Page 40 of Dying Truth

It appeared to be something about their youngest daughter they didn’t know. They both regarded her blankly.

‘We met Saffron yesterday,’ Kim said. She knew there was something these people wanted her to see and she would. All in good time.

‘We were surprised that she was still at school, considering—’

Hannah shook her head. ‘She’s always been a headstrong girl, very determined. We begged her to come home with us, but she insisted that she won’t let the school down for the gala. It’s her way of coping, I think,’ Hannah said.

‘Were they close?’ Kim asked.

‘Not really,’ Laurence replied. ‘Not even as children. The three years between them seemed so much more. Saffie has always had an older head on her shoulders. She was never interested in the childish games Sadie wanted to play. She chose to spend most of her time at the piano,’ he said.

Hannah nodded. ‘Eventually, Sadie stopped trying to get her sister’s attention, and the two of them kind of drifted apart.’

Kim could hear the sadness in the woman’s tone.

‘Neither of us had siblings and wanted our girls to grow up close. We always hoped that once they were…’

Kim saw her eyes redden at the realisation that any hopes they’d had of those bonds forming later in life had been lost for ever.

She thought about the photo on her own fireplace at home. The bond she’d had with her own sibling, her twin brother, had been only six years long but it was a bond she had treasured.

‘So, what was it that you wanted to show us?’ Kim asked.

Laurence stepped over to the mantelpiece and retrieved a single piece of plain paper.

‘We did find this in her things?’ he said, nodding towards the paltry box of possessions.

Kim had lost interest in the box. It had been filtered through too many hands already. Stacey might find something on the phone or tablet, but Kim suspected not, or it would have been held back.

She took the piece of paper.

The handwriting began tidy, neat and small. The words measured. It was a letter of two halves.

Bryant scooted closer to read with her.

Dear Mummy and Daddy,

I can’t find the words to explain how I feel. Every day my mind is like a tropical jungle overgrown with foliage, dense plantation. A mist rises every now and again and blocks out the sunlight. I try to wade through it. I try to reach you but the jungle gets in my way.

I try so hard to meet expectation but I drop through the cracks of reality because I also want to be me. I don’t know who that is yet. I don’t know how much longer I can stay in this foggy existence waiting to see what I become. It’s too hard. I can’t bear it any more. I have to make it stop.

Kim went back to the top of the letter and read it again.

She felt Bryant sigh beside her.

It was tough to read the muddled, sincere, lost thoughts of a thirteen-year-old girl that was now lying in the morgue. However she had spent her last days or hours, she had not been happy or at peace. Especially with herself.

Kim raised her gaze to find that Laurence had moved to stand behind his wife. His hands rested on her shoulders. Hannah had turned her face into her husband’s forearm as though the truth was just too much to bear.

‘And how do you see this letter, Mr Winters?’ Kim asked, gently.

He swallowed back the tears.

‘I think this letter leaves no doubt whatsoever that our daughter wanted to end her life.’

Kim felt torn between revealing the nature of Sadie’s injuries and waiting until they had something more substantial to share. The word ‘murder’ had been shouted from the rooftops by Tracy Frost, but this couple were choosing not to hear it.

She stood. ‘Thank you for sharing this letter with us, Mr Winters. I’m sure it will help us with our enquiries.’