Sarah Hartwell came into the MCU willingly, just before lunch. She was shocked to learn that her daughter had been arrested. This struck Cross as interesting. Torquil had told Victoria of the arrest the moment it happened and yet she hadn’t then informed Sarah? The news knocked the woman back so much that they left her alone for a while. When Cross and Ottey finally went into the interview room, she looked up and said, ‘I think I need a lawyer.’
‘Why is that?’ asked Cross.
‘Because I want to make a confession,’ she told them calmly.
‘To what?’ asked Cross.
‘Are you trying to be funny? I killed Ed Squire,’ she said.
‘It must be hard for you to see your daughter arrested on suspicion of murder. A daughter you feel, by your own admission, you’ve let down badly over her lifetime. Quite the gesture, to confess to something of such magnitude as murder just to make things better. Confess to something you didn’t actually do,’ observed Cross.
‘She didn’t do it. Don’t listen to her. I did it. I swear,’ the desperate woman protested.
‘She didn’t do it, no,’ said Ottey. ‘But then again, neither did you.’
‘She didn’t?’
‘No.’
‘But it said on the news that you’d released that man. That Russian,’ she said.
‘Because he, like you, didn’t kill Ed either,’ said Cross.
She sat there for a moment, trying to process this information.
‘We found the murder weapon in your daughter’s flat,’ Ottey said.
‘No,’ she muttered in disbelief.
‘It was covered in the victim’s blood,’ Ottey told her.
‘You went on holiday recently. With your daughter,’ Cross went on.
‘Yes. Mykonos.’
‘And she told you something there. Something she hadn’t told you before which you found truly shocking,’ said Cross.
‘Yes,’ she replied quietly.
‘That Ed was responsible for her pregnancy in her teens. That he was the father,’ Cross said.
‘Yes.’
‘Then you went to his house to confront him. Confront them, and the police were called to the property again. You were furious. How could he have done that? To your daughter who was suffering in the wake of your divorce. Vulnerable. How could Victoria have let it happen? Why didn’t she protect her? Why had she stayed with Ed for all this time?’ suggested Cross. ‘What was their response?’
‘Victoria seemed closed off. Almost completely. Like it wasn’t happening. She obviously didn’t know. Which was a relief, oddly,’ she said.
‘And Ed Squire?’ asked Cross.
‘He tried to deny it at first and it was like she knew in that moment, from the look on his face, that it was true. She challenged him. He became dismissive. Abusive. To both of us. It had all happened so long ago, he said. Everyone had moved on. Persephone herself was over it. He claimed me bringing it up now was only going to set her back. She was settled. Had a job. Was happy. Why did I want to do this? Was I trying to break up his marriage because my own had failed so badly? Or was I just trying to be the mother after all these years? He was so insulting. And to use her mental well-being against me? It was disgusting, frankly,’ she said, getting more animated as she recalled what had been said that day.
‘What happened then?’ asked Cross. But she just continued with her train of thought and ignored him.
‘You’ve met her. I love her to bits, but it’s like Percy’s emotional maturity just stopped at sixteen. As if she stopped growing up when her father left us. She still behaves like a teenager. An immature teenager, at that. She lives in her own world, as if that in some way protects her from the real world. She’s never had a boyfriend. Not even at Oxford. And Oxford. The suicide attempt. That looked so different, knowing Ed was responsible for the pregnancy. That made me so much angrier. And confused. How could they have kept it from me, when they had to know it had to have had something to do with that? Surely it did. I said to him, if she’s over it why has she chosen to tell me about it now? But he was so patronising. Almost implying I was making something out of nothing,’ she said, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe the situation she was describing and the injustice of it all.
‘That must’ve been so frustrating,’ said Ottey.
‘Well as you know, I flew at him. I wanted to kill the bastard. But he didn’t press charges,’ she said. ‘I mean, how could he? All of this would’ve come out.’
‘How did you leave it with them?’ asked Ottey.
‘Well, what could I do? I felt so helpless,’ she explained.
‘Mrs Hartwell, have you spoken to your ex-husband recently?’ asked Cross.
Her face froze as the implication of this question hit her. She didn’t answer.
‘Did you call him after you confronted Ed Squire at his house?’ asked Cross.
She still didn’t answer. Then it was as if she realised there was no point in lying.
‘There was no one else. I suppose I just wanted to vent. No, that’s a lie,’ she said and stopped for a moment. ‘I called him to blame him. That’s the truth. Tell him it was all his fault. We’d both failed as parents, but he’d really excelled as the shit, absent father.’
‘What was his reaction?’ asked Cross.
‘Well, defensive at first. Saying it wasn’t his fault. But then as the reality of what I was saying hit him, he just lost it completely. To be honest, he and Ed had never really got on. I often felt maybe Ian was jealous of him. I don’t know why. But there was always something of an edge to their relationship. He saw it as another way in which he’d let Percy down. That he let this happen. That if he’d still been around maybe she wouldn’t’ve gone to live with them and none of this would ever have happened.’ She stopped for a moment, then looked back up at them both. ‘Oh my god. Is this all my fault?’ she said.
‘Was that the last time you spoke to him, before Ed was killed?’ Cross asked.
‘Yes. There was nothing left to talk about after that. Can I see her? Does she know it was him? What has she said?’ she asked.
‘Nothing. She’s gone no comment,’ said Ottey.
‘She saw him. She said she saw him, didn’t she? She said she saw the killer but didn’t say it was him. Has she said it was him?’ she asked. They said nothing. ‘Can I talk to her? I might be able to persuade her to talk. I might be able to get through to her.’
He turned to Ottey. ‘You’re the senior officer, ma’am,’ he reminded her. She bristled at this but thought for a moment. It was possible she could get the young woman to open up.
Sarah Hartwell was with her daughter for just under an hour. Cross and Ottey watched on the monitor. But it was mostly the woman comforting her daughter. They’d asked her not to give away any of the forensic information they’d told her. Percy didn’t tell her mother what happened as Sarah told her to save it for an interview. She also told her that the police knew she hadn’t killed Ed. Finally the young woman conceded tearfully and asked for her lawyer.