‘Did you take her up to your attic?’ Saul asks.
‘Not straight away. First, she helped me to make some cakes for the regatta.’
‘You made cakes?’ Saul’s expression is sceptical.
‘I’d just got out the ingredients when she arrived. It was all laid out on the table, so I asked her if she wanted to help me bake. I thought it might help her to open up if we were doing something normal together.’
‘And did she open up?’
‘Not really.’
‘So after you made the cakes, that’s when you took her up to the attic?’
‘Yes. I said she could stay up there until she figured out what she wanted to do.’
‘And did she want to go up there with you?’ Saul asks.
‘What do you mean,did she want to?’ I don’t like what his question is implying. ‘I didn’t force her to go up there, if that’s what you mean. I offered the room up there as a place to stay.’
‘Sophie Jones claims that she knocked on your door to ask for directions. She happened to mention that she was thirsty, so you offered her a drink of lemonade. She said she noticed that it tasted funny. The next thing she remembers is being shut in a room where she was tied to a chair.’
‘Are you joking?’ I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this utter fabrication.
‘Unfortunately not. She also has rope burns on her wrists and ankles consistent with being tied up.’
‘But I never tied her up! I certainly never spiked her drink if that’s what she’s implying. She was completely free to wander around the house.’
‘You let a stranger wander around your house?’
‘It wasn’t like that.’ I push at my forehead with my fingertips, trying to think how best to word this. But it all seems to be coming out wrong.
‘Look, Kelly, your story isn’t making too much sense. Can you help me to understand what happened here? I’m on your side, but right now, it isn’t adding up.’
‘I know, I know.’ There’s a lump in my throat and my brain is spinning out. I need to try to calm down and make this man understand what happened. ‘Okay, so this girl – Sophie – showed up at my door, scared and upset. I offered her a drink. She came in and we got talking. She said she had nowhere to go and no one who could help her. I wasn’t about to turf her out onto the street, so I let her stay in our loft. She seemed really grateful. It was only supposed to be for a few hours, but then I didn’t have the heart to kick her out. So I said she could stay for a day or two and we’d talk about what to do.
‘Anyway, I found that I liked her and decided to help her – is there a law against that?’
Saul shakes his head, but I can tell that he’s not impressed.
I square my shoulders, determined not to feel guilty for helping another human being. ‘Last night there was a knock on the door. It was a man who said he was her husband; he said his name was Greg Jones. He showed me a photo of his wife, Sophie, and said he was going door to door looking for her after she disappeared in the middle of the night on Tuesday. He said he’d reported her missing. So the police should have a record of that…’
Saul makes a note in his pad. ‘I’ll check.’
‘After he’d gone, Sophie was terrified. She was worried that he knew where she was. I decided that whatever happened, I was going to contact a women’s shelter on Monday to see if they could take her in. But then when I got home from the regatta this afternoon, the police arrested me. It’s all completely surreal. I mean, how long will I have to stay here? My kids are at a friends’ house, but I need to get back to them. My eldest is going through a few things at the moment. He needs me. I’m a single mum, my husband died last year.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ He clears his throat. ‘Did your children meet Sophie at all?’
‘Yes, they did, and they both really liked her. She was lovely with them. I can’t believe she’s accusing me of all these things.’
‘So she wasn’t tied to a chair when she spoke to them?’
‘She wasn’t tied to a chair ever! Not unless she tied herselfto the thing!’
‘Okay, I understand.’ His voice is calm, gentle, bringing me back from the brink of a near-meltdown. I realise I’m shaking. I can’t lose it. I need to stay focused. I need to do everything I can to make them believe I’m telling the truth. The quicker I prove my innocence, the quicker I can get back to Ryan and Sonny. I take a breath.
‘So, when can I expect to get out of here?’
‘They’ll want to interview you tonight. But I advise against answering any of their questions at this point.’
