10

Daphne has been in the police station waiting room for almost half an hour. Clara - the night shift receptionist - told her to wait for Judy there.

When her phone rang, she hoped it would be Fred, but it was Larissa. She explained their mother's friend has been arrested and they're at the police station, she asked if she could come. Daphne pulled on her jogging bottoms and NYU hoodie over her pajamas. She drove as fast as she could through the snow and parked in the police station parking lot.

'Ms Blake.' Daphne looks to the top of the stairs to see Judy standing with her hands on her hips. 'Come with me.' Daphne quickly follows the Lieutenant, stepping up the stairs and walking hastily behind Judy's large strides. 'What's happened?' Daphne asks, 'Larissa called me, some guy was arrested?'

'Larissa wanted to call you, she wont' speak to anyone else.' Judy leads Daphne past the room from earlier today and through double doors to a long corridor. 'We brought Sabrina Shelby in for questioning this afternoon, we found various text messages on Mr Shelby's phone and we also brought a male in for questioning.' Judy explains.

She stops at a doors with a plaque that reads Family Room. Before Daphne can ask questions, Judy opens the door to the family room. Toys and books are scattered around the room and three children asleep under a bundle of blankets on a couch, Larissa is barely awake when she sees Daphne. She jumps off the armchair and runs to her, 'I knew you'd come.' She says as she flings her arms around Daphne. She holds Larissa tightly as if she were her sister.

'The kids woke up when the police came, they've been crying all night.' Larissa looks back at her siblings. Judy taps Daphne's shoulder, 'Can I have a word?' Larissa looks suspicious but Daphne agrees to speak with her and she leaves the room with Judy, closing the door behind them.

'I don't know why she wanted to call you.' Judy crosses her arms over her chest, 'Sabrina Shelby isn't speaking but she knows her children are being taken into emergency foster care. The man we arrested is Tony Harrison, a friend of Sabrina's. I haven't disclosed any information to Larissa, but we found some concerning messages between Sabrina and Tony.' Judy explains.

'Concerning how?' Daphne asks. Judy looks uncomfortable, she moves Daphne away from the door as if she thinks Larissa is listening on the other side. She speaks quietly, 'Based on the messages, we are assuming the two were having an affair, we examined the messages extracted from Steven Shelby's phone, one of the last messages he sent to Tony was a warning to stay away from his children.' Daphne raises an eyebrow and Judy continues, 'Several messages from Sabrina indicate that she might have been planning on moving Tony into her house.'

'And that would have upset Steven.' Daphne adds and Judy nods, 'This is all we have so far, aside from their prints on Steven's phone we don't have anything linking them to the murder.' Daphne breathes heavily, 'What can you do?'

Judy checks her watch, 'I've got twenty-two hours until I have to release them, so I need to find some evidence quickly. Larissa is the only one old enough to recount the night of her father's death. But unless we find some evidence against them or one of them confesses, there's not much I can do.'

'Has she asked for anything?' Daphne asks. Judy shakes her head, 'Not even her kids. Where are they? Who's with them? Just, "no comment".' Daphne rolls her eyes, 'What do you think?' Before the Lieutenant can answer, the door opens and Larissa peeks her head around the door. 'I want to speak to her.' She says.

'Larissa-'

'I want to speak to my Mom.' She replies sternly. Judy sighs, 'Let me see what I can do.' She walks away and Daphne and Larissa return to the family room. Larissa sees her siblings still sleeping, she doesn't want to wake them so returns to the armchair and curls herself into a ball. Daphne sits in the other chair. Larissa looks defeated, 'I don't know if she did it or not, I don't know what to think. What do you think?'

'I don't know.' Daphne replies honestly. 'Where's your partner?' Larissa asks. Daphne thinks Fred is probably asleep or lying awake. She wants to go to him, to comfort him, but she knows she can't leave Larissa. 'He's at home.' Daphne replies. 'Posie talked about him all the way home today.' Larissa smiles. Daphne admires how Fred has such a way with kids, or anyone for that matter.

'How do you know each other anyway? Is he your boyfriend?' Larissa asks. 'He's my best friend.'

'How long have you worked together?' Larissa asks curiously. Daphne wonders if this conversation will distract Larissa, even if it's just for a few minutes. 'We met at college back in 2012, he's never left my side since. We worked in a few places briefly before we started at The Washington Post about six years ago.' Daphne explains. 'Did you go to New York University?' Larissa points at Daphne's hoodie. 'Yeah, we did. Film and television production.'

'What made you choose that?' Larissa asks. 'I guess I always knew I wanted to work in television when I was a kid, my aunt let me watch The Exorcist with her when I was nine. But my dad is the CEO of Blake's Bubbles. He had a dinner party when I was a kid. I remember this one guy, the CEO of some science research company, my parent's hated it. He bragged about over working and under paying his staff and how he was getting his sons to work with him. He had a daughter but he didn't think highly of her or his wife.' Daphne explains.

'A couple of years later, he was in the news after a woman gave birth to her baby in the bathrooms at one of the research facilities. He said it is "company policy" that maternity leave starts on the due date. There are more people like him out there, and I wanted to be a part of exposing them and their corruption.' Daphne finishes.

'Is that what Fred wanted too?' Larissa asks. 'Freddy wanted to be a big-time director, he loves old movies, Laurel and Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin. His grandfather used to play old western movies for him when he was a kid.' Daphne explains, 'I don't know why he chose to stick with me and be my photographer.'

'Sounds like he dropped his dreams for you.' Larissa fidgets in the armchair. The door opens and Judy enters with a young woman. Larissa recognizes her and she sits up in the armchair, it's Madeline Bevor, her social worker. She is of average height with long dark hair and brown eyes. She is of slim build, wears a dark suit, and carries a briefcase. Her hair is neatly pulled into a ponytail and her face lightly made up. She pushes a pair of glasses to the bridge of her nose.

Another woman stands with Judy. She has long blonde hair and blue-grey eyes and wears a grey suit. 'Hello, Larissa.' She smiles sweetly and peeks at the three sleeping children on the couch. 'Hello.' Larissa replies. 'This is our family liaison officer, Julia Grayson, she's going to sit with the children until you return.' Judy says, 'We're allowing you to speak to your mother, in the company of Mrs Bevor.' Larissa rolls her eyes, 'Fine.' She climbs off the couch and hugs Daphne, whispering, 'Please don't leave yet.'

Larissa follows Judy through the station until they stop at a door that reads Interview Room 1 on a plaque above it. 'Larissa, before we go inside, I must remind you of a few things.' Madeline says. Larissa looks up at her impatiently. 'I will be sitting in with you, I won't be asking your mother any questions and can't stop you from asking questions. But you're under the age of eighteen so I can remove you from the interview if I feel it is necessary.' Madeline explains. 'Sure.' Larissa replies stonily. Madeline glances at the Lieutenant before she opens the door and leads Larissa inside.

It is a small white room with a long mirror on one side and a table in the middle, she sees her mother sitting there handcuffed to the table. She wears the same clothes as this morning but her mascara is smeared and her eyes are red from crying. Her face turns white when she sees Larissa who suddenly thinks she's made a mistake by wanting to speak to her.

'My name is Madeline Bevor, I'm your family's case worker.' Madeline says as she smiles at Sabrina who barely acknowledges her. Larissa sits next to Madeline opposite her mother. Sabrina stares blankly at her daughter.

'Mom.' She doesn't know what else she should say. She taps her foot on the floor as her mother stares at her. Larissa wonders what she is thinking. All this is happening because she turned the phone over to the police. Her mother must know that by now.

'What did you do to Daddy?'

Daphne, Judy, and Nelson watch from the viewing room behind the glass. A technician is controlling the panel so they can hear the conversation. Sabrina looks defeated, with dark circles under her eyes and her hair scruffy. Larissa glares at her Sabrina, 'Why did you do it, Mom?' Larissa is expecting her to deny it but knows her mother won't lie to her. She might keep secrets, but she can't lie to her daughter.

As an only child, Sabrina dreamed of having a big family. Larissa arrived days after her twenty-first birthday. All of her children are a dream come true, but her first five years of just her and Larissa were her best years. Despite all the tears, tantrums, arguments, and disagreements, Larissa has always been her first love. She was only trying to protect her. 'I could never be apart from my children.' Sabrina mumbles as a tear runs down her cheek.

'Is that why you killed him?' Larissa asks. 'I met your dad when I was young. I was pregnant with you at twenty, your dad was wonderful. But he was an addict. He told me he would stop, that he had stopped, and we argued all the time. But having children seemed to bring us closer together. He was arrested one night and I couldn't take it anymore, I found out I was pregnant with Posie when I filed for a divorce.'

Larissa lets her continue, not taking her eyes off her. 'It broke my heart to let you go with him, Posie was still a baby and I had to give her to him. I couldn't stop him from seeing you.' Sabrina weeps. 'I want to know what you did to him.' Larissa says. Sabrina is about to refuse but Larissa snaps, 'Tell me!'

Sabrina exhales shakily, 'I had to deal with the heartbreak when you came back from a visit, you wouldn't see him again in weeks and no contact was allowed. He was struggling to get a job and I had to support the five of us.'

'Grandpa and Nanna helped me where they could, and your dad finally got a job, he took you all to the fairground. I wanted so badly to take you there.' Sabrina sniffles, she wipes her nose on her sleeve.

'I allowed you to have a phone as you would soon be going into middle school, but then I found out you were texting him when he shouldn't be in contact outside of the visits. I was so angry with him. That night, I put the kids to bed, gave them some warm milk and when I knew you were all asleep, I used your phone to text him asking to meet in the park. He thought he was meeting you.'

Larissa feels tears stinging in her eyes.

'I called Tony, and we went to the park together. Steven was there. When he realized you weren't there, he was going to leave. It happened so quickly, Tony stabbed him twice then he grabbed my hand and dragged me back to the car.'

'I cleaned the knife and put it back in the drawer when I got home. I threw it out a couple of days later. I turned your phone off and threw it in the dumpster, I let you believe that the kids had gotten to it and broke it. I'm so sorry baby, I was trying to protect you!'

Larissa is sobbing and Madeline Bevor calls for the interview to come to an end and she escorts Larissa out of the interview room as Nelson swoops in and takes Sabrina away to be charged.

Judy and Detective Nelson interview Tony Harrison, he denies having any involvement in Steven Shelby's murder but admits to having an affair with Sabrina.

He explains that they had a fling in high school and went separate ways until he bumped into her in the supermarket with two of her children. They had been meeting up at a coffee shop a few times before moving to his apartment where they would spend hours together, intimately.

The police guess he was willing to help Sabrina out of jealousy, though he still denies involvement. The police are going to charge him.

Daphne looks up as Madeline Bevor carries a sleeping Posie down the stairs, followed by Larissa with her arms around Mickey and Lily. They look exhausted. But when Larissa looks up and sees Daphne, she runs to her and flings her arms around her.

She sobs on her shoulder and Daphne holds her tightly. 'I didn't want this to happen.' Larissa sobs, 'I didn't think it would be my mom. The kids are gonna be devastated.'

Some parents will go to extreme lengths for their children and some don't make the effort they should do. But Daphne knows something doesn't add up. She can't understand why someone would be so head over heels in love with someone that they would commit murder. He's denied involvement but Daphne knows he has something to do with it, even so Tony's involvement doesn't make sense.

'Larissa, I'm going to put the kids in the car, I'll give you a few minutes.' Madeline says. She leaves the police station in the company of an officer.

'Where are you going?' Daphne feels her tears escaping her eyes. 'Madeline has arranged for us to stay with a foster carer tonight, our grandparents are returning from vacation in Florida.' Larissa explains.

'Do they live far away?' Daphne asks. Larissa shakes her head, 'They live a few minutes from our home. I hope we get to go home for our stuff soon.'

Daphne thinks the police might be investigating the home soon, but she hopes the children will be allowed to get their belongings.

'Have you still got your phone?' Daphne asks. 'Yes.' Larissa nods. 'Call me if you need anything.' Daphne replies, seeing Madeline Bevor entering the police station.

Larissa hugs Daphne one more time before Madeline escorts her out of the station, she waves at Daphne as she leaves.

Daphne wonders where Judy could be. She returns to the viewing room and asks the technician who tells her that Judy might be witnessing Sabrina and Tony being charged.

He advises her to sit in the waiting room and he'll try and find someone to send her over.

Daphne takes a seat. Something doesn't add up, she taps her foot on the floor as she thinks.

She relays Sabrina's and Tony's interviews this evening but nothing stands out.

She thinks how the Shelby children have been dragged into this, how unfair life has been for them. She thinks about Larissa bringing Posie to the station earlier today. She can still hear Fred's laugh and how Posie looked at him with her huge green eyes and innocent smile.

Her heart almost stops as she thinks of Posie and her green eyes. Sabrina has blue eyes and Steven has brown eyes. Three of the children have either one of their parents' eye colors. Posie is the only one with green eyes.

She didn't see Tony face to face, only through the two-way mirror, but she couldn't make out the-

'Ms Blake?'

Daphne looks up to see Judy standing in the doorway, 'You wanted to speak to me?'

Daphne quickly gets to her feet, Judy looks surprised, 'What color eyes does Tony Harrison have?' Daphne asks.

Wondering if this is what she called for, Judy answers, 'Uh… Green? Yes. Why?'

Daphne suddenly feels thrown full speed into this whirlwind, 'You need to speak to Sabrina, she's left out some details.'

'What details?' Judy asks. 'I knew something didn't add up, but thinking about it, Steven has brown eyes, Sabrina has blue eyes and their children have either blue or brown eyes, but not the youngest.' Judy's eyes focus on Daphne, narrowing when she realizes what she's talking about, they might have discovered the true motive for Steven's murder.