Over Her Dead Body: A psychological thriller for fans of BEHIND HER EYES and THE SILENT PATIENT by Tim Adler

Author:Tim Adler [Adler, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-Three

KEISHA

Tuesday, October 4

“I love you and I’m coming to get you, do you understand?” I say fiercely, crouching before my daughter.

Lily regards me gravely, still clutching her Frozen doll.

“Am I having a sleepover?” she asks.

“Yes, that’s right. A sleepover at Daisy’s house,” I say, glancing up at my new friend, Hayley, who’s come to collect her. I know we’ve only just met but who else could I call? I have no friends locally. Rupert put paid to that.

Hayley smiles sympathetically and reaches for Lily’s hand.

Lily though won’t budge.

“Why do the policemen want to talk to you?” she persists.

“Because we’re worried about Daddy. We can’t find him in America.”

Lily’s face crumbles in slow motion and she crawls up in my lap like the toddler she once was.

“Will they send a helicopter?” she asks.

“Yes, that’s right. Lots of helicopters,” I reassure her. “He’ll turn up soon, don’t you worry.”

She knows I’m fibbing, trying to make her feel better, and she considers this, eventually sliding to the ground and gently accepting Hayley’s hand.

Detective Chief Inspector Taybor is waiting by the interview room door.

Watching my daughter leave with another woman, it’s as if part of my mind is going with her. She glances back as she’s led away.

There’s a younger detective waiting inside. He’s younger than DCI Taybor, sharp-eyed, with a little goatee beard and a suit the wrong side of flashy.

The male detective leans over and switches on the black box recorder. There’s a high-pitched whine and the four of us wait for something to happen.

“Am I under arrest?” I ask.

“No, you’re not under arrest,” DCI Taybor says. “You’re free to go whenever you choose. But we hope you’ll help us with our investigation.”

At the moment, I am a solely a person of interest, she explains, free to leave when I want. Only it doesn’t feel that way. They’re waiting for me to say one wrong thing.

“Investigation into what?”

“Your husband’s disappearance. I am going to caution you though. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned anything you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Are we clear?”

I nod.

There’s a knock on the door and the Asian policewoman we met before, the one who looked after Lily, lets herself in and stands against one wall.

DCI Taybor continues, “Interview under caution of Keisha Adeane by Detective Chief Inspector June Taybor and Detective Superintendent Jack Luard.”

“Do I need to have a solicitor here?”

“Why, do you think you need a solicitor?” counters the younger detective.

“The first thing we’d like to do is take a DNA sample. Is that alright with you?”

I nod and PC Shah steps forward, breaking open plastic packaging. She wipes a long cotton bud around inside the inside of my mouth and, satisfied, screws it back down inside a vial. Acknowledging that she’s finished, she leaves the room.

“Let’s begin with what happened at your home on the night of Thursday, September the third,” says DCI Taybor, riffling through her manilla folder.

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