Page 103 of Don't Say A Word
‘Where is Holly?’ PC Michaels asks.
‘I’m here,’ Holly says, coming down the stairs.
‘Are you Holly Price?’ PC Michaels asks.
‘Yes.’
I bite my thumbnail. ‘She won’t let her come home.’
‘Can you come outside and have a chat with me? PC Watts will stay here with Mrs Price and Mrs George.’
‘It’s Ms,’ Teri says.
‘I don’t want to go outside,’ Holly says, sucking on the end of a lock of hair. ‘I want to stay here.’
‘Come outside, Holly,’ I say.
‘I don’t want to. I want to stay here with Teri.’
Teri beams.
‘Why don’t you want to go with your stepmother, Holly?’ PC Michaels asks.
‘Because I’m scared of her.’
‘But that’s ridi?—’
‘Why are you scared, Holly?’
She doesn’t reply. She looks at Teri.
‘What are you doing?’ I ask Holly.
Teri tilts her head at me. ‘Holly and I have had some very interesting conversations.’
I feel a wave of vertigo. ‘Like what?’
‘Like, why don’t you tell us where Max is?’ she says, then turns to the police officers. ‘Do you want to know where Max Price is?’
My heart skips a beat. I stare at Holly, but she’s looking at me coldly.
‘I don’t understand what’s happening,’ I whisper.
PC Michaels turns to me. ‘Where is your husband, Mrs Price?’
I can’t speak.
Teri jumps in. ‘You want to know where her husband is?’ she asks, smirking.
She knows. Oh, God. She knows. I can tell. But how? I look at her pleadingly. ‘Please don’t.’
‘He’s in their house, next door.’
The police officers turn to me. ‘Why didn’t you say so?’ PC Michaels asks.
Teri raises her chin. ‘Because he’s dead.’
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