Everyone in the viewing room was listening intently. Laura turned to Glenda and whispered, ‘His daughter’s called Hannah, and she’s not four and a half; what is he trying to do?’
‘Break her,’ Glenda said. ‘Look at her, she’s biting off her false nails. It’s about time someone put the wind up her, and I think Jack knows exactly how to do it. I don’t see the DCI interrupting, even though he looks a bit taken aback.’
Jack was looking at his file in a relaxed way, then quietly said, ‘You love him, don’t you?’
Bukhari looked as if he was about to interrupt but Amanda simply nodded.
‘I think you’re trying to help him by not answering any questions, but just repeating “no comment” is not going to help you, or him.’
‘My client is fully aware of what she’s doing,’ Bukhari said firmly.
‘Do you mean that your client is aware that if she assisted our enquiry, it would be in her best interests?’ Jack responded. ‘I do not believe that Amanda wants to spend the rest of her life in prison. Time is running out, so I would like to revisit some of the questions that were put to her earlier.’
Jack placed her mobile phone on the table.
‘Is this your phone, Amanda?’
‘Yes.’
Next Jack pulled out the mobile phone they had taken from Harold Miller.
‘What about this one? We know you’ve been using it, since we have records of your calls, as well as your Snapchat conversations with one of the victims. You were arranging for her to meet you at Euston Station. In addition, we also have a postcard from Nadine O’Reilly, sent to her parents. Please read what she says, Amanda.’
Jack pushed the postcard forward as Amanda bit one of her false nails off, then took it out of her mouth. Jack continued.
‘We have evidence that clearly implicates you in meeting these girls and encouraging them to return to the basement flat which you occupied with Rodney Middleton. Can you explain to me, if you had nothing to do with the murders, why you persuaded them to accompany you back to the basement flat?’
Bukhari interjected.
‘You do not have any evidence that my client had any part in meeting these girls, or in encouraging Mr Middleton to take them to his flat.’
Jack gave him cool glance ‘Amanda, were you forced to make these calls?’
Jack could see she was cracking. Her ‘no comment’ was almost inaudible.
‘“No comment?” Are you really asking me to believe you never heard any screams, any howls of pain? Perhaps what really upset you and made you stay in that back bedroom, was when he was having sex with one or other of these girls. That really got to you. I think that, rather than stop what was happening, you hid out in that back bedroom because you knew when it was over you would be back in the bed beside him.’
Jack leaned over the table facing her. She wouldn’t look at him and kept on chewing at her nails.
‘Look at me, Amanda... look at me!’ he said, raising his voice. ‘Time is running out, but you still have an opportunity to tell the truth. If you do so, we will protect you, do you understand? Because your lover will not protect you. He is never going to be released, whether you try and help him or not, so you may as well stop lying and help yourself.’
Jack sat back and began to put the postcard and mobile phones back into the evidence bags. He then closed the file. He sat calmly, looking at Amanda.
When she spoke, her voice was tearful and childlike. ‘What do you want me to tell you?’
Bukhari immediately asked for a break, but his request was refused — not by Jack, but by Amanda herself. Mrs Hardcastle passed Amanda a box of tissues. She plucked one out and blew her nose as Bukhari moved closer to her.
‘Amanda, I advise you to adhere to our agreed strategy. I really need a break to talk to you.’
‘Shut up,’ she said. ‘I’m not listening to you no more. I don’t want a break. He’s right. I hated it when Rodney took them into our bed, I hated it. Now I want to answer the questions properly because I don’t want to go to prison.’ She looked at Jack. ‘So please tell me what I got to do now.’
A spontaneous round of applause burst out in the viewing room. It had taken a long time, but at last they had the result that everyone had hoped for.
Laura went to get a fresh round of tea, coffee and sandwiches. Anik had re-joined them, pale-faced and still not feeling well. He sat down, looking very subdued.
Two forensic experts had joined them, along with the SOC detectives, but there was a limit to the number of people allowed in the room. Glenda deemed it to be a full house and would not allow any more spectators in. The atmosphere was intense, as everyone waited to hear what Amanda would say.
The show was about to begin.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The tension in the viewing room had slowly begun to ease as they watched Jack quietly and gently guide Amanda through his questions. She spoke about her first meeting with Rodney Middleton, as a twelve-year-old runaway. She wanted to explain how she had never met anyone like Rodney, someone so kind and caring.
‘He offered to help me find someplace to live and I told him I had no money, so he took me back to his flat.’
‘Were there any other girls living there at this time?’ Jack asked.
‘No, he told me he had split up with his girlfriend. He said the sleeping bag was hers and he said she might come back, so because he had this girlfriend it never worried me about being there with him.’
Jack nodded. ‘At what point did Rodney Middleton initiate a sexual relationship with you?’
‘Oh, not until about six months after we met. He said he was concerned about doing it cos I was underage, and he could be arrested. That’s why he used to keep me at home.’
‘Did his girlfriend, the one who owned the sleeping bag, ever return?’
‘No, but I was glad. It was like we was a married couple.’
Amanda explained that he would buy the groceries and do the cooking and cleaning, and would buy DVDs for her to watch, and games to play. She got upset when she recalled the time he started to get a bit nasty with her, locking her in the flat. Then, about eighteen months after she’d moved in, he asked her to go to Euston Station with him.
‘I met Jamail, and we got talking. I said she could come back to the flat with us, like he told me to do. She was very young and a bit daft, and he was all over her, sending out for curry and takeaway food that she liked. But I didn’t like it, and she got right on my nerves. Anyway, he moved her into our bedroom and told me I had to sleep in the little back room. I was really upset and told him I was going to leave. He got very angry and said he was going to get rid of her because she had told him she was pregnant. I didn’t believe it cos she was only my age. Anyway, he give me a bottle of cider and a hamburger and told me to stay in the back room. He got a padlock and locked me in.’
Amanda pointed to Jack.
‘You was right; I did hear some screaming... well, a lot of screaming. She left about a day or two later, then he let me out. He gave me some money, and I had to go and take a bag of Jamail’s clothes to the charity dumpster. Then he went and did this attack on the local corner shop owner. It was stupid, cos he was arrested, and it left me on my own. But he called me from prison and told me that I was special. Said he wanted me to stay and wait for him, so I did. Then he was sent to some medical clinic, and I was allowed to go and see him.’