Abrielle

Annie's statement at the police's station

3rd May 1993 Extract from the statement of Mrs Anne Stonely, Submitted in evidence at the Coroner's Inquest.

Beth was fast asleep in her room. We always had our supper, Edward and I, after she had gone to bed. I called him to come and eat, but he didn't come, so I went to find him. There was nothing strange about this. He often became so absorbed in his work that he lost all track of time and place. I went to the studio. I hadn't been in there for ages. I didn't know he had begun to work in clay. As soon as I saw him, slumped like that against the model of a woman, I knew he was dead. His legs were trailing on the floor. Her arms were around him. It was almost as if she were holding him up. His head was thrown back. The woman's head had lolled forward. It was horrible. They were tangled up together. The worst thing of all was the hair. Her hair seemed to be filling his mouth. It almost looked as though he were eating it. I became hysterical. I knew who she was supposed to be. I recognized the long black hair. It was Abrielle. I ran out of the studio screaming and my neighbour heard me, and phoned the police and our family doctor, Dr Cooper.

Later, Dr Cooper told me what he had found. I can't understand it. Edward, it seems, had choked to death, even though they had no idea at all of what might have choked him. There was no sign at all of anyone else having been in the studio, although the floor was awash with water. No one knew where this had come from. Neither Dr Cooper nor the police could find any sign of a woman fashioned out of clay. They took me to the studio to show me, and I couldn't see her either. Not any more. Dr Cooper says I must have become hysterical when I discovered Edward lying there dead, and imagined the whole thing. I must have I hope that I did. Otherwise, what happened. and where is Abrielle is now, are too horrible even to think about.