The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(40)

‘If I don’t do my job, then justice can’t be done,’ was her stock answer, but people didn’t understand it and it never won her any points when there was trouble.

But Dana got it completely. It wasn’t about getting people off, or helping them get away with criminal acts.

She believed as much as Helen Bootle and the café customers that justice should be seen to be served in each and every case. The catch was that the only way that could happen was to ensure that all parties had their say. Both defence and prosecution should have a chance to put forward evidence that could then be carefully considered and judged by a lawful legal process.

She could understand Helen Bootle’s frustration, of course she could. But equally, she realised there was nothing she could have said to make her feel better. In fact, if Dana had told her what she really thought, she’d have only succeeded in making Helen even angrier.

In the Strang case, everyone had believed that fifteen-year-old Collette was responsible for the death of her best friend. All the evidence had seemed to point that way; Dana had been the lone voice of doubt. But gut feelings didn’t carry the same weight as witness statements and forensic detail.

The police had instructed her to back off. Neary hadn’t been leading that team, but he knew about it and advised her to let it go. She ignored him. She ignored all of them.

The academy management cautioned her, put her on another case, but still she couldn’t ignore the feeling that there was more to it, that Collette was innocent.

So, after another full day of deliberation, she’d taken it upon herself to follow up with the family of the dead girl in her own time, speak to a few people off the record.

But she had found her courage too late. By the time Collette’s cousin had broken down and confessed, Collette had already hanged herself in her bedroom.

Her family had sued the police for mismanagement of the case, saying that Dana’s off-the-record visits proved that the authorities were squabbling and disagreeing amongst themselves instead of following procedure. The judge agreed, and the family were awarded substantial damages.

There had been nothing spooky about Dana’s intuition in the case.

The stuff people told her either added up or it didn’t. Simple as. And right now, she felt convinced that the families of the two girls were hiding something.

She could just sense there was something stuck at the back of all their throats like a fish bone. Something they wanted to protect at all costs, whether they consciously realised it or not.

It might be invisible to Neary and the rest of them, but to Dana, it was glaringly obvious. The stilted communication between family members, the clandestine glances and tense body language that some of them displayed and some didn’t.

Just like her last case, she wasn’t about to ignore it.





Twenty-Seven





The police station





It was just before five o’clock and Dana was scheduled to speak to the girls again. DC Carol Hall had given the parents refreshments and had requested, via Neary, that they have no contact with their daughters during the break.

Surprisingly, they had agreed without protest, on the understanding that they could sit in on the next interview. Chloe began to put up an argument based on what Seetal had told her were her legal rights, but with no support from Tom and Juliet, she reluctantly backed down.

When Dana entered the room, she saw that the girls were sitting in the same places as before. Each child had her mother present, sitting on their right-hand side, with the lawyer tucked at the end. Apparently Maddy’s father, Tom, had left to attend a work meeting.

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.