Page 51 of Guilty Mothers

A small cry escaped from Olivia’s lips as her eyes filled with tears.

‘How would she know? They barely spoke. We were closer to him than anyone.’

‘Well, actually, she didn’t agree with you on that either. She said the two of you didn’t get on.’

‘That proves my point exactly. We didn’t get on at first. I was probably a bit overprotective of my mom, recently widowed, vulnerable. It didn’t take long for me to see he was genuine. I really liked the guy, didn’t I, Mom?’

‘Yes, yes, that’s right.’

Tiff turned towards Olivia. ‘Had James been in any kind of trouble that you know of?’

‘How would she know that?’ Logan asked.

Tiff ignored him and waited for the woman to answer.

Olivia shook her head.

‘Did he mention any arguments with anyone?’

Before shaking her head, Olivia offered the briefest of glances at her son.

Tiff turned to Logan. ‘I’m a bit dry. Any chance of a glass of water?’

‘Sorry, water’s off. Burst main half a mile away.’

Tiff hid her frustration. This kid was not going to let them speak to his mother alone for even a minute.

‘Had James received any strange phone calls or visits?’ Penn asked.

‘Nothing while he was here,’ Logan answered.

‘Logan, I’d really like your mom to answer.’

Olivia shook her head before Logan stood up abruptly.

‘And I’d really like you both to leave. Mom is upset and grieving, and your presence is intrusive.’

Tiff looked to Olivia, but she said nothing and cast her gaze to the ground.

As they reached the front door, which Logan was holding open for them, Penn paused.

‘If your mom needs any help or support, we have people?—’

‘Mom is fine. She has everything she needs.’

Tiff swore as the door closed firmly in their faces.

‘What?’

‘I messed that up,’ she said.

‘Not really. As soon as you directed a question to his mom, he was looking for a reason to throw us out. Despite appearances, he’s uncomfortable with our presence and doesn’t like his opinion on James’s death questioned. Pretty sure he thinks we should have just accepted his word about the depression and left it well alone.’

So Penn had caught that too. But she still felt as though she’d messed it up.

‘But I’ve antagonised him now. He’s never going to let us back in that house.’

‘He probably wasn’t going to anyway, and to be honest, we have no cause to return. Let’s head back to the station and regroup.’