His Silence - Chapter 59

Sarah follows me to the front of the house. My head grows hot. Keep your focus. You can’t let your emotions betray you in front of Sarah. We step out into the bright sunshine.

‘Have you completed Noah’s post mortem?’ I ask, gravel crunching under my feet. We head down the drive towards the dirt track and the gate.

‘Yes,’ Sarah replies, the tone of her voice dropping. ‘It is a tragic case. His injuries are consistent with a fall. My colleagues back at the station believe the most likely scenario is that he did, sadly, commit suicide.’

‘But you don’t believe he did?’ I ask, stopping in my tracks. Damn, there was a squeak in my voice as I spoke. Sarah must’ve heard it. I curl my fists.

Sarah stops walking. She’s staring over the bushes in the direction of the marshes. There’s something in her face, concern mixed with curiosity. I look away, my cheeks burning.

‘I just have a few questions I need to iron out first, I’m sure once they’re cleared up the case will be closed.’

I nod. ‘But . . . but why did you want to specifically speak to me?’ There’s got to be a reason. She’s not singled anyone else out.

‘You came here with your friend, Callum, didn’t you, just over a week ago?’ she asks. She’s managing to keep her voice soft, but there’s something she’s itching to get out, I can tell. A magpie lands on a branch of one of the trees ahead of me.

I nod. ‘Yep.’ I force myself to keep looking at her in the eyes. He’ll be with Eve right now talking about their future, a future I’m not a part of, no doubt. I curl my fist. I focus on the mini bus parked a few feet away.

‘There don’t seem to be many other people here around your age. There was one young girl, Eve, she said her name was who is a similar age to you. I did wonder why you would want to live with a bunch of people who you don’t appear to be related to.’

‘What d’you want to ask me?’ A crow lands on the branch and the magpie lets out a squawk and flaps its wings.

Strands of her auburn hair blow across her face. ‘I wanted to talk to you about Oliver,’ she says. 

‘What . . . what about him?’ I ask my body tensing. I look back over my shoulder towards the house. There’s no one watching us from the windows. No one’s standing outside. I flick my gaze back to Sarah.

‘You’ve only known him for a couple of weeks, haven’t you?’

‘Yep,’ I reply. I feel the same as I did last week. It’s like she can see right through me. She knows I’m lying. My chest hurts.

‘Do you know what happened to his wife?’ Sarah asks.

I picture the scene, the body of his wife, hunched over her seat in his car. I shudder. ‘Um, he told me she was killed in a car accident,’ I reply.

Sarah nods. ‘Of course, it was a long time ago, but . . .’ She pauses, her focus now fixed on the house. At least she’s not looking at me. She’s checking to make sure Oliver’s not come out of the house, I’m sure. ‘He was a person of interest in the investigation.’

I frown. Her words replay in my head. ‘What, you believe he might’ve been responsible for her death, it wasn’t an accident?’ My heart rams against my chest. What the hell is she saying? Would Oliver have told me about his wife if he was responsible? I squeeze my fists.

She sighs. ‘I wasn’t working here at the time, but after what happened here last week, I decided to do a bit of digging. I found some old reports, and found out Oliver was interviewed under caution. There must’ve been some reason for the police to want to interview him.’ There’s desperation in the tone of her voice.

I swallow. ‘What happened? Why wasn’t he charged?’ I keep my voice low. God, what if Oliver can somehow hear us.

‘I guess, at the time, they couldn’t prove he was responsible.’

‘When did his wife die?’ I ask. He got so upset when he spoke about his wife. How could he be responsible? I let out a steady breath, focusing on the gate.

‘It was in November, 1990,’ Sarah explains.

‘Was it here, I mean in the local area?’ I look around as though Sarah might point out the exact spot to me.

Sarah nods. ‘Not too far from Leigh,’ she says. ‘There’d been low lying mist while they were driving, their car veered off the side of a main road and went into a ditch. Traces of alcohol were found in her system, but not enough to make you over the limit. Her friends were bemused by this. They said she would never drink and drive. According to them she wouldn’t even have a sip of alcohol, if she was intending to get behind the wheel. But, unfortunately, that’s as far as the investigation got. Nothing concrete was found.’

I process what she’s said. There’s got to be some sort of record of what happened somewhere. ‘D’you think he did something to Noah?’ I ask. But he can’t have done, he was in the annexe all evening. I would’ve heard him leave and come back. But he piled me with alcohol. Did he do so thinking that I might sleep right the way through the night and not hear anything? Shit, shit, shit, he could’ve killed his wife, Noah. What about my parents? Stars dance in front of my eyes, I blink rapidly.

Sarah shrugs. ‘It’s only a feeling I’ve got, Grace. I’ve got no evidence to suggest he might be involved, but, if he’s already been a person of interest in another death, then, it says to me something isn’t right here. I need you to tell me if there’s anything going on that might help us understand why Noah did what he did.’ Why’s she telling me this without hard evidence?

My brain is buzzing. The urge to tell Sarah everything, why I’m really here, gets stronger and stronger. But if I do, they might decide to arrest Oliver and take him in for questioning. What if they don’t have enough to charge him? He’d never trust me again. It would spoil my chances of finding out the truth. I need to hang on here, just for a little bit longer. I fight back the tears. I shake my head and let out a breath. ‘I’m sorry, I wish there was more I could say to help, but.’

I’m not convincing Sarah. Her face crumples. ‘Please, Grace, I need you to think about this.’ She’s staring at me with big, imploring eyes. She knows I’m hiding something.

My face is hot. ‘I’m really sorry, Sarah, I wish I could help, but I can’t. That’s the truth.’

Sarah nods, disappointment etched in her eyes. ‘OK, well, it’s been nice chatting to you, Grace. Like I said before though, if you can think of anything, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.’

I nod. ‘Sure, I will do.’ This time I can’t help but wipe my eyes. I can’t shake away the thought I’m throwing away a lifeline here. I’ve snapped it, plainly in two and thrown myself to the wolves.