Free Darkwater by Georgia Blain

Joe if he was all right, and to remind him that she was happy to sit with him while he was interviewed, if that was what he wanted.
    He was fine, he told her, doing little to hide the impatience in his voice. The door shut gently and the other policeman spoke: ‘Can you tell us a bit about Lyndon?’
    Joe was silent.
    From the hallway outside the kitchen, I heard Dee cough slightly, and I knew she too was listening in.
    â€˜Why?’ Joe eventually asked.
    â€˜We just want to know more about Amanda. It helps to understand how she died and why. And obviously her friends are a big part of that picture.’
    â€˜They weren’t really close.’
    Neither of the policemen said anything for a moment. Up in the darkness of the landing, Sammy squirmed in my arms. I put her down on the floor and watched as she nosed open Dee and Tom’s door with small insistent pushes.
    â€˜But he is part of the group?’
    Joe must have nodded.
    â€˜And so they obviously had some contact with each other.’
    Again, there was no verbal response from Joe.
    â€˜Did they like each other? Dislike each other? Do you think Lyndon had–’ and the policeman paused here, searching for the right phrase – ‘the hots for her?’
    I squirmed slightly, knowing Joe would have as well. There was nothing worse than adults trying to convince you that they speak your language.
    â€˜Not that I know of. But then he doesn’t tell me much any more.’
    â€˜And why’s that?’
    â€˜Don’t know. He’s gone kind of distant with all of us. Has been for a while. His life is...’ Joe paused for a moment. ‘But you’d know about his dad and his brother.’
    I thought back to the afternoon, only a few days ago, when I had seen them all down at the waterfront, and the way they had seemed uncomfortable with Lyndon. He had been angry. And they had been wary.
    â€˜We’ve been told there was something going on between Lyndon and Amanda.’
    Joe’s response was immediate. ‘No way.’ And then: ‘Who told you that?’
    Neither of the policemen answered.
    â€˜What makes you so certain there wasn’t anything between them?’ It was the younger policeman asking the questions now.
    â€˜We just would have known. I mean we all hung out together. There would have been no reason to hide it. And they never seemed – you know–’ now it was Joe searching for the appropriate word – ‘affectionate with each other.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Unless she started seeing him when she was with Stevie and she didn’t want him to know.’ His voice trailed off as he considered the possibility. ‘I mean, you just don’t know. You don’t ever really know anyone, I guess. She was Amanda, but who knows what she really thought or felt.’
    I stood up slowly as the policemen thanked Joe for his time. My legs were stiff from having kept them crossed, the pins and needles in the soles of my feet making me walk with a heavy lumbering stride that Dee heard.
    She called out from the bottom of the stairs: ‘I thought you had homework.’
    â€˜I thought you did too.’
    She wasn’t amused.
    My desk light was still on and my diary open at the entry I had begun before the police arrived. On the floor near the end of my bed was the skateboard Nicky had lent me. I nudged it out with my toe, letting it roll beneath my left foot as I opened my maths book and began the long list of equations set for us to complete over the weekend.

nine
    Fact: Kate didn’t know Amanda had been seeing Lyndon.
    Or at least that was what she told Joe, and I only know this because I heard Joe and Dee talking the morning after the police interview.
    Joe had called Kate that night. She’d been as surprised by the news as he was. And then she had backtracked, saying that it might have been possible, and that she’d begun to wonder