Prison Lives

Interview with Detective Beach

Bobby’s POV

The interviewing room is quite small, there is one small desk on the left hand side, close to the wall, the desk has 4 chairs around it, also close to the desk is a little table where a tape recorder sits, obviously used to record the interview. It is quite a dull light, there is a light to turn on, but they say that they don’t turn it on during the day. I sit opposite the interviewer: DetectiveBeach and her colleague PC Higgins.

DetectiveBeach is quite an attractive young lady; she has blonde wavy hair that has been put up in a ponytail, bright blue eyes, which stare right at me through the whole interview. PC Higgins is a man and he has black spiky hair and brown eyes, and most of the time, he is daydreaming, wishing he weren’t here. The feeling is mutual.

“Bobby, it is so important that you tell us nothing but the truth, do you understand me?” DetectiveBeach asks, I nod my head, that little statement- question was obvious, I was hardly going to lie, was I?

“Can you tell us about your relationship with Mia?”

I look straight at the wall, as I talk about mine and Mia’s relationship, because I still love her today and I find it really hard to talk about it.

“Mia and I were young… teenagers, not knowing what we were doing…. Just holding hands and hugging…. She seemed to want to impress me, a lot…. She’d do things, out of the ordinary, that weren’t her.”

“What sort of things she did, that you thought were extraordinary?”

“Well, she bought drugs off my supplier.”

“Did she take them?” 

“Well, she took some in front of me.”

“What happened to the rest of them?”

“I caught her throwing them away into a nearby bin, and I didn’t say anything to her, because I thought it would embarrass her, so I left her to do ‘out of control’ things.”

“Didn’t you ever express your concerns, by telling her, that you were concerned and you wanted her to stop?”

“No.”

“Did you know Mia’s parents, were you on good terms with them?”

“Yes, I knew them and they liked me, I think they were glad that Mia may have finally got some friends, other than Polly.”

“Who’s Polly?”

“Mia’s best friend in primary school, but she wasn’t a very nice girl.”

“In what way wasn’t she nice, Bobbie?”

“She was going through a tough time, her Mum was still in an abusive relationship with her Dad, and her Mum wanted a divorce, but her Dad didn’t to and I guess him… um…. Turned on Polly.”

“Right and how does this link in with her being nasty to Mia.”

“She would, take a lot of her anger out on Mia, and I guess, she became violent and so Mia expressed her concerns to her parents, who didn’t report it, but solely blamed it on the parents, so they told her to stay away from Polly and that is when Mia became friends with me.”

“How did you and Mia meet?”

“I was a new pupil at the school, and Mia guided me around and helped me in maths lessons, and I guess things hit off from there.”

“Were you part of a gang, when you joined the school?”

“Well, I had a group of friends that I hung around with.”

“Were you all the same age?”

“No, the oldest guy was 21 and the youngest was 11, a boy in the year below me.”

“Did you all attend the same school?”

“Not all of us, there were only a couple of us, but some had already left school and had jobs, others just went to college and some did nothing, they were either at home, or on the streets.”

“Can you remember any of their names?”

“The oldest guy was called… Luc… Lucas Collins.”

“Do you have any idea where he could be today?”

“No, I only remember him trying to patch things up with his ex- girlfriend Chantelle and try and be involved in his son Ashley’s life.”

“How old was Ashley, when you saw him and Lucas last.”

“Well it was the night of the murders and Ashley was 3. I remember because it was his 3rd birthday.”

“Did you see Lucas, Ashley and Chantelle, the night of the murders?”

“Well, we all went for a meal, at about 5:00 and it was for Ashley’s birthday, so yeah everyone was there, but Chantelle left with Ashley and I think Lucas went with her, at about 7:30.”

“You seem pretty certain of the timings, how can you still remember the timings?”

“I can remember it being 7:30 when they left, because it was the first time Mia ever kissed me.”

“Well how can you remember what time the meal started?”

“Chantelle, wanted to have the birthday meal at the exact time Ashley was born, and that was 5:00 in the evening on the 23rd September.”

“Ok, thank you, interview terminated at 9:15.” DetectiveBeach said as her and PC Higgins got up to leave the room.

That. Was. The. Longest. Hour. Of. My. Life.