Chapter Four

       I sat in the interview room of the station house, on the most uncomfortable chair imaginable. The atmosphere in the room was even more unsettling. Sergeant Andrews and Scott – sorry, Officer Clark – sat opposite me. Andrew’s expression was blank, making her impossible to read. Scott, on the other hand, eyed me with the same disdain he always did. He had never liked me seeing his brother, all because Dayna had rejected him in high school; that was somehow my fault. Whenever i would go to their house for family dinners, he would go out of his way to make me feel unwelcome. Apparently, he extended this same attitude to his place of work as well.

        Finally, Andrews cleared her throat and broke the silence. “You’re not in any trouble Blair. I just wanted to go over the events of the disappearance with you. We still have no leads on where she could be.”

Four days you’ve been missing and they’re only just calling me in for this? Idiots. I shouldn’t blame them of course; it’s not as if murder is a common occurrence they’d be experienced dealing with in Kirkleithen.

       I nodded. “Of course, fire away.”

       Andrews glanced towards the mirror on the wall, and I wondered if it was a two way one like in the movies. “Ok, Blair. Could you tell us exactly what you were doing that night?”
       “Of course. Dayna and I went for a drink at the bar. Sean and a couple of his friends were there and it got a little mental.”
       Andrews arched an eyebrow. “Could you explain what you mean by “mental”?”

       I shuffled in my chair, aware of Scott’s eyes boring in on me from across the table.  “There was… some drugs involved.”

       Andrews’ pursed her lips and shook her head. “Drugs? Where did those drugs come from?”

       Scott interjected. “I think I can answer that. Dayna brought the drugs, didn’t she?”

       Andrews’ shot him a cold stare. “Scott, can we let Blair answer the questions please.”

He grunted before leaning back into his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

       “He’s right,” I mumbled, avoiding her gaze. “Dayna brought the drugs with her.”

       “Did Dayna do drugs often?” Andrews’ leaned forward, her eyes widening, “Could she have been in trouble with a dealer?”

       I shook my head. “No. Some model friend gives her them. It’s not as if she’s some kind of junkie or that. She just takes them on nights out.”

       “So you took drugs. What happened after?”

       “Honestly, I don’t remember a lot after. We partied, I stumbled home to bed and when I woke up the next morning she was missing.”

Scott shook his head and rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

       Andrews’ tapped her pen off the table before locking eyes with me. “It’s come to our attention that there was an altercation with Dayna and Patrick Laird. Is this true?”

A smirk spread across Scott’s lips. Sean must have told his brother all about it already. Goddamit Sean, now it looks like I was withholding evidence.

I took a swig from the lukewarm coffee Andrews’ had served me when I arrived and shrugged.

       She dropped the pen on the table and let out an angered sigh. “Blair. If you are not honest with me then how do you expect me to find her? Who was she fighting with? Do you realise the longer she is missing the more likely she is to turn up dead?”

I clutched my fist tight around the handle of the mug. I realised more than any of these idiots how shit a job they were doing at finding her. I knew how the majority of these cases turned out. I also knew that if Dayna was still alive, she’d murder me for tarring her image with what I was about to tell Andrews’.

       I swallowed a lump in my throat before surrendering. “Dayna was seeing Patrick Laird behind Hannah’s back. They went off together last night, then Hannah turned up and it all kicked off.”

       “Was there violence?”

       “Nah, not violence really. Hannah was just raging. Called Dayna all the names under the sun while that creep Patrick stood back and said nothing. Dayna chucked them out and they left. Never saw them again after that.”

Scott arched an eyebrow. “You said you don’t remember much of the night, so how can you be sure you didn’t see them again?”      

I stared into my mug as if it held an answer. “I… uh… I guess I don’t.”

He spoke through a smug smile. “And how long has this affair being going on.”

       “I wouldn’t say it was an affair. It wasn’t like that.”

       Andrews’ scoffed. “Then what was it like?”

       “Patrick was forever messaging Dayna and putting it on her. Even after she moved away and he got engaged. Sometimes when she came home, they would get drunk and hook up. It wasn’t some big grand affair.”

       “That would be a motive for murder,” said Andrews, as if thinking aloud to herself.

       I began to tremble, slamming my coffee cup down on the table. “Why are you all speaking as if she’s already dead? Why is the whole fucking village so eager to speak about her in the past fucking tense?”

Andrews’ police sergeant façade faded, and for a moment, she was mums best friend again.

       She made her way around the table and placed a calming hand on my shoulder. “Blair sweetheart, I know this is hard for you. It’s just important we explore all avenues.”

       “You think you would know that. Aren’t you the murder expert around here?” Scott’s tone was mocking. I dug my fingernails into my palm to quell the anger.

       Andrew squeezed my shoulder. “Is there anything else you can remember from that night? Anything at all?”

I racked my brains, desperate for a glimpse of something. Maybe Dayna had told me she had found a new beau and was fucking off to the other side of the world on some grand holiday. She did that sometimes. Perhaps she was sitting on a yacht somewhere, unaware of the emotional shit storm she had kicked up back home. No. There’s no way Dayna would be doing something like that without her army of online followers to see.

The hazy memory of myself falling into the mud and ruining mums blouse flashed through my mind… was someone shouting? For a brief second I saw Dayna staring down at me, with a cold, blank stare.

        I shook the thought from my head. “That’s really all I can remember. The rest of the night is so hazy I can’t even remember how I got home.”

       Andrews’ pursed her lips and nodded. “Alright. And you’re sure there’s nothing else you can tell us that may help?”

       “No. Nothing.” I lied.

I would never betray Dayna like that. There was no way this had anything to do with her disappearance. It was in the past. She would never forgive me if I told them about her “cam girl” job. Or the men that used to pay for her.