Fry (22 page)

“Isabel, can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” I say, patting the stool next to me for her to sit down. She does not do so. Instead, she fiddles awkwardly with her plastic apron. So I sit there expectantly, waiting to hear what she’s got to say. Wondering what kind of yarn she’s going to spin.

* * *

I am distracted by the sound of keys in the lock. A female police officer throws back the cell door.

“Please come with me.”

I try to tune her out, fight to stay in the dream. Except, it doesn’t feel like a dream anymore. I’m on the verge of remembering something - something crucial. But it’s no use, the police officer’s voice cuts right through to my consciousness. I sit up and blink.

Alicia is little Wednesday Adams!

That’s why I didn’t remember her. I didn’t know her as Alicia. Nobody called her by her real name. But what was it she wanted to talk to me about that day at camp?  It was something important, I know it was. Oh, why can’t I remember?

I get up and follow the police officer.

“Why have I been sent for?” I ask, as she leads me through the maze of corridors. “Have they made a decision?”

“I don’t know,” she says, striding so fast I struggle to keep up with her. “They just asked me to come and get you.”

“Do you think they’re going to charge me?”

“I really don’t know - I don’t know the details of your case.”

“You haven’t heard anything?”

“No.”

Maybe, suggests a tiny voice at the back of my mind, maybe they’ve realised their mistake? Maybe they’re going to let me go?

But the minute I see Penney, any hope I had evaporates. He has a look I can’t quite place - self-righteous, smug. He knows something. He thinks he’s solved the whole crime. Never mind that the truth doesn’t fit.

“It seems your brother reported Holly missing first thing this morning,” he tells me.

“So she’s still missing?” 

Those awful words still ring in my ears
,

“You have till four AM, or Holly burns.”

“No – we found her half an hour ago.”

“You found her!” I resist the urge to throw my arms around him.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!”

I look round at the sombre faces at the table, troubled that no one appears to share my elation. “Is she…OK?”

Penney looks me straight in the eye.

“You tell me. She was found in your garage.”

“Is she all right? You have to tell me!”

“She’s in a critical condition in hospital.”

“Oh god! What…”

“The garage was locked and there were no signs of a break-in. Whoever did this had a key.”

“It wasn’t me!”

My garage is just a repository for all my junk. I hardly ever go in there. I never even park the car in there. Alicia – or Jody, must have taken the key from my key ring. Is that what Jody was doing on the night of the concert, when she stole my bag and gave it back to me?

I turn to my lawyer for help, but he is busily scribbling notes on the pad in front of him.

“It must have been Jody and Alicia,” I insist. “Just ask Holly – she’ll tell you.”

DCI Millrose folds her arms in front of her.

“Holly’s in no position to tell us anything right now. She’s sustained a severe head injury.”

“Oh, poor Holly!”

“Poor Holly, indeed. We’re looking at a very serious assault here, Isabel. Maybe even attempted murder.”

I shake my head. “I can’t believe they did this just to get at me!”

“So you’re saying you had nothing to do with it?”

I stare at Millrose.

“Why would I hurt Holly, let alone try to kill her? She was trying to help me! And she’s my brother’s fiancée, for heaven’s sake.”

Millrose curls her lip. “Didn’t your brother used to be married to your best friend, Kate?”

“Yes, but…you can’t think Kate has anything to do with this!”

“How did you feel when he left Kate for Holly?”

“Well...I…”

“Were you happy about it?”

“Of course not!”

“So how did you feel – annoyed, let down?”

“I felt…sad, for Kate.” 

And maybe a little guilty, too. He’s my brother, after all. I should have known that he’s incapable of being faithful and that it was never going to last. 

“And what were your feelings towards your brother?”

“Well, of course I was angry, at first.”

“Isn’t it true you refused to speak to him for several months?”

“Well…yes, but I forgave him eventually. I couldn’t stay angry with him forever.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I don’t know – he came to see me and I just couldn’t stay angry with him anymore. Not when I was faced with him in person. It was one thing to ignore his texts and emails, but I couldn’t ignore him when he turned up on my doorstep. I missed him.”

“Would you say you get on well with Holly?”

I colour slightly, thinking of the recent past. “I really like Holly. She’s great.”

“Hmm. But isn’t it true that with Holly out of the way, there’d be a chance your brother might get back with Kate?”

“I don’t think so.”

“But there’s a chance?”

“I really don’t…”

“Did Kate help you, or were you acting alone?”

“Kate had nothing to do with this!”

“So you were acting alone?”

“No! I wasn’t acting…I wasn’t…didn’t do anything.”

I cling to the edge of the table like a limpet.

How do I stop all this craziness?

They’re twisting everything I say, everything I’ve done.

“Please…just talk to Julio. He’ll tell you all this is nonsense. He knows I’ve got no reason to hurt Holly. And he knows what’s been happening with Alicia and Jody. He’ll back me up.”

“Are you OK, Isabel?” My lawyer butts in. “You’re awfully pale.”

He looks pointedly at Millrose. “I think my client needs a break.”

Millrose looks a bit irritated, but she doesn’t refuse.

Penney and Millrose get up. As the door shuts behind them, I stare at the cold, blank walls.

“What happens next? When will all this be over?”

My lawyer scratches his beard. “In all likelihood, they’ll have to interview Alicia and Jody to get their side of the story.”

This news should cheer me up but it doesn’t. Alicia is a very, very convincing liar. What if she implicates me further?

My lawyer has no such qualms.

“If they’re lying, Millrose will get to the bottom of it. That’s what she’s trained to do.”

I wish I had his confidence.

“In the meantime, it would really help if you could try to figure out why they started this vendetta. Without motive, it’s hard to prove.”

“I’m trying.” I drain the rest of my drink and scrunch up my paper cup.

I’m sure there’s something – stuck in the recesses of my mind, just waiting to be dislodged. If only I could remember. I stare blankly at the wall but it doesn’t come to me. My mind’s all clogged up with worry and anger and fear.

* * *

Some time later, the door opens to admit Penney and Millrose.

“Are you ready?”

Reluctantly, I nod.

Millrose switches the tape back on.

“We’ve just spoken to your brother. He says you’ve been harassing Holly for weeks now. Ringing in the middle of the night and showing up at their house uninvited.”

“What?”

“He thinks you need help.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Here’s his statement. Read it for yourself.”

I scan the document, reading with disbelief how my own brother has disowned and renounced me. One particular sentence jumps out at me:

‘In my opinion, my sister, Isabel Anderson is the one responsible for Holly’s assault.  Her recent actions have been both bizarre and incongruous. She is clearly in desperate need of professional help.’ 

“Incongruous?” I snort. “My brother doesn’t talk like that! I bet he doesn’t even know what it means! Someone’s put words in his mouth.”

Millrose sits back in her chair. “I can assure you the only people present at his interview were DS Penney and myself.”

This makes no sense…

Julio should be on my side. When he saw that picture of Jody, he took me seriously. He and Holly were going to help me figure all this out. They believed me. They both believed me. What changed his mind?
Or should I say, who?

“He’s been coached,” I insist. “Blackmailed. They’ve got to him.”

Millrose opens a brown envelope and pulls out two glossy photographs, which she sets on the table in front of me.

“Take a look at these pictures. Take a good look.”

It’s Holly. Her eyes are closed, her face ashen. She is covered in bandages and hooked up to all kinds of machines. I can’t believe how awful she looks, how tortured.

Oh Holly, what have they done to you?

“She was hit over the head with a heavy object – probably the stone statue we found in your garage.”

Stone statue? They must be talking about that awful monstrosity Mum sent me for Christmas. I shoved it to the back of the garage so I wouldn’t have to look at it. If I had only known it would be used in such an awful way, I would never have taken delivery.

“She also has burns on her feet and legs, as if someone set light to her. See the burn marks here…and here?”

A single tear slides down my cheek.

“It’s not pretty, is it?”

I stare at the horrible images.

“How could I possibly have done this?” I ask, trying to pull myself together.

“I was at work when Holly went missing. You can check with my colleagues.”

“We have. You were seen leaving the building on several occasions. Where did you go?”

“I…I went to my car a couple of times. And I had a couple of coffee breaks with Jon the security guard. You can ask him.”

Except for that one time, when he went to speak to the police patrol car to see if he could find out what was going on.

“And then…well, I was in the warehouse for a while as you know. But surely you have all this on CCTV?”

Penney sits up sharply. “We would,” he says and looks at me accusingly. “If
someone
hadn’t tampered with the footage.”

“You can’t possibly think that was me! Why would I do that? That footage would have exonerated me!”

“If you’re innocent.”

“I
am
innocent.” And starting to sound like a broken record.

“What we want to know, Isabel, is who you’re working with. You can’t have done everything yourself. Not all those fires on the same night.”

“No, I couldn’t.”

“Look, we might be able to offer you a deal here. Just tell us who you’re working with. Who else is in your organisation? We need names.”

She glances at my lawyer and he looks at me.

“Do you need time to confer?”

“No! I didn’t attack anyone. I didn’t set any fires, and I’m not ‘working’ with anyone!”

“Very well then.”

Millrose produces a second envelope and pulls out another picture.

“Do you know this man?”

“No.” I’m almost afraid to ask. “Who is he?”

“Ben Palmer, local firefighter. He was badly injured three weeks ago, tackling a fire at the Be Beautiful beauty salon just outside Queensbeach. Do you know it?”

I nod, numbly.

That’s where I get my hair and nails done.

“We suspect that fire was started on purpose.”

She shows me another picture. “And this is Jill Seymour. She and her elderly mother, Ruth, suffered burns in a fire at a greengrocer’s in Sandford Dunes last year. That one was also started deliberately. They were lucky to get out alive.” 

She sets down the photos. “And these might just be the tip of the iceberg. How many fires has FRY started over the years, Isabel?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Take a good, long look at the photos.”

“It wasn’t me!” I insist. “Can’t you see how ludicrous this all is? Check my record – I’ve never even had so much as a parking ticket! And I hadn’t even heard of FRY until I met Alicia. I still don’t even know what it stands for!”

I look at Millrose and she looks at me. As adamant as I am that I have done nothing wrong, she is equally convinced of my guilt.

Just when I don’t think I can bear any more of these riddles, I am dismissed, banished with my lawyer to another room.

“What do you think they’re doing?” I ask, thankful for the reprieve.

“They could be interviewing another witness,” he guesses.

“Alicia!” I gasp. The thought of her being just across the hall makes me want to vomit. But she doesn’t know I’m in here, does she?

* * *

Two hours later, Millrose confirms my worst fear.

“We’ve just spoken to Alicia McBride.” 

“Have you let her go? She’s a psychopath! She tried to kill me!”

I can feel myself getting hysterical.

Millrose is oblivious to my anxiety. “Alicia had some very interesting things to say. For one, now that she knows the seriousness of the allegations against you, she’s retracted the false alibi she gave you before Christmas. She also said that it’s you who’s been waging a vendetta against her – because you’re jealous of her relationship with Deacon Frost.”

“But that’s not true!”

“Are you jealous, Isabel?”

The colour creeps into my cheeks before I can do anything about it.

“Alicia’s only with him to get at me.”

“She said she’s tried to be your friend, but you’ve been acting increasingly irrationally. She said she’s been avoiding you lately because you’ve been behaving so oddly.”

“Avoiding me!” I burst out. “She hounds me day and night! Lurks outside my house with her sister, watching my every move! And…and…she’s the one with the word ‘FRY’ branded into her back!”

Explain that one, Alicia.

“Yes, that came up. She said you did it.”

“What?”

“She said you assaulted her with a branding iron, years back, when she was just a kid at Camp Windylake.”

“That’s just not true! Why would I do that?”

“She said you tried to recruit her to work for you, and you didn’t like it when she said no.”

“Recruit her to do what? She was only ten!”

“To break into houses and set light to them. She said you needed a child, someone who could fit through small windows.”

“What? That’s complete fiction, a fairytale! She always was full of crap!”

And yet, there’s something distinctly familiar about this story. I feel like I’ve heard it before. I think hard, trying to catch the disjointed bits of memory before they go up in smoke. I know there’s something in there, hidden away. I feel like Alicia’s just given me a clue.

“This was ten years ago, Isabel. Just how long have you been taking money to set fires?”