Page 32

CHAPTER 32

MELANIE – D AY T HREE

There’s good progress by the time Melanie gets back to the station. All three boys from Milburn House School, the ones named by Zak, are in custody, ready for interviews. All lawyered up. Zak’s also in custody. All the parents are in reception, causing a commotion.

Given all three boys have had their eighteenth birthday, they’re being treated as adults. It’s late but Melanie wants these interviews done tonight – ideally all three suspects simultaneously but there are only two interview rooms free, so she picks Ben Delaville and Tom Broadmoor to go first. From Zak’s statement, these two had seemed to take the lead.

Melanie takes up her post in the small adjoining office with both cameras from the interview rooms up on-screen in front of her. She’s warned Sam and Richard, the two sergeants leading the interviews, that she will oversee and intervene if information from one interview needs to be relayed urgently to the other.

She feels a surge of adrenaline as both sergeants start the tapes and run through the usual information and cautions.

At first both Ben and Tom try the silent treatment. ‘No comment’ to every question, glancing occasionally at their lawyers. The same scene in stereo. But both sergeants are thankfully experienced. Melanie knows from her own early days in CID that silent interviews are the most stressful. She got lucky and a senior officer referred her for additional training based on emerging research. She’s ensured her team have had similar additional training to overcome the stress when ‘no comment’ is the defendant’s strategy.

Sam, the sergeant who accompanied her to Rugby, is the first to let this additional training click into play. ‘You should know that this silent treatment is fine by me.’

Ben Delaville glances again at his lawyer.

‘The thing is we know what happened,’ Sam continues. ‘Of course, I’d prefer to hear it from you too. But if you don’t want to cooperate, that’s your decision. We don’t need you to tell us.’

Ben’s expression becomes more alarmed, the colour draining from his face.

‘You see, we have a full account of what happened by the canal from your friend Zak.’ Sam pauses. ‘You stay silent, which is your right, then you should know that I’m happy to go with Zak’s account of what happened, to corroborate with Forensics and refer all this to the prosecutors. Makes things a lot cleaner and quicker from my point of view. Might even get home for some late supper. Quite fancy picking up a curry.’

Ben’s eyes widen and he shifts in his seat.

‘So, according to Zak, you were one of the ringleaders in the prank which led to a shopping trolley containing a homeless man going into the canal at the rear of the Maidstead High Street shops. We understand that you and Tom Broadmoor and Harry Clifton put the man in the trolley, pushed him up and down a bit and then did absolutely nothing to help him when the trolley rolled into the water. Where he drowned. Is that right? Feel free to say no comment but I should warn you that isn’t a good look from where I’m sitting. I’m not the one who makes the final decision, but I’d say that’s manslaughter. Or murder.’

‘It wasn’t my idea.’ Ben is leaning forward. His solicitor puts his hand on his arm.

‘As we discussed earlier. You don’t have to say anything.’ The solicitor’s tone is firm, but Ben remains agitated.

‘So you were the ringleader, Ben. Yes?’ Sam blanks the solicitor and stares at Ben.

‘No. Absolutely not. I said it was a bad idea. I never wanted to be involved. It was the others ...’

On the second screen, the same blame game is being conducted with the finger pointing in a different direction.

‘No way was it my idea. I kept telling the others to leave him alone,’ Tom says as his lawyer also leans forward to remind him that he is not obliged to say anything at all .

Melanie takes a deep breath. This is not going to take as long as she feared. She checks her watch – nearly 10 p.m. – and decides she will just let these two interviews run, given both suspects are talking now, and will then oversee the interview with Harry Clifton and a final update with Zak, this time with his lawyer involved.

Melanie glances again from screen to screen, taking in how young the suspects are. Boys more than men. She thinks of all their parents in reception.

It’s a relief to see this unexpected manslaughter – or murder – case resolving as it will allow her to refocus all her attention and all resources on the search for Amelie. But she also feels angry. And above all desperately sad for the poor homeless man in the trolley. But also for those mothers and fathers in reception whose lives will never be the same.

She’s about to organise new instructions to be taken into the two interview suites when a message comes up on her viewing screen: Matthew Hill is waiting in reception. A deep breath.

Melanie heads straight downstairs, sorts the security clearance with reception and makes Matthew, under protest, wear his visitor’s badge, before leading him up to the incident suite, where she’s arranged viewing of the car park security footage in a side office.

There are three staff still on duty in the main office, waiting to mop up after the interviews, and she watches Matthew thank them all for working so hard, so late, to find Amelie, their expressions becoming solemn. Melanie doesn’t need to make introductions. The whole team knows who he is.

The ex-cop, the father in the position no one wants ever to be in.

It is in the side room as they wait for the detective to fetch fresh coffees for the viewing session that Matthew brings up the subject she’s been most dreading.

‘So. Have you been thinking about the stats? Going into our third night, I mean.’ Matthew is looking at the floor as he speaks.

Melanie is grateful she is already seated and closes her eyes. She’s been thinking of little else. Not many abductions end well. And statistically very few after this amount of time.

‘Some do survive this long and we can’t give up hope. We have to keep going, believing we will find her well.’ She tries to make her tone neutral. Not over-the-top positive because he would see through that. Truth is, she’s becoming desperate herself, knowing the statistics too well. But it’s her job as his friend to stop him falling into that black hole.

‘I can’t discuss this with Sally. You know I can’t. But it’s eating me up, Mel. I need to ring her. Tell her about the green dress. But should I be preparing her for the worst? Is that where we are? Am I wrong to be trotting out all the optimistic stuff? Have we reached the point where I should be preparing her—’

‘If it were George, I would hang on to hope until hard evidence told me otherwise. Any parent would. And should.’ She says this very quickly. Means it. Meets his gaze eye to eye.

His face changes.

‘Look,’ she continues. ‘We both know the stats aren’t good. But we keep going, Matt. We keep going until we find her. And we hang on to hope because what else is there to do?’