Free The Silence (Dc Goodhew 4) by Alison Bruce Page A

landscape gardener, so they’ll be employed somewhere local. I’d rather wait until he gets home.’
    ‘No one’s told him yet?’
    ‘No, not yet,’ Charlotte replied. ‘I wanted to get Matt and Libby settled in first.’
    ‘Libby’s staying here?’
    Charlotte jerked her head in the direction of the front window and the cul-de-sac beyond. ‘Libby’s parents live at number 57, but she doesn’t want to go home.’
    Her eyes flickered as she seemed to read his expression – accurately as it turned out. ‘Matt and Libby aren’t in a relationship, if that’s what you’re thinking. They have separate issues to deal with, and both decided they’d take the opportunity to try living away from home.’
    ‘What kind of issues?’
    ‘Personal. Ask them if you like, but I just didn’t want you misconstruing anything from the outset.’
    It was then that Goodhew decided that he would speak to Libby first.

THIRTEEN
    Libby Brett reminded Goodhew of one of the characters in the game
Who Is It?
, with features that were neat and symmetrical. Her hair was cut into a jaw-length bob.
    Does your character have blue eyes?
    Yes.
    Fair hair?
    Yes.
    Dangly earrings?
    Yes.
    Then it must be Libby!
    Her full name was Elizabeth Dinah Brett and she’d be eighteen on her next birthday, though she could have passed for about fourteen if she’d wanted to. The earrings were little silver flowers, and were the only frivolous things about her appearance. She wore a blue cotton shirt that made her look as though she’d just removed her school tie.
    The note about her said she was studying accountancy ‘A’ level along with English, business studies and critical thinking. Her expression gave away very little so perhaps that was one of the entry requirements for identifying the future tax advisors amongst them.
    ‘She killed herself, didn’t she?’ Libby said.
    ‘It’s too early to say.’
    She gave a little snort, half disgust, half disrespect. ‘I thought you’d have made up your mind by now.’
    ‘No, it’s the pathologist who—’
    ‘Not
you
the individual, I mean
you
the police.’
    ‘What makes you think we decide on the outcome before we have the facts?’
    Her expression closed a little more. ‘I never said that.’
    He changed direction. ‘Do you think Shanie was depressed? Had something upset her?’
    ‘If I had to guess, I’d say that Shanie spent her whole school life as the nerdy kid in class. Probably wishing she got looks instead of brains.’
    Goodhew realized then that he had only seen one low-res photo of Shanie and apart from that, only had the time spent with the body to go on. As far as attractiveness went, neither had given him much of a clue.
    ‘A kid like that often ends up feeling embarrassed about their academic ability – like a tall person who stoops over time. And that’s why I don’t think she did it.’
    ‘Did what?’
    Libby’s eyebrows gave a little twitch, a hint that she thought he was missing the obvious. ‘That’s why,’ she explained patiently, ‘I don’t think she killed herself.’
    Goodhew ran back over her previous sentences. He’d obviously missed the point somewhere. ‘You’ll have to explain.’
    ‘Okay.’ Libby didn’t actually seem at all put out by his slowness to grasp her theory. ‘If you’ve spent your whole childhood feeling like a misfit, don’t you, kind of, get used to that being the norm?’
    Goodhew shrugged. ‘I’m not sure about that.’
    ‘If you woke up one day and suddenly everyone treated you like a different person to the one you’d been all your life, that would seem odd, wouldn’t it?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘Shanie was used to being the geeky, studious one. She wouldn’t have been surprised that we found her a pain in the backside at times, but we also made the effort to include her, and at the same time she is here doing a course that recognizes her ability. So this was probably the best time she’d ever had as a student. Now do