Кара Хантер - All the Rage

`˜And yet she told her teachers nothing happened.'

Gow shrugs. `˜That's how kids operate. She probably kept telling herself things would change `“ that if she hung on in there and didn't grass them up they'd come round eventually. And in the meantime all the petty little cruelties mount up until at some point it's all too much and she snaps.'

`˜But where does Sasha come in?' says Gallagher. `˜If it's Patsie's gang, why would Nadine take it out on Sasha? Especially if Sasha was the only one who was nice to her?'

`˜Could just have been the wrong place at the wrong time,' says Quinn. `˜Nadine happens to be on Cherwell Drive that night, sees Sasha at the bus stop and decides to have it out with her. Perhaps she approached Sasha precisely because she wasn't as much of a cow as the rest of them. But then something goes wrong, Nadine loses it `“'

`˜And the cable ties?' says Ev. `˜The knife? She just happened to have that stuff on her?'

Gallagher looks grim. `˜I'm with you, Everett. I'm seriously struggling with that. The only possible explanation is that it was premeditated `“ that Nadine had planned it all in advance. But that doesn't make sense: how on earth could she have known Sasha would be there that night?'

`˜And even if she did, how did she get the body all the way from the road to the river?' says Baxter. `˜Because I can't see Sasha agreeing to go along that path with Nadine in the pitch dark whatever excuse she came up with. I bloody well wouldn't, that's for sure.'

`˜Look, we don't even know where Nadine was that night,' says Ev. `˜She may have a perfectly good alibi `“'

`˜She doesn't.'

It's Somer. She's at the door, her mobile phone in her hand.

`˜I just spoke to Faith's friend, Jess Beardsley. Faith went to the cinema that night. Phantom Thread at the Phoenix on Walton Street. She left the house at 7.15 and didn't get back until 10.45.'

`˜So that's over three hours when Nadine could have been pretty much anywhere,' says Gallagher wearily.

`˜I'm afraid it's worse than that. Faith said that when she got back home the washing machine was on.'

Quinn frowns. `˜So?'

`˜That's why Faith's so sure it was the same night. It stuck in her mind because their mother's always on at Nadine about doing her own washing and she never does. That night is the one and only time Faith can remember her doing it without being nagged.'

Gallagher shakes her head sadly. She's about to say something else when the door swings open again to reveal Tony Asante. He looks round until he spots Ev.

`˜Ah, DC Everett `“ there's someone downstairs who wants to talk to you. Looks a bit jittery about it though, so it might be a good idea to get down there before he has second thoughts.'

* * *

He still looks nervous, an hour later, after they've finished. Even though they've told him again and again that he's done the right thing `“ that the truth would have come out eventually anyway, and on something like this it's far better to jump than be pushed.

Everett sees him to the main door and gives what she hopes is a reassuring smile.

`˜It'll be OK. Really. Though it probably doesn't feel that way right now.'

`˜Yeah, I know. Just remember what I said, yeah?'

She nods. `˜Don't worry. I'm well warned.'

* * *

Interview with Patsie Webb, conducted at St Aldate's Police Station, Oxford

10 April 2018, 3.19 p.m.

In attendance, DC V. Everett, DC E. Somer, Mrs D. Webb, J. Beck (solicitor), Mrs M. Chandler (designated Appropriate Adult)

ES: For the purposes of the tape, Patsie is accompanied by her mother, her lawyer, Mr Beck, and Mrs Monica Chandler, in the capacity of Appropriate Adult.DW: It is unbelievable that you people have dragged us back in here. Patsie has already told you a hundred times that she had nothing to do with what happened to Sasha Blake, and even your own bloody scientists admitted the fingerprints on that bag weren't hers. I'm going to be making an official complaint `“ do you hear me, an official complaint . This is harassment, it's bullying `“ES: I can assure you that's not the case, Mrs Webb. And we're not here to talk about Sasha. Not this time. Now, Patsie, do you remember what you were doing on April 1st?PW: What the `“?DW: April 1st? That was the Monday before last, right? I can answer that. She was at home, in bed. She'd come down with that winter vomiting thing.ES: Is that right, Patsie? Were you sick that day?PW: [ shrugs then nods ]ES: We've checked with Summertown High and you were definitely logged as off sick that day. Just like Isabel. And Leah.DW: The whole school had it `“ what are you getting at?ES: What time do you leave for work in the morning, Mrs Webb?DW: 7.45. 8.00 at the latest. Why?ES: So you can't actually be sure where Patsie was that day, can you? Not 100 per cent. Unless your boyfriend was there, perhaps?DW: [ hesitates ]

No, actually he wasn't `“ not until later on `“ES: Did you talk to Patsie on her mobile during that day?DW: [ pause ]

I assumed she'd be asleep. She'd been up all night being sick. I could hear her retching in the bathroom but she wouldn't let me in.VE: You didn't try the landline?DW: No. Like I said, she was ill `“ she was asleep . I didn't want to wake her. When I got back at 6.30 she was watching TV wrapped up in her duvet.ES: That doesn't mean she'd been there all day, though, does it, Patsie?PW: You're just trying to make me think you know something, but you don't. Because there isn't anything to know.JB: You're on thin ice here, Officer. If you have reasonable grounds for suspicion that an offence has been committed you should question my client under caution. As you well know.ES: In that case, Patsie Belinda Webb, I am arresting you on suspicion of false imprisonment and assault occasioning Actual Bodily Harm on April 1st 2018. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. So, Patsie, when DI Fawley spoke to Isabel on April 4th she said she didn't know anyone called Faith Appleford. But you do, don't you, all of you. You know her sister. Nadine.PW: Nadine's in our year. But I don't know her.ES: What happened to Faith `“ it was a lot like what happened to Sasha. So much so that we were convinced it had to be the same perpetrator. Faith was abducted and tied up and taken to a shed on the Marston Ferry Road allotments. The poor girl was completely terrorized `“ she thought she was going to be killed `“ they dragged down her underwear `“MC: Look, is this really necessary?ES: And the attacker was really clever. They put a plastic bag over her head so she couldn't see. They kept quiet the whole time so she couldn't hear anything that might identify them. The only clue we had was the fact that Faith was abducted in some sort of van. And even though we searched high and low we just couldn't find it. And then we thought perhaps it wasn't a van after all `“ perhaps it was an SUV, or even an old-fashioned estate car.VE: And then you told us about Graeme Scott, didn't you, Patsie? About how he'd been taking an unhealthy interest in Sasha. And then we found out he drives a Morris Traveller and we wondered `“ perhaps he was the man we were looking for? Perhaps he attacked both Sasha and Faith?DW: Like I said before, you should be grateful to my daughter, not treating her like some sort of bloody criminal.ES: But then forensics told us that the bag that was used on Faith carried DNA from both her mother and her sister. Frankly, at that point, we didn't know what to think. We couldn't see how Graeme Scott could possibly have got hold of that bag. In fact, there was only one person it could have been: Nadine herself.VE: But even that didn't add up. Because we knew she couldn't have been driving that van. She's only fifteen `“ I mean, that wouldn't have been legal, would it?PW: [ silence ]ES: And then we thought `“ hang on, just because it isn't legal, doesn't mean it didn't happen. After all, someone can know how to drive even if they don't have a licence.PW: [ shifts in her chair but doesn't say anything ]ES: We even tested it out `“ our colleague DC Asante did a dry run to see if there was enough time for Nadine to attack her sister and still be in school by 11.15. And you know, it is actually possible. Though she'd need to have a really good connection on the buses to Blackbird Leys `“PW: [ looks up, then down again ]ES: Oh, didn't I say? We think the van involved belongs to someone who lives in Blackbird Leys. In fact, we don't think, we know . Because he came in this morning and gave us a statement. Ashley told us all about it, Patsie. There's no point lying any more.PW: [ silence ]DW: Patsie? Is this true?PW: Look, it was just a joke , OK? An April Fool. I don't know why everyone's going so fucking batshit about it `“ES: You don't know ? You're seriously telling us you don't understand why the police would take something like that seriously?PW: [ sulkily ]