All the Rage (DI Adam Fawley #4) - Cara Hunter Page 0,11

she wouldn’t get in the front with me – she’d only sit in the back. And she had the window wound all the way down even though it was bloody freezing.

AA: So she could call for help if she needed to?

NM: I suppose so. I hadn’t really thought about it.

AA: Did she say anything at all about what happened?

NM: No. I mean, I didn’t like to – you know – be too pushy. I said I was taking her straight to the cop shop and she started panicking and saying no, she didn’t want anything to do with the police, and then I said the JR then, but she didn’t want the hospital either. So I just took her where she said she wanted to go.

AA: Rydal Way?

NM: Right. I thought afterwards that it must have been why she was walking that way. She was trying to get home.

AA: And was there anyone there when you got there? Anyone in the house?

NM: Dunno. She went round the back.

AA: You didn’t mention that before.

NM: Sorry. I didn’t think it was important.

AA: You said before that she didn’t have a bag with her. Could she have had her keys in her pocket?

NM: I suppose so, I didn’t really think about it.

AA: But you definitely think she was able to get in?

NM: Oh yeah. She said she could go and get me some money if I waited but I said it was fine. She didn’t need to pay. She was crying, when she got out. Poor little cow.

* * *

Sasha Blake puts down her pen and closes her notebook. She’s sitting cross-legged on her bed, music on low in the background. The pen has a feather on the end and the notebook is pale blue, with a scatter of white flowers across the front. She likes the sheen of the pages, the feel of the book in her hand, but the real reason she chose it was because it’s small enough to fit in her bag. She knows better than to leave it lying about anywhere, that’s for sure. She loves her mum, she really does, and she knows she wouldn’t snoop deliberately, but no mother has the sort of willpower you would need to stumble across a book like this and not read what’s inside. Isabel gets round it by using code, and Patsie sticks everything on her phone, but Sasha likes being able to write things down. It makes it easier to demuddle her thoughts – helps her work through what to do. But her mum wouldn’t get that. She’d think everything in the book was true. And it is, in a way. Just not the way her mum would understand.

There’s a noise from downstairs now and Sasha quickly leans over and slides the notebook into the pocket of her pink satchel, then sits back against the headboard and picks up her copy of Keats.

‘You OK, Sash?’ asks her mum, pushing the door open, her arms full of ironing.

Sasha looks up. ‘I’m fine, just chillin’ with my homeboy.’

Fiona Blake smiles. ‘Don’t work too hard. You’re allowed to enjoy yourself as well, you know.’

She shunts the laundry on to the top of the chest of drawers and pulls the door to behind her as she leaves. Sasha opens the book again. ‘Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath.’ She sighs. Imagine having someone talk to you like that.

* * *

‘So, you can see why we’re concerned.’

Somer sits back in her chair. The principal of the college hasn’t said a word throughout Somer’s entire account. She’s just sat there, frowning, fidgeting with an elastic band, staring out of the window. Outside, the sky is darkening. It looks like rain and Somer curses to herself. She has no coat, no umbrella and entirely the wrong footwear.

The principal still hasn’t said anything. Somer glances at Quinn, who shrugs.

‘Mrs McKenna?’ she says, raising her voice slightly. ‘Is there anything we ought to be aware of? Do you know if Faith has been having problems with any of her fellow students recently?’

The woman turns to face her. ‘No. Nothing I know of. Faith is very popular with her peer group.’

‘Do you know who might have played this April Fool joke on her? Do any names come to mind?’

Another, deeper frown. ‘I hope you’re not suggesting that one of our students might be responsible for this –’

‘Not at all. But we do know Faith’s family only moved here last summer, so