Chapter 57

‘Noah and Grace Bowman were evil, evil people,' Alice said. ‘And for reasons neither of us understood, they hated Bethany.'

Poe frowned. ‘I didn't know that,' he said. ‘There's certainly nothing to suggest it in the file.'

‘When I'm not Mad Alice or Tourist Alice, I work for a domestic abuse charity, and one of the first things we're taught is that perpetrators become extremely skilled at hiding their abuse. They don't just control their victim; they also control the narrative.'

‘She was abused?'

Alice nodded.

‘Sexually?' Poe asked.

‘No.'

‘She was beaten then?'

‘Nothing like that either.'

‘Then—'

‘Emotional abuse, Sergeant Poe,' Alice said. ‘In the very purest sense, she was being emotionally tortured.'

‘Do you believe me, Sergeant Poe?' Alice asked.

‘I don't not believe you.'

‘Even though me telling you this makes Bethany appear more guilty?'

‘I'm a detective, Alice, and that means I'm a cynic,' Poe said. ‘You tell me you're Bethany's friend and that you don't think she killed her brother and her parents. Yet you're also painting a picture of someone who had every reason to do exactly what she stands accused of. Let's just say you haven't convinced me of your true motivation yet.'

Alice nodded in satisfaction.

‘What?' Poe asked.

‘You're following the evidence, not the story,' she replied.

‘You've already said that.'

‘But now you're demonstrating it. I have something to give you, Sergeant Poe, something I maybe should have given the police in 2012.'

‘But I can have it?'

‘You can.'

‘Why me?'

‘I've been waiting for you.'

‘Me?'

‘Someone like you.'

‘What is it you want to give me?'

‘Not yet.'

‘OK,' Poe said. ‘Whatever it is, why didn't you give it to the police in 2012?'

‘Because, taken superficially, it's damning evidence against my friend.'

‘Then why risk giving it to me?'

‘I left you the note as a test, Sergeant Poe. If you were interested enough for it to lead you to Eve, I figured you might be worth my time. None of the police officers I spoke to back then were. They thought Bethany butchered her family and they weren't considering other ideas.'

‘Have you spoken to Eve?'

‘Not since she came back to Cumbria.'

‘Why not?'

Alice shrugged. ‘She partly blames me for what happened. She thinks Bethany killed her entire family and, because I was her friend, I must have known what she was planning.'

She paused to sip her green tea. Bradshaw, who hadn't yet spoken, had finished hers fifteen minutes ago. Poe drained his cold coffee.

‘How do I know you're not spinning me a yarn?' Poe said. ‘You claimed back in 2012 that Bethany was your friend, but we have only your word for that. There's no one left to confirm it; they're either dead or in the wind.'

She eyed him over the rim of her mug. ‘You could always go back to Underbarrow and ask Eve,' she said. ‘But you're missing the point.'

‘Then what is the point?'

‘That if you took everything at face value then you'd be of no use to me. The very fact you're doubting me makes you the right person.'

‘For what?'

‘Did you know Bethany wasn't allowed any possessions, Sergeant Poe?' Alice said, switching lanes without indicating.

‘From what I gather, none of the Bowman kids were allowed possessions. Eve said they didn't even have mobile phones. She gave us some photographs of Bethany and they were those old Polaroids. The ones that whirred out of the bottom of the camera. You had to waft them about until they were dry.'

‘That's true.'

‘Well then, was it not just a case of unconventional parenting? Three children have an extremely religious upbringing – two of them accept it, one of them doesn't. I'm from the generation that played outside, Alice – if I were a parent, and I appreciate I'm not so my view isn't born from experience, I wouldn't want my kids to have mobile phones and Ataris and—'

‘Ataris? You really are a buffoon, Poe,' Bradshaw said.

‘Eh?'

‘Tilly thinks you're a dinosaur, Sergeant Poe,' Alice said, smiling for the first time.

‘She does,' Poe agreed. ‘And she tells me at least five or six times a day. My point is not only are these gadgets recruiting grounds for paedophiles and stalkers, they stunt childhoods. I'm not suggesting parents go back to handing out hoops and sticks, but the odd Space Hopper wouldn't go amiss.'

Bradshaw and Alice shrugged at each other. ‘See?' Bradshaw said. ‘Dinosaur.'

‘Bethany had no toys whatsoever, Sergeant Poe,' Alice said. ‘While Eve and Aaron were given things to play with, and occasionally they'd be allowed what Grace and Noah Bowman thought were suitable books to read, Bethany wasn't allowed anything, not even a Bible. When they were older, Eve and Aaron wore new clothes; Bethany wore only what Eve had outgrown. She wasn't allowed to eat with the family. They basically did the bare minimum to keep her alive. Other than how it reflected on them, they had no interest in her welfare at all. Bethany said to me once that it wasn't that they were indifferent to her, they actually went out of their way to make her feel unwelcome. Which of course made her behaviour even worse.'

‘She was the youngest of the three, right?' Poe said.

‘She was.'

Poe thought this through. It wasn't unheard of for parents to favour one child over another, but outside of Cinderella it was rarely so blatant. If Alice was telling the truth, Grace and Noah Bowman deserved to be in prison.

IfAlice was telling the truth.