Page 21 of Forever is Now

Hector Beveridge: I... Sorry, Summer, it doesn’t seem right talking like this, with you in the room. And all children do lie. We encourage creativity in school, and that was what it was.

Adelaide James: Mr. Beveridge,please. We are here to talk about the truth. Ms. Taylor-Braddon can handle hearing the truth about herself, for she is on a quest to reveal the truth to everyone.

Hector Beveridge: She was very imaginative, even then.

Adelaide James: And what was the worst lie she told? I assume it wasn’t this thing about the dog?

Hector Beveridge: It wasn’t, no. [He takes a deep breath] She told us her sister was missing.

Adelaide James: Matilda Taylor?

Hector Beveridge: Matilda Taylor. Summer came in one morning, very upset. Tears running down her face. She couldn’t be consoled. She’d already told us that her sister—I think Matilda was about seventeen then—she’d told us Matilda was a model. We were all excited for her. Most of us at the school, teachers that is, remembered when Matilda was in our classes. And that morning Summer said that Matilda was missing. In Paris. She’d gone for a photoshoot there, and she hadn’t been heard of for two days.

The thing about Summer was when she told her stories, she could be very persuasive. Given how upset she was, I had no reason to doubt her. And she was giving all these details—like the police looking for Matilda, and how officers had been round the house to talk to Summer and her mother—that I find it hard to believe a seven-year-old would know if none of it had actually happened.

I don’t know why she decided to make that up. But she had the school phoning home, us offering our support to her mother. We were even thinking about a fundraiser or campaign thing that we could do to help.

Adelaide James: But none of that was true, was it?

Hector Beveridge: No, it wasn’t.

Adelaide James: Thank you, Mr. Beveridge, that is all.

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Adelaide James: One thing that was very interesting just now, Ms. Taylor-Braddon, was watching your body language while Mr. Beveridge was talking. You’ve already told us that body language is an integral part of communication, and yours was full of clues. The tense posture, the way you kept fidgeting, and you really didn’t want to make eye contact with either me or Mr. Beveridge during that conversation, did you?

Summer Taylor-Braddon: I was fidgeting because I needed the toilet. That was all. And you’ll find I did make eye contact.

Adelaide James: But it’s never comfortable, is it? Hearing what you’re really like. Listening to people tell the truth.

Oh, are you not answering that? Well, that’s telling in and of itself, would you not agree?

Summer Taylor-Braddon: I can see what you’re doing—because that’s what you’ve always done. Made me out to be a liar.

Adelaide James: Oh, but Ms. Taylor-Braddon, we’ve just had an independent party confirm that you are a liar. He described in very convincing detail two different occasions when you lied. Do you admit those were lies you told?

Summer Taylor-Braddon: Yes, I did lie about the dog and Mattie going missing. But I was a child.

Adelaide James: Children who lie often become adults who lie.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: But they often don’t.

Adelaide James: That seems a very weak argument. But perhaps you’d like to elaborate on all of this and really explain why, when you introduced yourself at the start of this project, you didn’t mention any of this. Instead, you painted this image of yourself as an honest, nice girl. A girl your mother could be proud of. There was no mention of any incidents such as the ones Mr. Beveridge mentioned, and well, that just makes me question how reliable anything you tell us might be?

Summer Taylor-Braddon: I was seven years old then, as has been pointed out numerous times. Children lie, and they test adults with what they can get away with. But I grew up. I think it’s telling that you haven’t brought in any teachers from my secondary school. I didn’t lie there. And I haven’t lied since.

Adelaide James: I’m looking at you now, and you seem pretty relaxed. You’re leaning back, one leg crossed over the other. You’re not sweating at all. You don’t look nervous now.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: Why would I be nervous? I’ve done nothing wrong.

Adelaide James: You know who else doesn’t look nervous? A psychopath.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: Are you really saying that I’m a psychopath? [She laughs] Just earlier, you were saying I looked defensive, when you were talking to my teacher. Surely a psychopath wouldn’t look defensive there, if they—allegedly—thought they were being caught out? Aren’t they supposed to be super calm?

Adelaide James: You tell me, Ms. Taylor-Braddon. You appear to be the expert on psychopaths. But you have just brought up something interesting. That you think you are going to be caught out.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: I never said that.

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