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I zipped my coat up and tried to smile. ‘Not sure why. He doesn’t even know where I keep the pans, and if I ask Katie to put a wash on, she’s on to Childline.’
I waved goodbye and walked home, trying to convince myself that I was lucky to still have Mark in my life and that Katie would pass through the almost permanently belligerent ball of rage she seemed to be. Lisa wasn’t short on rage either, to be honest. She’d done nothing but rant about Patrick, how he wasn’t contributing to the girls’ uni expenses, claiming not to have any money. ‘Which doesn’t quite explain the holiday photos on his Insta-friggin’-gram, does it?’ she’d said, fury pinking her cheeks. ‘Which he blocks me out of, by the way, but the girls show me everything. I mean, Tene-friggin’-rife, if you please, cocktails on the balcony, who wants to see a shot of the pool… Argh, he’s a loser; I hate him.’
I look up at Blue Eyes, hanging on in there with her silver pen and her trendy nails and her lovely clothes.
‘Love and hate,’ I say.
She nods. ‘They’re close.’
I look directly at her, the sympathetic expression on her face. It doesn’t make sense, her kindness, her understanding.
‘Are you a police officer?’ I ask.
She frowns. ‘Is… is that what you think?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t remember what you said.’
‘I’m a forensic psychiatrist.’
‘A psychiatrist?’ My mouth drops open. I have no idea how I missed that. ‘So are you building one of them criminal profiles? For the court?’
She takes a deep breath. ‘Rachel. It would be better for both of us if you saw me as here to achieve some clarity on the events of the last few months. I suppose it would help if you trusted me.’
‘Oh, I trusted you from day one. Even when I thought you were police. I’ve no secrets, love. It’s me that turned myself in, don’t forget.’
‘All right,’ Blue Eyes says.
‘I’ve forgotten your name, I’m sorry.’
She smiles. ‘Amanda.’
‘Amanda.’ I smile back. ‘Knew it started with an A.’
She nods. ‘So you recovered from your moment of tension with Lisa?’
‘Yes. Yes, I did. Only when I got home, there was something playing on my mind.’
‘Which was?’
‘Well, I couldn’t remember ever telling her about my clip file.’
30
Lisa
Transcript of recorded interview with Lisa Baxter (excerpt)
Also present: DI Heather Scott, PC Marilyn Button
HS: You last saw Rachel back in August, is that right?
LB: Well, I saw her last Friday, but yes, in person it would have been August.
HS: And how would you describe her state of mind back then?
LB: Pent up, I suppose you’d say. I kept asking her if she was OK and she got upset and said she was worried she’d had something to do with the stabbing of that girl – the first murder, I suppose you’d call it now, that Joanna – and some homeless fella, which I knew nothing about obviously. I just told her not to be so daft. Why would I say anything else? I mean, there was no way, nowayI would have thought she’d have had anything to do with that. It makes sense now. But then, no. No way.
HS: How did she seem to you?
