13 Minutes Read Free Page B

Barbie from the wrong side of town.
    ‘No, Natasha wouldn’t do that. And not that way. Not by throwing herself into a freezing river.’
    ‘No,’ Hayley added, as if the two nos weren’t emphatic enough.
    DI Bennett turned to Becca. She shrugged, hesitant. There was more going on for her here than just the police investigation. Becca had to choose her words carefully. She didn’t want to piss the Barbies off or look as if she was sucking up to them. Especially not to Hayley. Hayley had been her friend – she knew how to get under Becca’s skin in a way Jenny couldn’t. Jenny was nothing. But whatever Becca said now might come back on her in bitchy subtweets and status updates and knowing looks. Words ran like strung barbed wire around the teenage community of this small town, ready to scratch and tear and snag you.
    ‘I don’t think so.’ It was the truth. If Tasha was going to kill herself she would choose something far more romantic. And Natasha was not the killing-herself type. ‘People bloat when they drown, don’t they?’ she said. ‘If she hadn’t been found quickly, she’d have looked like shit. She wouldn’t have liked that.’
    Hayley’s face hardened. Bitch . Fucking bitch. Becca could see her thoughts loud and clear in the green flint of her glare. She stared back. So what? It was exactly what Jenny had meant. It was what Hayley had been thinking. Becca wanted to laugh at them. Even with their leader unconscious they couldn’t bear a word spoken against her. They were pathetic.
    ‘So, when did you last see Natasha?’ Inspector Bennett didn’t look at Becca for that one.
    ‘At school,’ Hayley said and Jenny nodded. ‘We talked about meeting up tonight, maybe, but she had a family thing today – her gran’s birthday or something – so it depended when that finished.’
    ‘And you didn’t text her or talk to her after that?’ The inspector half-smiled. ‘I thought you were all glued to your phones these days.’
    It was disarming, but probing.
    Jenny shook her head. ‘No.’
    ‘Did you two go out last night?’
    More head-shakes. ‘The weather was rubbish. And we both had homework.’ Hayley was taking the lead – Natasha’s deputy stepping up to the plate. ‘Got to keep the parents happy sometimes.’ She smiled, all cat angles in her face. ‘And we both – and Natasha – had stuff to work on for the auditions for the school play. We’re doing The Crucible . It should be amazing.’
    ‘So you didn’t hear from Natasha at all?’
    ‘No.’
    Becca, almost forgotten, noted the repeated question. ‘Don’t you have her phone?’ she asked. ‘Can’t you tell who she spoke to?’
    The policewoman looked her way, evaluating her. ‘It’s water-damaged – it was in her pocket. We’re waiting for her phone records to come in.’ She paused. ‘I take it you didn’t see her at all? Did you stay at home as well?’
    Becca shook her head. The policewoman’s tone was light but Becca could feel herself flushing at the question, as if maybe she was guilty, maybe she had pushed Natasha into the freezing water and left her there to die.
    ‘I went to my boyfriend’s house and then back home around midnight. He dropped me off and I went to bed. Ask him if you want – he’s here somewhere. We had to bring Mr McMahon some clothes in.’
    Her eyes narrowed. ‘Jamie McMahon?’
    Becca nodded. ‘Aiden works with him. Plays some guitar and bass when Jamie’s doing soundtracks.’
    ‘Who?’ Hayley asked. Becca felt a shiver of elation. She had something the Barbies didn’t. An involvement with this they couldn’t claim.
    ‘The man who pulled Natasha out of the river,’ Inspector Bennett said, without looking at Hayley. ‘How does Mr McMahon know a schoolboy?’
    ‘Aiden’s not at school,’ Becca said. ‘He’s nineteen. Mr McMahon was his private music teacher when he was a kid.’
    ‘It’s a small town, I guess,’ the woman said, flashing that half-smile of hers