The interview

Chapter 46:The Interview

The police station was a plain building on a side street that looked like it could have been anything else. An office block. A council building. Nothing about the outside told you what happened inside.

Ethan’s lawyer was waiting on the pavement when they pulled up. His name was George Farrell. Tall, late forties, the kind of man who had spent enough time in rooms like this that nothing about them made him nervous anymore. He shook hands with all three of them quickly and got straight to the point.

“The detective leading the investigation is called Marsh,” he said. “She is experienced and she is thorough. She will be respectful but she will not leave gaps in her questions so do not leave gaps in your answers.” He looked at Judith directly. “Say what happened. In the order it happened. If you do not know something say you do not know. Do not guess.”

“I understand,” Judith said.

“Good.” He turned toward the entrance. “Robert’s lawyer is already inside. He came in an hour ago. The recording and documents have been formally received and logged.” He held the door open. “Ready.”

They went in.

The room they put Judith in was small and plain.

A table. Four chairs. A recorder on the table. A window high up on the wall that let in a thin strip of light.

Detective Marsh was already seated when Judith came in with George Farrell and Dan. She was a woman in her fifties with short hair and reading glasses pushed up on her head and a folder open on the table in front of her. She looked up when they sat down.

“Mrs. Thompson,” she said. “Thank you for coming in. I want you to know this is not a formal interview under caution. You are here as a witness. You are free to stop at any time and you are free to consult your lawyer before answering anything.”

“I understand,” Judith said.

“Good.” Marsh looked down at the folder. “I want to start from the beginning if that is alright. Not from yesterday. From before the contract marriage. From your family’s connection to the Blackwood family and to Peter Cassel.” She looked up. “Take your time.”

Judith took a slow breath.

And she started talking.

She went through everything in the order it happened the way George Farrell had told her to. Her father. The business arrangement he had been brought into. The moment he found out what was underneath it. The threat he made to expose it. His death three months later.

Then the years after. The debts. Her mother’s illness. The contract she had signed out of desperation. What she had found out over the months that followed about Ethan’s original intention. About Richard Blackwood’s involvement. About Whitmore. About the recording Juliana had made in the hospital corridor.

About sitting in a room with Charles Whitmore last night and listening to him place the name Peter Cassel at the centre of everything.

Marsh listened without interrupting. She made notes but kept her eyes mostly on Judith’s face. Occasionally she asked a short question to fill in a detail and then let Judith keep going.

It took just over an hour.

When Judith finished Marsh sat back and looked at her notes for a moment.

“Mrs. Thompson,” she said. “I want to ask you about the morning of the press conference. Specifically the interaction outside your building with Richard Blackwood.” She looked up. “You have said he made a direct reference to your daughter.”

“Yes,” Judith said.

“Can you tell me his exact words as closely as you can remember them.”

Judith looked at the recorder on the table.

“He said my name,” she said. “And then he said you have a daughter. And then he paused.” She held Marsh’s gaze. “It was not a question. It was not a reminder. It was said the way someone says something when they want you to understand there is a threat inside it without them having to say the threat directly.”

Marsh wrote something down. “And this was captured on the security camera above the entrance to the building.”

“Yes,” Judith said. “Elena Voss, Ethan Blackwood’s assistant, secured that footage the same morning and sent it to Sarah Okafor and to Robert Ashby’s lawyer.”

“We have already requested that footage,” Marsh said. “It has been received.” She made another note. “One more thing. The recording from last night. The conversation between Richard Blackwood and Peter Cassel. You heard it personally.”

“Yes,” Judith said.

“And you can confirm that the voice identified as Cassel said the words Gerald Thompson needs to be handled before the end of the month.”

“Yes,” Judith said. “Clearly. More than once.”

Marsh closed her folder.

“Thank you Mrs. Thompson,” she said. “That is everything I need from you today. We may need to speak with you again as the investigation progresses and I will be in touch through your lawyer.” She stood up and extended her hand across the table. “You have been very helpful.”

Judith shook her hand.

She stood up and picked up her bag and walked out of the room with Dan and George Farrell behind her.

Ethan was waiting in the corridor outside.

He looked at her face when she came out. “How was it.”

“Fine,” she said. “Marsh is good. She knows what she is doing.”

He nodded. “George.”

“She did well,” George said simply. He shook Ethan’s hand. “I will call you this afternoon. There are things from the board we need to discuss before end of day.” He looked at Judith one more time. “You handled that exactly right.” Then he was gone down the corridor.

Dan put his hand briefly on Judith’s shoulder. “Good.”

“Yes,” she said.

They walked out through the station and back onto the side street.

The afternoon had got colder while they were inside. Judith pulled her coat tighter and looked up at the grey sky.

Her phone showed a message from Sarah.

Cassel has gone quiet. No more interviews. His lawyers have stopped talking to the press entirely. That means they know the recording is with the police now and they are regrouping. It also means they are scared.

She showed it to Ethan.

He read it and handed the phone back.

“Good,” he said.

Dan was already calling the driver. The car appeared at the end of the street two minutes later.

They got in.

Judith sat back against the seat and looked at the ceiling of the car.

It was done. The statement was made. Everything was on record. Whatever happened next was in the hands of the investigation and the lawyers and the journalists and the courts.

She had done everything she could do.

She thought about Lily at the property drawing pictures with Grace. About the swing in the garden. About her mother watching the news on a tablet in a hospital bed and saying your father would be so proud of you.

She thought about Ethan almost reaching back from the front seat in the traffic this morning.

She closed her eyes for just a moment.

Then she opened them.

“Can we go back,” she said. “I want to see Lily.”

“Yes,” Ethan said immediately.

The car turned and headed out of the city.