When the Evil Waits by M Lee (top fiction books of all time txt) 📕

She glanced at the time. ‘Shall we begin? We agreed you would only have one hour.’

Ridpath nodded.

The social worker and Emily Parkinson went upstairs to fetch Daniel.

Chrissy and Ridpath were left alone in the room with the civilian officer fiddling with the controls on the video camera and adjusting the levels on the mike.

Three minutes later, Daniel appeared at the door, recognised Ridpath and stared at Chrissy, before being asked to sit down in a chair beside the desk.

He sat awkwardly, his head staring down between his knees at the floor.

‘Before we start, Daniel, do you want me to call you Daniel, or Dan like I used to when I was in your house?’ asked Emily.

‘Dan’s fine,’ he answered without looking up. The accent had a soft Scottish burr to it, as still untainted by the whine of Manchester.

‘Good, Dan it is then. As I was explaining upstairs, this is a more formal interview; that’s why we’ve got Chrissy here to record it.’

‘I’ve already given lots of interviews.’

‘I know, Dan, but we need to understand what happened to David on the day he disappeared.’

‘Dave. We called him Dave, not David.’

‘OK, Dave it is. We’re going to start taping, if that’s OK with you.’

‘I suppose I don’t have much choice, do I?’

The social worker leant forward. ‘That’s untrue, Dan. If you want to stop the interview, you can right now.’

‘But you want to help us understand what happened, don’t you? It’s important, isn’t it?’

For the first time, he looked up. ‘Will it bring my father back from the cop shop? He’s been gone a day now. They didn’t even let us say goodbye.’

‘I know how you feel, Dan, it’s not easy being separated from your dad. But this interview is to help us understand better.’

‘So he’s going to be released soon?’

‘Honestly, I don’t know what’s happening with your father, Dan, but as soon as I do, I promise we’ll let Ruby know and she can tell you. Alright?’

The boy nodded, looking down again.

‘Can we start now?’

He nodded again.

Chrissy started the tape machine with a loud click. Daniel looked up and smiled for the first time. ‘It’s a bit old, ain’t it?’

‘Yeah, we’re old-school in Greater Manchester. One day we’ll drag ourselves kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century,’ said Chrissy.

Ridpath stared at her – she was supposed to be silent.

‘You’re a City fan too?’ He pointed to the scarf around her neck.

‘Yeah, since I was your age. Been through ups and downs with that lot, I can tell you.’

‘Dad says he’ll take me to a match one day when he gets his job back. Pep’s mint, ain’t he?’

‘He’s better than that, but he’s still got a job to do in the Champion’s League.’

‘Yeah, but this year is our year, I reckon.’

‘Me too.’

‘You guys can talk about football afterwards but let’s get the interview finished first, OK?’ interrupted Emily. ‘So you know who everybody is, Dan. Your City fan operating the video camera is Chrissy Wright, a civilian officer with Greater Manchester Police. DI Ridpath is also with GMP…’

‘I thought you were with the coroner?’

‘I’m with both, seconded to the coroner for a while,’ answered Ridpath.

‘Seconded?’

‘Like a footballer, I’m out on loan to another club for a while.’

‘I get it.’

Emily continued. ‘Ruby Grimes is a residential social worker for Manchester Children’s Services and I am DS Emily Parkinson. It’s 4.05 p.m. on the afternoon of 8 August 2020. Before we go on, I’d like to say if you don’t understand any of my questions, Dan, let me know and I’ll ask them in an easier way so you do understand. Also if you can’t remember, say “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”. We want to know what happened, that’s all. Do you understand?’

‘I get it.’

‘And there’s one other thing. You do know the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie, don’t you?’

For a moment, his eyes flickered and he looked down again. ‘I think so,’ he mumbled.

‘It’s important you tell me the truth about things that have happened to you, Dan. Before we begin, I want to make sure you understand the difference between the truth and a lie.’

He lifted his head.

Emily continued, almost sounding like somebody from children’s television. ‘Let me tell you a story about John. John was playing with his ball in the kitchen and he hit the ball against the window. The window broke and John ran upstairs into his bedroom. John’s dad saw the broken window, and asked John if he had broken it. John said, “No, Dad.” Did John tell a lie or the truth, or don’t you know?’

‘John told a lie.’

‘What do you think he should have said?’

‘He should have told his dad he broke the window.’

‘Because if he lies, somebody else might get into trouble, right?’

He nodded slowly.

‘Good, I knew you’d understand, you’re a smart cookie who always beats me at Warcraft.’

He laughed. ‘That’s because you’re a noob.’

She laughed along and answered, ‘Tell me about it.’ After a few seconds, she composed herself and said, ‘I’d also like you to tell me about the day your brother, Dave, disappeared. Take your time and try to remember as much as you can.’

He started haltingly. ‘We’d been in the house all morning, me and Dave, watching TV and playing games. Dad had made us pancakes for breakfast. He makes good pancakes, but his porridge is crap, he puts salt in it. Then I asked him if I could go to the park. He said yes as long as I took Dave too. So we got ourselves ready and went out. We went over the road to the park and played on the swings for a while, before I met some friends who were going to play basketball. There’s a court not far from the playground…’

‘What did Dave do?’

‘He wanted to stay at the playground.’

Ridpath looked across at Emily Parkinson. She had learnt her lessons well in Interview 101. Her body language was exactly mirroring that of Daniel; sat back in the chair, shoulders