The Things You Didn't See(92)

Holly was playing the scene in her head, although what she was picturing was the scene Daniel was painting for her, not one she was sensing.

‘What happened next, Daniel?’ she asked.

‘By then, Ash and Janet had arrived and the bloody dog was going crazy. Of course their first priority was Maya, and Janet called 999, but she did it from her cottage so she could say she hadn’t entered the house beyond the kitchen, so she wasn’t implicated in any way. Then Ash and I made it look like a suicide, placing the gun so it looked like Maya had shot herself. We wanted to protect Cass from what she’d done. We knew she couldn’t handle it.’

‘What did you do then?’

‘I took Cass’s blood-spattered clothes and hid them in the boot of my car – that’s why the police found those traces. I drove to Rendlesham Forest, where I took a long walk and buried the items in a remote spot. They aren’t deep: I didn’t have a spade, I just used my hands. We just wanted to protect Cass. You understand that, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she said, thinking of how she’d protected Jamie for twenty years, ‘I do.’

She thought of the first film Leif had shown her, Murder on the Orient Express. All of them had conspired to conceal a crime, all had guilt on their hands. This was why she’d been so confused by their emotions, by Ash, Janet and Hector as well as Daniel. They were all lying, and she’d sensed that.

The only person who hadn’t been lying was Cassandra.

‘The reason I came here, Holly, is because Cass needs you. You were her friend, and you hurt her.’

‘I was eight,’ Holly protested. ‘I wasn’t Cassandra’s friend, we’d never even spoken. It was a horrible accident.’

Daniel looked irritated and Holly’s senses prickled with alarm. ‘But you were there when she was hurt, and you said nothing. And now you’re her friend, or so you say. It’s time to prove it.’

After Daniel had left, Holly examined her heart for a reaction, and found only sadness for Cassandra, who was now facing the terrible fact that she had shot her own mother. Yes, she’d help her, but first she wanted to be with someone who loved her: Leif.

She opened the bedroom door, and he was still asleep. She removed her clothes and slid in beside him, needing his touch.

Leif opened his eyes. ‘S?tnos, what is it? You have been crying again?’

She shook her head. ‘Go back to sleep. I’m okay.’

He touched her chin with his finger. ‘No, you aren’t. You know you can trust me.’

He listened, and she told him what Daniel had said. How she finally had the chance to right the wrong her brother did.

Later, while he was taking a shower, her phone beeped and she saw she’d received a new email:

Holly,

Here is my updated and concluded report.

Clive

She skimmed down the page, for the final section:

Following careful analysis of the sleep trial data, and after extensive discussion with the somnambulistic polygrapher (see his attached report), my conclusion is that Hector Hawke does not suffer from non-insane automatism and, therefore, there is no evidence that he’s capable of violence while asleep. Indeed, the tests indicate he’s a sound sleeper with no disturbance at all.

I additionally interviewed his daughter, Cassandra Hawke, and a sleep trial was conducted on her immediately afterwards. Her brainwave patterns show clear evidence of brain activity associated with sleepwalking. It is evident from what Hector Hawke says that his daughter has been a sleepwalker for many years. The family largely view Cassandra as vulnerable and in need of protection, especially since an episode of severe psychosis resulted in hospitalisation to the Bartlet psychiatric hospital two years ago. I was the consultant responsible for her case and can confirm it was feared she would take her own life. As Cassandra was not married, it fell to a parent, her mother, as next of kin to sign the sectioning order.

Hector Hawke tells me that, fearing his daughter would relapse if she discovered the devastating knowledge that she shot her mother, he decided to say he was guilty. Cassandra’s partner Daniel, together with Ashley and Janet Cley, all colluded in this deception out of concern and love for Cassandra.

This is an unusual case, and a very sad one.

Cassandra’s actions are a clear example of non-insane automatism. She needs medical care and, in my opinion, she does not belong in prison. But that, of course, is a matter for the court.

Reading Clive’s report, something struck Holly: Daniel wasn’t Cassandra’s next of kin, Maya was. It was she who had signed the sectioning form, effectively locking Cassandra away, and she who paid for Victoria to board at Oakfield. Two strong motives for Cassandra wanting her mother dead. But sleepwalkers don’t have motives, only conscious people do. Holly shivered, felt a warning in her psyche – one that would do her no good. The case would be built on evidence, and there was now plenty, that this was a somnambular murder. It would be a jury that would decide, and not her. But she intended to tell them what she’d seen that first Halloween night, how Cassandra had remained asleep even after she’d been shot, and stand as a witness for her defence.





DAY 17

MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER





46

Cassandra

The sky is grey on the day we bury you, full of rolling thunder.