The Innocent: A Coroner Jenny Cooper Crime Short Read Free Page A

had read in her files that she had grown up with an alcoholic mother who had prostituted herself and probably involved Karen, too. Her father, a building labourer, had flitted in and out of their lives before disappearing altogether; until earlier this year, when he’d turned up asking to meet his granddaughter. It was a familiar pattern in dysfunctional families: damage followed by remorse. And always too late.
    Pete tapped on the glass and opened the door. Karen’s make-up had been smudged by tears.
    ‘Hi, Karen,’ Pete said. ‘You know Mrs Cooper.’
    She looked at Jenny and nodded. The memories weren’t happy ones: fraught care hearings Karen contested because she couldn’t resist the drama; Jenny always the one telling the judge she wasn’t a fit mother.
    ‘She made the ID,’ Pete said, leaving it to Jenny to break the news.
    ‘I’m sorry, Karen,’ Jenny said. ‘It was Natasha.’ She ran out of words. Nothing seemed adequate.
    There was a barren moment of silence. They were all on uncharted ground. Jenny waited for Karen to break down and wail, the way she had in court each time a judge had taken Natasha from her, but she surprised her by remaining calm.
    ‘You know why she did this, don’t you?’ Karen said. ‘It’s because you took her away from me.’
    Jenny resisted defending herself. ‘I think it’s a bit early to ask those questions. Is there anything we can do for you? I can have someone come round—’
    Karen shook her head. ‘You’re the one who’s going to need counselling, Mrs Cooper. My conscience is clear.’ She nodded to Pete. ‘He said she called you from the station and you didn’t do nothing about it.’
    ‘Natasha left me a message. She said she was OK.’
    ‘Liar. She said, “ It’s OK.” That’s what you told him.’
    ‘Yes, that’s right,’ Jenny corrected herself.
    ‘So you were lying.’
    ‘No—’
    ‘It’s a big thing to get wrong, when my daughter’s just gone under a train.’
    Jenny looked to Pete for back-up, but he glanced away.
    ‘How did she have your number, anyway?’ Karen demanded. ‘You’re just the lawyer, not her social worker.’
    Jenny stammered over her reply, realizing that she’d stepped into a trap. That must have been a question Pete had asked Karen in the car on the way over: what was Natasha doing phoning the council’s lawyer on her private phone? Kids in care dealt with their social workers.
    ‘I don’t know,’ Jenny heard herself say. ‘You crossed the line,’ Karen said. She jabbed an accusing finger towards her. ‘I’m going to make you pay for that.’ She pulled the car door closed and stared straight ahead.
    Jenny turned to Pete for help.
    He shrugged. ‘It’s a fair question.’
    ‘I’ve worked with Natasha for years. We both have.’
    ‘She didn’t have my number.’
    ‘Perhaps she trusted me?’
    ‘Don’t say anything, Jenny. Really, I shouldn’t.’
    He climbed into the car and drove Karen away.

FIVE
    No kindness ever goes unpunished . It was a phrase Jenny’s father had been fond of repeating throughout her childhood, and it rang around her head as she drove back across town to the office. She wanted her thoughts to be with Natasha, to allow herself to grieve, but since her encounter with Karen she had felt a rising sense of panic at the thought that she might have done something wrong; something that would have consequences. She had given twelve years of her life to the team, and in order to help kids like Natasha, she had sacrificed the chance to be a far better mother to Ross, but she had a feeling all of that might count for little. Pete Murray had already begun organizing his defence against the possible accusation that he hadn’t done enough to find Natasha in time. He was going to raise a suspicion against Jenny: she knew Natasha was missing, they were evidently close, yet she had switched off her phone. Wasn’t that odd?
    Elaine was waiting for her. ‘Could we have a moment, Jenny?