Page 29 of Dying Truth

‘She liked to write, apparently,’ Kim said. ‘Poetry,’ she added.

Saffie looked surprised. ‘Did she? I didn’t know that.’

‘Her English teacher thought she had a talent for it.’

Saffie nodded but Kim detected an air of impatience or disinterest in her expression; all too soon it was gone.

‘Saffie, where were you when Sadie was on the ground outside?’ Bryant asked.

‘I was in the music room,’ she said.

Exactly where Principal Thorpe had said he was going to fetch her from half an hour ago. She seemed to spend a lot of time there.

Kim had the uneasy feeling there was something lacking from this exchange. She’d felt more genuine emotion radiating from Joanna Wade than she was detecting right now from a blood relation.

‘Saffie, were you surprised when you heard that Sadie had jumped from the roof?’

Saffie shook her head. ‘My parents had been trying to reach her for months without success. The more they tried the more she retreated.’

Kim had the feeling that Saffie could have been talking about anyone.

‘Did you know that your sister was a self-harmer?’

This time, genuine surprise shaped her face, telling Kim the shock at the poetry admission had been false. She caught the flash of annoyance that followed the shock.

‘She cut herself,’ Kim added.

‘I probably shouldn’t be surprised,’ she said.

‘Why’s that?’

‘Sometimes she did like to grab all the attention,’ Saffie said.

Except she hadn’t done it anywhere that someone could see, Kim thought to herself, so she wasn’t grabbing anyone’s attention, or even trying to.

‘Did she ever talk to you about it?’

‘No, Inspector, she didn’t,’ Saffie said impatiently.

‘But you’re her—’

‘Officer, I think you should know that my sister didn’t like me very much.’

Kim found herself taken aback by the frank admission.

‘Any particular reason?’ she asked.

‘I got bored of asking, to be honest with you. Just like my parents, I couldn’t reach her either.’

So, had everyone just given up? Kim wondered. Had no one tried to find a way to reach her?

‘I’ve asked about friends and you say she had very few—’

‘No, I said she had none,’ Saffie clarified.

‘So, what about enemies?’ Kim asked.

‘I’m not sure why you’re asking that, but I would assume not. Just as she failed to interact positively I’m reasonably sure she failed to interact negatively.’