The Silent Deceivers

Chapter 18

Interviewed

The next few days passed with nothing to show. I turned everyone away, every knock at my door got the ‘go away’ or ‘leave me alone’ response shouted at them. I was doing the usual, overthinking everything and making myself go numb. Then I’d become so numb I’d put myself into splendid isolation like Britain before the First World War. I submerged from my room a couple of days after I had received the note but only because the police were coming to ask me questions. While I waited I sat in the quiet room at the bay window seat, staring out bushes at the front of the house casting my mind back to the figure I had seen. When it all became too much and I was overwhelmed I picked a book off one of the shelves nearest to me and opened it without looking at the title. I leaned against the window frame; my back against the wall with one leg straight and the other bent, my arm arched to form a perfect right angle with my elbow on the hard window sill and my head perched on my hand balled into a fist. As I scanned the first few lines I concluded that the book I’d picked was about Elizabeth I given that it opened with ‘I’m Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England and I promise you history will remember me.’ I closed the book, rested it on my knees and wiped it clean of dust with my hoodie sleeve inquisitively. Elizabeth Tudor: My Story was embroided in gold calligraphy style writing on the cover of the book over her fiery red hair. I re-opened the book and began to read it, a few pages later, I heard the muffled sound of the gravel outside crunch under a shoe and sure enough a couple of heartbeats later out of the corner of my eye I saw someone stroll past the window. I leaned forward and pulled the curtain out of my way. I caught a glimpse of the word police written in innocent white letters on the dark sinister black jacket just before they rounded the corner and the doorbell rang. I swung my legs round and got up, throwing the book down in frustration.

Here we go again!

My feet dragged as I walked towards the main office where I knew they would be waiting. In my head I was churning out answers to what I thought would be possible interrogation questions but as it turned out none of them actually cropped up.

Why do I have to do this again?

I stood by the office door with my hand poised over the handle, straight in front of me as I looked down the hallway towards the kitchen was Roxy. She was giving Luke a piggy back and was just about to take on the challenge of staggering down the stairs, it crossed my mind to call out to her, ask her to come in with me for moral support but then I reminded myself that this was a quest I’d have to conquer on my own. I clasped the handle, it was cold and a shiver went down my spine, I thought about running, I didn’t want to face the police again, it had been months since my parents died but I still wasn’t ready. The only thing pushing me on was David. I had to know why, I had to find out the truth. Then in the spur of the moment I’d turned the handle and pushed open the door.  Quest one complete. I instantly regretted it; two policewomen sat on one side of the desk, notebooks in hand, badges and walkie talkies set out on the desk and a serious expression fixed on their faces. One of them, the polite one who I later found out was DI Andrews, stood up as I entered and held out her hand. I shook it limply; my eyes focused on my name that had been written at the top of the page of her black pocket sized notebook. I slid into the chair opposite and began to compose myself so I was ready to face the next quest; the questions. The policewomen introduced themselves as DI Andrews and DS Scott.

“Now Leah, because you’re still under sixteen you need an adult present okay so I believe Lisa Carvell is going to be present?” the DI Andrews said.

I heard Lisa mutter yes over my shoulder and then without even a blink of an eye the questions began. My mind was racing, to be honest I was still mildly panicked about my name being in their note book but I was adamant I wasn’t going to let it show! My eyes were constantly lowered to the table and I couldn’t think of what to say.

“Where were you between the hours of nine pm and ten thirty pm on the eighteenth of July?”

“It was having a night out with my friends, and myself and two friends arrived here at around quarter past eleven after getting more food from the shop down the road.”

“Which shop?”

“Tesco Metro, on Bridgewater Street next to the café.”

“Who were the friends? Can they confirm your whereabouts?”

“Roxy Burner and Connor. I don’t know his last name. Yes. They can.” I answered bluntly.

“What was your relationship with David?”

“He was a very close friend. I’ve known him for years.”

“But you weren’t that close in the end were you? A few days before his death, you and David had a fight. What was that about?” DS Scott pressed.

I don’t like you.

“Yes we had a fight but it wasn’t a major one, I became friends with someone that he didn’t like and we fought.”

“We’ve been told you became friends with members of a group that have been targeting David, bullying him. True?”

“Yes but he…….” I stuttered.

“That’s pretty major don’t you think? Why were they bullying him?”

“Because he was gay and I guess they couldn’t handle that.”

“They being your friends?” the policewomen pushed.

“Yes, they being my friends but their views have got nothing to do with me. Even if I meant nothing to David he meant a lot to me.”

“I believe he came to see you the night he died, to give you a suicide note?” the women asked, holding my glare.

I placed the folded up piece of paper onto the desk in front of me and slid it across so it stopped beside their walkie talkie. That was my answer. The polite policewomen picked it up and opened it after scanning through it she handed it over to the other lady who also scanned it and then placed it in a see through plastic bag and marked it with ‘Ev 3’ at the top. DI Andrews looked towards her colleague. After a subtle nod from her counterpart she stood up and concluded with “Thank you Leah, we will be in touch with any developments.”

YEAH RIGHT!

I stood up, shook their hands and then watched them walk out escorted by Lisa. Then it was as everything bit of fight left in me drained out into a mess on the floor as I slumped down deflated into my chair and ran my hands through my hair.  Lisa came in a few minutes later and let out a sigh of relief. After I left the office I went into the living where I joined in a highly competitive game of Monopoly. The game wasn’t allowed to finish until there was one player left standing so it was dark by the time Luke and I were declared the victors. We celebrated with a victory tour of the house, hot chocolate and for Luke an extended bedtime. We also got to choose what movie we watched and in the end we settled down on the sofa to watch Bugs Life.