Chapter Seventy-Five
"Your ex-husband claims he abused your daughter, Maya" one of the police officers began. They were interviewing her again.
"It's true, he did" Henrietta replied while putting her head down; not being able to look them in the eye.
She never once wanted to talk about this, it's been an awful few days. She felt like her past was being put on public display. In a way it was, the press will report this. The headline will be something like 'Man Kills Step-Nephew' and no doubt John's drinking problem will be to blame, resulting in Ethan being aquitted (even in death). His own mother Georgina will make sure he is portrayed in the fake image she had of him, a 'gentle giant who wouldn't hurt a fly'.
"Is that why you two wanted him dead?" the police officer questioned, trying to catch her out.
"I didn't want him dead...I'm not saying I didn't hate him but I didn't want to kill him" Henrietta told them.
"His girlfriend says you have been gunning for him for months"
"She's young and stupid, Officer...She dosesn't know what she's saying; he brainwashed her"
"Why didn't you tell us twenty-five years ago? If you knew he was a danger, you as a legal barrister would surely know the risks of letting somebody like that go. You looked after abused children all your life, Miss"
"Because he said if I told you then he would have ran away with her when she turned 16...He brainwashed Maya into thinking what they had was normal, so she would have done it. I know she would have"
"She had a baby didn't she, Miss? Why didn't you tell us after that? We could have done a test on the baby and seen he was the father"
"Alex...Alexander died on the day he were born, Sir"
"We could still have done a test" the police officer reminded her.
She understood why they had to talk to her in this manner however it still hurt. They were telling her things she already knew. They really didn't seem to believe her or John's story about Ethan, he's stayed clear of the law his entire life. He had no criminal record and he wasn't linked to any crimes at all.
"Excuse me for thinking of my grandson's funeral first and not what you can do, Sir!" Henrietta snapped.
"How do you know Ethan was guilty?" the second police officer chimed in. They were trying to put holes in her story.
"It was in her diary and he admitted it to me"
"That's intersting because John says you and him didn't have enough evidence and that's why you didn't come forward. If he so readily admitted it to you then I don't see why you would think we couldn't have broken him until he told us the truth"
"Maya begged me not to, I would have lost her if I did that"
"Really? So it's not because he threatened to run away with her. It was because she begged you not to?"
"It was both!"
"We will look into this diary, Miss but since both of them are dead. It will be rather difficult to prove your claims. You want to know what I think? I think you and John had a grudge against Ethan for years for whatever reason, maybe your daughter did tell you he abused her but you had a grudge against him and you both planned to murder him...It does explain why you stayed the night despite having no reason to"
"I stayed the night to get him away from Liam and his daughter Leanna"
"A good cover story, Miss. We spoke to Liam and Leanna, both of them claim you got them out of the house quite quickly and that John was behaving quite violently towards the deceased"
"He was goading John for years...Mocking him about what he did to his daughter"
"And he finally snapped, right? Now John doesn't come across as somebody who could hold his anger in for years. He does stick up for you a lot though, he already pleaded guilty but I don't know, I think you knew what he was doing, hence why you got Liam and Leanna out the house"
"No...That's not right, I stayed in because somebody needed to be there for Rosa while Liam and Leanna stayed at my house"
"Ethan seemed to be doing a very good job of looking after her on his own"
All this questioning was overwhelming her. They were trying to paint a picture that didn't exist. She didn't plan this murder and Ethan was guilty of the abuse however the police just didn't seem to believe it. The woman was close to tears by this point so they stopped the interview, one of them going up to get her a glass of water.
"I didn't plan the murder" Henrietta cried to the remaining officer.
"Okay, Miss. Don't upset yourself" the officer simply replied; he only cared for the facts. Not for her feelings.
Right now, the evidence wasn't looking in her favour.
...
"I don't think she's capable of doing something like that" Leanna told her father. Referring to Henrietta.
He didn't either, he's known her for years and never got any bad vibes from her. Though the Stepney family were rather good at keeping vile secrets. So Liam was in two minds about the whole thing. Though he was leaning towards her not being guilty of this, she just wasn't that type of person to do that. The man was reading through Maya's most recent diary from 2019 current and even in that, she mentioned Ethan. He would it best if he handed in all the diaries to the police, anything to help Henrietta's case.
"Maya really found me annoying" Liam managed to speak; getting distracted slightly.
"What?" Leanna asked.
"Sorry, I'm just reading through her old diary. She says I'm a fool and that she never should have married me. Also that she's nervous I will say something about Damian...I wish I did in hindsight" Liam paused slightly, giving a slight scoff as he read further on..."Now she's insulting Bernice" Liam added.
Making Leanna come over as she sat besides her father and looked at the diary herself.
"Wow...She really hated you both, does she even mention Alex in that though?" Leanna questioned in a sad tone of voice.
"She briefly does in the March entry section, saying how she misses him but it's best he's not in her care"
"Did she mention me or Noah?"
"No...I'm not just saying that because she wrote some disgusting things, she honestly has never mentioned either one of you"
"I bet she mentioned Jacob a lot though" Leanna replied; very surprised Maya never wrote about her or Noah.
"Yeah...She's mentioned Jacob, she's just saying how she feels sorry for him. Didn't stop her hurting him though, did it? In all seriousness though, we ought to take her diaries to the police station. It will prove Ethan did do something, I know it's only Maya's word but why would she write something in her diary if it wasn't true?"
"Good point"
"Poor Henrietta...She lived her whole life trying to help others and she gets this. Ethan and Maya really did get the last laugh on her but I'm going to try and stop this, she doesn't deserve it"
...
Jacob was on his way to Maya's grave with the things he brought for it. Though as he was approaching said grave, he noticed somebody already there. It was a young man, Damian to be precise. Maya's first victim, the eighteen year old was scribbling something on the grave and making marks on it. Trying to ruin it and this made Jacob give a loud...
"Oi!"
Making the lad jump slightly as he looked back. He recognised Jacob from the funeral, he stood up quickly. Her name has been marked with black ink and this made the younger lad angry. As he stormed over and pushed Damian away and the slightly older teenager didn't do anything to stop him.
"I'm really sorry" Damian nervously told him.
"You just go away and don't ever go near her grave again!"
"I understand, okay? Maya was important to me too, I just got mad at her and I know this isn't the right way to go about it but I don't know what else to do. She left me without a second thought and dumped me by text" Damian began to explain.
He truly was the only one who understood what Jacob was going through.
"You're lying and even if you aren't, so what" Jacob replied. Not thinking about the maths here.
"So what? That's all you got to say?"
"She's not here to defend herself, so why would I believe anything you say? How old are you? 21? 22?"
"18" Damian corrected him.
"You came to her funeral, didn't you? Making out you had some sort of thing with her, she never mentioned you! Okay, I was the only one, so take your sick little lies and go away! Leave her alone!"
"Of cause she didn't mention me...I was her secret"
"Just go away!" Jacob repeated, his voice sounding shaky.
He was rather upset to hear this lad talking about her the way he does. He truly believed he was 'special' to her and that she never done that before. That wasn't the truth though, she was a predator and so she only made him think that so he wouldn't tell. Make him feel sorry for her so he wouldn't think she was doing anything sinister.
"I know it's hard for you to hear but she did it to me too, made me think I was special. She just used me though...Like I'm sorry, the last thing I would want to do is badmouth Maya but you have to face facts about what she was" Damian further explained.
"Did she sleep with you?"
"No but that's only because she moved before I turned 16...She did do things to me though, things she shouldn't have done"
"In your head maybe...Now get lost!" Jacob hissed; pushing the lad back again.
Maya didn't go all the way with Damian, no but she did molest him. That was enough for Damian to understand she was a predator. Jacob however seemed to have thought because she didn't sleep with him then he's just lying about the whole thing.
"Open your eyes, Jacob! I was only fourteen when she started...I went with her to Scarborough when I was fifteen and I stayed in her bed, we didn't do anything but it was still wrong!" Damian shouted.
"She's not here to defend herself!"
"How old were you when you started going out with you?"
"None of your business!"
"She was a bad person, okay! And deep down, you know that. Mate, I understand how you're feeling. Maya made me feel special too and she made me feel like I was the only one she cared about" Damian paused slightly, he had to say things only Maya would tell him so he added...
"I know she tried to kiss her cousin at thirteen and her favourite movie was 'Prom Night'...How would I know those things if she didn't confide in me?"
This just made Jacob let tears fall down, he desperately tried to hide them. Damian stepped closer again. He felt very sorry for him, he knows exactly how he's feeling. He felt like that too for ages. Maya was his whole world at one point (or at least he thought she was). It took him a few years to grasp what she had done to him. He didn't even admit to himself he's been abused until recently.
"I miss her" Jacob admitted.
"I know you do...I did too once"
For the first time, Jacob didn't object. He knew he had to face the truth, he couldn't defend her anymore; he was exhausted of it. So he just sat down next to the grave and looked down, hiding his face.
...
TBC
