Chapter 70
SEVENTY
For a second, I can’t catch my breath. She didn’t want me to leave like her mother did? No. I force the thought from my head. She didn’t mean in the same way. Did she?
‘It was a turn of phrase.’ Jack addresses DI Blake, his tone growing more agitated by the second. ‘People use it all the time.’
‘You can see how someone on the receiving end of such a threat dying shortly afterwards might pose cause for concern, though, Mr Conley?’ DI Blake asks.
Evie glances feverishly from Jack to DI Blake.
‘I was only trying to warn her off.’ She looks at me imploringly.
‘I didn’t want her to die. I don’t have many friends,’ she goes on, hot tears of fear and confusion now streaming down her cheeks.
‘They all hate me. They call me a freak. Immy didn’t.
She was my friend. I thought she was. But then she said my mum had topped herself because of me.
She said she’d gotten off with my dad and that I was a complete fuck-up, and I knew she wasn’t my friend then. But I didn’t want her dead.’
DI Blake gets to her feet as Evie emits a raucous sob. ‘Okay, Evie, I’m going to have to ask you to come to the station,’ she says gently, and my heart sinks to the pit of my belly.
‘Are you arresting her?’ Jack asks, his voice somewhere between shock and incredulity.
‘Dad?’ Evie jumps to her feet. ‘I didn’t do anything.’ Her gaze swivels to me, petrified. ‘I didn’t.’
‘I know you didn’t, sweetheart.’ Jack goes to her, tries to put an arm around her, but Evie only pulls away.
‘I didn’t kill her,’ she cries.
Seeing her eyes flick towards the hall, I fly across to her, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tight. If she runs, I dread to think what might happen.
‘I didn’t,’ she murmurs gutturally, sobbing hard into my shoulder.
‘We just need her to make a statement at this stage,’ DI Blake says, looking between us almost apologetically. ‘It will be a formal interview, however. As such, she will be cautioned and the interview will be recorded.’
‘Not without me present,’ Jack says, his face ashen.
‘We will need a statement from you too, Mr Conley,’ DI Blake informs him, ‘regarding the events today and also the events leading up to Imogen’s death.
For clarification,’ she adds, as he stares at her with a mixture of anger and incomprehension.
‘You too, Mrs Keenan, if you wouldn’t mind.
’ She smiles shortly in my direction, then looks back to Evie. ‘Evie?’
‘Uh-uh.’ Jack moves towards her. ‘There’s no way she’s going without me.’
‘If you could follow in your car.’ DI Blake addresses me. ‘And it might be a good idea if you think about some legal representation,’ she suggests with another stiff smile.
‘I didn’t do anything, Kara,’ Evie repeats, her voice ragged.
I brush her hair from her face, hold her closer.
I don’t know whether she did this. I do know that she’s suffered more than a girl her age ever should.
My promise to Jack wasn’t a hollow one. Evie needs professional help.
Whatever happens, I will be there for her.
‘We’ll be right behind you,’ I tell her, attempting a reassuring smile.
‘Dad!’ Evie cries desperately, as DI Blake takes hold of her arm.
Jack breaks away from PC Patel, skirting around him and racing after Evie as she’s led to the police car. ‘Don’t say anything until I get there,’ he yells. ‘Do you hear me!’