The Silent Suspect by Nell Pattison (epub e ink reader .TXT) 📕

who you’ve been talking to, but your information isn’t correct,’ she said through gritted teeth. There was a long pause, then Caroline began walking up and down again, appearing to be deep in thought. She glanced at me but I refused to give in, giving her a hard stare that made her turn away again. It was clear she was wrestling with something internally, before she stopped and turned back to us, her arms folded defensively.

‘Okay, maybe a couple of the old dears occasionally fretted about things going missing, when really they were just in another room, or they were thinking about trinkets they’d thrown out years ago. And maybe I might have wound a couple of them up to think that Nadia might have pinched them. But it was just a bit of fun, something for me to take out my irritation at her.’ She looked up and glanced between me and Sasha. ‘It was nothing. Paul only changed the rotas to show he’d done something.’

I didn’t think we were going to get anything else out of her about the thefts. Was she telling the truth? Was it just a malicious prank? Or had she been hoping for a more serious outcome, and taken matters into her own hands when Nadia hadn’t been punished?

Caroline was still pacing when Sasha changed the subject.

How has Mariusz reacted to his father being arrested?

Caroline put her hands on her hips and stopped pacing to glare at Sasha. ‘How do you think he’s reacted? He’s angry. Teenage boys are angry at the world anyway, but now he’s got something substantial to be angry about.’

Was he angry with his father, or angry with the police?

‘I don’t think he’s even sure himself,’ she replied sadly, and her shoulders drooped all of a sudden. ‘I don’t see him much at the moment. Between my work shifts and him going out with his mates, we’re barely in the house at the same time. I only know he’s been here because the fridge has been emptied.’

The change in Caroline’s body language made me realise that here was our chance to get her to open up further. The fight seemed to have gone out of her, so I hoped she might be more cooperative now. I looked over at Sasha and she gave a quick nod, granting me permission to ask a couple of questions.

‘Do you know the friends he’s going out with in the evenings?’ I asked.

She shrugged. ‘Just lads from his school, I think. Why?’

‘I saw him the other day, with a group of older lads. It was during the day, when he should have been at school.’

She shook her head. ‘He hasn’t skipped school, they would have told me. It must have been someone else.’

I was surprised that Mariusz’s school hadn’t picked up on the fact that he was absent, but it was always possible he’d forged an appointment letter or something like that. Or, was Caroline lying to cover up what Mariusz had been doing? Either way, this time I decided not to push it.

To my surprise, Sasha didn’t change the subject. He wouldn’t be the first teenage boy to act out following such a major upheaval in his life, she pointed out.

Caroline’s face reddened. ‘Are you suggesting I don’t know what my boy’s up to?’

You told us yourself that you barely see him.

‘Yeah, because I’m working stupid shifts every goddamn day. How else am I supposed to put food on the table, if I don’t go out to work? You bloody social workers think we should all be magic, in two places at once – I’m a single parent and I’m working my arse off to provide for my son. My alternative would be to claim benefits and sit around with my feet up, but you’d frown on that too, wouldn’t you?’

Caroline, I’m not blaming you, Sasha replied gently, and I tried to put the same feeling into my tone of voice as I interpreted. You’re right, Lukas asked if I could help him, because he really wants to see Mariusz. I’m not going to try and force you, or him, to do anything you don’t want to do. I came here to ask if you’d consider it, and if the answer is no then I can suggest mediation.

‘Ha!’ Caroline let out a brittle laugh. ‘No way am I wasting my time with mediation. If he wants to see Mariusz he can bloody well take me to court. See what they say about the suitability of a father who’s been arrested for murder.’ She folded her arms and glared at us. I could see we weren’t going to get any further, and Sasha obviously agreed, because she thanked Caroline for speaking to us and stood up to leave.

Caroline shut the door firmly behind us, and Sasha and I walked away from the house. We were both taking a minute to process everything Caroline had told us, about Lukas’s behaviour and how she’d framed Nadia.

That answered some questions, but I don’t know if we’re any closer to the truth, Sasha signed to me when we reached her car.

I nodded and was about to reply when I heard Caroline calling my name. Turning around, I saw she was holding something out to me, and my heart dropped into my boots.

‘You dropped this,’ she said, her expression stony. It was my notebook, where I’d written everything we’d found out, everyone we’d spoken to and all our suspicions. Had she had time to read any of it before she came out to hand it back to me? I hoped not, but the way her gaze bored into me I suspected I was out of luck.

I thanked her, took my notebook and walked back to my car, expecting her to say something else, but she remained silent, staring at the pair of us for a moment before she slammed the front door again. Sasha said goodbye to me and set off, but I sat in my car for a couple