The Silent Ones: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller(64)

His jaw was set, his eyes slightly glazed over and Dana recognised the signs. He was keenly focused, desperate to make the right call in respect of Maddy’s confession and Brianna’s accusation.

In a side office, he indicated for her to sit before slumping down himself in a chair.

‘OK, so here’s where we’re at. March and I have spoken to the super and she’s given us one last chance to talk to the girls.’ He picked up a ballpoint pen and studied the nib intently. ‘If we can’t get anything else and the kid is still confessing, the super’s adamant we charge her with manslaughter.’

Dana sighed. She shared Neary’s misgivings about issuing a charge at this point.

‘I know, I know. But I can see the super’s side of things too. The locals and the press are baying for blood. We don’t want to charge the wrong kid, but we can’t be seen to be dragging our feet either. We’re expecting comprehensive forensics back within the hour.’

‘If Maddy had kept quiet, you’d have been forced to release them after thirty-six hours,’ Dana pointed out.

‘If the forensics didn’t support our case, yes. But Bessie Wilford was a much-loved member of the community and we can’t appear to be showing leniency when things seem so straightforward, on the surface at least. Thank God the press don’t know about Maddy’s confession.’

Dana nodded.

‘So in terms of these final interviews, I want to go in quite hard. That OK with you?’

She pulled the corners of her mouth down and shrugged. ‘I don’t see why not.’

‘It’s for their own good; the only way we stand any chance of getting to the truth.’ He let the pen drop from his fingers. ‘In your opinion, are they capable of withstanding tougher questioning?’

‘I’ve not noted any signs to the contrary,’ Dana replied. ‘They both seem fairly well adjusted and competent.’

‘Exactly. Not the sort of girls to batter an old lady to death, eh?’

She raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement of the irony and stood up.

Together they made their way to the centre’s interview room.





Forty-Eight





The juvenile centre





Brianna Voce sat with her mother on the low upholstered seats. DC Carol Hall sat a little further back from them.

Dana met Chloe’s belligerent stare and gifted her most compassionate smile. Nobody wanted their child to be disbelieved or made to feel uncomfortable, but this was one of those occasions when Neary and his team really had no choice.

Maddy Fletcher was Chloe’s niece, after all. Surely Chloe was concerned that she should get a fair hearing? Or maybe not. This was a strange family, and Dana clearly hadn’t got to the bottom of it yet.

Neary began.

‘We’re going to ask you some questions, Brianna, and it’s very important that you tell us the truth. If you don’t know something, say so. If you do, give us as much detail as you can. Is that clear?’

Brianna nodded.

Dana saw Chloe’s obvious bristling at the detective’s formal, no-nonsense tone. This was already a precarious situation and she prayed that Brianna wouldn’t revert to her earlier silence.

The same thing was obviously on Neary’s mind.

‘Do you understand, Brianna?’

‘Yes,’ she replied in a small voice.

It was a relief, not that Dana or Neary showed it. It was important not to give anything away now. Both Brianna and her mother needed to know they’d reached the end of the line as far as Brianna giving her side of the story was concerned.

Neary started recording.

‘Brianna, yesterday evening you stated that Maddy Fletcher attacked Bessie Wilford, is that correct?’

‘Yes,’ Brianna said in a surprisingly bold voice.

‘Can you tell us how you knew Bessie Wilford?’

She thought for a moment. ‘We just did. She’d been to Grandma’s house before and one day when she left to go home, she asked me and Maddy and Josh in for lemonade in the school holidays.’

‘Which school holiday was that?’ Neary asked.

‘It would be the last one,’ Brianna said. ‘May half-term week.’

‘Had you been to her house before that?’

Brianna shook her head.

‘Answer out loud, please.’

‘No!’ she said curtly, and for a second, Dana caught a glimpse of her mother’s fire.

‘So you and Maddy weren’t worried about going to her house alone?’

Brianna laughed. ‘She’s an old lady! She isn’t like a dangerous stranger. A man.’

She looked at her mother, who gave a tiny nod. Brianna was talking about Bessie in the present tense and Dana realised the girls still hadn’t been told that Bessie had died from her injuries.

‘Can you tell me exactly what happened from when you left your grandma’s house yesterday?’ Neary said.

‘We went for a little walk up the road and then we had a dare to run down to the shops and back again,’ Brianna said clearly. ‘But when we got to the shops, we decided to go a bit further. To Bessie’s street. It was all Maddy’s idea.’

‘So you got to Bessie’s street,’ DS March said. ‘And what happened next?’