The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(63)

‘So you took the stuff out to the car and spotted someone in Bessie’s front garden,’ DS March recapped. ‘Then what?’

‘I went back inside to do a last-minute check that I’d turned everything off in the house. I grabbed my satchel and keys, and then I left. Locked the front door and opened the driver’s-side door, and that’s when I saw the two girls skipping down the street.’

‘And the person standing in Bessie’s garden… were they still there?’ DS March asked.

‘Sorry, I didn’t notice.’

‘The girls, then?’ Neary prompted.

‘They looked quite happy, I could hear them chanting or singing and they were holding hands as they skipped along. I remember thinking how bright and sunny they looked… their clothes, I mean. Dressed for the nice weather.’

Dana replayed his words in her mind. Singing… skipping along, holding hands. The same two girls who had then abruptly stopped speaking and turned against each other.

‘Did you speak to them?’ March asked.

Peter shook his head. ‘You can’t say hello to kids you don’t know these days unless you want to look like a pervert.’ Neary raised an eyebrow. ‘Sorry, it’s true, though. They were still skipping towards Bessie’s house as I got into the car. When I turned the car around at the end of the street, they were standing at the gate. I think one of the girls had her hand on it. After that, I set off and never gave it another thought.’

‘Just to confirm, you didn’t notice if there was still a person in the front garden at that point?’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I only saw the two girls.’

Was it possible, Dana wondered, that someone else had seen the girls enter the house at the time of Bessie Wilford’s attack? If so, why hadn’t they come forward yet?





Forty-Seven





The village





Dana hadn’t been back in the village long after leaving the station when she got the call.

She and Lizzie were just about to enter the small brasserie when Dana sighed as she glanced at the screen.

‘I’m not answering that.’

‘Go on, you might as well.’ Lizzie nudged her. ‘Otherwise you’ll be wondering all through brunch.’

It was true. Dana had met this wonderful woman just two weeks earlier and she already seemed to understand her perfectly.

Lizzie tipped her head to one side and watched with amusement, a wry smile playing on her lips, as Dana answered the call and conducted her one-way conversation.

‘Hello, Conor. Right now?… I can’t, I’m just about to have food. Hang on.’

She took the phone away from her ear and pressed the mute button.

‘It’s Neary. He said he wouldn’t need me until later this morning but he’s asking if I can get over to the detention centre in half an hour.’ She bit down on her back teeth. Getting some time with Lizzie was proving to be quite the challenge.

‘That’s OK.’

‘It’s not really OK. We’ve had this table booked for over a week. It’ll be another week before we can arrange the time again, and I really wanted to—’

‘Dana. It’s fine.’ Lizzie smiled and laid her hand on Dana’s upper arm. ‘Really. We can do this any time, it’s not a problem.’ She stood on tiptoe and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Go!’

Dana pressed the button and lifted the phone to her ear again.

‘I’m on my way,’ she said, before adding, ‘You owe me, Neary.’

Lizzie asked to be dropped off at the shopping mall on the way.

‘I’ll only be there an hour,’ Dana told her. ‘You could come with me, grab a coffee or something, and then we can go for something to eat afterwards.’

Lizzie grinned. ‘Tempting as the offer to visit the detention centre is, I’ll pass. Has Neary got a problem for you to sort out?’

‘He wants to interview the girls again, separately this time.’

‘But it’s clear-cut now, isn’t it? One of them confessed.’

‘Maddy Fletcher.’ Dana nodded. ‘Yes, it should be straightforward if the forensics back it up, but one kid’s accusation against another isn’t enough. There’s something just a bit off about the whole thing, the family vibe. There’s something that we’re not seeing. Neary agrees we need more information before he makes the final charge.’

Lizzie glanced at her as they walked. ‘A bit off? Like what?’

‘I’m not sure. Just a feeling that they’re keeping something from us.’

‘But the girl has confessed. Period. The sooner Neary lets the law take its course, the sooner you can get on with your life.’

The voice of reason she’d been missing in her life. Dana pulled her keys from her bag and unlocked the car. She could understand Lizzie’s frustration completely.

‘If only it were that easy,’ she said wearily.



* * *



Dana signed in at the centre’s reception and Neary appeared from his office, taking long strides up the corridor to meet her.

‘We’ll speak to Maddy Fletcher first,’ he said. ‘Then Brianna Voce. But if her mother starts being difficult like last time, I’m going to ask her to leave the room.’