Forget Me Never

were, ‘We’ve spoken to Mr Anderson.’
    ‘Did you find him easily?’ I asked, trying not to show how eager I was.
    Perry nodded. ‘He was rather apologetic he hadn’t come to us before. He admits that he saw Danielle the weekend she died – in town and at the flat. According to him, they’d ended their relationship about a month previously. That morning in town had been the first time they’d seen each other since – hence Danielle’s reaction. He hadn’t known she was in Bournemouth until he’d seen her make an online status update referencing it.’
    ‘Right,’ I said. Suddenly I wasn’t liking Perry’s relaxed manner.
    ‘When he called the next day they went for a walk and a talk, and Mr Anderson admits that he may have upset Danielle. After twenty minutes they parted company, and Mr Anderson drove back to London. We’ve checked that story, and it’s watertight. He stopped to buy petrol on the M3 and we’ve seen the timed receipt for the transaction. The timing fits perfectly.’ He paused. ‘It means he was gone by the time Danielle died. At best he’s only indirectly involved with her death.’
    I stared at him.
    Perry continued. ‘I understand that your cousin seemed happy that weekend, but the facts still stand: she did have mood swings, she hadn’t been taking her medication, she suffered from depression and she’d split with her boyfriend. All this is painting a bit of a picture, wouldn’t you say?’
    Perry and Grace looked at me expectantly, as though awaiting me to congratulate them on their stellar detective work.
    ‘That’s it?’ I blurted. ‘Case closed?’
    ‘Sophie,’ Perry said, ‘I understand that this is upsetting. But you have to trust our judgement and let it go.’
    ‘This makes it Anderson’s fault though, doesn’t it? He’s the one who upset her that day – isn’t he going to get into trouble?’
    ‘He hasn’t committed a crime, Sophie,’ Julie said softly. ‘I think you have to accept the facts—’
    ‘No, I don’t.’ I stood, causing the chair legs to screech on the tiled floor. Julie laid a hand on my arm, but I shook her off. I didn’t care if I was being rude. It wasn’t as simple as Dani being depressed! I’d told them she wasn’t like that. And what about her going off the balcony backwards?
    My head was spinning. I needed to be alone. I thought someone, probably Julie, would stop me as I stormed out, but I heard Perry say, ‘Let her go; she’ll calm down.’ Patronizing git – all the time pretending he understood when he’d clearly thought I was crazy, just like my mum and cousin!
    As I mulled this over, sitting on the swing, I became even more convinced that Danielle hadn’t just killed herself over some man. She’d fought hard for everything she had – she wouldn’t throw it away like that! So what did this mean? That someone had been responsible for her death? It seemed mad, and I could hardly believe I was thinking it. But if it wasn’t suicide, and my gut instinct said it wasn’t, then it had to be murder.
    As the swing slowed down and the world became clearer I became aware that someone was on the swing beside me, not swinging, just sitting. A grown-up someone, who shouldn’t really be in the kiddies’ play area. A grown-up someone who was looking at me.
    ‘Sorry to butt in . . . but you’re Sophie, aren’t you?’
    It was Aiden Anderson.
    ‘It is Sophie, isn’t it?’ he said when I didn’t reply. ‘Dani’s young cousin?’
    He was wearing cargo trousers that stopped just below the knees, flip-flops and one of those silly over-tight T-shirts. I couldn’t see his eyes – he had expensive-looking sunglasses on – but his voice sounded gentle. Apologetic even.
    This is not happening, I thought. I closed my eyes and opened them again, but Aiden was still there.
    ‘Oh dear,’ he said. ‘Guess I shouldn’t have followed you.’
    I jumped off the swing. Aiden held up his hands, looking surprised.
    ‘Calm down! I didn’t mean it like that. I left my sunglasses in the police station when I was there earlier, and I was picking them up when I saw you go in – so I thought I’d wait and have a word. I knew who you were – you look so like Dani.’
    I took a step backwards. ‘Why would you want to speak to me?’
    ‘To tell you I’m sorry.’
    I felt a sharp pain in my chest, the kind you get when you suddenly realize you’ve got something wrong. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it certainly