EIGHT

      Perry made his way to the headmaster’s office. The quiet corridor reminded him of how many times he’d done that as a teenager in between lessons. He’d often been a nuisance at school, wanting to be one of the popular kids and mixing with the troublemakers. Luckily for him, he’d left them all behind at the gates on his leaving day and had gone to college.

      Although he’d never told anyone back then, he’d been caught with a stolen bicycle and received a caution from a man who’d inspired him to do something with his life before it was too late. From that moment on, he’d wanted to join the police. The job suited him, even if he did have to investigate and see some dark things. At least he had a chance to make a difference. Lots of his school friends were either out of work or in prison.

      In the headmaster’s office, Perry asked Stiller where he would find the girls.

      ‘I’ll fetch them for you. You can use my office. My classroom’s being used by some of your officers now.’

      Perry nodded his thanks. As he waited, he looked around. There was a small table that they could sit at. Perry was glad: at least it wouldn’t feel as formal as sitting across the headmaster’s desk.

      Nathan led the girls into the room, looks of fear shooting between them. They had clearly been crying, both of them bunching tissues in their hands. As soon as Perry looked at them, one of them started again. The other wrapped her arms around her sister for comfort.

      Procedurally, he wasn’t supposed to interview them together. He needed to speak to them one by one. They were the last people to see their victim alive. For all he knew, it could have been one of them and the other was covering. It was hard to imagine, but not impossible.

      As well, he knew the longer they stayed together, the more they could get their story straight if they were lying. However, he could also see how upset they were and it probably would be more distressing to split them up right now.

      As this was a preliminary talk before they were questioned with their parents present, he decided to keep them together and play good cop. Only time would tell if his plan would work but, similarly, he was sure he’d know if they were lying. He decided to chance it and continue.

      ‘Girls, I’m sorry for your loss.’ Perry pointed to the table. ‘But as you know, it’s important that we get as many details as possible about what happened this morning.’

      Everyone sat down; Nathan next to him, the girls opposite. Perry smiled, hoping he looked approachable. Both girls would feed off each other and he wanted them to open up.

      ‘I’m DC Wright – you can call me Perry, if you like.’ His tone was soft. ‘Mr Stiller will stay with us throughout the conversation, so I hope that puts you at ease. Now, I know everything going on around you is a terrible shock, but I wanted to ask you some questions. Is that okay?’

      Both girls nodded, one wiping away tears that had fallen.

      ‘Before we start, do you want to ask me anything?’ Perry smiled again. ‘Actually, first you’d better tell me who is who.’

      ‘I’m Caitlin,’ the girl on the right said. She pointed to her sister. ‘She’s Courtney.’

      The twins were both thin and had long blonde hair, straightened, with a block fringe. Their faces were red and blotchy, black smudges around their eyes from the make-up he presumed they shouldn’t be wearing to school. Each had wide brown eyes and high cheekbones.

      Perry started his questioning.

      ‘Can either of you remember seeing anyone hanging around when you were finishing your run?’

      The girls shook their heads in unison.

      ‘Not anyone in the distance?’

      Heads shook again.

      ‘Okay,’ Perry said. ‘Sometimes we remember things better at the time of impact, but often we can recall details at a later date. If that does happen, you can always let your teacher or Mr Stiller know and they will contact me. Okay?’

      It was getting tedious as they nodded again. But Perry reasoned they’d had a terrible shock, losing a friend. The whole class would be affected, let alone those closest to Lauren Ansell. Some of them would be feeling guilty because they’d got away.

      ‘Is there anything you can tell me about Lauren?’ Perry said next. ‘Something you might want to talk to me about. Or ask me?’

      Silence greeted him again. Perry kept his eyes on them, hoping they would talk to him, but neither of them obliged.

      ‘Does she have a boyfriend?’ he tried.

      ‘She’s been seeing Thomas Riley,’ Caitlin told him.

      Perry made a note in his pad before looking up again. What he saw were two terrified faces.

      ‘Look,’ he said. ‘I have to find out as much as I can about Lauren. If there are any rumours about her, we need to know. I’ll be speaking to Thomas later, but is there anything else? Was she having problems with anyone?’

      ‘She didn’t like her step-dad much,’ Caitlin said.

      ‘Did she tell you this?’ Perry asked.

      Caitlin nodded. ‘She was always saying he was rude to her, begrudged her being around as he wanted to spend time with her mum on his own.’

      ‘Did you visit Lauren at home?’

      They both nodded.

      ‘Did you get the feeling he didn’t like her?’

      Caitlin shrugged. ‘I’m not sure I noticed either way.’

      ‘Could Lauren have been hiding something? Perhaps feeling people wouldn’t believe her.’

      ‘We always believed Lauren,’ Courtney spoke this time. ‘And she’d tell us, wouldn’t she, Cait? If anything was bothering her.’

      Caitlin nodded fervently.

      Perry held in a sigh, annoyed with himself for insinuating that Lauren was keeping something from them. Perhaps he would have been better waiting for their parents to arrive. As silence filled the room again, he sat forwards in readiness to stand.

      ‘If there’s anything you can think of—’

      ‘She liked chatting to Jason at the youth club,’ Courtney blurted out.

      ‘Courtney!’ Caitlin cried. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that.’