The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(43)

‘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.’