Kim tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently.
‘So, what exactly are we talking to Saffie Winters about?’ Bryant asked as a gentle tapping sounded at the door.
‘You’re about to find out,’ she said, before calling out for Saffie to enter.
The girl appeared in the doorway and Kim beckoned her forward.
She glanced sideways at Bryant.
This interview was hers.
‘Please sit down, Saffie,’ Kim said, keeping her voice cool and even. Not at all reflective of how she was feeling.
‘How are you?’ Kim asked.
Saffron shrugged and then nodded. ‘As well as can be expected under the circumstances.’
‘You do know that another child died, and we had a third incident less than an hour—’
‘But that’s not anything to do with Sadie, is it?’ she asked, looking from one to the other.
‘We can’t rule out a link between all three incidents.’
The girl swallowed deeply but said nothing.
‘Saffie, I have to ask if you can think of anyone who would want to murder your younger sister, or what link she might have to Shaun Coffee-Todd?’ Kim didn’t include Christian’s name, as she remained convinced that he’d been targeted because he’d accidentally stumbled into the shower block during Shaun’s murder.
Kim was choosing her words carefully. She had points to make and harder questions to ask but she had to remind herself that she was not dealing with a fully cooked adult, but neither was she dealing with a child.
This sixteen-year-old was somewhere in between.
Saffie shook her head vehemently. ‘There is no one that would want to hurt her,’ she said.
‘And yet she is dead, Saffron,’ Kim pushed. ‘Beaten around the head and made to look like suicide.’
‘Please, stop,’ Saffie said, as the colour began to drain from her face.
‘You’ve already admitted the two of you weren’t that close, haven’t you?’ Kim asked.
Saffie nodded.
‘But you didn’t tell us she was angry with you. Why did she storm into your room the other night and demand to talk?’ Kim asked.
Saffie’s initial surprise turned to anger as she put two and two together and realised how Kim knew that.
‘Yes, I spoke to Eric yesterday after your concert practice. I gather the two of you split up recently, but he definitely recalls Sadie being unhappy with you. What was that about?’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t recall,’ she said as a blotch of heat appeared beneath the heart-shaped pendant.
‘It wasn’t so long ago,’ Kim pushed.
Saffie’s chin raised an inch or two. ‘I really don’t remember. She probably felt as though I’d slighted her or something like that. She could kick off for no reason, officer,’ she said, gaining her composure.
Kim knew she was not going to divulge the reason for Sadie’s anger.
‘I suppose she was a bit of an embarrassment, wasn’t she?’
The colour returned to her face in the form of a blush, and although she shook her head the truth was spreading an ugly red stain across her cheeks.
‘Really, the two of you couldn’t have been more different. You must have sometimes wished she would disappear.’
‘I didn’t do anything to Sadie,’ she said, horrified.
‘I’m not saying you did but you didn’t like her very much, did you?’
‘She was my sister. I loved her, but I just didn’t understand her.’
‘So, why try so hard to protect her, Saffie?’ Kim asked, sitting back in her chair.
‘How so?’
‘By removing all of her personal possessions from her dorm room.’
The colour in her face deepened. ‘I just thought—’
‘What did you think? That it was okay to tamper with evidence. You thought it was all right to remove anything you felt was incriminating?’
Saffron fiddled with her hands and looked to the ground.
Suddenly, this was not the assured, confident girl they had spoken to the other day. Part of her wanted to tell the kid everything would be okay, but another part knew that there were too many secrets in the space between them.
‘I can’t help wondering if it was you that chose to tamper with your sister’s suicide letter that wasn’t a suicide letter at all,’ Kim said.
Saffie shook her head but didn’t look up.
‘Saffron, is there any chance that Sadie was involved in these secret clubs. Was she ever asked to be a Heart or Dia—’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Saffie said, raising her head. ‘Why would she have been chosen?’
‘But how can you be sure?’ Kim challenged. ‘You seem to know very little about your sister.’
‘I can be sure of that,’ Saffie said. ‘I know every member of both Hearts and Diamonds and I can assure you—’
‘Okay, I believe you but there’s something else I need to ask you about, Saffie.’ Kim took a breath. ‘The toxicology report detected traces of Fluoxetine and Clonazepam in Sadie’s blood.’
There was no reaction, which indicated no surprise.
‘Why did you remove her antidepressants?’ Kim asked, pointedly.
Saffron seemed to open her mouth as if to refute her words and then changed her mind. She simply shook her head.
‘Were you trying to avoid the stigma of having a sister with problems? Is your image that important to you?’ Kim asked.
‘No, it’s not that.’
‘So what is it, Saffron, why did you do it?’
‘I was told to.’
‘By whom?’
‘My parents,’ she whispered.
Kim was confused. ‘I really don’t understand the problem if your sister had been prescribed…’
Her words trailed away as Saffie met her gaze for the first time in about five minutes.
Kim followed the breadcrumbs that the girl had dropped.
‘They weren’t Sadie’s tablets, were they?’ she asked.
Saffron didn’t argue, and Kim finally, fully understood.
The Winters had been medicating their thirteen-year-old daughter.
Fifty-Seven
Dawson pulled up at what must have been the grandest house yet.
He knocked the front door of the home of Harrison Forbes; the last name on his list. Harrison’s name had appeared on the roster eleven months ago and had simply disappeared for the beginning of the spring term.
Dawson paced a few steps before knocking again. He heard the sound echo around the hall.
He stepped back and took a look around. There were no vehicles parked around the property, and there was an air of silence.
He strode to the three-car garage block and tried the handle. Locked.
He walked back to the house and knocked again.
He wasn’t expecting anyone to answer. There was clearly no one home but it was best to check before he began peering in windows. He had no wish to frighten the living daylights out of anyone.
He stood on tiptoe and glanced in through the bottom left corner of the kitchen window. At first glance, it appeared tidy and organised. Until he took a second look. The kitchen wasn’t uncluttered, it was empty.
He moved along to the next window, which revealed a grand, spacious lounge area, without one item of furniture.
Damn it, the Forbes family had evidently moved out, and he had no other address.
He got into the car and headed back down the drive. He entered the traffic to the main road and then took the next left, leading him up the drive of the next available neighbour.
Oh, to have your nearest neighbour about a quarter mile away, he thought. But a bugger if you just needed a cup of sugar.
The blaring lights and three parked cars told him he could at least speak to someone.
The door was open before he’d even parked the car. Of course, a house like this would have cameras and a security system.
The man that came towards him was holding a bull mastiff who was slobbering at him disturbingly on a short, tight leash.
‘May I help you?’
The politeness of the question was at odds with the hungry-looking dog.
The man was dressed in a white shirt and black suit trousers. He guessed he had just come back from work.
‘Sorry to disturb you,’ Dawson offered, half talking to the dog. ‘I was just at the Forbes’ property next door and—’
‘You want to buy it?’ the man asked doubtfully, eyeing his Renault Megane.