But, of course, she couldn’t hide forever.
It didn’t take a future, budding doctor to know that.
“Detective Jones is downstairs,” said Julie, some unknown amount of hours after Minnie had first climbed into her bed. Minnie’s heavy eyelids fluttered, and she squeezed herself tighter as if she could make herself disappear underneath the blankets. Her mother took a few more steps closer to the bed and knelt onto the carpet so that her eyes were level with hers. Her face was soft, calm. She smiled encouragingly.
“Come on, sweetheart,” she prompted gently.
Fresh tears squeezed from the corner of Minnie’s eyes.
“Am I…” she began, a croaky sob getting caught in the back of her throat, “am I going to prison?”
Julie paused. She reached out a hand and wiped away a tear from Minnie’s cheek with her thumb. “No. Not if you do the right thing.”
“What is the right thing?” Minnie whispered uncertainly. “Tell the truth?”
She watched her mother purse her lips together. “Just follow my lead.”
About ten minutes later, Minnie was sandwiched between her mother and father on the three-seater couch in the living room, clutching a mug of sweet, sugary tea in her hand. She could barely breathe; a hard, thick lump of nerves congealing in the back of her throat as she felt herself sweat beneath the hard stare of the police officers sitting opposite her.
Detective Jones chewed his lip. Another detective sat beside him, somebody that Minnie did not recognise. This one looked younger, a bit less intimidating.
“Minerva,” began Detective Jones, a small smile that he intended to be comforting dancing on his lips. “Your mother and I have talked at length about the situation.”
Minnie felt her chest tighten. Had her mother betrayed her? Confessed on her behalf? No… mother wouldn’t do that. Not when she’d just done so well in her GCSEs, surely?
“I understand you must be feeling very worried and very confused,” he continued, although the way his eyes gleamed made Minnie think that he couldn’t give a jot about her mental well-being. “But you are safe,” he said, with a confirming nod.
Henry took his daughter’s hand and squeezed it. “It’s going to be okay, love,” he told her. “You are the victim here.”
A breath of relief escaped Minnie. “Really?”
Detective Jones nodded, “yes. Don’t worry, Minerva. You aren’t in any trouble, okay?”
The teenager nodded, “they… they just came out of nowhere. We didn’t know what else to do. They were going to…” her cheeks flushed red as the hideous memories flashed through her mind.
“We understand that Mr. Garnet acted initially in self-defence,” the officer said in agreement.
Minnie’s bottom lip fell open. “What?”
Julie rested a hand on her daughter’s knee, “Ronnie was trying to protect you, wasn’t he?” she said calmly. “When he killed that man and knocked out the other?”
There were a million things that Minnie wanted to blurt out then, but somehow her brain was stuck. Confused, her lips opened and closed. Before she could talk, the detective was speaking again.
“Of course, the nature of the wounds, and the fact that the car was set alight after the attack…” he said, “that will require further investigation into Mr. Garnet’s mental state, however…”
“No,” Minnie cried frantically, “no, it wasn’t just him. It was both of us!”
Julie and the police officer exchanged doubtful looks.
“Minnie…”
The girl stood up, tears rolling down her cheeks. “They tried to rape me, so I stabbed the bastard to death. It was me!” she sobbed, screaming now. “It’s true! Ronnie was trying to protect me…”
“Minerva…”
“NO!” she screeched, suddenly hysterical. She clenched her hands into fists on either side of her whilst her cheeks burned hot and red. “It wasn’t Ronnie! I won’t let him take the wrap for this!”
“Minnie, calm down!” Henry stood up and took hold of his daughter by the shoulders; his voice was suddenly stern and hard. She quieted instantly, startled into silence by her father’s change of tone. She wasn’t used to it. As she blinked back at him, noiseless tears streaming down her cheeks, his expression quickly softened. “Ronnie has already been to the station and told them everything,” he said. “Look, sweetheart, I know you want to protect him, and you think you love him, but this is serious stuff. Stuff you don’t want to be getting yourself tangled up in for no reason…”
“Daddy, I do love him,” she whimpered, her lower lip wobbling as if she was just a little girl again. “And I don’t know what he’s said, but it’s not true. It was…”
The detective cut in. He cleared his throat, nodded to his colleague, and got to his feet. “Look, I can see Minerva is still clearly upset and traumatised,” he said, clearly disappointed. “We’re not getting anywhere. Perhaps consider some counselling? I’ll leave you some leaflets, and we’ll try again tomorrow, okay?”
Julie saw the officers out, whilst Minnie slumped back down onto the couch and buried her damp, tear-stained face into her hands. Her head stung, heavy and painful with the weight of the world spinning rapidly inside her skull.
Ronnie was taking the blame for everything. He was risking his own freedom for her, when had it not been for her murderous rampage, they would never have had to have burned the bodies. There’d be nothing to incriminate them at all. Of course, it would have taken a while to heal from the trauma of the attack, and of course, things wouldn’t be the same. How could they be after something like that? But at least they’d still be free. At least they’d still have all the hope, and the possibilities, and the future.
Minnie’s chest hurt, like a spear lodged inside her ribs.
If Ronnie went to prison or got a criminal record, everything would be spoiled.
Just like that.
All their hopes and dreams dashed.
Cruelly torn away from them.
And it wasn’t even their fault.
Rage churned her stomach. Roughly,
