The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

65

September 2018

POLICE TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRA ROSE MULLIGAN

8 September 2018

Manton Police Station

In attendance:

DI Dominic McCoy

DCI Aisha Butt

DI McCoy:Good afternoon, Lexie.

Alexandra Mulligan:Good afternoon.

DM:So, we’ve just spoken with Mimi Rhodes and we’re aware that Scarlett Jacques is currently, apparently, on a boat somewhere, with her mother.

AM:Yes. At least as far as I know. From what she’s told me.

DM:And you were told to keep the details of this trip quiet because her mother was trying to escape from an abusive relationship with her husband?

AM:Yeah. That’s what she told me. She gave me her secret Instagram account and I’d check in every now and then to see if she’d posted anything. But there was never much info. Never anything to show where they were. Just pictures of the sea, really, with little captions about her mood. And then, a few weeks ago, Mimi came over. She was really upset, really stressed. And she told me about what she heard at Scarlett’s house, about Zach and Tallulah having a huge row, about Tallulah telling Zach she was in love with Scarlett and Zach losing the plot and throwing the ring at her.

DM:And what else did she tell you about that night?

AM:Nothing. Just that.

DM:She didn’t tell you about what she heard through the kitchen door? What she heard Scarlett saying to Tallulah?

AM:[pauses]

AM:Well, yeah. Yes. She told me. Yes.

DM:And what did that make you think?

AM:It made me think that maybe Scarlett was involved somehow with what happened to those kids. To Zach and Tallulah. It made me think she was lying to me about them being on the boat to escape her father. And I know I should have brought the ring in to the police and told you what Mimi had told me. But I just … I had this big trip coming up to Florida, it was all booked and paid for and really complicated, five different hotels and all that, and I didn’t want to risk getting involved in a police investigation and having to cancel it. I thought about giving the ring to my mum and asking her to bring it in after I’d gone. But I just thought it might have repercussions for her job? I didn’t want to involve her; her job is her life, her world. But then I didn’t want to wait until I got back, I wanted someone to work it all out without anyone ever having to tell anyone. And my mum had told me that the new head teacher’s wife was a detective writer and I’m a big reader so I ordered one of her books, just out of curiosity, and there was this bit in it where someone hides a clue in a flower bed with a cardboard sign next to it saying ‘Dig Here’. And I just thought, you know, that might work. So I took the ring the night before I flew to Florida, to bury it in the garden in the cottage, in a flower bed, like the clue had been buried in her book, but the back gate was padlocked, so I buried it just by the back gate, where I knew she would find it.

DM:And this boat, with Scarlett and her mother on it? Where is it exactly?

AM:I have no idea. But I can show you the photos on her Instagram. Maybe you can work it out from that?

DM:Yes. Please.

DM:For the recording, Lexie Mulligan is using her smartphone to locate the photographs.

AM:Here. This is the latest one. From a few days ago.

DM:For the recording, the photograph in question shows a foot against a cream vinyl surface, the prow of a boat or a yacht, a dog’s paw.

DM:We need to get forensics to examine this account. Right now.

DM:So, Lexie. For the recording, I am showing Miss Mulligan item number DP7694, the metal lever found buried in the flower bed at Maypole House. Lexie, can you tell us what this object is?

AM:I have no idea.

DM:You’ve never seen this object before?

AM:No, never.

DM:Lexie, we’ve analysed the second sign and compared it to a photograph of the first sign. They match exactly. It’s the same handwriting. It seems unlikely, doesn’t it, that two separate people with the same handwriting would have the idea to bury two objects in the school grounds within a few weeks of each other? So maybe you have a theory you might like to share with us about how this object ended up where it did?

AM:Honestly. I swear. It was definitely me who buried the ring. That was my handwriting; I made that sign. But the second one was nothing to do with me. I promise.

DM:Another thing that’s bothering me, Lexie. You claim to have seen the sign in the flower bed from your mother’s terrace. But there is no way that you would have been able to see the sign from, as you claimed at the time, the terrace of that apartment in the accommodation block. It’s set far too low down the building. So would you please tell us how you really saw the sign that night, if, as you’re telling us, you had nothing to do with placing it there.

AM:[sighs] I was in the garden.

DM:Near the flower bed?

AM:Yes. Near the flower bed.

DM:Planting the sign?

AM:No. Not planting the sign. I keep telling you. I did not put that sign there.

DM:So what were you doing in the garden?

AM:I was looking for someone.

DM:Who?

AM:Just one of the teachers. I saw her from the terrace and I came down to find her. And that’s when I saw the sign.

DM:So why did you say that you’d seen it from the terrace? Why didn’t you say you were in the garden at the time?

AM:I don’t know. I didn’t want to … I was protecting someone.

DM:Who?

AM:The teacher, she and I are … you know. We’ve been seeing each other. And she’s married. So it’s a bit … sensitive. I didn’t want to bring her into it. It just seemed easier to pretend I hadn’t been in the garden.

DM:Lexie. You should know that we found Zach Allister’s body in a tunnel beneath the Jacques house this morning. And this lever was designed to open the secret tunnel where his body was found.

AM:[audible intake of breath]

DM:Tallulah Murray’s mobile phone was also found in the tunnel.

AM:Oh my God.

DM:So, Lexie, really, if you know anything about this lever, if you have any idea how it ended up buried there, in the flower bed, so close to where you were meeting your friend or if you saw anyone else in the vicinity of the flower bed, now would be the time to tell us.

AM:[begins to cry] I don’t know. I swear. I didn’t put that sign there. I don’t know what that metal thing is and I don’t know how it ended up being buried there. I don’t know anything at all.