The Silent Suspect by Nell Pattison (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT) 📗

I’d seen her use this tactic before, giving the client space to come to her, but Lukas didn’t respond in the way she’d hoped. A minute or so later, the door opened and Singh was back.

The moment the door was opened, Lukas stepped back so he didn’t appear to be trying to escape, then he nodded to Singh as if to tell him he was ready to return to his cell.

Singh looked between Sasha and me before taking Lukas away.

What’s going on? Sasha asked me, looking baffled. I don’t understand what’s happening.

Neither did I, but if I knew Sasha by now, she wouldn’t stop until she’d found out.

Chapter 6

Twenty minutes later, we were back at the social services office. Sasha dumped her bag on her desk, and looked around at the room, which was busy with people on their computers or phones.

Wait here, she told me, then left the room for a couple of minutes, leaving me to hover awkwardly by her desk. I didn’t spend much time in the office with her, as she used her time with me for meetings and other appointments as much as possible, so I didn’t really know any of her colleagues very well. Most of them were friendly, although one of the managers obviously viewed me with slight suspicion and tried not to hold conversations within my hearing.

Sasha appeared at the door and gestured to me, telling me to grab her bag and follow her. Doing as I was told, I went out and through to the other side of the building, where we entered a small meeting room.

This is free for the next fifteen minutes, she told me, sliding the sign on the door across to show the room was occupied, then shutting the door. We can talk about Lukas.

I sat down, not sure what she wanted to talk about or why she wanted the privacy, but my role mostly involved doing what she asked so I didn’t question it.

Taking the seat opposite me, Sasha leant on the table and fixed me with a piercing look. I need to decide what’s the best course of action for helping Lukas.

I nodded. Okay. Well, I don’t know what your responsibility is, professionally speaking.

Sasha shook her head. Technically, none. He’s in the hands of the criminal justice system now, so he’s their responsibility. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on him.

I didn’t know what Sasha expected of me, so I sat back and waited for her to continue.

Tell me exactly what he told you, when you were in the hospital.

I’d told her several times already, but she was obviously fixated on it, so I thought back to the previous night.

He said he knew who was responsible, I told her.

Who was responsible? Did he use those exact words? She sat forward eagerly, and I felt as if I was being interrogated. Because you can be considered responsible for something even if you didn’t actually do it yourself.

I thought again. Er, maybe not. I think he said he knew who’d done it.

Sasha nodded, a thin smile on her face. Good, that’s good.

I should have included that in my statement, I told her, regretting my decision to leave it out. I thought it probably wasn’t relevant, but surely they’d want to know everything he said to me? Especially as he’s refusing to tell them anything now.

You could tell them now, ask if you can add it in? Sasha suggested.

I nodded, but didn’t tell her what I’d been worrying about. That maybe Lukas had told me in the first place so I would include it in my statement. If he had killed Nadia, telling someone who was a witness to the fire that he knew someone else had done it would be a good way to try and throw the police off the scent. But was Lukas that calculating? The frustrating thing was that I had no idea. I had always seen his charm and his gentle flirtation as harmless, but there was always the possibility that he was now using that in order to manipulate me.

It’s worth checking, Sasha continued. It could help him, persuade him to talk.

I gave her a non-committal head tilt this time, neither a nod nor a shake. Unless Lukas was going to start cooperating with the detectives, and then tell them who he thought had killed Nadia and why, I didn’t think it would make much difference.

Sasha stood up and walked over to the window. It afforded a rather dull view of the car park, a stretch of grass and then a fairly busy road, but she obviously wasn’t interested in the scenery.

She turned back to me. So the question is, who did kill Nadia?

Hang on, I said with a frown. How do you know Lukas didn’t kill her? I saw her face darken, but I pushed on anyway. I know he’s your client and you want to believe he’s innocent, but you have to be open to the possibility that he might have done it.

He told you himself that he didn’t, she signed. And he’s clearly absolutely devastated about her death. Isn’t that enough for you?

No, it’s not, I replied, standing my ground. And I wouldn’t have thought it was enough for you, either.

We glared at each other for a moment, until she came back and sat down opposite me.

Fine, she conceded. However strongly I feel that Lukas wouldn’t have hurt Nadia, I can’t be certain. But I think I have a responsibility, as his social worker, to at least consider all of the possibilities.

I nodded. Okay. What do you want to do?

She thought for a moment. If Lukas knows who killed Nadia, why hasn’t he told the police?

He could be scared, I replied. What I didn’t add was the other idea I was mulling over, that he’d only told me that to try and manipulate me into taking his side.

Scared of being blamed? she asked.

No, I don’t think so. Because otherwise he would have told the