do and in desperate need of an overhaul.

‘Sorry,’ DS March replied without real concern. ‘We’ll try to locate a fan for later.’

Later? Chloe had been hoping this interview would be it and then they’d be heading home. She opened her mouth to challenge the comment, but then thought better of it when Seetal shot her a look.

That fussy woman Carol crept into the room and closed the door quietly behind her, then perched on the edge of a hard chair and sat expectant and still, blinking comically like a plump bird. She looked about as far from the description of a competent officer as Chloe could imagine.

Some people thrived on the drama and misfortune of other people, and Chloe strongly suspected Carol was one of them.

Brianna still hadn’t uttered a word. She looked so small and vulnerable sitting there faced with the two detectives. Only the people who knew her best realised that her bolshie exterior was a facade. It broke Chloe’s heart that she couldn’t just scoop her daughter up and protect her from all this.

Chloe folded her arms and listened to the nonsense DI Neary was reeling off. Something about establishing Brianna’s understanding of what it meant to tell the truth as opposed to telling lies. Bree might be young, but she was no fool and deserved better than to be patronised.

Chloe turned her scathing gaze on Seetal, their lawyer, sitting there scrawling on a pad and saying nothing. As good as useless for her eye-watering two-hundred-pounds-an-hour fee.

The interview proper began. A constant barrage of questions, good-cop bad-cop style.

Neary: Did Brianna hurt Bessie?

March: Did she try to help Bessie or think about raising the alarm?

Neary: How long did the girls stay at the house?

‘Did you actually see Bessie fall, Brianna?’ March asked.

Brianna looked down, bounced the heel of the ill-fitting navy lace-up shoes they’d given her on the floor.

‘This is important, Brianna,’ the detective continued. ‘Was Bessie OK when you got to the house? Did you speak with her?’

It felt to Chloe like the detectives were trying to trick Brianna in some underhand way, getting her to admit to something she might later regret. Had they asked Maddy exactly the same questions?

She tried in vain to catch Seetal’s eye.

Brianna remained silent, staring at her fidgeting foot.

‘She’s obviously confused on that particular point.’ Chloe sat forward and glared at the detectives. In the absence of the lawyer saying anything constructive, she wouldn’t just sit there mute and let them distress her daughter.

Neary’s tone gained an edge. ‘Miss Voce. Can you please let Brianna speak for herself?’

Seetal touched her arm and nodded in agreement, silently reminding Chloe that she wasn’t supposed to speak. Some lawyer they’d selected in her.