The Silent Suspect Nell Pattison (best classic books of all time TXT) 📖

he’s at school,’ she replied, this time looking at me as if I were the stupid one.

How does he feel about not seeing his father? Sasha asked. Have you talked to him about it?

Caroline shook her head. ‘I told him last night that his dad was out, but that he shouldn’t talk to him, that he’s dangerous. When I said that, he stormed out, and when he came back a few hours later he didn’t speak to me, just went straight to bed.’ She gave a sharp shrug. ‘Teenage boys, they’re not great at communication. He’ll do what I tell him, though.’

Don’t you think you should give him the opportunity to talk about how he feels? Sasha suggested. He’s sixteen, old enough to be involved in these sorts of discussions.

‘That boy thinks the sun shines out of his dad’s arsehole, so no, I don’t think he should be involved. He’s not mature enough to think sensibly about it.’

I understand your reservations, Sasha began, but Caroline didn’t give her a chance to finish, speaking over me as I interpreted Sasha’s words.

‘Do you? You’ve obviously come here to try and persuade me to let Lukas see Mariusz, so it’s clear you don’t care about whether or not he’s guilty.’ She stood up again and started pacing the room in front of us. It felt strange to still be sitting down, as if she was trying to unbalance us, but Sasha stayed calm so I followed her lead.

‘When we were together, Lukas was volatile,’ Caroline was saying. ‘I never knew what mood he was going to be in, how much he would have been drinking, or how he was going to behave.’ She stopped pacing for a moment and seemed to be thinking deeply about something before shaking herself and turning back to us. ‘I don’t doubt that he was exactly the same with Nadia. Maybe she pushed him a little bit too far one day, and he snapped. I don’t know. All I know is that it didn’t surprise me when he was arrested for her murder.’

I thought his drinking started after you split up, Sasha signed, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion. I’d thought the same, and that was always the reasoning he gave at his addiction support meetings too.

Caroline gave a hollow laugh. ‘Oh, that was his excuse: poor Lukas, everything fell apart for him when we split up. No, he’s always been a drinker. It’s the social side, for him. He loved it, being down the pub, making friends, flirting. He could always charm women, even when they didn’t know a single bit of sign language.’ She sighed deeply and I wondered if she was remembering when he’d first charmed her.

Was he ever violent when he wasn’t drinking? Sasha asked.

‘When was he ever not drinking?’ Caroline asked, a sour twist to her face. ‘I don’t think I ever saw him sober. Even when we were first dating, we went to the pub all the time.’ She glared at Sasha. ‘Are you going to try and tell me that suddenly he was a completely different person once he was sober? Because I don’t believe that bullshit for a minute.’

Sasha raised her hands slightly in a gesture of defeat to show she wasn’t going to try and convince Caroline of anything.

‘He wasn’t sober, anyway. I know he tried to make out that he’d changed, that his relationship with alcohol was completely different. He says he can go to the pub for a couple of pints now and that’s it, he can stop there. I don’t believe a damn word of it. He’s an alcoholic and he’ll always be an alcoholic.’

What did he do to you? Sasha asked gently. Was he physically abusive?

‘Well … not as such, no, but I knew he had the potential to be,’ Caroline replied defensively. ‘He always stopped short of raising a hand to me, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt Nadia. She wasn’t as tough as I am,’ she said with a sneer. ‘I imagine she pandered to him more than I did, but if she refused to stand up to him it might have just made him more angry.’

It was at this point that I realised Caroline was talking herself round in circles. I wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe that Lukas had killed Nadia or not, but she obviously thought Nadia wasn’t as good for Lukas as she’d been. Had Caroline been jealous of their relationship? Was that why she’d tried to frame Nadia for theft?

‘Did you get on well with Nadia?’ I asked. ‘The two of you worked together, didn’t you?’

She gave me a sideways look, obviously wondering where I was going with this. ‘We worked for the same company, but we didn’t actually spend much time together. Paul’s not that stupid – he wouldn’t stick us together on the rota if he could avoid it.’

‘So you didn’t have a good relationship, then?’

Caroline let out a bitter laugh. ‘The woman my husband left me for? No, I didn’t like her much, surprisingly.’

We were told you’d already separated when Lukas and Nadia met, Sasha interjected.

‘Whoever told you that doesn’t know shit. He’d met Nadia plenty of times before we split up, and I bet he was shagging her before they let people know they were together. He’s always had a hard time with being faithful, has Lukas.’ She shot Sasha a pointed look that I couldn’t interpret.

Did you resent Nadia? Sasha asked, her expression blank.

‘Resent her? No, she was welcome to him,’ Caroline spat, though she wasn’t very convincing.

‘So why did you frame her for those thefts?’ I asked quietly, hoping such a brazen question would take her by surprise. Caroline gaped at me for a moment. I could feel Sasha’s annoyed gaze on me but I didn’t make eye contact with her. I knew she didn’t want me to get involved in this conversation, but I wanted to confront Caroline with this and see how she reacted for myself.

‘I don’t know