of your time but thank you so much for coming out.’
‘Well, if you’re sure…’ He shrugged. ‘Can I have your autograph for my daughter? She loves your books.’ He fished a dog-eared receipt out of one pocket and a biro out of the other, holding them out to her.
‘Of course,’ Lizzie said, taking them and scribbling ‘Lots of love from Lizzie Kingdom’ on the crumpled paper. The weird disconnect between reality and what had happened down on the embankment seemed to deepen. She couldn’t relate to either.
‘Cheers for that,’ the paramedic said, pocketing it deftly. With a wave he disappeared out into the street, shrugging off the eager questions and camera flashes.
‘Thank you.’ Lizzie turned her best smile on the policewomen, hoping they would follow suit. ‘I really appreciate your help and I’m sorry to have called you away from more important business.’
The police were not so easily dismissed. One rummaged in her pocket and snapped open a notebook whilst the other gestured Lizzie to a seat.
‘Could we ask you a few questions, Ms Kingdom?’
‘Of course.’ Lizzie looked around. The reception was brightly lit; she felt as though she was in a goldfish bowl. ‘Would you like to come up to the flat? It’s a bit exposed here.’
‘It’s fine.’ The PCs directed her towards some chairs in a corner by the lifts. ‘We’ll only be a moment.’
Even sitting with her back to the window Lizzie thought she would be lit up like a Christmas tree. She could just imagine the pictures already circulating on Twitter.
‘Would you tell us exactly what happened, please?’ The first policewoman, PC Morgan, according to her badge, leaned in whilst the other sat with her pen poised. ‘Just for our report, so it’s clear.’
‘Of course,’ Lizzie said again. ‘I was with Johnny Robsart. He came to see me earlier for a chat. We walked down to the river together for a breath of fresh air on his way to Blackfriars tube. I felt a bit faint so I sat down on the bench. I must have lost consciousness for a moment. Like I said, I’m sorry to have caused a fuss about nothing.’
She could hear the whisper of the pencil on paper as the other PC recorded her words. It made her feel nervous. PC Morgan simply looked at her. That too was unnerving.
‘Would that be Johnny Robsart who is the brother of Amelia Lester?’ PC Morgan asked after what felt like several minutes.
‘Yes,’ Lizzie said. She felt panic tighten its claws in her chest again. She wanted to blurt out all the stuff she had already told the police; that she knew nothing about Amelia and Dudley’s quarrels, that she had had nothing to do with Amelia’s death, that it was all just a coincidence and an ongoing nightmare… She kept her lips tightly pressed together.
‘Are you a friend of Mr Robsart?’ PC Morgan asked. ‘Only he was here a couple of days ago, wasn’t he, demanding to see you, and you had him thrown out.’
‘No, I didn’t!’ Lizzie moderated her tone at once when PC Morgan raised her brows. ‘I mean, yes, he did ask to see me and there was some trouble with the security people here but I didn’t tell them to eject him… It wasn’t my fault—’ She stopped. ‘Johnny’s brother came and took him away,’ she said. ‘I would have been happy to talk to Johnny then just as I was tonight.’
‘Did you contact him to invite him here?’ PC Morgan asked sharply.
‘No,’ Lizzie said. ‘He contacted me.’
PC Morgan nodded as though Lizzie had just said exactly what she expected her to say. ‘Our colleagues are checking whether Johnny has been in touch with his family since he left you,’ she said. ‘Hopefully he will have arrived safely home…’ She let the phrase hang. Lizzie resolutely held her gaze and said nothing.
‘Did you also see Dudley Lester this evening?’ PC Morgan said after a moment.
The hairs on the back of Lizzie’s neck prickled. When the police had interviewed her in the aftermath of Amelia’s death they had focussed heavily on her relationship with Dudley and it was impossible to escape the feeling that they thought she and Dudley had cooked up an accident for Amelia so they could be together. Lizzie had told herself at the time that she was being paranoid but now she felt anxious all over again. Was PC Morgan implying that she and Dudley had conspired to get rid of Johnny too because he knew something