going in. She’d find him at home in a stupor and he’d murmur about a girl they’d all hurt years ago. He said it wasn’t his fault. He was just told it was a prank and then it got out of hand. He said Alex and Cherie tortured the girl and because he was there too, they’d blamed him, so they’d all kept this secret. The next day he said it was all a load of drunken rubbish. She said she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer.’
‘And?’
‘When we interviewed him, he cried like he couldn’t wait to get it out of his system. He fully described what Alex and Cherie had done to Lucy.’
‘Let me guess, it matched up to what was in Lucy’s notebook?’ She clenched her hands together in hope.
‘Exactly, and the details of that notebook have not been released anywhere, as yet. Briggs is on to the press at the moment, pleading with them to not publish it straight away, just to give us a bit more time with follow-up questioning. It hasn’t arrived in the post either, so they definitely don’t have the details.’ A grin spread across O’Connor’s face.
‘I could kiss you right now!’
‘Mrs O wouldn’t approve. Jacob said drinks are on you down at the pub, I’ll take a beer instead.’
She playfully slapped his arm. ‘I’m definitely buying everyone’s drinks when this is over. While I’m pushing her, get onto the CPS and relay what we have. I’m hoping it will be enough without her confession but I don’t want to get this wrong. I know Lucy was our killer but I feel I owe it to Lucy to get this right. She suffered a lot in her life, carried the burden of what they did to her, they need to pay too.’
‘I’m on it now.’
She dropped her smile and reopened the door.
Jacob started the recorder again. ‘Interview continued at twenty-one-hundred hours.’
‘Cherie, I’m not going to mince my words. We have a full witness statement and the person who gave it described everything that happened in Lucy Manders’s notebook having never read it. You’ve got nowhere to go now, Cherie.’
The woman kicked the table leg and bit her lip. ‘That bitch. She could have just moved on with her life. She tried to kill me. What we did to her was nothing in comparison.’
‘On the contrary, what you did to her was everything. It started this whole chain of events. You don’t get to do all those things and expect the victim to give you a free pass. It’s now time to face up to your crimes.’
‘I was stupid, only a kid.’
‘You were sixteen, above the age of criminal responsibility. You buried Lucy alive and you assaulted her. You buried her in the ground knowing it could kill her. You threw stones at her and whipped her with branches. You tortured her for nearly two hours.’
Tears trickled down Cherie’s cheeks. ‘What now? Will my husband and children be told? I don’t want them to know what I did. They can’t know. Surely they need protecting.’
The solicitor stared at her notes on the table and whispered in Cherie’s ear.
‘You’ll be charged and you’ll attend magistrates’ court, where you’ll be referred to crown for trial by jury. Now is your time to do the right thing and face up to it.’ Gina closed her folder and leaned back in her chair. The case was over. She could now go home, take that long-needed bath and dwell on how she was going to tackle a night out with the department.
She hurried along the corridor, heading to the kitchen. Briggs was leaning up against the counter waiting for the kettle to boil. She closed the door. ‘I really am sorry about what I accused you of. Do you forgive me?’
‘You were under a lot of stress. Of course I forgive you. Do you want a coffee?’
She shrugged and he smiled as O’Connor burst in. ‘Make one for me, will you? I think we’ve all earned this drink. Oh, by the way, sir, drinks are on guv tomorrow.’
She shrugged and nodded. ‘I guess they are.’
Chapter Seventy-Four
Now
Friday, 13 November
The best way Gina could remember what Lucy had been through would be to move on with her life. That’s one thing this case had taught her. Gina wasn’t sure if that was possible, but her current frame of mind said it was at this precise moment. Right now, she was going to forget all her problems and live for now