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‘You can’t see her,’ Penn said for the seventh time. Each time he said it, Logan Dench grew more agitated.

‘You have no right to keep me away from her.’

‘We have every right. Your mom is helping us with our enquiries, and if you don’t settle down, you’re going to have to leave.’

He’d been called through by Jack after finishing the interview with Olivia because Logan was refusing to take no for an answer from the desk sergeant.

Penn was still trying to get his head around Olivia’s admission of guilt and her all-out lies about her relationship with her son.

‘You can’t stop me from seeing her. She’s my mom,’ Logan said with an air of possession.

‘Actually, I can. Your mom is in our care and under our protection, and you’re not going to see her for a while yet.’

‘But she’s done nothing wrong. I’m going to call a solicitor.’

‘For yourself?’ Penn asked.

‘Of course not for me, you idiot,’ he hissed.

Penn let the insult and the derision in his voice pass. For now. As much as he would have liked to give the guy a taste of his own medicine, it did no one any favours to reveal what they suspected about this warped relationship.

‘Your mom has had access to a solicitor and she has chosen to speak to us without one.’

Logan looked horrified. ‘She’s done what? How could you have allowed that to happen?’

‘She’s a grown adult. She can make her own decisions.’ He paused. ‘She can, can’t she, Logan?’

His face darkened. ‘Of course she can. What did she say about me?’

‘Your name came up,’ Penn said and wasn’t lying. ‘But the content of our interview is confidential.’

‘Just wait?—’

‘Until what, Logan? Who has to wait? Who are you threatening?’ Penn asked, stepping into the man’s space.

Their eyes met and held, but Penn would grow old before backing down. He sensed that even without words the truth was passing between them.

Logan eventually stepped back. ‘I’m going to get coffee, but I’ll be back to wait for her.’

Penn didn’t doubt it. Logan was terrified to move too far away from the action. It was almost as though he felt he could control his mother’s silence by being in close proximity.

Trouble was, if they didn’t work out what was going on soon, they’d have no choice but to release her. Confession or not, they knew she hadn’t killed James Nixon.

And once they let her go, Logan would be waiting for her, ready to take her back to her prison, and the violence would be worse than it was before.

Without any confirmation from her about his abuse, there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.