All the Rage

Adam Fawley
11 April 2018
12.19

Gallagher joins me at the video screen in the next room.

`˜Somer's doing really well,' I say, glancing up. `˜I hope you're telling her that. She doesn't have enough confidence in her own abilities.'

She gives me a look. `˜I have, but thank you, I'll make sure to tell her again. I've also told her to take the afternoon off. She looks completely exhausted.'

On the screen, Nadine is sobbing in her mother's arms, and people are getting to their feet. They must have decided to take a break.

`˜Have you heard from forensics?'

Gallagher nods. `˜There are small traces of Sasha's DNA on one of the Applefords' kitchen knives. Which ties in with Nadine's story, but as Patsie's lawyer will immediately point out, could just as easily corroborate Patsie's version of events. And without a murder weapon we'll struggle to prove which of them actually killed her.'

`˜What about Patsie's mobile? Any sign of that video Nadine said she took?'

`˜The phone's gone to the lab, along with her laptop. I suspect the video she took is long gone, but if we're lucky she won't have deleted it so thoroughly that digital forensics can't find it.'

I shake my head. `˜What if there never was a video? Because all their phones were off, weren't they `“ we know that. So it doesn't really add up.'

She frowns; this obviously hadn't occurred to her. `˜She could have put the phone on flight-safe mode?'

`˜That's one possibility. But these girls are clever, especially Patsie. She'd know how difficult it is to really delete stuff. Especially anything to do with the Cloud.'

`˜So you think Nadine is lying?'

`˜No,' I say. `˜I think Patsie was bluffing `“ she just pretended to video Nadine so she could blackmail her into staying quiet.'

She sighs. `˜And if there's no video, Patsie's lawyers will just say that's yet more proof Nadine's the one who's lying.'

She takes a seat next to me now. `˜What worries me is that even if we do manage to place Patsie and Isabel at the scene they're bound to say that as far as they were concerned it was just another `њprank`ќ. That they left Sasha alive and well, and Nadine must have gone crazy after that and ended up killing her. Patsie's already telling anyone who will listen that Nadine's weird.'

I nod. `˜And Nadine's got a far more credible motive. Even though Brotherton's evidence backs her up, it's going to be tough to convince a jury that those girls would have killed Sasha over something so apparently trivial. Not when they were supposed to be BFFs.'

Gallagher smiles. `˜I'm surprised you know what that means.'

I laugh drily. `˜I have hidden shallows.'

She looks back at the screen again. Nadine is being led out of the door by her mother. `˜We need to find a way to help that girl, Adam, because right now, everything's against her. And as DS Gislingham continues to remind me, those bloody girls are playing us for fools.'

There's a knock on our door now, and Baxter appears round it. `˜Ah, there you are, boss. I sent those prints over to forensics like you asked and got them to do a rush on them. They've just got back to me. I think you'll want to see this `“ looks like you were right.'

As the door swings shut again behind him Gallagher looks at me and raises an eyebrow. `˜Care to share?'

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