A sit-down with a police officer after the sudden death of a friend would be enough to make any kid feel nervous, but there’s something in Danny’s stooped posture and darting eyes that makes Rachel uneasy. Standing in the open doorway to her office, he looks, for all the world, as if he might turn and bolt.
‘Hello, Danny,’ Fiona Maxwell says, pointing to the empty chair beside the fireplace. ‘I’m Detective Constable Maxwell. I’m going to be asking you a few questions today.’
Danny doesn’t move. His gaze bounces from DC Maxwell to Rachel.
‘I hope it’s OK that I sit in?’ Rachel asks, mustering what she hopes is a reassuring smile. ‘We’ve tried your mum but she’s not answering her phone. So, you’ve got me, if that’s OK?’
‘She’ll be at the warehouse,’ he says, his voice flat. ‘They’re not allowed their phones on shift.’
Rachel nods. ‘I’ll be acting in loco parentis,’ she explains. ‘It means as your substitute guardian, if you’re happy to proceed?’
He nods and lopes into the room, taking the seat Maxwell has indicated, folding his long legs beneath him and shaking the tousled hair from his eyes. Up close now, Rachel can see the bruise on his cheek, the swelling beneath his eye turning a startling shade of violet.
‘Am I the first?’ he asks.
Rachel nods.
‘Some of the kids are saying she was murdered. Is that what happened?’
‘I can’t confirm anything at this stage, Danny,’ says Maxwell firmly. ‘I’m here to ask you some questions.’
Rachel’s known Danny for the three years she’s been employed at Folly View. During that time, she’s watched him shift from a gangly boy to a broad-shouldered young man, tall and muscular, with a strong jaw, piercing blue eyes and clear skin. Compared to some of his more hormonally challenged peers, he’s won the genetic lottery, at least on the days when he doesn’t look like he’s gone several rounds with Mike Tyson.
‘That looks sore,’ DC Maxwell says, nodding at Danny’s face. ‘When did that happen?’
‘Saturday.’ Danny drops his gaze, his dark hair falling over his eyes. ‘There are all these rumours flying. Someone said Sarah had an accident, but others are saying there’s a serial killer out there.’ He lifts his head, his eyes darting between them both. ‘Is there?’
DC Maxwell doesn’t budge. ‘I’d like to start by confirming a few personal details. I understand you’ve been a student at Folly View for… five years?’
Danny, realising Maxwell isn’t going to answer his questions, shakes his hair from his eyes and nods. ‘Since Year Nine. I used to attend the local comp in town, until I was awarded a sports scholarship here.’
‘Congratulations. What’s your sport?’
‘Athletics. Track, mainly. I play a bit of football, too.’
‘Position?’
‘Midfielder.’
‘Any good?’
He shrugs. ‘I’m all right.’
Rachel’s tempted to interject that he’s a star athlete at county level and a lynchpin player on their league-winning football team, but she knows it’s not her place to speak. Instead, she catches his eye and gives him an encouraging nod. She’s always had a soft spot for Danny Carlisle, perhaps because, like Ellie with her art placement, he was one of the school’s few scholarship students. She knew, first-hand through Ellie’s experience, that it wasn’t always easy for these local kids to assimilate. She liked to keep a close eye.
Danny, to his credit, had seemed to manage the transition relatively seamlessly. It wasn’t exactly fair, but Rachel knew that’s how it went. Whether it was private or state school, there were always going to be popularity hierarchies and in a school like Folly View, being a sporting hero carried a weight far greater than that of a shy outsider like Ellie. Danny, with his athletic flair, humble attitude and natural good looks, seemed to have that rare ability to garner popularity across the different student cliques. Nor did he have any problem attracting the attentions of the girls, if her hunch about him and Sarah was right.
‘You’re a day pupil?’
He nods.
Maxwell turns to Rachel for clarification. ‘What’s the general split between boarders and day students here?’
‘We’re about sixty per cent boarders, spread across four houses.’
Maxwell turns back to Danny. ‘So, where’s home?’
‘Thorncombe. 18 Woodleigh Rise.’
‘Who do you live with?’
‘It’s just me and Mum. My brother moved out six months ago. I don’t see my dad.’
DC Maxwell scribbles the details down then taps her pen onto her notepad. ‘Let’s talk about Saturday night, Danny. Specifically, the party in the woods.’ Maxwell’s tone has shifted. The small talk is over. ‘Run me through your movements on Saturday?’
‘Sure. I had football training on Saturday morning, here at school. Then I went home to finish my coursework.’
‘Go on.’
Danny clears his throat. ‘I’d arranged to meet Saul near the school gates around eight o’clock. We walked up to the quarry together. I was there for a few hours with some other kids and then… I left…’ he stops to think, ‘…I guess around midnight. I was home a little after.’
‘Did you interact with Sarah Lawson while you were at the quarry?’
Danny tosses his head and glances in Rachel’s direction. There’s a reddish smudge of a love bite just below his left earlobe. She wonders if Maxwell has seen it, too. He clears his throat. ‘Yeah. Sarah and Olivia arrived around nine, I think. Olivia left a little before me. Sarah was still there when I left.’ He swallows and looks down at his hands. ‘I don’t understand how something like this… I mean… is she really dead?’
Maxwell’s voice softens a little. ‘I’m afraid so, Danny.’
He slides lower in his chair, his eyes visibly watering, his body rigid, as if the effort of containing his emotion requires every muscle in his body. If he was romantically involved with Sarah, then it’s going to hit him harder than most. Every instinct, as both a parent and a school counsellor, makes Rachel want to comfort him, to offer some kind of counsel, but Fiona Maxwell had been clear: ‘You’re just sitting in, Rachel, in a guardianship capacity. Just be a quiet, reassuring presence.’ It pains her to stay silent, but she knows she mustn’t interfere.
Maxwell leans forward. ‘Do you need a minute?’
He shakes his head. ‘No, I want to help.’
‘OK. I gather you and Sarah were quite friendly?’ Maxwell puts a suggestive emphasis on the last word, lets it linger in the room.
He meets her gaze. ‘We’d been talking. Off and on.’
‘And were you “on” or “off” at the party on Saturday night?’
‘I thought… I mean… I don’t know.’ He rubs at a mark on his sleeve, his emotion visibly rising again. ‘I heard she was found up at the folly. Did she fall?’
‘I know this is upsetting, Danny, but I need you to focus on my questions.’
‘Sorry.’
‘I’m guessing you and Sarah spent a bit of time together at the party on Saturday night?’ Maxwell’s eyes flick to the love bite on his neck.
He nods. ‘A bit. Yeah.’ He meets Maxwell’s gaze. ‘We had a… row.’
‘What about?’
Danny frowns. ‘I blame Connor showing up.’
‘Connor is your older brother?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why was Connor in the woods on Saturday night?’
Danny throws up his hands. ‘Beats me.’
‘Does he have a link with the school? Ex-pupil, perhaps?’
Danny lets out a dry laugh. ‘No chance. Connor dropped out of Thorncombe High a few years back. He didn’t get on well at school and there’s no way Mum could afford the fees for a place like this. The only reason I’m here is because of my scholarship. Connor’s forever ribbing me. He calls this a place for “posh, brainless twats”. Sorry,’ he adds, glancing at Rachel, flushing pink. ‘That’s just what Connor says.’
‘So why did your brother turn up on Saturday night?’
She waits. Danny rubs his chin and glances longingly at the door. ‘Do I have to answer every question?’
Maxwell leans back in her chair, her face neutral, but Rachel can sense the shift in atmosphere. ‘No, Danny, you don’t have to answer every question. You can refuse and we can resume this down at the police station, with your mum in tow, where we can go over things in more detail, if that’s what you’d prefer?’ The picture she paints hangs like a threat between them. ‘Or you could answer now and help us move our investigation along, for Sarah.’
Danny seems to weigh up his options. ‘Fine. It’s on Connor, not me.’
‘What’s on Connor?’
‘Look, I was as surprised as anyone to see him there. I thought he’d have better things to do. But he must’ve heard about the party and… I don’t know… perhaps he saw it as an opportunity.’
‘An opportunity?’
Danny sighs. ‘You know my brother, right?’ The question seems rhetorical and Maxwell doesn’t answer. ‘Mum won’t hear a bad word said against him, but the truth is he’s kind of an arsehole.’
‘Go on.’
‘He turned up on Saturday night with one of his mates. Big Kev. Built like a brick shithouse.’ He catches himself, glances at Rachel again. ‘Sorry. But he’s huge. I think they’d got it into their heads that my “posh” friends would have money, because, you know… private school.’ He shrugs. ‘He probably thought he’d come along and sell to my friends.’
‘Sell?’
Danny winces. It’s obvious he’s not enjoying dobbing in his brother. ‘Yeah, just weed…’
‘And?’
He throws up his hands. ‘I don’t know. Pills.’
‘So, Connor shows up at the party in the woods with Big Kev. What time was this?’
‘Maybe ten. I think it was around the time the games started.’
‘The games?’ DC Maxwell’s voice is neutral, but Rachel notices the shift in her posture, the rise of her eyebrows. ‘Tell me about that.’
‘It was dumb. Halloween night. Everyone was dressed up in costumes. Sarah had come as the ghost of a local girl… Sally… and—’ He falters, clears his throat. ‘I guess that started the ghost stories. Saul was trying to scare us all with the “Sally” story. He told us she was a local girl who’d been murdered in the woods.’ He swallows. ‘Up at the folly.’
‘Go on.’
‘Someone came up with the dumb idea that we try to contact her.’ He lifts his gaze. ‘I know. I don’t believe any of that stuff, but Saul was on a mission. He made a dodgy Ouija board out of an old cardboard box and a jam jar he’d found. It was just a stupid idea to scare the girls. We played with the board for a bit. Someone kept moving the jar to say that Sally was there and that she wanted us to do dares.’ He swallows again. ‘But then we stopped when Jasmine said she’d seen someone. She said someone was watching us from the trees above the quarry.’
Rachel feels a prickling sensation shoot up the back of her neck. Maxwell’s pen, she notices, has gone still over her notebook. ‘Someone was watching you?’
Danny shrugs. ‘Like I said, Jasmine said she saw someone in the trees. She was properly freaked out, so Saul and I went to check. We thought we’d chase them away.’
‘Did you find anyone?’
‘No. We looked, but there was no one there. Just Jas’s imagination running away with her. Saul started teasing the girls, calling them chicken, and then Sarah said we should do the dares. To prove who was actually chicken.’ Danny sighs. ‘It was just a game, you know? Like truth or dare. But we made it “Sally Says”.’
‘You mean like “Simon Says”?’
‘Yeah, exactly.’
‘What kind of dares?’
Danny winces. ‘Stupid stuff. It started out tame. Viola had to swap clothes with Max. Saul long-jumped the bonfire. Someone ate a worm. There was some kissing… and, er… other stuff.’ He’s blushing furiously. ‘It was just a bit of fun, until Connor got involved. Connor made things weird.’
‘Your brother got involved in the dares?’
‘In a sense.’
Maxwell waits. ‘What do you mean?’
Danny squirms in his seat. Locked in the laser beam of DC Maxwell’s questions, he looks like he’d crawl under Rachel’s desk, if he could. ‘Sarah dared me to take one of Connor’s pills.’
Maxwell keeps a neutral tone. ‘And did you?’
He shakes his head. ‘No way. I wasn’t going to risk my place on the team – my scholarship here at the school – by taking shit like that.’ He catches himself. ‘Stuff like that. She knows how much this means to me. How focused I am on going to uni. I was annoyed she’d even suggest it.’
‘How did Sarah respond when you refused?’
Danny’s eyes flash with anger. ‘She was drunk, so I don’t think she meant it, but she called me a “pussy”.’ He bows his head. ‘I refused her dare. Took two shots instead. I thought that would be the end of it.’
‘Did anyone give Sarah a dare?’
Danny nods. ‘Connor went next. He gave Sarah one.’
‘What was it?’
Danny swallows. ‘He dared her to kiss the boy at the party she fancied the most.’ Rachel can feel the anger bristling off Danny.
‘Who did she kiss, Danny?’ DC Maxwell’s eyes slide down to the raspberry love bite on his neck.
He drops his head, his voice low. ‘Connor. She made a big show of it.’
Maxwell lets his answer sit for a moment. ‘That must’ve been difficult, seeing the girl you like – the girl you’ve been talking to – kissing your brother.’
‘Yeah,’ says Danny. ‘Connor thought it was hilarious, obviously. He couldn’t drop it. Kept saying “posh chicks” always go for the bad boys. Said it was well known that the Folly View girls put it about. That’s when I punched him. We had a bit of a scuffle.’ He points at his face. ‘As you can see.’
‘And if we were to talk to Connor, he’d tell us the same?’
Danny’s head snaps up. ‘He might not admit to being punched by his younger brother. Or the drugs. But yeah, I reckon he’d tell you the gist of it. Sarah and I argued. I’d already had my suspicions she wasn’t being honest with me and then I… I saw something on her phone that made me think she was taking the piss.’
‘What sort of something?’
‘I wasn’t looking for it, but it was there on her home screen. A message that said something like miss you… I want to be with you. I read it out to her, but she just snatched the phone away and refused to tell me who had sent it. I was sick of being treated like a fool, so I left. I wasn’t having fun anymore. I was pissed at Sarah and I wanted to go home.’
‘An anonymous message?’ Maxwell sounds circumspect.
‘Yeah.’
‘No idea who sent it?’
‘Nope. She wouldn’t say. The name wasn’t really a name. Just a bunch of random letters. You could check her phone?’
‘Well, we would if we could, but there’s a problem, you see. We have no idea where it is.’
Danny frowns. Maxwell, Rachel notices, holds his gaze and Danny is the first to look away. The detective leans back in her chair and considers her notepad for a moment. ‘Danny, did any of these dares take your group up to the folly on Saturday night?’
‘To the tower?’ He shakes his head. ‘Not as far as I know. Someone might’ve mentioned going, but I don’t think anyone fancied it. We stayed in the quarry.’
Rachel can see it in his face, any hint of bravado gone. She can only imagine how frightening the woods might feel at night, how heightened the atmosphere would be with them all in Halloween costumes, playing Ouija boards and egging each other on with foolish ghost stories, dares and talk of watchers hiding in the trees.
‘This joke your brother taunted you with. The one about Folly View girls “putting it about”. Why would he say that? Did Sarah and Connor have history?’
Danny looks alarmed. ‘No. Course not. He was just being a dick.’
Maxwell waits. ‘Rumours don’t usually blow up out of nowhere. There’s often a kernel of truth to them. Are you sure?’
Danny shakes his head, insistent. ‘If she was seeing someone else, I doubt it was Connor. She kissed him to wind me up – to get back at me for refusing her dare.’
‘What about this?’ asks Maxwell, opening up an iPad and sliding it across the table. ‘Do you know who did this?’
Rachel leans in and sees the word ‘Sally’ sprayed in scarlet paint onto a jagged rock.
Danny tilts his chin. ‘I don’t know anything about that.’
Maxwell eyes him steadily, before pulling the iPad back. ‘OK. What time did you leave the party?’
‘I told you. I got home just after midnight.’
‘You went straight home?’
‘Yeah. I walked back with Saul. We took one of the trails down to Thorncombe Lane. He went back to his school dorm and I walked home.’
‘And you left Sarah in the woods… with Connor?’
He nods. ‘Olivia had already gone. She’d left in a huff when Sarah wouldn’t listen about their curfew. I admit I was mad at Sarah, too, but I didn’t want her wandering around on her own. I offered to walk her home, but Sarah told me to forget it. She seemed angry, which was a bit rich to be honest.’ He frowns and hangs his head. ‘I wanted to help her, but Saul told me to “man up”. He told me not to follow her around like a puppy dog. Said I should leave her with Connor if she was so keen on him. Let her come running back. So yeah, I went home.’ When he lifts his head, his face is distraught. ‘I never should’ve left her there.’
‘And that was the last time you saw or heard from Sarah?’
He nods. ‘I Snapped her when I got home. I know she saw it, those little ticks showed up next to my message. But she didn’t reply. I assumed she was still pissed at me.’ He shrugs.
‘What did your message say?’
‘I just asked if things were OK between us. If she was OK.’
‘That was the last exchange?’
Danny nods. ‘Look, I’ll show you.’ He slips his phone out of his school blazer and unlocks the screen, navigating to his Snap. He angles the phone so that Maxwell can see. ‘I sent this at 00:53.’
‘Anyone see or hear you get home?’
Danny thinks. ‘Yeah. Mum was still up when I got in. She asked me to let the dog out. So yeah, Mum.’
‘Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about that night, Danny? Anything you think it important we know?’
Danny returns his phone to his pocket. He glances across at Rachel then looks away again. Tell them, Rachel thinks. Don’t hold anything back. It won’t do you any favours in the long run.
As if reading her mind, Maxwell adds, ‘It would be better if you shared everything now. If you knowingly hold anything back, it could be considered an obstruction of justice at a later date.’
Danny stares down into his lap, his hands clasped tightly. He shakes his head. ‘I just wish I’d insisted I walk her home. I wish I hadn’t left her.’ He looks up at Maxwell, his eyes glistening. ‘But it’s a bit late for that now, isn’t it?’
Maxwell waits a beat. ‘Do you think Connor might’ve had any reason to hurt her?’
Danny’s eyes widen. ‘You think Connor had something to do with this?’ He shakes his head. ‘No way. Connor can be a dick, but he wouldn’t hurt her.’
Maxwell lets the silence that follows fill the room.
‘I know my brother. There’s no way.’ Even Rachel can hear that he sounds less certain. ‘That’s all I’ve got to say.’
‘Very well.’ Maxwell’s face is set with grim determination. ‘Thank you, Danny.’
After he’s left the room, Rachel leans back in her chair with a sigh. ‘Poor kid. You can see how hard he’s taking this.’
‘Mmm…’ says Maxwell, ‘or he could just be a really good liar.’
Rachel turns to her in surprise. ‘You don’t think…?’
Maxwell shrugs. ‘It’s part of the job – keeping an open mind.’
‘I know Danny. He’s a good kid. All my instincts tell me he wasn’t involved.’
Fiona Maxwell lays her pen across her notebook. ‘I know you’re attached to these kids, Rachel. Your empathy is what makes you good at your job. But in my work, it’s important to let the evidence do the talking.’
Rachel swallows, feeling chastised. ‘I just can’t believe any of them would…’
Maxwell opens her file and shuffles through a series of photos, selecting one and sliding it across the table. ‘I shouldn’t show you this… it’s the least graphic one in here… but it might help you understand what we’re up against. Why we can’t let emotion sway our judgement.’
Rachel isn’t sure she wants to look, but the photo is right there on the table in front of her. An image of what is clearly a body. Strands of fair hair. Hands clasped together. Blue-white limbs lying in a bed of autumn leaves. Words streaked across white skin in filthy black. PUNISH. DESTROY. REPENT. She turns to look at Maxwell, eyes wide, a rush of nausea rising in her throat. ‘This is… Sarah?’
Maxwell nods. ‘Now you see why I’m not prepared to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, not until we’ve got all the evidence in front of us. Someone killed Sarah and left her like this and right now, we have no idea who they are or what they’re capable of. All I know is that they’re still out there, walking around, while Sarah lies on a slab in a morgue.’
Rachel shoves the photo away. ‘Sorry,’ she says, pushing back her chair, ‘I think I need some air.’
‘Fine. Let’s take five.’
Rachel bolts from her office, out into the long, oak-panelled corridor. She pauses for a moment to take several deep breaths, relieved to have escaped the intense, airless room and the horrific image lying on her desk.
‘Are you OK, Ms Dean?’ It’s Jasmine Ware waiting in a chair by the door, staring up at her with concern.
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I’m OK. Are you next, Jasmine?’
The girl nods, though seeing Rachel’s expression, she sinks a little lower into the seat.
Rachel tries to rally. ‘Don’t worry.’ She conjures a weak smile. ‘Just go in there and tell the truth. That’s all you have to do.’
Jasmine nods but Rachel notices how the girl averts her gaze, not quite meeting her eye. Just like Danny, she thinks, remembering his evasive looks. Something happened in those woods, something the kids aren’t sharing. The realisation chills Rachel to the bone.