DS Jessica Daniel series: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water – Books 4–6 (49 page)

‘That still doesn’t mean . . .’

Jessica interrupted before the inspector could finish. ‘What if Aidan has something that says Ryan has done something serious?’

Reynolds looked away, staring down the deserted hallway. ‘I can’t be involved.’

‘What if we miss something?’

The inspector turned to face Jessica, his face stern but his eyes wide. ‘I can’t be involved.’

His implication became clear. ‘Oh,’ Jessica replied. ‘Right.’

As she sat listening to the endless stream of ‘yeah’, ‘y’know’ and ‘y’what’ responses, Jessica remembered why her friend
Caroline had been the only person worth hanging around with at school. Teenage girls really were annoying. Well, maybe not all of them but certainly the four she had spoken to so far.
Sienna’s ‘clique’ as Aidan had called them didn’t seem to recognise the seriousness of their so-called friend killing herself.

The first young woman Jessica spoke to looked as if she was dressed for a night out rather than a class, her nails almost long enough to be offensive weapons. Her ‘Yeah, it’s like
really bad about Si innit, y’know?’ was more or less the most literate thing she came out with.

As Jessica and Reynolds worked their way through talking to the rest of the group, the responses and concern did become a little more apparent – but Jessica had a constant nag in the back
of her mind that the girls’ distress seemed to be more for themselves than their dead friend. It all added to her feeling that something wasn’t quite right about Sienna. None of them
claimed to know she was pregnant, with all of them edgy about the nature of Sienna’s relationships. They all said she had no boyfriend but admitted she was friendly with Finlay Pierce –
the name Ryan had given them. Even more curious was the reaction they gave when Jessica mentioned Ryan’s name. At first they all acted as if he was just a passing acquaintance, concluding
that, although Sienna may have been friends with him, none of them really knew him.

Jessica knew Ryan had been in the fast-food restaurant with at least two of the girls when Andrew had taken photographs of them but she couldn’t figure out why they might lie. All she was
sure of was that everything seemed to be revolving around him. A thought even ran through her mind that perhaps Anthony wasn’t missing through choice.

As the fourth girl left the classroom, Jessica looked at Reynolds sitting next to her. She lowered her voice as the rest of the room was empty and everything they said seemed to echo.
‘They don’t seem the best of friends, do they?’

The inspector shook his head and smiled wearily. ‘Are all teenage girls like this?’

‘I bloody wasn’t. Last summer I got caught in traffic on the way home because there was some prom going on at the high school. There were limos, horse-drawn carriages, double-decker
buses and all sorts trying to pull into the car park. They had these dresses like giant parasols. Do you know what I did after my final day at school?’

Reynolds rolled his eyes. ‘Go on.’

‘I went to the park with a few mates and a giant bottle of cheap cider and we got pissed behind the bandstand. These kids today don’t know they’re born.’

‘Are you about to go off on one about the kids of today?’ Reynolds’s eyes twinkled as his smile widened.

Jessica slapped his arm. ‘You’re older than me.’

They were interrupted as the door opened and their final interviewee walked in. Because no one was under any suspicion and they were all eighteen, there was no need for any of the girls’
parents or any legal representation to be present. Jessica had assured the head teacher they were simply looking for background on Sienna. She didn’t mention that she was also trying to suss
out Ryan.

The last young woman looked a little different from the four that had come before. Jessica could see it straight away from the way she walked. There was less confidence about her and she was not
as dressed-up as her friends. She had short straight black hair tucked behind her ears and was wearing a pair of jeans with a checked shirt over a white vest-top. Jessica noticed a small mole in
the dimple of one of the girl’s cheeks and, while she could see how young males might go for the almost airbrushed looks of the other girls, there was something more naturally attractive
about the woman in front of them.

‘Are you Molly North?’ Jessica asked, checking the note she had written.

Molly nodded nervously, shuffling from one leg to the other before Reynolds gestured towards the chair. The young woman sat but stared at the table the two officers were seated behind, rather
than focusing on them.

‘We wanted to talk to you about Sienna Todd, Molly. I understand you were one of her friends?’ Despite her frustration with the other young women, Jessica used the same reassuring
tone she had tried with them.

Molly nodded. ‘Yeah.’

‘How well did you know her?’

‘Pretty well.’

‘We have been trying to find out if there was someone Sienna might have confided in? Maybe one friend she was closer to than anyone else . . . ?’ Jessica was trying to lead the girl,
hoping for something other than one- or two-word responses.

Molly shrugged slightly but she appeared far more sombre than the rest of Sienna’s friends. They hadn’t seemed too keen to engage with the officers but the young woman in front of
them was at least listening to the questions. ‘We have been friends a long time,’ Molly said. ‘Since primary school.’

‘Did Sienna ever confide in you about anything that could have led to what happened?’

Molly shook her head.

‘And you weren’t out with her on the night everything happened?’

Another head shake.

Jessica paused to think. ‘Do you mind if I say something that might sound a little harsh?’

Molly finally looked up and met Jessica’s gaze. Her eyes were wet but she wasn’t crying. ‘What?’

Jessica tried to sound as gentle as she could. ‘You seem very different from Sienna’s other friends. Perhaps Sienna herself? You dress differently, you walk differently. I
don’t see how you fitted into their group.’

Molly laughed with no real joy. ‘You must be really good at your job to see that.’

It was a sarcastic remark but Jessica sensed no real spite to it. She tried to match the girl’s half-smile. ‘Tell me about Sienna.’

The young woman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly forcing herself not to cry but also suppressing a smile. ‘She wasn’t what you think.’

‘I don’t really think anything about her,’ Jessica said, largely telling the truth. ‘No one seems to know much other than her name and who she hung around
with.’

‘Those other girls aren’t really her friends,’ Molly said, without prompting.

‘How do you mean?’

‘Her dad’s rich. He didn’t want Si to come here because he would have rather she went to a private college. They only latched on to her because she had money and didn’t
mind spending it on them. That was all.’

Jessica had not met Sienna’s father because a support officer had been sent to tell him about what happened to his daughter. Because there was no murder or suspicious death investigation,
she’d had no need to see him since. Despite that, Andrew Hunter had told her that Sienna’s father said he had allowed his daughter to go to a college he didn’t approve of because
of her friends.

She wondered if it was one friend in particular.

‘Sienna came here to stay close to you, didn’t she?’ Jessica asked.

Molly smiled and nodded. ‘We were at school together. Best mates and all that. Her dad wasn’t rich then but he left Si’s mum and moved to this house out of the city when he
made his money. We were about fourteen or fifteen. Si stayed with him but refused to change schools and then she wanted to come here with me. She was on this beauty course thing, even though
she’s not interested in it. She was only doing it do we could carry on being friends.’

‘What course do you do?’ Jessica asked.

‘English lit but it’s on this campus.’

‘Is that why Sienna chose a course to do here?’ Molly shrugged but offered a half-nod at the same time. ‘Why did she hang around with those other girls if they’re not
really her friends?’ Jessica asked.

Molly scratched her forehead and wiped her eyes. ‘She liked being liked.’

‘What about you?’

The young woman blinked rapidly and looked towards the door. ‘I liked her.’ The connotations of the ways she used the word ‘liked’ and then emphasised ‘her’
on the final occasion was not lost on Jessica. She didn’t know if it was fair to ask the question but Molly answered it anyway, as if sensing Jessica’s dilemma. ‘Si wasn’t
like that if you’re wondering.’

‘Why do you think she might have killed herself?’ Jessica asked, trying not to sound overly blunt.

Molly shuffled uneasily in her chair, still looking towards the door. ‘I don’t know.’ Her words sounded shaky and untrue.

‘Did you know Sienna had an abortion?’ The young woman shook her head but Jessica could see it was a lie. The other girls had struggled to hide their surprise but Molly barely
reacted. ‘Do you know if Sienna was seeing anyone?’

‘No.’

‘You don’t know or she definitely wasn’t?’

‘She wasn’t going out with anyone.’

The fact Sienna didn’t appear to have a regular boyfriend was at least something all of her friends, plus Ryan, agreed on. From the second-hand information Andrew had passed to her, it
seemed that was the impression her father was under too.

‘Did you know Sienna cut herself?’ Jessica asked.

Molly winced slightly and tugged at the sleeve of her own shirt, pulling it down further. ‘I didn’t know,’ she replied, although Jessica couldn’t judge whether the
response was genuine.

‘How well do you know Ryan Chadwick?’

Jessica saw the young woman stiffen, her arms locked to her side momentarily and her expression taut. A strand of hair unhooked itself from behind Molly’s ear and drifted across her face.
She did nothing to move it.

‘Molly?’

‘He’s one of the lads. Si knew him better than I did.’

‘Was she ever in a relationship with him?’

Molly spoke without thinking. ‘I don’t know.’

‘What do you think of him?’

The young woman pushed out her bottom lip and then sucked it in, chewing on it anxiously. ‘I don’t really know him.’

‘But he hung around with the people you hung around with?’ Jessica had seen similar responses from the other girls but no one seemed to want to give her any further information. She
sensed that Molly was close if she could find the right way in.

The woman shrugged and stared towards the door once more. ‘Can I go?’

Jessica sighed. ‘Are you sure there isn’t something else you might want to tell me? About your friend? Or Ryan? Something important? We’re trying to help.’

Molly didn’t reply but Jessica saw her gulp, her eyes blinking furiously. ‘I have to go,’ she eventually said.

The two women stood at the same time, Reynolds continuing to sit. Jessica could sense he felt uncomfortable and she thought how Izzy would have been a much better bet to come along if she
wasn’t on maternity leave.

Before Molly could reach the door, Jessica caught her. ‘Hang on,’ she said, taking a business card out of her jacket pocket along with a pen. The printed part included the
station’s phone number but Jessica turned it over and pressed against the doorframe to add her mobile number, passing it to Molly. ‘Call me any time – even if it’s
late.’

The young woman took the card and pushed it into her jeans pocket, before opening the door and letting herself out without reply.

Jessica turned to face Reynolds, who was now standing next to the table. ‘I’m going back to the car,’ he said. ‘You should come too.’

‘Don’t you see it?’ Jessica asked, stifling her frustration. ‘Everyone has the same reaction when we talk to them about Ryan. There’s something not right with
him.’

The inspector shook his head. ‘You’re seeing what you want to. He was aggressive at the house because you tried to provoke him. He was always going to be upset after the fire. Then
these girls, they’re telling you they don’t really know him but you’re not listening.’

He didn’t sound angry, more annoyed. If anything, that made it harder for Jessica to judge his mood. She had seen him lose his temper in the past but never with her. She didn’t know
if he was genuinely annoyed, or simply trying to give her advice.

‘It’s not just that . . .’ Jessica replied.

When she failed to add anything further, Reynolds shook his head again. ‘I’ll see you in the car. Whatever you do, I don’t want to hear about it.’

With that, he strode past Jessica out of the room.

As the door swished closed in front of her, Jessica rested her head on the doorframe. She wondered if her supervisor was right. Was she really allowing her judgement to be clouded? The truth
was, she didn’t know if Ryan was involved in the things that were going on. He just always seemed to be there. A few years ago she had become obsessed with her then-DCI – John Farraday.
That had not ended well and, although no one except the former chief inspector knew what had happened, it was still something she thought about on nights she lay awake.

Jessica took a deep breath and then opened the classroom door. The corridor was deserted, although she could hear a low hum of voices coming from the various rooms. Jessica followed her way back
through the passageways until she found Aidan’s office, knocking loudly on the frame and instantly hearing a ‘come in’ from the inside.

Aidan was sitting in the same spot he had been in a little over an hour beforehand. On the desk in front of him was a cardboard folder. Jessica motioned to sit but the teacher simply held out
the wallet for her to take.

‘Can I trust you with these?’ he asked before releasing his grip.

‘Absolutely,’ Jessica replied, taking the documents. For a moment she thought Aidan was going to add something but he stayed silent as she lifted the flap and pulled out five sheets
of paper.

She skimmed through the contents, her eyes widening with each turn of the page, before Aidan cleared his throat. ‘As well as being their form tutor, we run a formal social education module
over the two years,’ he said. ‘They have to hand in three essays a year on various subjects but, for this subject only, we require them to write their work by hand as opposed to type.
It’s our way of ensuring they have a degree of literacy.’