Page 36 of Vengeance is Mine

‘So, what happened after that?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Nothing?’

‘No. Well, not nothing. I remember Mum and Dad talking about me having to go to court to be a witness. Mum was dead against it. She kept saying I was too young, and I’d find it too distressing. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I remember feeling scared about it.’

‘Did you go to court?’

‘No.’

‘Why not? As far as I know, there were no other witnesses.’

‘One night, we were sat having our tea when this big knock comes on the door. Dad answered it, and this bloke came in ranting and raving, demanding to know who I saw with Stephanie. I burst into tears. My mum burst into tears. My dad’s shouting for our Luke to call the police. It was frightening. I thought he was going to hit me.’

‘Who was it?’ I asked.

‘Stephanie’s father.’

‘What? He came round and shouted at you?’

‘Looking back, it’s obvious he was upset about his daughter being murdered, but he was in a real rage. My dad grabbed him to drag him out of the house, and Stephanie’s dad punched him. That just made me and Mum worse. We were screaming bloody murder.’

‘What happened?’

‘He seemed to come to his senses after he’d hit my dad. He knew he’d gone too far. Luke had called the detective who’d taken my statement – he’d given us his card – and he turned up about ten minutes later, full of apologies. He calmed everything down and took Stephanie’s dad away.’

‘Bloody hell.’

‘I know. My claim to fame, eh?’ she said, pointing at the newspaper with a silly grin on her face. ‘I wonder if ITV will do a drama about it. They’re pretty hot at the moment – true crime dramas. I wonder who’d play me.’

‘So why didn’t you have to go to court?’

‘Well, I didn’t find out this until a long time later, but my dad told this detective that he could have Stephanie’s dad charged with assault, but he wouldn’t if they’d let me off having to give evidence in court.’

‘So, let me get this straight.’ I needed to get this organised in my head. ‘Stephanie’s dad comes to your house and causes hell, and this other detective removes your statement from the case, in return for your dad not pressing charges against Mr White?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Who was this other detective?’

‘Him,’ she said, pointing at the photo in the newspaper. Leading Dominic into court was, according to the caption underneath, Detective Inspector Ian Braithwaite.

‘I wonder if Barbara knows about this,’ I said, almost to myself.

‘Who’s Barbara?’

‘Barbara White. Stephanie’s mother.’

Robyn shrugged. ‘What do you know about it? Are you working with the firm who’s getting him out?’

‘No. I’m…’ I decided not to tell her. ‘Listen, Robyn, would you come with me to meet Barbara White and tell her what you’ve told me?’

‘Why?’ She frowned.

‘To find out if she knows already, but if she doesn’t, she definitely should.’

‘I don’t know.’ She squirmed.

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