‘I know you lot,’ she said. ‘You’re sneaky. You’ll get me to admit things.’
‘Admit to what things?’
‘You know what I mean. You’re at it already.’
Annie leaned forward and tapped her pen on the table. ‘This could be very simple,’ she said. ‘You answer a few questions, tell the truth, and it’s all over. Call your solicitor and, well, things can get very long and drawn-out from that point. We could fix you up with a duty solicitor, but somehow I don’t think that’s what you want. You complained to the officers who brought you here that you have tickets for Opera North tonight. If you simply let us do our jobs, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be there to enjoy the show. Believe me, we’re not trying to trap you into admitting anything criminal. This entire conversation is being recorded for your sake as well as ours, and you haven’t been cautioned. We can go through all the motions if you want, and perhaps we can charge you with wasting police time, or impeding an investigation, but believe me, it’ll be far more binding on you should anything more serious come of our little chat. And it’ll take time. So what’s it to be?’
‘I’m not being held on any charges?’
‘No.’
‘So I’m free to go?’
‘Yes.’
She stood up. ‘Then what’s to stop me?’
‘Nothing,’ said Annie. ‘Go ahead, if you like. All you need to know is that we think you have information we would like to have in our possession, too, and we don’t give up that easily. You either lied to us or you were mistaken the last time we talked to you. This is your chance to put things right. Maybe your last chance. So walk, if you wish. We can’t stop you. But we’re not going away.’ She paused. ‘And you would be obstructing us in our investigation.’
Annie held eye contact with Charlotte for what felt like a long time before the latter slowly subsided back into her chair and said, ‘Fine. Let’s get on with it, then, get it over with. What do you want to know?’
Gerry, who had been sitting quietly taking notes of anything that might not be obvious from a sound or video recording, slid over the photograph of Marnie. ‘Last time we talked to you,’ she said, ‘you told us you didn’t know this girl.’
Charlotte glanced at the photo, then quickly turned away. ‘That’s right,’ she said, her voice hesitant and shaky.
‘Her name is Marnie. Does that help at all?’
‘Marnie... I... I...’
Annie took over and tried to set her at ease. ‘Easy to be mistaken. We admit it’s not a very good image. But take another look. Go on. Take your time.’
Charlotte studied the picture, then said, ‘Well, it could be her... I suppose. She does seem sort of familiar on closer inspection.’
‘So you do know a Marnie?’
‘I... er... yes.’
‘Is this her?’
‘It could be. Who told you that?’
‘It doesn’t matter. The point is that we found out. What’s her surname?’
‘Sedgwick. Marnie Sedgwick. If that’s who she is. Is this the one...? I mean, God, I’m so sorry about what happened to her.’
‘How old is she?’
‘Old enough. Nineteen.’
‘Old enough for what?’ Gerry asked.
‘To do the job I employed her for, of course, which might have included serving alcohol at some events.’
‘Did it?’
‘No. She turned out to be better suited to behind-the-scenes work.’
Annie picked up the questioning again. ‘How did you become acquainted with her?’
‘If it is the person I’m thinking of, then she’s an employee. An occasional employee, I should say.’
‘Gig economy?’
‘Has to be, in my business. I can’t guarantee her full-time or even part-time employment. It’s on an event-by-event basis. I used her as and when she was available and when I needed someone.’
‘For Blaydon’s parties?’
‘Yes. And his other events — sales conventions, retirement parties, and so on. The usual sort of events most businesses have to cope with.’
‘Did you first meet her when she applied for a job?’
‘Yes. I don’t advertise. At least, only by word of mouth. It would be one of the other girls who suggested her.’
‘Which one?’
‘I have no idea. As I said, I don’t know her well. All I know is she came to me looking for a job, I interviewed her, and she seemed satisfactory, worth taking a chance on.’
‘Perhaps you can furnish us with a list of all your employees, however casual they may be? I do believe we asked you for this last time we talked. We haven’t got it yet.’
‘I know... It’s just... I don’t know. What about privacy?’
‘Theirs or yours?’ said Gerry. ‘We’re not interested in tax avoidance, if that’s what you’re worried about. We don’t care how many jobs they’re doing on the side, or whether they’re claiming benefits at the same time. Nor do we care whether your business is registered in Jersey or the Isle of Man. Not our department.’
Charlotte gave her a sour smile. ‘Yes, of course.’
‘So Marnie’s one of your regular helpers now?’ said Annie.
‘Yes. She was.’
‘Is she not still with you?’
‘No. That was when I was working for Connor.’
‘And now?’
‘I’m afraid I have no idea where she is.’
‘You let her go?’
‘She could have come with me, but she chose not to.’
‘Where did she go?’
‘I have no idea. She didn’t confide in me.’
‘Any idea why she left?’
‘I assumed she’d found something else. Something better paying, better hours, or steadier work, perhaps.’
‘Did she say what?’
‘No.’
‘How was she as an employee?’
‘She was a bit reticent, shy, when it came to the hostess work, and she made it clear that she didn’t like doing it. That’s why she didn’t work out on the service end. She’d worked as a waitress in a family restaurant, but this was different. There was a lot of alcohol involved, and the men... Well, I’m sure you know what I mean. Her attitude might have made her seem stand-offish. But she was good at the practical aspects of the job, the backroom stuff. She was no slouch. And she was reliable. Always turned up on time. You’d be surprised how rare that is these days.’
‘Just not so good at chatting up the men at front of house?’
‘That wasn’t part of her job. And it’s a strictly hands-off policy with my serving girls. Connor knew that. It’s not as if there weren’t enough of the other kind of women around recently. Marnie’s an attractive girl, it’s true, but she isn’t the type to display her cleavage and a bit of thigh. She’s a very serious girl, a thinker rather than a talker. She’s also good at being invisible when she needed to be. I liked that about her. And mostly she was stuck in the kitchen. You have no idea how much cleaning up, restocking, and ongoing maintenance there is to be done at events like those parties. They don’t run as smoothly without a lot of skilled help, you know.’
‘Maybe all of Blaydon’s guests didn’t know about your hands-off policy,’ Gerry cut in. ‘She certainly wasn’t invisible to one particular person on the night this image was captured. Sometimes people want what they can’t have, more than what’s on offer. Perhaps someone thought she was too stuck-up and wanted to bring her down a notch or two?’
‘I wasn’t there. I told you. I’m sorry about what happened. It’s terrible. You can’t believe how sorry. Maybe if I’d been there...? But it wasn’t my fault. I was in Costa Rica.’