‘Is she grounded?’ Elise said. ‘Have you taken her phone?’
‘No phone for a week. But you could have waited till I got back, let me deal with it.’
‘She’d have wiped it by then,’ Elise protested.
By the time Janet got downstairs Ade had arrived and she had to fill him in on it all, and when she finally did get to bed she remembered she still had to sort out her mum’s birthday present. And she worried about Taisie. She did her best, but what if it wasn’t enough? What then?
I did my best, Denise Finn had said. We all do. Until it goes wrong and all you can hear is that mocking voice inside, nagging away: Could I have done more, done it differently?
Ade snored all night. She kicked him every so often and he made huffing sounds and turned over and after a few minutes he was off snoring again. By the time she sat down to plan an interview strategy for Sean Broughton the next morning she felt dog rough. Damned if she’d let it show though.
AS IN THE first interview, Janet reminded Sean that he was not under arrest and was free to leave; she made it clear he did not have to answer any of the questions and could ask for a solicitor if he wished. She thanked him for coming in.
Once again Rachel made notes.
Janet had taken Rachel through the strategy, showing her how she aimed to first recap with Sean his existing statement and then ask more probing questions about the details that concerned them: the missing shopping, the missing phone, the lapse of time between Sean’s alleged discovery of the body and the 999 call. Rachel had listened carefully, stopped to clarify points, clearly fascinated. ‘Anything else you suggest?’ Janet had invited her to contribute.
Rachel thought for a moment. ‘The knife, the weapon – could he tell if there was one missing? Did he remove it from the scene?’
‘What do we know about the weapon?’
‘Not much. According to the post-mortem, it’s a medium-sized kitchen-type knife,’ Rachel said.
‘Was it in the flat or brought to the flat?’
Rachel shrugged. ‘We don’t know.’
‘Are we sure a knife was used?’
‘Well, a knife or similar implement.’
Janet studied Rachel; she hadn’t picked up on the difference between discussing the weapon and the other items. ‘We can’t demonstrate any of those things,’ Janet explained. ‘No conflicting evidence, so we can’t prove or disprove what he’s telling us. Whether he’s lying. But with the shopping, the phone, and timing of the emergency call we have distinct evidence, separately acquired, which we can use to test Sean’s account.’
