Ellie rubs her eyes and lets out a long sigh. There is mascara smudged on her fingers when she pulls them away. It’s strange, but it’s a relief to finally say the words out loud. Like the sudden release of something unpleasant being purged from her stomach.
‘Should Ben be here?’ she hears her mum ask the detective. ‘Do I need to call a lawyer?’
Ellie shakes her head, irritated at her mother’s bewilderment. It feels as though they’ve been talking for hours already; she just wants to get this done now. ‘Don’t fuss, Mum. I don’t need a lawyer. I can explain. It’s Sarah’s blood, but,’ she adds hastily, ‘it’s not how it looks, I swear.’
She can see it in her mum’s face. The disbelief. The horror. Sarah’s blood?
But if the police officer in front of her is surprised, she gives no hint. She is dead-eyed, showing no visible emotion. ‘Tell me how Sarah’s blood ended up on your hoodie,’ she asks. You wouldn’t want to play her at poker.
‘It happened up at the folly.’
‘After you’d walked there, to “reorient” yourself?’
‘Yes.’ Ellie nods. She’s not sure why the detective is looking at her like that, like she doesn’t quite believe her. ‘I scrambled up to the escarpment. It was pitch black but as I got closer to the folly, I saw a light through the trees, and I heard voices. I figured it was the others from the party, but I hung back, just in case.’
‘Did you see who it was?’
‘Yes, it was Sarah. She was with Danny’s brother, Connor, and that guy, Kev.’
‘What were they doing?’
‘Arguing. They’d lit a fire so I could see the three of them, but I stayed back among the trees. I didn’t like the vibe. Connor was clearly angry. He said Sarah owed him money for the joint he’d given her and she was getting in his face, jabbing at his chest. She said it was his fault Danny had left. She looked upset and it was getting heated, but then I saw Kev pull Connor away and tell him not to bother. One of the lads mentioned Bristol, but Sarah shouted that they could “fuck off” and so they left. Connor called back to Sarah that she could find her own way home. Kind of a taunt, you know?’
Ellie hears her mother’s tut, but Maxwell is back to inscrutable Robocop. ‘Then what happened?’ she asks.
‘I waited. I thought Sarah might leave, too, but she sat down on the stone step at the bottom of the folly, near the fire. I could see her outline. Her white dress. The orange tip of her roll-up.’
‘Did you talk to her?’
Ellie glances across at her mother and sees her wide eyes, her hand at her throat. ‘I thought I should check if she was OK. She was alone and I guess…’ She hesitates. ‘I guess I thought we could go back together. Finding my way up to the folly hadn’t exactly been a walk in the park. Your mind plays tricks. The Ouija board game and those stupid dares. I was frightened. I know it’s stupid, but I kept thinking about the ghost story. About Sally. There were rustlings in the woods, animals or bats probably, but my imagination was starting to play tricks. I figured even Sarah would be better company than going back through the woods alone.’ Ellie is aware of her mum shaking her head in dismay. She can’t look at her.
‘So, you approached Sarah?’
‘Yes.’
‘Was Sarah pleased to see you?’
Ellie thinks for a moment. ‘I think I frightened her. I didn’t mean to. I made her jump. When she saw it was me, she just gave a little shrug and patted the stone step next to her. She offered to share her joint, but I didn’t want it. I still felt sick. I wanted to go back. I told her I was leaving, and she could walk with me, if she wanted. But Sarah, being Sarah, wasn’t going to make it easy. She said she’d come when she’d finished her spliff, so I waited. I figured we’d walk down to the road together, then go our separate ways.’
‘Is that what happened?’
Ellie eyes Maxwell. They both know that’s not what happened. They wouldn’t be having this conversation now if they’d both made it down to the road together safely. ‘No. That’s not what happened.’
Ellie knows she should’ve told her parents everything last night, should’ve come clean and worked out with them how best to handle this, but last night she’d had no idea that that stupid bag of clothes would show up here. Last night, she’d still thought what happened up at the folly could remain her secret, a terrible act confined to the woods, her only witnesses the silent stone folly, the towering trees and a girl – now dead. An awful sensation grips her stomach, dread tugging at her insides.
‘Go on,’ urges Maxwell.
‘Girls like Sarah always get everything they want. Life just seems to offer it all up on a plate. I shouldn’t have raised the Danny thing again, but he deserved better, and I was annoyed to be sitting there, waiting for her to decide when we could leave.’
‘What did you do, Ellie?’
‘I told her that she was a manipulative bitch.’ She doesn’t dare look at her mum now, not as she relays this part of the night.
‘How did Sarah respond?’ asks Maxwell.
Ellie shrugs. ‘She didn’t. Not right away. She just ignored me. I guess that got me even more riled up. I said it again, that she was a bitch and that Danny was going to wake up to her and move on and that I’d be there cheering him on the day he did.’ She tries to control it, but there’s a heat rising in her cheeks. She doesn’t want to say all this in front of her mum, but looking at Maxwell’s blank face, she knows she’s got no choice. Ever since Saturday night, this thing has been rolling away from her, faster and faster. A runaway train. She wants to jam on the brakes, but the truth keeps coming in a rush.
‘Sarah’s mood changed then. I saw it in her face. I knew I’d touched a nerve. She turned to me with this mean smile and looked me up and down. “You think he’s going to fall into your arms?” She was smirking, saying how a boy like Danny would never go for a girl like me. That I was dreaming if I thought that. She started teasing me about the skate park. About how us “emos” would have to find another place to hang out now her uncle’s big development was going ahead. She was bragging about how much money he was going to make. She knew exactly how to get at me. She knew how against the housing development I am.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’ll admit it – I bit. My temper…’ She glances at her mother. ‘Mum knows. I’m hot-headed. I was so mad. I told her that her family were cutting down ancient trees and killing the local wildlife, causing irreversible damage for their own personal greed. I told her I’d find a way to stop it. I told her that I wouldn’t back off until I’d found a way to derail the development.
‘Sarah just laughed. “You think one lame-ass Greta Thunberg wannabe can stop my uncle?” ’ Ellie swallows. ‘She said he was doing the community a favour by building affordable homes, social housing, places for “scroungers” like me and Mum.’ She closes her eyes, feeling a hot flush of shame. ‘Sarah told me that I had no place lecturing her when my parents were parasites leeching off the school – off the parents who actually paid school fees. She said scholarships like mine were paid for by families like hers, so maybe I should shut up and be grateful for the education she was providing.’
Ellie squeezes her hands into tight fists, blinking back tears at the memory. She glances across at her mum for support, but she’s not looking at her. She sits with her head bowed.
‘That sounds very hurtful,’ says Maxwell.
Ellie nods. She can’t stop now. ‘Sarah said my scholarship… our cottage on campus… it was all charity, charity paid for by her family. She said when the development was built, Mum and I could move into social housing and stop “begging” from the school.’
Ellie feels her mum’s head lift, but she can’t look at her now.
‘I knew things weren’t easy,’ her mum murmurs, ‘but I didn’t realise to what extent. You should’ve told me.’
‘Told you what?’ Ellie asks. ‘Did you really think it would be so easy for a kid like me at a school like Folly View? You only wanted to see the good. The “opportunities”. What suited you best.’
‘Ellie, that’s not true. I thought it was the best place for you and your interests. The facilities… the art department. And I did want to hear. If you’d told me, I would’ve tried to help you integrate with—’
Maxwell interrupts, clearly keen to keep the interview on track. ‘Sarah’s comments sound very upsetting, Ellie. How did you react?’
Ellie stares at the officer. Her voice is still neutral, but she thinks she sees a glimmer of sympathy in the police officer’s eyes. ‘I couldn’t help it. I took a swing at her.’ She hangs her head. ‘I punched her.’
She ignores her mother’s gasp and carries on. ‘Sarah screamed. She was holding her nose, but the blood just kept spurting everywhere and Sarah was freaking out. It was awful. She was shouting that I’d broken her nose.’ Ellie exhales. ‘I’ve never hit anyone before. I was frightened. I tried to help her. I tried to stop the blood. It went all over my sweatshirt, see.’ She points to the image on the iPad screen. ‘I said sorry.
‘I was still trying to help, when Sarah caught me off guard. She swung at me and we fell and’ – Ellie shakes her head – ‘I don’t know, we went down in the leaves and dirt until I could get out from under her. We just stood there, panting and staring at each other and she said, “You’re fucked, Ellie Chase. You’re in so much trouble. This is assault. My mum’s a lawyer. She’ll ruin you. Your mum will lose her job. You’ll lose your scholarship… your home.” I knew how Sarah would spin it. I was already in trouble for bunking off to go to a Just Stop Oil protest. I’d lose my place at Folly View, right in the middle of my final year. I’d lose my chance at art school.’
‘What did you do?’
Ellie frowns at Maxwell’s question. ‘I didn’t do anything. I told Sarah that she should come with me. I told her that I was sorry, and I was scared, and I didn’t want to be in the woods anymore. I told her I was going back, and that we should walk together.’
Maxwell taps her notepad with the lid of her pen. ‘Sarah’s just threatened to ruin you and your final year of school, to smash your dreams of art college, to potentially ruin your mum’s career and take away your home and you just… offer to walk home with her?’ There is more than a hint of doubt in the police officer’s voice.
‘I wanted to get out of there. I thought we could talk, sort things out on the way back, but she didn’t want a bit of it. She just laughed. She told me I was “an even bigger pussy than Danny”. I didn’t want to stick around after that, so I ran down to the road, as fast as I could. I couldn’t go home – Mum and Dad didn’t know where I was – so I woke Jasmine in her dorm room. I knew I couldn’t justify what I’d done. I knew Sarah had won.’
‘What time was the fight, Ellie?’
She shrugs. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Best guess?’
‘About 1am. Perhaps.’
‘What time did you get to Jasmine’s dorm room?’
‘I don’t know.’
Maxwell hesitates for a moment, flicking back through her notes. ‘What you’re saying is that you left Sarah alive and well, bar a busted-up nose, at the folly around 1 am?’
‘Yes.’
‘Alone?’
‘Yes. She wouldn’t come with me.’
‘And when you left Sarah, how did she seem? Was she breathing? Was she conscious?’
‘Conscious? Of course. She was screaming as I ran away. Yelling that she’d make sure I paid for what I’d done. That I wouldn’t get away with it.’
‘Your fight took place at the base of the folly, in the clearing?’
‘Yes.’
‘Not at the top?
‘No.’
‘You didn’t go up the folly?’
‘No way. I’m not climbing that thing.’
Maxwell waits a beat, before changing tack. ‘And when you arrived at Jasmine Ware’s dorm room, did you explain to her what had happened?’
Ellie shakes her head. ‘She was half asleep. She wasn’t happy. She fell back into bed and was snoring within minutes.’
Maxwell studies Ellie for a long moment. ‘Did you tell anyone else about the fight?’
‘No. I was too frightened… too embarrassed.’
‘So, there weren’t any witnesses to your fight with Sarah? No one who might be able to corroborate your statement?’
Ellie hangs her head. ‘No.’
‘And you disposed of the clothes because…’ She trails off, waiting.
‘Because I figured Mum would have a whole lot of questions for me if they ended up in the wash looking like they did. Questions I didn’t want to answer.’
Maxwell frowns. She seems to think for a moment, before tilting her head at Ellie. ‘The mask, the feathered one you took from the costume department at school, were you wearing it up at the folly?’
‘It was itchy and the elastic was stretched. It was around my neck for most of the night.’
‘But did you have it on you when you arrived at the folly?’
Ellie frowns. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Did you still have the mask with you when you arrived back at Jasmine’s dorm room?’
Ellie scratches her head. ‘No… I guess I didn’t. Perhaps it came off me when Sarah and I fought? Or when I was sick in the woods. That would make the most sense, right?’
Maxwell taps her pen on her notebook. ‘I’m curious, Ellie. Why do you think nobody – Danny, Jasmine, Saul, not one of them – thought to mention that you were at the party in the woods on Saturday night?’
Ellie frowns. ‘They knew I’d lied to my parents about where I was. I assumed…’ She trails off, fighting the tears again. ‘I assumed they’d tell you. To be honest, I don’t know why they didn’t.’
Maxwell’s face softens. ‘Maybe they were trying to protect you?’ she suggests. ‘Maybe your friends like you more than you know, Ellie?’
Startled, Ellie glances up. She’s been wondering since Saturday night why they hadn’t told the police. Had they been protecting her? Or, she’d wondered, come Monday morning when the police had announced what had happened to Sarah, had they suspected she was involved? Was one of them behind the sally@inthewood messages she’d received? ‘Maybe,’ she whispers.
Maxwell tilts her head. ‘Ellie, would you consent to us taking your fingerprints today?’ Seeing her mother’s look of alarm, she adds, ‘We have a partial print from the scene. It could help us eliminate you, Ellie.’
‘But she’s already told you she was up at the folly…’ Rachel trails off, then clears her throat. ‘That she fought with Sarah. Can she say no?’
‘She can. We’d only be able to take them without her consent if she were under arrest.’
Ellie feels a cold stab of fear go right through her. Arrest?
‘Which she’s not,’ says her mum firmly.
‘No,’ says Maxwell slowly.
Ellie doesn’t like the tone of the police officer’s voice. An unspoken ‘yet’ seems to hang in the air.
‘I’ll do it,’ says Ellie.
‘And we can go home after that?’ her mum asks.
‘We’d also like to search the cottage.’
‘What? What on earth for?’
‘Ellie, do you recall seeing Sarah’s iPhone when you were with her at the folly?’
Ellie is staring wide-eyed at Maxwell. ‘I don’t know.’
‘But you saw it at the quarry. You said earlier.’ Maxwell leafs back through her notes. ‘ “I was still holding it when the fight broke out between the two boys”.’ She eyes Ellie. ‘You have no idea where her phone is now?’
‘No.’
Maxwell turns to her mum. ‘Do we have your permission to conduct a search?’
‘Ellie’s just told you – she doesn’t know where it is.’
‘We could get a warrant,’ Maxwell presses.
Her mum turns to look at her. Ellie shrugs. It seems they’ll do it, whether they like it or not.
‘Fine,’ says her mum. ‘You can go in.’
‘Thank you.’
‘But then you’ll let her go, right?’
There’s a pause. Maxwell leans back in her chair and purses her lips. ‘Mrs Chase—’
‘Dean,’ insists Rachel quickly. ‘I’m Ms Dean now.’
‘Of course.’ She holds up her hands. ‘Sorry. Ms Dean, that will be up to my superiors. Given Ellie’s account of the night in question, alongside the fact she’s admitted to a violent altercation with the victim, as well as evidence that places her at the scene of the crime, we may need to keep Ellie in for further questioning.’
Her mother’s face is aghast. ‘But she’s told you everything.’
‘Right now, Ellie’s account makes her the last person to see Sarah alive.’ The fact hangs in the air between them.
‘I know it looks bad, but I swear, it wasn’t me.’
‘Of course it wasn’t,’ insists her mum vehemently. ‘That’s not what you’re saying, is it?’ she asks, turning to Maxwell.
‘We’re expecting the forensics results. Then we’ll have more questions for Ellie. I’m sure you understand.’
Ellie turns to her mum in a panic. ‘Mum? Do I have to stay?’
Maxwell answers. ‘We’ll need to detain you a little longer, Ellie. Yes.’
What Ellie sees in her mum’s eyes is anything but reassuring.
‘Sit tight, Ellie. I’ll call your dad. We’ll get this sorted, I promise.’
Ellie glances back at DC Maxwell. The police officer, she notices, avoids her eye, busying herself with her papers.
‘It wasn’t me,’ Ellie says, her voice rising. ‘You’re wasting your time. Someone else did this to Sarah – some sicko – and they’re still out there. They could be hunting for another girl right now. They could do it again.’
Maxwell doesn’t react. Instead she shuffles her files, her voice light as she asks, ‘One last thing. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the recent defacement of an Easton Developments sign out on Thorncombe Lane?’
Ellie juts her chin, glad that Maxwell’s face is still averted and she no longer has to look into her shrewd hazel eyes. ‘No,’ she says firmly. ‘I wouldn’t know anything about that.’
‘Huh,’ says Maxwell. ‘Well, OK then. For the benefit of the tape, it’s 4.58pm and I’m stopping the recording.’