The Things You Didn't See(50)

The door opened further and Holly went in.

In the small front room, Janet returned to one end of the sofa, curling her small frame over as if her spine was broken, her face almost hidden on her chest. Holly sat beside her.

‘Janet . . .’ The woman may have been allowed to leave the police station but she had the haunted look of the condemned. Holly touched her leg, as if in support. Janet’s fear was strong enough for Holly to feel it crawl beneath her skin. ‘Where’s Ash?’

‘Still asleep,’ she said, in a quiet voice. ‘After he drove me home we stayed up talking, and he only fell asleep at about four. Poor boy, he’s worried sick. We both are.’

‘But the police have released you, so that’s good?’ She was fishing for information, and Janet moaned softly, not giving anything away. ‘Ash said you were arrested because the police found your blood on the gun.’

Janet pulled her knees up, looking like a schoolgirl who’d been caught shoplifting, not someone capable of a violent shooting. ‘I don’t know – I can’t remember ever touchin’ it. When I arrived at the farm, Maya was at the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t go any closer, I never went further than the kitchen.’ Janet looked sheepish. Her voice was so low, Holly had to lean forward to hear.

‘Did you see anyone with her?’

Janet hesitated, and Holly knew that whatever she said next was being revealed reluctantly. ‘It’s not a clear view from the kitchen to the back hallway, and it wasn’t fully light. Maya was cryin’, I could hear her. I couldn’t see properly. I was afraid to get any closer. What could I do against someone with a gun? I ran and got Ash.’

Holly felt a wave of understanding wash over her: Janet knew exactly who was holding the gun. She was protecting somebody.

‘Ash and me ran back to the farmhouse. ’Course, Ash is faster than me, so he ran ahead. He went straight in the house, regardless of who might be inside or if they was armed.’ There was a flicker then of pride for her brave son that Holly felt to be completely genuine. Was she protecting her son, surely the most natural instinct in the world?

‘And what did you see, inside the house?’ Holly nudged her back to the story.

‘Maya was lyin’ at the bottom of the stairs, bleedin’ from her head. So much blood . . . I was afraid she was dead, but Ash said she was breathin’ – he was so much more with it than I was. And there was Hector’s rifle, next to her. Ash went to pick it up, to get rid of it. I’ve seen it on TV, on Broadchurch, you shouldn’t touch anythin’, and I started shoutin’ at him, pullin’ it away, and the top of the sight, where the metal’s rough, scratched my arm. It bled a bit – that must be how my blood got there.’

Holly watched the woman as she spoke, the way her eyes flicked up – the way they do when people are remembering something. Something true.

‘So you’re saying that Ash touched the rifle?’ Holly asked, realising the significance of this: his fingerprints.

Janet sighed deeply, to the very bottom of her soul. ‘Ash loves that family. He’d do anythin’ for ’em.’

There was a hush in the room.

‘Did you tell the police this, Janet?’

Janet blanched. ‘I don’t want to get my boy in trouble, and we just panicked. But they needed to know how my blood got on the gun, and this is the God’s honest truth. I called the ambulance straight after – I just wanted to get help for Maya. My blood may be on that gun, but not for the reason they think.’

‘I believe you, Janet. But what you’re saying is that Ash wanted to remove the rifle. Was this to protect whoever did shoot Maya?’

A flush of colour rose to Janet’s cheeks and something occurred to Holly, a premonition of sorts, a gut feeling she’d had before. Yes, Janet was protecting someone, but it wasn’t her son.

‘Janet, when I was at the hospital last night, Hector said he was going to the police station. Do you know what he told them?’

Tears welled in Janet’s eyes and Holly saw love there, and fear. She remembered that Janet had fallen pregnant after a one-night stand and for the first time she wondered if Hector was Ash’s father.

‘Janet? What do you think Hector told the police?’

The housekeeper looked up, and her face revealed such protection and fierce love that Holly knew she wouldn’t get an answer. Janet jutted her chin towards Holly.

‘I don’t need to tell you anythin’. You have no right to be here, or to ask me any questions. You left this village twenty years ago – you don’t belong here no more.’





23

Cassandra

I can smell the flowers.

I can hear the air coming through my mouth, into me. A whoosh of freedom like, oh, like breathing.

I’m breathing, and I hear it, and it’s wonderful.

And then I feel the shot, sinking into my flesh just above my heart. I’m just twelve years old and someone has shot me. I tell myself it’s a memory, that it’s over, but the pain is intense and my breathing isn’t easy any more.

‘Cass!’

There are hands on me, someone is talking from a long way off. It’s me, the voice is talking about me. I’m awake and in a bed and I can breathe.

I fall down the stairs, the gun under my neck. I have to tell them. I open my eyes, but I can’t speak. I’m on the wet grass, I’m cold. It’s not safe and I begin to scream.