Sonia shook her head, but her eyes said otherwise.
He allowed Gareth to help him up. His whole body felt numb, but his mind was still full of screeching bats.
Chapter Eighteen
DS Palmer agreed to let Gareth accompany Mathew to the police station. Gareth assured his brother that everything would be okay, but Mathew knew it wouldn’t. He’d been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder, and that meant he was going to get a one-way ticket to a police cell.
Palmer was being nice to him, even telling him to mind his head as he climbed into the back of the police car with his brother, but they had stern faces and spoke in an official language that seemed designed by robots.
Mathew just wanted to go back to his house and lock himself in his bedroom. Maybe forever. The world was too dangerous, and he didn’t want to be in it anymore.
Palmer told Gareth to wait outside and led Mathew into a small white-walled room. There were two plastic orange seats either side of a teak desk with a tape recorder sitting in the middle. A middle-aged woman sat in one chair. She was introduced to Mathew as a responsible adult.
‘What’s that?’
‘Just someone who sits in to make sure everything is carried out appropriately.’
Mathew chewed his lip. ‘I wanna go home.’
‘Take a seat, Mathew.’
‘Please! I just wanna go home.’
‘You can. Just as soon as you’ve answered some questions.’
‘I don’t like answering questions.’
‘I know. But these ones are really important. You do understand that, don’t you?’
‘Why can’t Gareth be with me?’
‘It’s just the rules. Don’t worry, though, he’s right outside.’
‘I’m scared.’
‘Why?’
‘Because…’
‘You’ve got nothing to be afraid of, just as long as you tell us the truth, okay?’
Mathew sat and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. He felt naked without his stab vest and Burberry coat.
‘Do you understand why you’re here, Mathew?’
‘Because of the girl with the startled eyes.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Jodie.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I’m hot. Can I have a glass of lemonade?’
‘We’ve only got water, I’m afraid.’
‘Okay.’
Palmer smiled. Mathew didn’t think it looked very friendly. More like the way Jim Bentley grinned when he was talking to you.
‘I’ll see what I can do.’ Palmer left the room.
There was a large black clock with a white face on the wall opposite. Twenty past seven. Where had the day gone? One minute he’d been talking to Bentley at the front door, the next he’d been in the shed and Gareth and the police were there trying to get him to come outside. He had no idea why he’d gone into the shed, and no recollection of seeing Jodie’s body before Gareth had arrived. It was as if he’d lost a whole chunk of his life, and now he was in the biggest trouble ever.
He wanted to go back into the cave and ask the orb what had happened. Who’d killed Jodie. Why he’d been sitting in the shed with her body. But he could never get into the cave by willing himself there. It mostly just happened. He could be reading a book, or gazing out the window at the people passing by, imagining who they were and where they were going, and BAM! He’d be in the cave, rolling the boulder into place.
Although the day was lost, and he had no recollection of what had happened after his altercation with Jim Bentley, other than preparing Tortilla’s food, he was certain this was all Bentley’s fault – he was the one responsible for killing Jodie and putting her in the shed.
Palmer returned ten minutes later and interrupted his thoughts. He put a glass of water on the desk in front of Mathew, sat opposite him, and introduced a female detective with short blonde hair. ‘This is DC Halliwell.’
Halliwell sat beside Palmer and brushed crumbs from the front of her jacket. A fan whirred on the ceiling, swirling warm air and dust around. She pressed a button on the tape recorder. ‘The time is nineteen thirty-two. I’m DC Halliwell.’
Palmer leaned closer to the machine. ‘And I’m DS Palmer. We are interviewing…’
Halliwell asked Mathew to state his name for the tape.
‘Mathew Hillock.’
‘And your address, please?’
‘Bluebell Cottage. Brooklands Estate. Feelham.’
Palmer leaned back in his chair. ‘Okay, Mathew. First of all, I’d like you to tell us how you came to be in the garden shed with the dead body of a child?’
‘I don’t know. I was in the cave, and when I came out, she was just there.’
‘By the cave, do you mean the shed?’ Halliwell asked.
‘No.’
‘Can you explain what the cave is?’
‘It’s my secret place inside my head.’
‘What’s in the cave?’
‘Just bats.’
‘Do the bats do anything?’
‘No. But I have my dad’s penny to protect me.’ He reached inside his pocket and exhibited the coin. ‘He sent it from Heaven.’
Palmer frowned. ‘You are aware this sounds… strange?’
Mathew shrugged. ‘It’s true.’
‘Anything else in the cave, Mathew?’
‘Just an orb.’
‘Like a spiritual ball of light?’ Halliwell asked.
A surge of relief flooded through Mathew. At least she knew about orbs. ‘Yes. It spoke to me for the first time today.’
‘What did it say?’
‘It told me to put things right.’
‘What things?’
‘I don’t know. Then it told me to leave the cave.’
Palmer jumped into the conversation. ‘When was the last time you saw Jodie Willis?’
‘Today.’
‘Before today?’
‘Thursday evening.’
‘When you were sitting on the bench with Mr Bentley?’
‘Yes.’
‘You told us you went along the Bunky Line after seeing her. Is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘To make sure Jim Bentley hadn’t taken her there.’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Because he’s a bad man.’
‘Is there anything else you want to tell us about Mr Bentley?’
‘He came to see me before I went into the cave.’
‘What did he want?’
‘He told me I had to confess to killing Jodie.’
Halliwell coughed and glanced at her colleague. ‘Why on earth would he tell you to do that?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘How well do you know Mr Bentley?’
‘Enough to know he’s evil.’
‘Do you have any idea how Jodie Willis ended up in your shed?’
‘No.’
‘You do realise it looks suspicious when a young girl goes missing and turns up dead at your property?’
‘Yes.’
‘Especially when you were one of the last people to see her,’ Palmer said. ‘Is there something you’re not telling us, Mathew?’