《Instrumental》56 - Interview room one

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The next day they took a trip to Anne's house. The whole family was there for the explanation, Kelly was adamant she would have left Tanya to die, Pete felt he may have done the same.

"You did the right thing," Jane assured her, "the girl belongs in a white room with padded walls but letting her die would have weighed on your conscience like a brick."

"I'm just glad I had my new GoPro, she was telling everyone I pushed her! I really hope the footage comes out okay."Jo said, "The police asked me to get you to bring in the clips of her insulting us and the stuff from the ice rink. I was hoping you might be able to do that today to get it out the way?"

"Sure, we can go right after we finish our coffee. Anne, can you nip and copy it onto a USB stick?" Pete asked, pouring the girls another coffee.

"Thanks Pete." Susan said, accepting the refill. "I'm glad we have all this proof, I would hate for her to put this all on Jo. God, it would have ruined her chances with the scholarship."

"Yeah, at the time I just did it to placate Anne and get her to go back to school, I wasn't even convinced it was Tanya! To be honest I expected this to all blow over after that one incident.”

Pete took the girls to the police station with the promise of bowling afterwards, of course Kelly had invited herself and Anne had insisted on Abby coming so they were in what he called the mummy mobile for the extra seats. His wife of course called it her urban assault vehicle.

"So, you guys are sure you're okay bussing home after the bowling?" He asked, concerned that Jo had just had a traumatic experience.

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"Yes dad. It's fine, we take the bus every day!" Anne insisted.

"And this isn't an excuse for you to meet up with boys?" Susan made a tiny sputtering noise trying to keep her laughed in.

"Well, obviously not you two. I trust you for one thing." He eyed Abby in the rear view mirror, "Not so much the others, especially with Abby egging them on." He was only half joking.

Susan smiled at her friends, enjoying the inside joke.

"Yep, can't trust me with your daughters, I'm a corrupting influence!" Abby said proudly.

Pete only answered with a "Hmm" as he pulled into the police car park.

Surprisingly the officers from the previous night had just started their shift but they had to wait about ten minutes before they could see them, probably putting on uniforms and arranging paperwork and rooms.

"Hi," the officer started as she came through the door before noticing the crowd. "Oh, erm, you brought backup!" She laughed. "Well, if you don't mind them all being privy to the information we can probably all fit in the interview room if people don't mind standing. I have a laptop to get that footage from you."

She ushered them through into a small room with four chairs and a table. Anne and Jo sat down opposite the two police officers and the others stood behind them, Pete with a hand on Anne's shoulder in support.

"Okay, so I would like to start by showing you the footage from last night. It's actually really good, it shows exactly what happened." She turned her laptop around and pressed play.

The clip started a little way up the trail and you saw Jo's hands holding a compass and map pumping in rhythm. The head torch lit the scene well and as she came to the corner you clearly heard a voice cry 'Die bitch!' as a figure entered the camera's vision. The footage panned and shifted wildly and you could hear Jo's shoes skid on the gravel.

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"Now, we watched from the beginning so we know you didn't plan an ambush or any such nonsense, we slowed down the video." At this point she turned the laptop and brought up some still pictures. "You can make out the assailant's face here, and on this next one you see a flash of her falling as you turn back." There was a vague black shape and what could have been a hand.

"Anyway, we are happy that your version of events is correct. That being the case the assailant has changed her testimony." She took Anne's USB stick as she was talking. "I doubt you will like her new tack."

She started the files copying over before giving Jo her full attention. "She now claims she has been in love with you for years and seeing you with your new girlfriend caused her to snap."

"Oh for fuck sake!" Jo exclaimed, "Sorry. Sorry. Man that girl is a manipulative cow. What does she think is going to happen with that bullshit?"

"I shouldn't really comment but she's probably going for some psychiatric plea. Even though she is a few months off the eighteenth birthday and so will be tried as a juvenile, attempted murder is a very serious offence. She is likely looking at jail time." The officer explained.

They waited as they checked the footage off Anne's camera. "Now, we are not meant to encourage people using hidden cameras but this certainly does show that she was engaged in a prolonged harassment of you and your friends." She handed the USB stick back and fished Jo's camera from her pocket.

"We don't need to keep these, the digital footage is enough. Thank you for coming in. We’ll be in touch as the case progresses." She stood and made to let them out.

They filed out the door but as Jo was leaving she turned and asked "Before I go, how badly was she hurt? Will she recover?"

"She was quite lucky, broke both her legs, her pelvis and one of her lower vertebrae but they don't think she damaged her spinal column so she should be fine, eventually. She will be in traction for a while." The male offer replied.

"Good." Jo nodded and left the room.

When they reached the outside world Jo released a shuddering breath. "It's over. She's gone. Oh geez, what a relief. I don't think I realised how stressful having her torment us was." She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths turning her head to the sky. "Woo!" She whooped into the air, a huge smile coming onto her face. "Let's go bowling! Susan can show you how much she's improved. I suspect she's going to whoop your asses."

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