When Maggie was called down to the front office, she wasn’t expecting to see Rory standing there. He nibbled at his bottom lip as he shifted nervously from one foot to the other.
‘Hi, Rory. It’s been awhile. How are you?’
‘DC Jamieson, I need to speak with you.’
‘I’m kind of busy. Is it about Lucy? I can meet you at the café across the road around oneish, if that helps?’
‘No. I have to speak to you now. I need to get this off my chest. Lucy can’t go to prison for something she didn’t do.’
That got Maggie’s attention. ‘What do you mean, Rory? Are you saying Lucy didn’t kill Patrick? How do you know this? Did you see who did?’
‘Yes. I know who killed him.’ Rory stared at his hands.
‘Right, let’s go somewhere more private, OK?’
Rory followed Maggie to an interview room. He sat down and placed his hands on the table. Before Maggie could say anything, Rory blurted out, ‘It was me. Lucy didn’t kill my dad, I did. She was protecting me. That’s why she’s saying she doesn’t remember. She knows it was me.’
Maggie shook her head in disbelief. ‘Hang on, Rory. Are you confessing to the murder of your father?’ For once, Maggie was at a loss for words. ‘Rory, you do realize that you’ve confessed to murdering your father, right?’
Rory’s hands covered his face, preventing Maggie from hearing what he mumbled. Gently moving his hands away, she repeated the question.
‘Yes. I did it.’
‘OK, Rory. I’m going to have to stop you there and speak to my boss, OK?’ Maggie cautioned Rory and called in one of her colleagues to sit with him while she went to speak to DS Hooper.
She ran into his room and slammed the door behind her. He looked up in surprise.
‘Holy shit, guv. You are not going to believe what has just happened.’ Maggie relayed her conversation with Rory to her boss as he stared at her in disbelief.
‘What the hell? Has he been cautioned? How old is he? Shit, we have the wrong person in prison.’
‘Hang on, guv. This is not on us. Lucy practically confessed. It was the CPS’s decision to follow through. Lucy was obviously protecting Rory. Maybe she doesn’t even know; she was beaten pretty badly that day and still can’t recollect a lot of the information from that night. I’ve cautioned Rory, but he’d already confessed. We’ll need to call his mother, he might want her as his appropriate adult. Otherwise I’ll contact the Youth Offending Team and see if they can send someone over. Seems Dr Moloney was right all along.’
‘What was I right about?’ Dr Moloney stood in the doorway waiting for her colleagues to answer.
Hooper and Maggie looked at one another and then at Dr Moloney. Maggie waited.
The room remained quiet.
‘Well? Is either one of you going to share the information, or do I need to call in a psychic detective to solve this mystery?’
DS Hooper looked at Maggie, shrugged his shoulders, and turned away. She was surprised he was going to allow her to share the news.
‘Lucy didn’t kill Patrick Quinn after all—’
‘I bloody knew it!’ Dr Moloney grinned and slapped her hand on the door. She came in and sat down. Maggie smiled too, and shared the rest of the details.
‘Rory Quinn has come in and confessed to murdering Patrick.’
‘Oh, my god, no … He’s only a child! What’s he said?’
‘We haven’t questioned him properly yet. He basically told me he killed Patrick, but this was before he was cautioned. I couldn’t stop him, it just came pouring out. I needed to tell the guv first and we need to call his mother. He’s only fourteen or fifteen.’
‘I can be the appropriate adult. I’ve done the training.’
‘Sorry, Kate. In these circumstances, you can’t. Not only are you involved in this investigation, you’re employed by the police.’
‘Ah, OK. I’d not realized that.’
‘Kate, can you do me a favour though and go and check on him? Tell him we’re contacting his mother and the duty solicitor. I left him in Interview Room Three with an officer.’
‘Will do. Anything else?’
Hooper butted in, ‘No, that will be all for now. You should’ve been a police officer; you knew it wasn’t Lucy all along.’
Dr Moloney did a small fist pump in the air and walked out of the room. Maggie could tell Kate had mixed feelings though – a fifteen-year-old boy was now facing the possibility of a life sentence. Maggie sighed.
She dreaded having to call Rory’s mother.
‘Do you want me to do it?’
‘Thanks for the offer, guv – but I’d like to follow this through.’
‘Fine. I’ll get PC Reynolds to contact the appropriate adult and inform the duty solicitor.’
‘Thanks.’
Maggie left Hooper in his office. She went back to her desk and picked up the phone; she dialled the number Rory had given her when he first came in.
‘Hello?’
‘Hello. Is that Amy Swift?’
‘Yes. Who’s this?’
‘This is DC Maggie Jamieson. I’m calling from Markston Police Station. We have your son here—’
‘Rory? You have Rory? Oh, my god, is everything OK? Has something happened to him?’
Rory’s mother’s voice broke. Maggie took a deep breath. ‘Rory is here at the station. He’s not physically hurt. I’d rather you get here as soon as possible, as I can’t really discuss anything over the phone.’
Maggie heard the dial tone. Guess she’s on her way. Walking back into the open-plan office, she bumped into Kat.
‘Maggie. Is it true? Has a bloody kid just confessed to killing Patrick Quinn?’ Kat’s face was lit up and she was clutching a cigarette in one hand and a lighter in the other.
‘Yes, sadly it’s true, Kat. Patrick’s son is currently awaiting to be interviewed downstairs. Go and have your fag. I’ll fill you in later.’
‘Poor kid. His life is over. Not that I’m condoning what he did, but his father was a dick—’
‘That’s enough, Kat.’ Maggie paused. ‘Before you go, can you contact social services and see if Rory is known to them? I’m going to head back down to the custody suite and see if the duty solicitor or appropriate adult has arrived yet.’
‘Sure thing, Maggie.’
This was the part of her job that Maggie didn’t enjoy so much. Rory was probably just a messed-up kid. From what she remembered about the case, he’d only been in contact with his dad within the last year. She shook her head in dismay and stared out of the grubby window into the drizzly streets below. Taking a deep breath, she headed down to start the process of interviewing a child for murder.