"Mr and Mrs Webster?" The constable asked removing his hat and tucking it under his arm as he stepped further into the room.
"Yes," Sally said, releasing Sophie's hand from her grasp and turning to face the policeman properly.
"I'm P.C. Venables," the man introduced himself, stretching out a hand in Sally's direction as he neared the end of Sophie's bed.
Sally shook it reticently, throwing a puzzled look in Kevin's direction as he too rose from his seat.
"I was wondering if I might talk to you regarding your daughters' accident?" the Policeman asked, now offering his hand to Kevin in greeting.
"Of course," Kevin replied, shaking his hand firmly.
Constable Venables glanced around the rest of the faces in the room hesitantly.
"Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private?" he suggested, turning his attention back towards Sally. "There's a relative's room just outside that we could use."
"Why?" Kevin asked confused. "What's going on?"
"We've been given some information regarding the accident which I think might be best to discuss with you alone." P.C. Venables explained.
"What sort of information?" Rosie asked interestedly.
The policeman remained silent, his eyes searching Kevin and Sally's for a cue as to what he should do.
"Whatever it is that you've got to say," Sian said, her hand still wrapped tightly around her girlfriends. "You can say it here."
"Mr and Mrs Webster?" The constable questioned, waiting for their agreement.
"Go ahead," Kevin said after a moment of contemplation. "We'll only tell them later."
"Of course," P.C. Venables said in response. "Please," he prompted, gesturing Sally and Kevin back into their seats.
Sally and Kevin did as instructed whilst the policeman glanced briefly over the Sophie where she slept, his eyes taking in her injuries, a sad expression on his face.
"I'm sorry to disturb you during this difficult time," the constable apologised as though only just realising where they were, "but I spoke to Sophie's Pastor earlier this evening regarding the events leading up to the accident and needed to clarify a few things for our investigation."
"Did he tell you what happened?" Kevin asked, his hand subconsciously stroking the side of Sophie's cheek. "Was he there when…well, when she fell?"
"According to his statement," P.C. Venables explained. "Pastor Evans was on the roof with Sophie at the time."
The policeman paused for a moment to let this information sink in before continuing.
"He informs us that Sophie arrived at the church this evening inebriated," the constable went on. "He said that she seemed very distressed when he spoke to her."
He paused once more, trying to search for the most tactful way of asking his next question.
"Was Sophie having any problems at school or home recently which could account for her demeanour?" he questioned the group.
Sian turned her attention back to her girlfriend, thinking that it'd probably be easier to list the things that weren't troubling Sophie, instead of those that were.
Sally and Kevin shared a meaningful look.
"Actually," he began in explanation. "Things haven't exactly been easy for her these last couple of months."
Kevin looked towards Sally once more, silently asking for her approval to continue.
"You see, me and Sally," he carried on, gesturing to the older woman beside him with his free hand. "We're currently in the process of getting a divorce…"
"I see," the constable said reading between the lines.
"Well…it hasn't exactly been easy for her," Sally said. "Our marriage… it didn't end on the best of terms. There's been a lot of animosity between us you see, a lot of fighting…"
"She's been kind of caught up in the middle of it all," Kevin interjected. "I guess we didn't really know how much it had been affecting her."
"Sophie was kicked out of college last month for truanting," Sally added. "She's always been very academic…but…I think with everything that was going on at home, she was finding it difficult to concentrate."
"She'd never truanted before?" the constable asked.
"Not that I'm aware of?" Sally said uncertainly. "Before me and her dad separated she was always a model student. She never mentioned any problems…"
Sally turned to Sian who was watching the interaction from her position across the bed.
"Sian?" Sally asked the younger girl. "Did she ever mention anything to you?"
"No nothing," Sian admitted, "after Molly's funeral….well, she just kind of lost interest in college."
"Was Molly a friend of Sophie's?" P.C. Venables asked, pulling out his jotter and making a note of some of the information that he'd learnt throughout the course of their conversation.
"No," Sally said definitively, throwing a cutting look towards Kevin. "Just a neighbour of ours, that's all."
"She died in an accident just before Christmas," Kevin explained, ignoring the scathing look Sally was giving him for opening up the line of questioning further. "A tram crashed into the street where we live after an explosion….it was a pretty traumatic time for everyone involved."
"Was Sophie injured during this time?" the constable questioned.
"No," Sally answered, "but it was shortly afterwards that myself and Kevin separated."
"After you and your husband split," the man started, addressing Sally, "did you ever have any concerns about your daughter drinking?"
"What?" Sally asked taken aback by the question. "Why would I have any concerns? I mean, she's a teenager, but she's not really ever been that interested in alcohol before…ok…yes, there's been a few occasions when she's had a drink but…she's not a drunk."
"I didn't mean to offend you," the constable apologised. "It's just a line of enquiry that we need to follow up on because she'd been drinking tonight. We wanted to clarify whether it was normal for your daughter or whether something else triggered her behaviour tonight."
"Actually," Sian began nervously. "Sophie's been acting kind of weird when it comes to drinking recently."
"What do you mean?" Sally asked.
"I don't know really," Sian said, "it's probably nothing but I remember on New Year's Day…we'd been into town shopping and she'd managed to buy a bottle of cider. She asked me if I wanted some and I asked her what was going on with her. She kind of shrugged the question off and put it away but, it wasn't like her."
"In what way?" P.C. Venables asked.
"You know," Sian explained, "wanting a drink for no real reason…I've only ever seen her drink on special occasions before, you know, like her birthday and New Years' Eve."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sally asked a hint of anger in her voice. "Didn't you think it was important?"
"Not really," Sian replied. "Besides, you and Sophie had that fight not long afterwards and we went to stay at Eileen's. I'd forgotten about it until now."
"What did you fight about?" The policeman asked Sally.
"It was nothing really," Sally responded brushing the question aside. "Just a silly fight, that's all."
"Then you won't mind telling me what it was about," the constable pressed further.
"Well," Sally started embarrassment flooding her features. "You see…."
"Sophie's a lesbian," Rosie finished for her mum frustrated at the older women's difficulty in speaking up.
Rosie turned and gestured to Sian who was looking at the floor, Sally's reluctance to voice the truth about Sophie's sexuality wounding the blonde. Sian realised in that moment that, despite her words to the contrary, Sally was still uncomfortable about her relationship with Sophie.
"Sian is her girlfriend," Rosie continued, causing the younger girl to look up at the policeman. "Mum, sort of, walked in on them."
"You know what teenagers are like," Sally said uncomfortably.
"I do," P.C. Venables responded. "I have two teenagers at home."
He glanced at Sian when he asked his next question.
"What happened afterwards?" he asked her kindly.
"Well," Sian said, looking uncomfortably at Sally. "Sophie and her mum started arguing…"
"I told her that she was too young to…well, you know," Sally trailed off.
"Why did they go and stay at…" the constable searched through his jotter for the name Sian had mentioned earlier. "Eileen's, is it?"
"I don't know," Sally said sighing. "I think that we just needed some space from each other. Things got pretty heated…"
"You just said the fight was about nothing?" P.C. Venables asked.
"Well it was really," Sally replied.
"However, the girls didn't feel like they could come back to the house," he noted before turning to Sian. "Why was that?"
Sian threw a look at Sally before reluctantly answering, "Well, Sally kicked us out."
"Sian…." Sally protested. "It wasn't like that…"
"Yeah it was," Sian disagreed. "You told us to 'get out' after Sophie had bought up Kevin and Molly."
Sian turned to the policeman wanting to justify her girlfriends' actions, not realising that he didn't know all the details surrounding the Webster's separation.
"She only said it because she was mad though," Sian explained.
"What was she mad about?" The policeman questioned.
"Well, because Sally had said it was worse, you know, because she'd caught her with another woman." Sian answered.
"Mum!" Rosie said in surprise. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"I didn't mean it like that," Sally said trying to defend herself.
Sian turned back to look at her girlfriend. She rubbed the back of Sophie's hand gently with her thumb, uncomfortable discussing her problems, her past without being able to include her. It wasn't right to be talking about her, here, like this. It made Sian regret her desire to be present. She wished that she'd not said anything, instead letting Sally and Kevin talk to the constable alone.
"How else could it have been taken?" Rosie asked shocked. "Mum, they're in love…"
"Well, I don't see what this has got to do with anything, anyway," Sally debated interrupting her daughter. "It's got no bearing on what happened tonight, it's all in the past. We've moved on from that now…."
She paused for a moment before addressing P.C. Venables directly.
"Why do you want to know so much about it anyway?" she questioned him.
"We're trying to establish what Sophie's state of mind may have been tonight," he admitted. "What might have led her to turn up at the church?"
He paused momentarily before continuing.
"Why?" Kevin asked.
"The Pastor says that she hadn't been there for months before tonight," he informed them. "We're just finding it difficult to understand why she'd suddenly return there after all this time. Trying to ascertain what it was that had caused her to return to a church which, the Pastor admitted, 'had been less than welcoming when Sophie's sexuality became known to them."
Sian scoffed slightly at the policeman's remark.
"That's one way to put it," she muttered under her breath.
"What are you trying to suggest?" Kevin asked, finally fitting all the pieces together. "Are you saying Sophie did this to herself? That it wasn't an accident?"
"According to her Pastor, he followed Sophie up onto the roof after a confrontation that she'd had with the choir during their rehearsal." the policeman informed them. "He said that she was upset, that she appeared distraught and he'd found her standing on the ledge of the church roof."
"You're saying Sophie jumped?" Rosie asked in disbelief.
"She wouldn't do that…" Sian said quietly, sadly.
"The Pastor told us that he tried to talk her down but she wouldn't listen to him," the policeman elaborated. "He tried to grab her, but by the time he'd reached her it was too late."
P.C. Venables glanced around the room before admitting, "He said that everything happened quickly and he couldn't be sure whether she'd slipped or jumped. However, from what you've been saying, it seems as though your daughter has been through a lot in recent months…"
He left the insinuation hanging in the air between them all, and Sian watched over the faces of Sophie's family, reading their expressions, their questioning doubts about the girl that they knew, that they loved. They believed him, Sally and Kevin. Sian could see it in their eyes, in their shock. Only Rosie seemed to doubt his words, couldn't bring herself to find truth in them.
Sian looked back at her girlfriend and felt the sudden urge to climb into the bed beside her, to hug Sophie's body close to hers, to protect her from the accusations being cast her way. Sian would admit that Sophie had been depressed, that she'd been struggling, lost even, but, she wouldn't believe that she'd intended to do this to herself, she couldn't'. Sophie was a lot of things, but she wasn't selfish. She wouldn't put her family through something like this intentionally, she wasn't cruel.
The fact that her parents seemed to think that she could of done just proved what Sophie had been thinking the last few months, they really didn't know her at all.