Post Mortem (33 page)

‘Well that's right. PC Griffiths knows what happened and you know what happened. But perhaps you know bits that PC Griffiths doesn't know. I need you to tell me what happened with Farah and the two police officers.'

She handed him her warrant card. Ben turned it over and ran his fingers over the metal indentations. Collins said, ‘That stuff is Braille. It's for blind people. If we show our warrant card to them, they can read it with their fingers and know we're police.'

Ben looked at the warrant and back at Collins. ‘PC Matthews is dead.' He handed back the card. Collins returned it to her pocket.

‘That's right. PC Matthews is dead.'

‘Dead is when you never wake up ever again.'

‘Yes.'

‘Mummy won't let me wear my bear costume any more.'

‘No?'

‘I like my bear costume.'

‘I remember you wearing it on the roof. Do you remember me on the roof?'

He considered her for a moment and then said, ‘No.'

‘I arrived after PC Matthews and Farah had fallen.'

He frowned, his soft features barely creasing. ‘Dunno, maybe.'

Collins got the video recorder out of her bag. ‘Do you know what this is?'

‘Camera.'

‘That's right. Jez here is going to record what you have to say, because it is so important. Jez is a police officer too.'

‘Is Jez a, a
detective
too?'

Collins smiled at Jez. She was tempted to say ‘Sort of', and Jez tilted his head back as if daring her, but instead she said reluctantly, ‘Yes, Jez is a detective too.'

Jez reached out his hand to take the camera. He had already set up the tripod and now he screwed the camera into the attachment.

Ben's voice was flat. ‘Farah's dead too.'

‘Yes.'

‘She pinched me.'

‘You can tell me about that.'

‘She pinched me on the leg. I was on the bus with her and I wanted to go home and I tried to tell a lady and Farah pinched me.'

Suddenly Collins heard Carrie's voice. ‘She
pinched
you?'

Collins glanced over her shoulder. She hadn't realized that Carrie was still there, but she saw her now, leaning against the door frame. A frown, curiously reminiscent of her son's, had knitted itself into her pleasant face.

Collins turned back to the child. ‘Ben, you can tell me all about that in a moment. Do you mind if we turn the telly off? Is that OK?'

‘Yes.'

Jez said quietly, ‘All set, Sarah.'

Collins leant forward and switched off the television. She turned to Carrie. ‘I'm sorry, you'll have to leave us while I do the interview. It's standard – Ben's a child, and so if you're in the room, he'll be
influenced by you. He'll pick up on your concerns, try to please you, change his evidence. Do you see?'

Carrie's face was frozen into a stiff, anxious mask.

Collins said, ‘Will that be OK?'

Carrie attempted a smile. She looked past Collins to her son.

‘Ben, we'll watch
Teletubbies
together when you've finished, OK? I'll make hot chocolate and we can sit together with Granny on the sofa.'

He smiled. ‘OK, Mummy.' He seemed to be the one offering comfort.

Collins said, ‘Thank you. We won't be long.'

Carrie shut the door softly behind her. The room breathed in her absence. Collins waited to see the light on the camera come on.

‘Ben, do you know what the truth is?'

Ben paused. He pulled his lips to one side. ‘The truth is . . .'

‘Yes?'

He threw his head back and to the side as though the answer was hidden somewhere in the corner of the ceiling behind him. Finally he said, ‘I don't know.'

‘That's OK. Do you know what a lie is?'

He smiled: this one was easy. ‘That's when you don't tell the truth.'

‘That's right. Can you give me an example?'

‘Like if I said that Charlie had eaten a biscuit when really I had eaten it.'

Collins smiled at the example. Perhaps Ben had had cause to use it already. ‘That's good. And why shouldn't you lie?'

‘Because then you tell lie after lie and when you do tell the truth no one will believe you.'

The answer had come out pat and Collins suspected that this matter had been explained to Ben on more than one occasion.

‘That's right. Any other reason?'

‘You might get found out and then Mummy would be cross.'

Collins smiled. ‘And that's right too, Ben. OK. Very good. But it's also important to tell the truth simply because it is the truth. Because telling the truth is the right thing to do.'

Ben frowned and Collins regretted her last comment. She didn't want to frighten him. She smiled. ‘Will that be OK, Ben?'

He smiled back. ‘Yes.'

‘OK. And you won't miss anything out? It's important you tell me everything you remember. No one will be cross if you have to say bad words because those bad words might be part of what happened. Do you understand that? I won't be cross and your mummy won't be cross and not even your granny.'

‘OK.'

‘Just the truth, and no one will mind anything you say.'

‘OK.'

‘So, tell me what happened from when you went with Farah.'

The dog jumped off the sofa and stretched himself out on the floor. Ben picked him up again and Charlie's back legs dangled. Ben sat down, imprisoning the long-suffering animal on his lap.

‘I was playing in the garden with Charlie. Farah came into the garden and she said if I went with her I could have sweets.'

He stroked the dog.

‘White chocolate drops, my favourite. I didn't think Mummy would be cross because she doesn't like the daddy at all but she is always nice to Farah, so I said yes and I did this . . .' he stretched up his arms and stood on his tiptoes, ‘and she lifted me over the fence and took me into her garden and she said we had to go to the shop to buy the sweets. We went down her hall. It's dark, not like ours. And there isn't a dog. We went out of her front door and along the street in front of our house. Then she took me on the bus. At first I liked it because I like the bus but then I was frightened. I said Mummy would be cross. I said, I want to go home now. She said, No, Ben. You can't go home now. You've got to come with me. I
said to a lady on the bus, I want to go home. But Farah said I was naughty and she pinched me on my leg.

‘I was crying. She said, Don't cry. But it wasn't nice when she said it. It was like telling me off. And I was worrying about Charlie because I had left him in the garden. Then we got off the bus and we walked a long way. I said I didn't like it but she pulled me by my hand. She said we would get the sweets soon but we didn't go to a shop. We went into this building. It was smelly and dirty. She made me go up lots of steps, then she put me over the wall and I was crying because I was frightened.'

‘OK.'

‘I said, I want to go home now. Please. I want to go home. And she said no. She kept saying no and she said I was a naughty boy. Then the fat policeman came and he said hello.'

‘Hello?'

Ben nodded.

‘Did he say anything else?'

Ben looked at her earnestly. He spoke as though this was the most important bit, as though she had entirely missed the point. ‘The policeman fell.'

Collins took a breath. ‘That's right. PC Matthews fell.'

‘And Farah fell.'

‘Yes, Farah fell too.' Collins waited for a moment, then she reached out her hand and touched Ben gently on his arm. ‘I want you to think about this bit, the bit when you are on the roof and PC Matthews is on the roof too. The bit before he fell. Are you concentrating, Ben?'

The dog was looking up into his face and Ben pulled his ears at the root.

Collins said, ‘Before PC Matthews fell, what happened then? Tell me about that, from the moment that PC Matthews arrived and said hello.'

There was a pause. Then Ben said, ‘I was holding her hand very tight. I didn't want to fall.'

‘Yes, it was very high and you were frightened. You were holding Farah's hand very tight. Then the fat policeman came, PC Matthews, and he said hello. Tell me as much as you can about what happened next.'

Ben scrunched up his face, irritated. ‘I don't know. They were talking.'

‘Talking?'

‘I don't know. I wasn't listening. I wanted to go home.'

‘Anything?'

‘The policeman was talking and Farah was angry.'

‘OK. Farah was angry. What did she say?'

‘I was frightened.'

‘Of course.'

He shook his head. He was biting his lip now. She waited.

‘The policeman told me to hold her hand. I could see police cars with blue lights and lots of people. I couldn't hear what they were saying. I thought Mummy would be very cross with me and I was frightened. Then the nice police lady came. She said, Climb over to me and hold on very tight like a bear. And then I climbed to the nice police lady like she told me to. I held on very tight.'

‘Yes, you did. Well done.'

‘Then I was safe but Farah and the policeman fell.'

He started to cry. The dog struggled out of his arms and jumped on to the floor. Ben squatted beside him and played with the scruff of his neck. The dog rolled on to his back. Collins waited.

‘We're nearly finished, Ben. OK?'

He carried on stroking the dog's belly. ‘OK.'

She put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Ben, sit on the sofa again for me, would you? I need you to think very hard.'

He did as he was told. He wiped his hand across his face but he looked still on the edge of tears.

‘You can have Charlie on your lap if you want. Yes?'

He nodded, and she passed him the dog.

‘OK, nearly done. Just go back a bit. Tell me what they said. That's very important. What did PC Matthews and Farah say?'

‘He told me to hold her hand.'

‘Did he say anything else?'

Ben shook his head. ‘I don't know. I was frightened.' His features puckered again into a soft frown. ‘Are you cross?'

‘I'm not cross, no. Why would I be cross?'

‘Anyway, you can ask the nice police lady what they said because she was there.'

‘Ben, I know you're trying really hard and it's really, really difficult. It would be difficult for a grown-up too. I would like you to try for just a moment longer. Then we're done. Tell me everything you remember, because you might remember something important. Will you do that for me?'

His face was constricted, as though someone had pulled it tight with a drawstring. Collins was worried he was going to start crying again.

Jez said quietly, ‘Sarah . . .'

She looked at him sharply, but her voice did not betray her. ‘We're nearly finished.'

Ben said, ‘I can't remember.'

‘All right.'

‘The nice police lady came. She was kind. Kind to me. Kind to Farah.'

‘Kind?'

He pressed his lips together.

‘Can you remember what she said, the police lady? What did she say?'

‘She told me to trust Farah. Farah said she could fly. She said, I can fly. Do you believe me? The police lady said I should trust her so I said yes, but I didn't really. Anyway she couldn't fly, could she? Then the police lady said, Hold tight like a bear. She said climb over and I climbed over. I held on very, very tight.'

‘Farah said she could fly?'

‘Yes.'

‘And then PC Griffiths told you to climb over?'

‘Yes.'

‘So, I'm sorry. I'm not clear, Ben. Farah
let
you climb over?'

‘Yes. At first she wouldn't let me and then she did and I climbed over.'

‘So what changed? Why did she let you climb over?'

‘I dunno.'

A pause.

‘OK.'

Another pause.

‘Ben, do you think Farah really thought she could fly?'

Ben smiled. ‘Of course not. She was kind of showing off.'

‘Showing off?'

‘Yes.'

‘And she said, I am innocent too.'

‘I am innocent too?'

‘Yes.'

‘What did she mean?'

‘I dunno. I just remember it because she said it so loud.' He raised his voice. ‘I AM INNOCENT TOO.'

‘OK. That's really good. Can you think of anything else, Ben? Anything.'

He shook his head. ‘No.'

‘And then, after you climbed over, then what happened?'

‘I was holding on to the police lady.'

‘And PC Matthews and Farah? What were they doing?'

‘I don't know. The police lady was cuddling me. Then she made a funny noise and I turned and the policeman and Farah weren't there any more.'

Jez had a lollipop in his trouser pocket. He pulled it out and showed it discreetly to Collins. ‘Do you think it would be all right?'

‘Probably better not. Not without Mum's permission.'

Collins left Ben in front of the telly. Jez packed up the equipment.

Carrie and her mother, both in aprons and yellow rubber gloves, were at the kitchen table cleaning silver. There wasn't much – a rose vase, a battered silver plate, candlesticks. Jane looked up from a tall, twisted candlestick and said, ‘I'm sorry, Detective Sergeant. We didn't know how long you'd be and we've always enjoyed cleaning the silver together. Silly really.'

‘That's all right. I turned the telly back on for Ben. I hope that's all right.'

Jane said, ‘Could I ask you something, Sarah?'

‘Certainly.'

‘I'm sorry to ask. But you can imagine, it's difficult.'

‘What is it?'

‘The family next door, is there any chance they'll move now?'

Collins remembered the For Sale sign in the front garden and felt a sudden stab of sympathy. She knew that the local authority had offered Mehenni a move but so far he had turned it down. She said, ‘I don't think so. Not in the foreseeable future anyway. You know property is really difficult in London.'