Mum gasps. ‘Oh, Carey,’ she breathes.
‘No!’ I’m on my feet now, unaware of anything except this latest attack on my innocence. ‘Somebody’s set me up. Again. There couldn’t have been an eyewitness because there wasn’t anything to witness. The call was a hoax.’
Out of the corner of my eye I can see Jamie in the doorway. He must have heard us and crept closer to see what was going on.
‘I’m telling the truth,’ I say, desperate for them believe me. ‘What about Taylor? Maybe he did all the SweetFreak stuff and Amelia found out. He could have gone to Bow Wood to meet her and—’
‘Knowing Amelia’s feelings for and previous relationship with Taylor, we’ve already been in touch with the Lockwood family,’ DC Kapoor interrupts. ‘Taylor was with the daughter of family friends in East Cornmouth all afternoon.’
So Taylor was with Abi? Jealousy flares inside me. I fall silent. Mum turns to me. There’s terrible pain in her eyes.
Worse, there’s a flicker of doubt. ‘Carey?’ she whispers.
I shake my head, too overwhelmed to speak.
‘I’m afraid we need to take Carey to the station,’ DS Carter says. ‘The existence of previous threats linked to Carey plus the fact that Amelia is still missing make this a very serious situation.’
‘But Carey can’t be involved in something like this,’ Mum protests. ‘Anonymous threats and upsetting gestures like the dead bird are one thing but this . . .’ She trails off.
‘You should be out looking for Amelia.’ I insist, my voice cracking with emotion. ‘Not wasting time here with me.’
‘We just need to ask you a few more questions,’ DS Carter says smoothly.
‘Before you arrest her?’ Poppy snarls, striding over.
‘Come on, Carey,’ DS Carter insists.
‘No.’ I clutch the edge of the chair in front of me. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘You don’t have a choice,’ DC Kapoor says.
Meaning that if I don’t go with them willingly, they will arrest me.
Mum’s face pales. She picks up her handbag. ‘Let’s go. The sooner we finish answering all these questions, the sooner we can get back home again.’ She turns to Poppy. ‘Will you mind Jamie until I’m back?’
Poppy nods. She touches my arm. ‘It’ll be OK.’
I shake my head, shot through with panic. Thoughts pile into my mind, one on top of the next. I must look guilty as anything: first the death threat from my laptop, then the dead pigeon from our bin and now an eyewitness saying I was threatening Amelia right next to the cliff edge. I close my eyes, imagining the waves smashing against the rocks at the bottom. I’ve heard all the local rumours about people falling – or jumping – from that cliff: occasionally, when the tide is out, their bodies can even be seen mangled on the rocks beneath. Nobody ever survives.
Terror for Amelia sears through me. I can’t bear the idea of her being hurt. Or worse.
‘Do you think Amelia might be dead?’ I ask, my voice shaky and small. ‘Do you think this is SweetFreak, carrying out their death threat?’
‘Right now Amelia’s status is missing,’ DS Carter says. His voice is softer than DC Kapoor, almost kindly. ‘We’re just following all possible leads in order to find her.’
Missing. My best friend. Gone. Fresh pain twists the terror in my chest.
I take a step towards the kitchen door, away from the two officers. I can’t let them take me to the station and arrest me. I’ve been set up, right from the start, but nobody believes it. Nobody apart from Poppy even really thinks I’m innocent. Killing Amelia will seem to everyone like the next step, something I planned to do. I’ll go to prison.
Which I can’t, I just can’t.
‘Carey, we need to go.’ DC Kapoor’s voice is stern and forbidding.
I stare at her in blind panic. I want to run, but she would catch me before I reached the front door.
There’s no way out. I’m trapped.
‘I’ll get our coats,’ Mum says. She walks past me into the hall, avoiding my gaze.
‘Carey?’ Jamie runs across the room and hurls himself at my legs, giving them a big squeeze. ‘When will you be back?’
‘I don’t know.’ I bend down and kiss the top of his sweet, blond head. ‘I love you, Baby Bear.’ I haven’t used that name for him in years. Jamie hated it once he started Big School, but now he submits with another hug.
As he releases me, Poppy takes his place.
‘Stay strong,’ she whispers in my ear.
‘I can’t do this,’ I whisper back, my voice cracking.
‘There’s cash under my mattress, at the bottom of my bed,’ Poppy whispers. ‘Take it.’
I draw back and look her in the eye. What is she suggesting?
She meets my gaze, her eyes intense with meaning. And in that moment I see what I need to do next.
I turn to the officers. ‘Can I use the loo before we go?’ I say.
DS Carter nods. ‘Be quick,’ he says.
I give Poppy another squeeze and pat Jamie on the head, then I turn and race upstairs. I go into my room, snatch my phone from its charger and a jumper from the floor, then into Poppy’s next door. I feel under the mattress at the end of the bed. There. My fingers curl around a thick roll of notes. I shove them in my pocket, then race along the corridor to the bathroom. I’m out the window in seconds, easing myself onto the shed roof, then over the fence to next door. Moments later I’m tearing along the pavement, jumper swinging from my hand. I run until I’m in the heart of Lower Cornmouth, well away from the main roads, then I stop to catch my breath.
There’s a chill wind and now I’ve stopped running I’m cold, but I barely notice. I pull Poppy’s money out of my pocket and count the notes: it comes to £220. How far will that get me?
I gulp.
What on earth do I do now?