Chapter Thirty Four
“I told you we were in the same boat,” Izzy said.
“Not quite,” said Alli, shifting on the uncomfortable plastic chair. “I mean, one of us was actually at St. Hilda’s because they were supposed to be there. And then one of us was being paid to be there.”
Izzy pulled a face. “I was going to tell you, but…” She sighed. “Honestly, we needed the money. It wasn’t that much, but with the kids and everything, we needed it. I answered an ad online and when Luke offered, it seemed… almost like a holiday, I suppose.”
“Well, I did it to meet people,” Julia said from next to her. “And I did meet people, so as far as I’m concerned, Luke could have kept his money.”
Alli squeezed the bridge of her nose. “And now we’re all sitting in a police station, lovely.”
“I don’t think any of us planned on being here,” Marcus said. He was sitting on the opposite side of the corridor, facing the three women.
“And we’re only giving evidence,” pointed out Izzy. “It’s not like we’re arrested or anything.”
“Not like Josh,” said Alli. She shook her head. “He’s going to be in some real trouble if he’s not careful. He’s already got a record, that doesn’t seem fair.”
“We all know he had nothing to do with this,” Marcus said. “We’ll stick up for him.”
It wasn’t really Josh that she was worried about. She was pretty sure that he was clean and that the police would figure that out soon enough. Bea, on the other hand… Her stomach twisted in a little knot as she thought about Bea being interrogated by a police officer. Bea, who was always so anxious to please, who could barely stand up for herself.
“Do you all want to go out for a drink when we’re done here?” Julia asked.
“Yeah, maybe,” said Marcus.
Alli crossed her legs and tried not to think about Bea getting the third degree.
???
“I had nothing to do with any of this,” Bea said. “Surely you’ve all figured that out by now.”
“It’s a complicated case,” said the policeman opposite her. “We can’t take anything for granted, you must be able to see that.”
“I can,” Bea said. “But on the other hand, I only worked there for two weeks. I had no idea what Luke was doing.”
“You didn’t notice anything a little strange or off?”
Bea closed her eyes. “I told you. Things seemed… strange, but I’d never worked anywhere like that before. I had no idea what to expect.”
“What about this Daria character?”
Bea shook her head. “I know literally nothing about her. She barely said two words to me the entire time that I was there.”
He was about to ask another question when the door of the little interview room opened and a woman came in. A woman that it took Bea a moment to recognize. When she did, her mouth opened into an O of surprise.
“Ah, yes, surprised to see me,” said Leslie with a small smile .
“Surprised that you can speak at all,” said Bea.
Leslie shrugged. “It’s better to observe when you’re undercover. The rest of you all did enough talking, I didn’t need to join in.”
“You were police the whole time?”
The smaller woman nodded. “We’d had a tip-off, but we needed to know more about what was going on. That was where I came in.” She turned to the other officer. “She’s clear. She can go.” And then back to Bea. “You’ll probably need to come back for some questions later and we might need you to give evidence.”
“Anything, as long as I’m not under arrest.”
Leslie grinned at this. “You’re certainly not. And just for info, none of the rest of you are either. Luke hasn’t been found yet, but we’ll get him. When we do, there might be a trial. But the rest of the staff seem to be in the clear.”
“What about Daria?” asked Bea.
“Haven’t found her and can’t even track down her real name,” Leslie groaned. “But that’s a problem for another day. Just make sure you leave contact info at the front desk and set up an appointment to come give a statement in the next week or two and you can get off home.”
Bea’s heart started beating in normal time again. She’d seriously thought that she might be spending a night in jail.
???
“We’ll get you to sign a statement and then you can be on your way,” said a young policeman to Alli.
Alli looked around the tiny interview room. “So I’m not spending the night here?”
The policeman shook his head. “You’re free to go, ma’am.”
The ‘ma’am’ grated on her nerves, but she held her smile. “Great, that sounds perfect. Just tell me where to sign.”
She waited for the paperwork, signed her name where it needed to be signed, and stood up. Thanking the policeman, she made her own way out into the main reception of the police station. But she didn’t see any of the others, so she sat down to wait for them.
It was about three minutes later that Bea walked out of one of the corridors leading to the front desk.
Alli froze in her seat. Froze because she didn’t know what to say, what to do, all she could do was sit there, watching, feeling the thrill of being in the same room as Bea.
Bea didn’t see her and Alli didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. Part of her wanted to stand up and yell to the rooftops and beg Bea to give her another chance. The more sensible part of her was still frozen in place, not quite remembering how to move.
“We’re going to need better than that, ma’am,” the desk sergeant was saying to Bea.
“I’m afraid I can’t do better than that,” said Bea. “I’m moving, and that’s the best contact information I can give you at the moment.”
“You’re a witness in a police matter.”
Alli frowned, ready to get up and say something. But she didn’t have to.
“I’m a witness, not a suspect,” Bea said primly. “Now, I’ve given you both addresses, new and old, you have my phone contact. That should be more than good enough. I’d also like to set up an appointment to come and give a sworn statement.”
The police officer grumbled beneath his breath, but Alli was smiling. So Bea had gotten a backbone in the last few days, huh? It was nice to see her standing up for herself. Nice to see her taking control of her own life.
“That sounds fine,” Bea was saying now. “But I’m currently out of work and applying for jobs, so I may need to reschedule. I’ll ring if it’s necessary.”
She didn’t even wait for an answer. She turned around and her eyes widened just a fraction. “Alli.”
Alli stood up, suddenly feeling like she didn’t know what to do with her hands. Any hope that she had of her feelings for Bea fading flew away. “Bea.”
???
Maybe she should have expected to see Alli there, maybe she would have if she’d have given the matter any thought. But she was busy being arrested and Alli hadn’t been at the front of her mind.
She was now, though. Standing there like she owned the place, looking too beautiful to be there. And Bea felt a shaking inside. She didn’t know what to do, what to say. Most of her wanted to rush at Alli and take her in her arms. But there was the little, sensible part that told her to hold back.
“You’re here,” she said finally.
Alli nodded. “Not arrested or anything, though,” she said quickly.
“Right,” Bea said. “I was.” Then she reconsidered. “I mean, I was arrested because I was staff, but they know I didn’t do anything and I’m not arrested anymore.”
Alli nodded. “Right. Good. That’s good to know.”
Bea opened her mouth to say something else equally inane when a man barreled between them to get to the reception desk. His elbow hit Alli and she staggered. The man turned and Bea held her breath, waiting for Alli to snap.
Alli’s face was red, her eyes glittered, and then her chest heaved with a deep breath. “Are you alright?” she asked the man.
“Yeah, sorry about that, in a bit of a hurry,” he said.
She smiled politely. “No problem.” And the man went on his way.
Bea lifted an eyebrow.
Alli coughed. “I’m, er, working on it. I’m part of a program now. A real program,” she added hastily. “I decided to take a break before looking for a new job and, well, it’s a good use of my time. I’ve got anger problems and they’ll hold me back. It’s something I need to deal with. Something I am dealing with. ”
“That’s great,” Bea said. “Fantastic.” Alli was working on it. She recognized her problem. She wasn’t hiding anymore.
“Right, well…” Alli took another deep breath. “I suppose I should be going. Can’t hang around a police station all day.”
“Right,” Bea said. “Yeah, probably not.”
“Definitely not,” Alli said. “It’s not a good look.”
“No.” Why wasn’t she saying something? If not something dazzling, at least something interesting.
Alli looked at her for a long second and Bea could feel herself disappearing into those eyes. Then she blinked. “Goodbye then,” she said softly.
And she turned and walked away.
Bea watched her go, watched her disappear down the stairs, watched her open the door and walk away. And every fiber of her being clenched together, every muscle tensed, every nerve tingled. In that second, she knew that this was a defining moment, knew that she could let Alli walk out of her life forever. Or…
In one smooth movement, she sprang into action, sprinting across the tiled floor, pounding down the steps, crashing into the front door, and escaping out into the evening sun.