by Black, Helen
Tanisha and Annabelle both looked at Lilly in surprise.
‘That’s not possible,’ said Annabelle. ‘There must be some mistake.’
Tanisha narrowed her eyes. ‘Who made the statement?’
Lilly checked her scribbled notes. She could barely read her own writing.
‘Chika something,’ she said.
With a roar, Tanisha got to her feet and punched the wall.
‘That fucking bitch,’ she screamed.
She pulled back her arm to punch for a second time but Annabelle crossed the gap between them and caught hold of the girl’s fist. The force pushed Annabelle’s own hand into the plaster. The knuckle crunched but Annabelle didn’t flinch.
‘No, darling, stop that,’ she whispered.
Tanisha’s eyes were bright with tears and she snorted hard through her nose. Annabelle, her hand still wrapped around Tanisha’s balled fist, led her away from the wall, back to the chairs.
‘We can explain all this to Miss Valentine,’ she said.
‘Explain what?’ Lilly asked.
Annabelle turned to her, but didn’t let go of Tanisha. ‘The girl in question is called Chika Mboko. She and Tanisha were in care together. They have a history.’
Lilly raised an eyebrow.
‘She’s a liar,’ Tanisha shouted. ‘She’d do anything to get me.’
Annabelle gently placed Tanisha’s hand in her lap. Her own knuckle was bleeding.
‘There was an argument between the girls,’ she said. ‘Chika harbours a lot of ill will against Tanisha.’
‘Enough to lie to the police?’ asked Lilly.
‘I’m afraid so,’ Annabelle nodded. ‘Chika isn’t an honest person. She’s been in trouble many, many times.’
‘To be fair, so has Tanisha,’ said Lilly.
‘That’s true,’ Annabelle’s eyes widened with sincerity, ‘but with a baby on the way, she is trying to change her life. Chika, on the other hand, has no interest in anything but drugs and violence.’
‘She’s poison,’ Tanisha said.
Lilly pressed her lips together, weighing the options.
‘This is what we’re going to do. I’ll explain that you weren’t present, but you say nothing.’ She fixed her eyes on Tanisha. ‘You answer no questions whatsoever.’
Annabelle was shaking her head, her hair waving around like wild grass.
‘But shouldn’t she explain why Chika would make all this up?’
‘I’ll do that.’ Lilly jabbed herself with her thumb. ‘I don’t want Tanisha saying anything that will make matters worse.’
She let the proposal remain in the air for a second, then nodded.
‘Anything the officer says, you answer no comment.’
Tanisha shrugged. ‘Suits me.’
‘Okay, then,’ said Lilly. ‘Let’s put this nonsense to bed once and for all.’
Jack angled the camera at Tanisha and read out the caution. She kept her head down, her eyes in her lap. The vicious striplight above bounced off her scalp, exposed by a parting so straight it could have been drawn on with a ruler.
‘Do you understand, what I’ve told you, Tanisha?’ he asked.
She tilted her head towards Lilly, her nose ring glinting.
‘Tanisha?’ he repeated.
Lilly placed a notepad on the table in front of her and cleared her throat. It didn’t bode well.
‘For the sake of the tape, I’m going to read out a short statement on behalf of my client,’ she said. ‘But I need to make it clear that I have advised her not to answer any of your questions.’
Jack sighed. ‘Fine.’
‘My client wishes to make it clear that she was not present at the rec in Hightown where we understand this crime was committed. You say that you have a witness who has stated otherwise, but the defence has not been afforded a copy of their statement.’
‘There hasn’t been time …’ Jack tried to interrupt, but Lilly put up her hand.
‘And in any event,’ she continued, ‘it is our contention that any evidence provided by this particular witness is unreliable.’
‘On what basis?’ Jack asked.
‘She has been convicted of many criminal offences, including matters of dishonesty, as you well know.’
Jack felt scarlet heat begin to travel around the base of his neck. Tanisha’s record was far from squeaky clean, but if he wanted this interview to have any chance of standing up in court, he had to avoid mentioning it, otherwise Lilly would have it excluded as prejudicial.
‘More importantly,’ Lilly went on, ‘this witness and my client have a history of animosity, so I think we have to ask ourselves whether anything she says against my client is motivated by something other than social conscience.’
Jack didn’t speak. He knew from experience that Lilly was far from finished.
‘Frankly, I’m surprised the police didn’t bother to check these facts before bringing my client back in for questioning,’ she said.
‘What makes you sure that we didn’t?’ Jack pushed his finger under his collar.
Lilly gave a small smile. ‘Because that would mean you knew all this but decided to ignore it, and I have too much respect for the police to believe that.’
Jack almost laughed. Lilly was a consummate performer.
‘What do you have to say, Tanisha?’ he asked.
‘I’ve already explained that my client will not be answering your questions,’ said Lilly.
Jack ignored her. ‘Come on, Tanisha, are you really telling me you don’t want to set the record straight?’
‘I’ve already explained …’
This time it was Jack who put up his hand. ‘Whilst I have as much respect for you as you do for the police, Miss Valentine, you know full well that I am entitled to put a few things to Tanisha.’
Lilly narrowed her eyes but nodded.
‘Are you seriously expecting me to believe that Chika just made it all up?’ he asked.
‘Are you seriously saying that Chika isn’t a born liar?’ said Lilly.
Jack felt the warmth seep across his cheeks. ‘The question was to Tanisha.’
Tanisha kept her head down. ‘No comment.’
‘Sure, you might have had a little falling out, but would that be enough for her to try to get you locked up?’
‘No comment.’
‘Because that’s what could happen, you know?’ said Jack. ‘You could be locked up for a very long time.’
‘No comment.’
He paused. It wouldn’t matter how long he carried on, Tanisha wouldn’t crack. Lilly was a great lawyer and would have advised Tanisha on all the tricks of the trade. It was time to end the interview.
‘So as I understand it, you’re saying you were definitely not at the rec in Hightown on the night of the attack upon Malaya Ebola,’ he said.
‘That’s correct,’ said Lilly.
‘Thank you.’
Lilly made a brief note of the interview. The police would send her a copy of the tape, but she liked to keep written notes too. Often the legal advice not to say anything was as important as what actually was said.
‘Is that it?’ Annabelle whispered.
‘I think so,’ Lilly replied.
Jack had brought things to a close, leaving them in the interview room.
‘I expect the officer has gone to check on Chika’s record,’ Lilly told them.
‘That evil bitch is a liar,’ said Tanisha. ‘When I next see her she better run fast.’
Annabelle patted Tanisha’s knee.
‘I mean it.’ Tanisha squared her shoulders. ‘I’m gonna fuck her up good style.’
‘Hush now,’ said Annabelle.
Tanisha was about to say something else when the door opened and Jack strode in. Behind him a young WPC was pushing a grey plastic table on wheels. On top was a television and remote control.
‘This is Carla Chapman.’ Jack’s tone was breezy. ‘She’s been working on some of the evidence surrounding
the assault on Malaya.’
The WPC smiled at them. She had an overbite and freckles on her nose.
Lilly felt suspicion tickle the back of her mind. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Would you like to explain, Carla?’ He gestured to the WPC, who tried to hide her excitement.
‘Jack, I mean Detective McNally, asked me to check whether there were any CCTV cameras covering the area of the attack.’ Her voice was girlish.
‘And were there?’
‘Not inside the rec, no,’ said the WPC, plugging in the TV. ‘Well actually there is one, but it was out of order on the night in question.’
‘Typical,’ said Jack.
The WPC laughed, but seeing Lilly’s scowl, recovered quickly.
‘But there is a camera at the entrance,’ she said.
The tickle of suspicion in Lilly’s brain became an insistent tap, as the WPC flicked on the television.
The screen filled with the grainy image of a road, the pavement flanked by parked cars. Halfway along the road was a pair of gates. They looked metal.
‘You can see the entrance to the rec here.’ The WPC pointed to the gates.
Lilly checked the clock at the bottom of the picture. 22:10:33; moments before Malaya was attacked. She looked over at Tanisha but couldn’t interpret her expression.
The picture remained inactive, the only movement the digits of the clock ticking away. 22:10:45.
Then a figure entered the picture from the far right and ran down the road. When she reached the gate she didn’t stop, just swerved into it at full speed, her hands out to push it open. Then she disappeared through it into the rec.
‘That’s Chika Mboko,’ said the WPC, ‘and after her comes the victim.’
Lilly watched with a growing sense of the inevitable. She could hear the sound of Jack breathing behind her. She could smell the lemon tang of his aftershave.
22:10:57. Another figure entered the picture, following the first. She was much heavier and lumbered behind. When she reached the gate, she barged it with her shoulder and also disappeared inside.
‘That was Malaya Ebola,’ said the WPC. ‘And here are the group of attackers.’
22:11:01. This time a group of girls sprinted into the picture. Lilly counted six. When they reached the gate, the WPC punched a button on the remote and the screen froze.
The image was grey and blurred. A number of the girls were completely unidentifiable, their faces little more than a smudge.
But there was no doubt about who was in the centre of the group, her face exposed directly to the camera, almost as if she were looking into it.
It was Tanisha.
‘Start talking.’ Lilly glared at Tanisha.
Tanisha refused to even look at Lilly, causing dyspeptic fury to burn her throat. She had taken this case believing Tanisha a vulnerable child.
‘You lied to me.’ Lilly put a hand over her mouth, not trusting herself to say anything more.
‘I don’t think we can draw any conclusions from that.’ Annabelle flicked her wrist at the television. ‘The picture wasn’t clear enough to prove anything, beyond reasonable doubt.’
Lilly groaned. Was there anything worse than people who thought they could twist the law?
‘For one thing, that picture is very high quality and we could all see perfectly bloody well that it was Tanisha,’ she said. ‘But it’s not just about the film is it? They have a witness too.’
‘A lying bitch of a witness,’ said Tanisha.
‘Who no one will believe,’ Annabelle added.
‘On her own maybe,’ said Lilly. ‘Just like that film on its own might not be enough. But if you put the two together, it’s a whole lot more convincing. Then there’s the fact that you lied. You told me you were not at the rec, for Christ’s sake, you let me read out that stupid statement.’
The room fell silent and Lilly closed her eyes. This was a bloody disaster. Jack must be laughing up his sleeve.
A moment later, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of crying. She looked up and was shocked to see it was Tanisha. Once again the mask had slipped, and a frightened girl was revealed.
‘Will they send me to jail?’ Tears streamed down her cheeks.
‘That depends on what you tell me,’ said Lilly.
Tanisha wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
‘I was there,’ she said, ‘but I didn’t do nothing.’
Lilly inhaled deeply. It was so predictable it made her nauseous.
‘Seriously.’ Tanisha leaned towards Lilly. ‘I followed her into the rec and that, but I didn’t touch her.’
Tanisha met Lilly’s gaze. Everything was open, pleading.
‘So you didn’t push her?’
‘No.’
‘Hit her?’
‘No.’
‘Kick her?’
Tanisha shook her head violently. ‘I didn’t do nothing to her, honestly.’
‘So why were you there?’ asked Lilly.
Tanisha shrugged. ‘I dunno. I was hanging out, innit.’
‘Why?’
Tanisha looked puzzled. ‘They’re my friends.’
‘Not good enough,’ said Lilly. ‘These girls set out to commit a violent crime. When they chased after Malaya, you must have known exactly what would happen.’
Tanisha didn’t deny it.
‘So why were you with them?’
Tears shone again in Tanisha’s eyes, but Lilly knew she had to pursue this.
‘Why didn’t you hang back, refuse to get involved?’
‘I couldn’t do that.’ Tanisha’s voice was soft. ‘They’re my people.’
There it was. Breathtaking in its horrible simplicity. The police might not understand that, indeed a jury might not. But Lilly did.
‘The police will have combed every inch of Malaya for forensic evidence, so if there is one hair from your head on her, one tiny piece of fingernail, they will know you are lying and that you did take part in the attack,’ she said.
‘There won’t be anything,’ Tanisha’s voice was firm, ‘cos I never laid a finger on her.’
They stared at one another.
‘Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t just walk out of here right now,’ said Lilly.
‘Cos you’re all I got.’
The weight of Chika’s arm around Demi’s shoulders makes Demi want to cry.
‘What’s up with you?’ Chika yanks her closer.
Demi’s cheek presses against the heat of Chika’s chest and she shivers.
‘You been waiting out here in the cold for me the whole time?’ asks Chika.
Demi nods. As soon as Chika went off with the policeman, Demi pulled up her hood and ran all the way to the station. She took up a place against the metal railings and waited, her breath white in the freezing cold wind as she blew on her hands. A few coppers gave her a funny look, but she didn’t care.
She doesn’t think she has ever been so glad to see anyone. There was the time the immigration people took Gran away for a whole afternoon. Malaya had wailed the whole time, only stopping when a social worker had given them both a Penguin. Demi remembers not feeling hungry and hiding it in her pocket for later. When she went to eat it after Gran got back, the chocolate had melted. But she’d been young then and couldn’t imagine what might happen to them alone in the UK without Gran. This time she could imagine exactly what her life would be like without Chika.
‘Respect to you.’ Chika laughs and kisses the top of Demi’s head before playfully pushing her away.
‘You got that stuff safe for me?’ she asks.
Demi smiles and reaches to her waistband. Chika jerks her head towards the station entrance behind them.
‘Not here, fool.’
Chika’s eyes flash with anger and Demi knows it was a stupid thing to do.
‘Sorry,’ she murmurs.
‘Look,’ Chika scowls, ‘if you want to be hanging with me and the CBD you gotta get some smarts, you understand?’
<
br /> ‘Yes.’
Chika stares at Demi for a second and once again she feels like crying.
‘All right then.’ A smile snaps across Chika’s face. ‘Let’s get the fuck out of here.’
Four o’clock. Last lesson. French.
Jamie detests French.
Every second in Mademoiselle La Mielle’s class is pure torture. Like having his eyes gouged out with a rusty spoon. He saw a scene where that happened in Slumdog Millionaire, but the kid was asleep. French lessons are like being awake through the whole thing.
Mademoiselle sashays between the desks, unaware that every boy’s eyes are fixed on her arse. Or perhaps she knows perfectly well, which is why she wears those tight skirts that hug her cheeks. She hovers over Jamie and places last week’s prep on his desk. There are hardly any corrections and at the bottom, in Mademoiselle La Mielle’s flourish of red pen, is an A.
‘Très bien, Jamie.’ She smiles at him, her bottom lip, plump and glossed. ‘Une bonne pièce.’
He mutters something incomprehensible and buries his face in his paper.
When Mademoiselle moves forward to the next desk, Jamie feels a thwack as a book hits the back of his neck. He turns around to see Tristan waggle his tongue up and down, in what the stupid tit no doubt thinks is a good approximation of oral sex. The other boys snigger.
Not finished, Tristan strokes his hands over his chest and rubs his nipples through the ink-stained pockets of his school shirt. It’s always the same in Mademoiselle La Mielle’s class and Jamie wishes to God that they still had Mr Anderton with his brown teeth and cigarette breath.
His mum had been totally impressed when Manor Park wrote to say Mr Anderton was on leave of absence with ‘personal issues’ and that a young French student would be helping out. Little did she know that every lesson had been turned into a re-enactment of a soft porn movie.
The bell sounds and Jamie scrambles to put away his books. He can’t escape fast enough. As he and the other boys dash for the door, Mademoiselle holds out a hand and catches Jamie lightly on the wrist. Her skin’s hot against his.
‘Could I have a little moment, Jamie?’ she asks, in her thick French accent.
He cringes, knowing what will happen. ‘Okay.’