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34
Lisa
Transcript of recorded interview with Lisa Baxter (excerpt)
Also present: DI Heather Scott, PC Marilyn Button
LB: Rach asked me if I wanted to go to this exercise class thing at Brookvale Leisure Centre. I said no, which I obviously regret now. It was by text, not a call; we hadn’t spoken even over the phone for weeks. She replied OK, words to that effect. But I should’ve gone. She was reaching out, I can see that now, but I didn’t think about it that way at the time.
HS: For the benefit of the tape, I’m pausing while Ms Baxter composes herself.
HS: Taped session restarting now. Ms Baxter, going back to last Thursday, Thursday the twenty-sixth of September, you’re saying Mrs Edwards appeared calm?
LB: I don’t know what she was like that evening. As I say, I didn’t see her. I think she wanted us to do something together that maybe didn’t involve too much talking. I mean, that’s with hindsight, I don’t know that for sure, obviously. I’m not a psychiatrist.
HS: Do you have any witnesses as to your whereabouts that evening?
LB: Not as such, but our Jodi FaceTimed me from her friend’s house at about ten o’clock so she’d be able to tell you I was in my PJs and halfway through the newLine of Duty. Not to mention a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
HS: We have two witnesses who say they saw a woman with fair hair spotted near the driveway leading to Brookvale Leisure Centre at around eight forty-five on the evening of Thursday the twenty-sixth. Do you have any thoughts as to who that might have been?
LB: Not a clue. By which I mean it wasn’t me, obviously. I’ve blonded my hair since it went grey, yes, but as I said, I was at home.
HS: You were at home at 10 p.m., but this woman was sighted at eight forty-five.
LB: It wasn’t me. I don’t know what else to tell you.
HS: Did you have any further contact with Rachel Edwards?
LB: Yes. She called me on the Friday afternoon. This Friday just gone. The day after.
HS: And how did she seem then?
LB: She sounded… she sounded bad. I didn’t answer when she rang but I called her back from the car and asked if she wanted to meet for a drink. She’d been to see her dad that afternoon. But yeah, she sounded terrible.
HS: What did you talk about?
LB: I told her I’d been in the supermarket buying pizza for the girls.
HS: And had you? For the benefit of the tape, Ms Baxter is shaking her head.
LB: No. Well I had. But that’s not where I was when she rang.
HS: Where had you been, Ms Baxter?
LB: I’d been… I… I was with Mark.
35
Rachel
I’d texted Lisa on the Monday to see if she wanted to come spinning, but as expected, she texted back:On yer bike. I’d rather eat my own ear wax!
To which I replied:Very witty, bon appétit!
So the banter was still there, if nothing else. She asked if I fancied a cuppa on Friday afternoon or a drink later on, but I texted back that I was going to see my dad and that I’d probably stay with him all evening. That last bit was a lie, but I couldn’t face seeing anyone, even her.
Are you OK?she wrote.
