Down By The River

Statement No. 003

The personal statement of Amirah Quill, Miss Anderson's step-sister, suspect number two.

"Miss Quill, I understand Miss Anderson was you step-sister?"

"That is correct, Officer."

"I'm sure her death must have been very hard on you."

Inaudible.

"We weren't close."

"I see."

Inaudible.

"Tell me, Miss Quill, what were you doing on the night your sister died?"

"Step-sister."

"Of course."

"I was doing homework, I had an essay due the next day."

Inaudible.

"Miss Quill, you have no alibi, no-one to support this. In fact, your step-mother denies having seen you on the night of the twentieth. Trust me, it will be easier if you just tell the truth."

"Okay. Okay, fine. I wasn't doing homework."

"Where were you?"

"The Creek, with a couple of friends. They'd left by the time Maeve showed up."

Inaudible.

"That girl was with her, Adara, she pushed her, and suddenly Maeve was on the floor, covered in blood, and the other girl was gone. Maeve wasn't dead though. Not like Adara thought. She got up a few minutes later. She was unsteady, rocking almost, I - never mind."

"Carry on, Miss Quill."

"I went to help her, and she snapped out at me. She told me how my mother was worthless, and my father was worse, and how we'd never be good enough for her family. It's stupid, I know. I mean, she'd lost a lot of blood, she was probably delirious.

"What did you do?"

"I - I slapped her. I wanted to hurt her. I really did. And then, when she fell back, and hit her head on the boulder again, I thought she deserved it. I waited for a couple of minutes. I couldn't believe she was dead. But she didn't get up. She was actually dead."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Quill."

"No, wait, officer, you don't understand. I murdered my step-sister. I murdered her. I killed Maeve Anderson."