I Know You Did It by Sue Wallman

Author:Sue Wallman [Wallman, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2021-05-05T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

The police station is tucked down a road off Barchester high street. It would look like the world’s most boring office block except for the gated car park to one side, which is full of police cars and vans.

After we’ve gone through the automatic doors, there’s a tiny reception area. Mum tells them who we are and we’re escorted down a footstep-echoing corridor to a small, bland room with a table and four chairs. There’s a window, but it’s a normal one, with a view of the car repair garage opposite – no one-way mirror for studying my body language. I notice two cameras, though, in opposite corners of the room.

“Mum, should we have a solicitor with us?” I think of all the TV dramas I’ve seen in police interrogation rooms.

Mum frowns. “Oh, Ruby! Of course not. Don’t worry, they said they just needed to double-check some things, to be thorough.” But I see her tighten her hands, clasped in her lap.

We’re left on our own, until a male police officer sweeps in with a folder under his arm and a brisk, efficient manner. He’s around fifty, in formal trousers with a shirt and tie, and tells me his name is Mike. Behind him is a younger woman with blonde shoulder-length hair, and a plain black dress, who he introduces as Molly.

We sit at the table, Mum and me facing the other two. Molly smiles reassuringly as she lines up an A4 pad of paper and pen in front of her; Mike looks as if he has about twenty interviews to do today and he needs to get this done, shifting in his chair, hurriedly looking through his folder.

“Right then,” he says. “Just a few things to clear up, Ruby. Thanks for coming in at short notice.” He gives me a brief smile. “Ready?”

Mum gives my hand a squeeze, and the nerves I’ve been feeling up to now suddenly sprout new branches.

“Yes,” I say. It comes out more quietly than I intend.

Mike explains that the interview will be recorded. Suddenly everything feels more business-like. He turns on the machine and gives the names of everyone present. “We are in the interview room at Barchester police station.” He gives the date and the time, and Mum does some muffled throat clearing, as if she wants to have a coughing fit but feels she can’t.

Mike opens his folder, leans back in his chair and seems to have all the time in the world now. “Ruby, we heard there was an argument with you and Isaac at lunchtime the day he died. Can you tell me about it?”

My hands are clammy.

“Isaac grabbed my, um, bum at lunch,” I say. It sounds wrong in the police interview room. “And then he told me he knew something about me. That I’d gone behind my boyfriend’s back and … got off with his brother.” A silence. “I didn’t even have a boyfriend,” I add.

“But it upset you. Why?”

Molly looks up from her note-taking. Her face is serious.

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