Chapter 2
341 Words
2 Saturday 4 August, 10.46am.
‘No, please,’ I say, as my eyes scan the scene outside. ‘Not handcuffs. I’m not going anywhere.’
There’s a marked police car parked on the driveway, and the first thought to cross my mind is that I didn’t give them permission to park there.
‘Mrs Walker, do you understand what I just said to you?’
I blink a few times, trying to take it all in. ‘Uh, yes. No. You’re arresting me, but I don’t know what for.’
‘You’re being arrested on suspicion of the murder of Roger Walker,’ one of the officers says. Their voices are beginning to blend into one. I can’t tell which one’s which.
‘Roger?’ I whisper, my throat dry and my voice hoarse. ‘How can I have murdered him?’
‘It’ll all be gone through in an interview at the police station, Mrs Walker. Until then it’s best you don’t say anything more.’
I feel the handcuffs snap around my wrists. I didn’t even notice they were still trying to put them on me. I feel a small tug as I’m pulled towards the waiting police car.
‘I need to lock the door,’ I say.
‘Is there anyone else in the house?’
‘No. No, just me.’
‘Where’s the key?’
‘Inside the door. In the lock.’
My brain’s fighting between trying to make sense of what the police just told me, what’s now happening and somehow trying to focus on the mundane activity of getting my front door locked.
‘This is all some huge mistake,’ I say. ‘Roger’s not dead. He can’t be.’
‘Mrs Walker, I really must advise you to save it for the interview. You’re going to give us a hell of a lot of paperwork otherwise.’
My whole body feels numb as someone puts their hand on top of my head and guides me into the back of the police car. The door closes silently, the only sound being the pounding of the blood in my ears.
And that’s when it begins to sink in. Not fully, not properly, but the first grains of realisation hit me like an avalanche.
I’m under arrest for the murder of my father-in-law.
- Writer
