Bent Not Broken by D M Macdonald

Author:D M Macdonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: D M Macdonald

7

In my experience people who are upset are more likely to be off their guard and tell you stuff. And she did.

Shelby, my scared, tearful cellmate was serving serious time for assaulting and robbing Chloe's elderly grandmother. Her gran was now in a wheelchair. Chloe was devastated because she was in here and couldn't look after her.

The girl, whose name was Sophie, must have suddenly realised she was being hugged by a stranger and pulled back. `And now she's gone. I can't believe she killed herself. Not in a million years.' She started crying again.

`Perhaps she didn't,' I murmured, half to myself.

`What?'

`Was her cell like this one?' It was a single room with a bed, a bedside table, a small desk and a chair. There were bars on the small high window. The girl stared at me and nodded slowly. I kept going. `Do you know how Chloe…'

`I was the one who found her,' she whispered, her face tearstained and bleak. `She was my best friend.' There was a long silence then she pointed at the bars. `She used the sheets torn up and she must have put the chair on the desk to reach high enough…' She started crying in earnest again so I hugged her properly that time. She needed that and she'd been very helpful.

I had no doubt that Shelby had killed this girl. Not because she’d beaten her, because she hadn't, but because she might tell everyone what Shelby had done on the outside. That meant this girl was also at risk.

`I want you to be very careful and always have someone watching your back until I say otherwise, okay?'

Her eyes bugged. `Are you threatening me?'

`No. I think Chloe might have been murdered and the killer might want to do the same to you.'

`You mean Shelby Hanson?' she snarled.

I was startled at the way she spat out Shelby's name. Then I remembered how one of Ellie's crowd spat when I mentioned Shelby. It was looking like quite a few people had her measure.

`Yeah,' said Sophie, `but I'm not Chloe. I can take care of myself. I don't need you telling me.'

I grinned. `I can see that. But you'll be much safer if you tell everyone about what happened to Chloe's gran and who did it. I'm just trying to find out what really happened to Shelby. She told me that Chloe beat her up, but—'

`She snitched to you? The bitch.'

`And lied to me. I can't prove anything until I can get past her lies. She said she freaked out when she saw a girl she'd seen kill someone. Then she was taken to the infirmary, then for three days in solitary.'

`What? That sounds weird.'

`I thought so.'

She gave me a long sideways look with slitted eyes. `Are you a plant?'

She had guts. That kind of question could have got her a thrashing. `No. I just got Shelby dumped on me by the Director and she spun this crappy story and I want to know the truth. That's all.

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