Page 86 of Guilty Mothers
Olivia had finally raised her head, her eyes wide with shock.
‘I’m sorry, Olivia, but you’re going to have to come with us now,’ Penn said. ‘Logan can’t come with you. Do you understand?’
Olivia’s eyes rolled back in her head as she began to fall to the ground.
Penn was sure that before her body had given out, he’d seen one expression. It was the same look he’d seen on that little boy all those years ago.
He would swear he’d seen relief.
FIFTY-SIX
‘And how is she now?’ Kim asked, perching herself in front of the coffee machine.
‘The doc is with her at the minute,’ Penn said.
She glanced at the clock. ‘You know you’re getting nowhere near her tonight?’
It was almost seven and the doc wasn’t even finished. Olivia would need a meal and a rest before being questioned.
‘I know, but I don’t think it’ll do her any harm,’ Penn said.
‘You think she knows something?’ Kim checked. They weren’t in the habit of arresting people for no reason.
‘There’s something she’s not telling us, and Logan won’t give her the chance to speak. To be honest, boss, she’s terrified of him.’
‘What are you saying?’ Kim asked, folding her arms. This case was changing shape in front of her eyes.
Penn took a breath. ‘I think we may have a serious domestic violence situation between mother and son.’
Although rare, they all knew this happened. The signs were no different whatever the relationship.
‘She becomes smaller when he’s around, as though she’s trying to turn in on herself, shrivel up, make herself invisible. He doesn’t allow her to speak, and we’ve not managed one minute alone with her.’
Kim saw the glance between Penn and Tiff. ‘There’s more?’
‘I don’t think it’s just domestic violence. I think he’s been keeping her prisoner in the house.’
‘Penn, are you…?’
‘Logan unlocks the door every time. Always him. It takes him longer than it should, as though he’s setting the stage. I don’t think she has access to her own mobile phone; there’s no landline, and the neighbour hasn’t seen her outside the house in almost two years.’
‘Go on,’ Kim said, now understanding their suspicions.
‘When we arrived, Logan was apparently helping her back to the house, except that’s not how it looked initially. Looked more like he was strong-arming her back. And the story about posting a letter was rubbish.’
‘How so?’ Bryant asked.
‘No post-box within a half mile. She had no jacket, no brolly, she was wearing flip-flops and she had no house keys to let herself back in. Coincidentally it was bin day.’
‘You think she saw that as an opportunity to try and escape?’ Kim said.
Penn nodded his agreement.
‘Hang on,’ Bryant said. ‘If that’s true, why didn’t she say that when you turned up?’
‘Probably thought we wouldn’t believe her,’ Tiff offered. ‘If she had spoken out and we’d done nothing, what punishment would she have faced from Logan?’
‘What about the search?’ Stacey asked.