Scared To Tell: Featuring Detective Annie Macpherson by Barbara Fagan Speake

Author:Barbara Fagan Speake [Fagan Speake, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbara Fagan Speake
Published: 2015-11-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 37

Watching from behind the one-way mirror, Annie’s first impression of seeing Mr and Mrs Mancuso was that it would be hard to imagine two more broken people. Mrs Mancuso wept while Lesley Tyler took them through the autopsy results about the cause of death.

‘Did she suffer, do you think?’ the mother asked.

‘Not as I understand it. The Medical Examiner thinks she would have fallen asleep and then lapsed into unconsciousness.’

‘Thank God,’ Mr Mancuso replied.

Detective Tyler looked over at her colleague and he indicated for her to continue.

‘I need to ask you some delicate questions now about your daughter and I’ll explain why I’m asking them in a minute.’

Annie noted the drawn expression of Mrs Mancuso, as she looked at her husband. She must be wondering where this line of questioning is going, Annie thought.

‘Did Belinda ever talk about having a boyfriend?’

Belinda’s father balled one of his hands into a fist. ‘She wouldn’t know anything about that, with her being, well you know. She was like a child. Why are you asking?’

‘Please bear with me for a moment. Did she ever mention any male staff, either at the day centre or at the unit?’

‘Mention how?’ Mrs Mancuso asked. ‘She talked about a lot of the staff. Some she liked, some not as much. Our daughter could be stubborn and sometimes her behaviour could be …I think they call it challenging. She never got into any trouble. They never banned her from attending or anything like that.’

‘These staff, can you remember any names in particular?’

The husband looked at his wife. ‘You talked to her more about the centre and the unit than I did. Think Maria.’

Maria Mancuso wiped her eyes. ‘She talked about Carrie, the manager. She got along well with her. She was the one who would talk to her if there was any trouble and Belinda took it from her because she liked her.’

‘That’s helpful. What about male staff?’

‘There’s a Peter at the day centre she liked. He worked in the art class and she loved those sessions. There was also a Jamie, another service user. I’ve met his mother years ago when Belinda and Jamie were much younger. They both have Down’s syndrome.’ The woman stopped for a moment and took a drink of water. Her husband reached across and took her hand. ‘I can’t think of any more. If you name some staff I might recognise the names.’

Detective Matthews looked down the list of staff that had been interviewed from the Elms. ‘What about Liz?’

Mr Mancuso came in. ‘She talked about a Liz, remember? She mentioned her because we used to have a cat named Liz. I know, a strange name for a cat. Belinda named her from a character in a book we were reading to her.’

‘That’s right,’ his wife confirmed. ‘I can’t think though whether she liked her or not.’

Matthews scanned the list again. ‘There’s a Steve, as well.’

‘That’s the one,’ Mrs Mancuso turned to her husband. ‘That’s the name she mentioned that night we were watching TV and there was an actor on she didn’t like.

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