Interviewer:DCI Olivia Bird (OB)
Interviewee:Maddy Carter (MC)
Date:November 1, 2025
Location:The Smuggler’s Inn
OB:Thank you for speaking to me on the record.
MC:No bother. Not exactly rushed off my feet am I.
OB:It’s nothing to worry about, we’re interviewing a lot of people in the village, so just standard procedure really. But, for the record, where were you yesterday morning when Eden Fox was last seen alive?
MC:Me? Blimey! Surely you don’t think I had something to do with it?
OB:Like I said, nothing to worry about. We’re asking everyone.
MC:Well, I was probably still in bed. From what I heard she jumped first thing, shortly after dawn. I don’t open the pub until midmorning. Pretty pointless opening at all this time of year, and pubs close late, so I have a lie-in most days.
OB:Did you go to Eden’s art exhibition the night before?
MC:Not on your nelly. I was working, but even if I hadn’t been, art isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Most folks went to the gallery that night for a free glass of warm white wine. I’ve got all the free drinks I could ever want right here.
OB:Tell me about Old Stu.
MC:Not much to tell. He likes his dogs, he likes to surf, he likes to walk along the coast path every morning at sunrise.
OB:How do you know that if you never get up early?
MC:I work behind the bar in a village pub. I know most things about most people.
OB:Do you know if Old Stu likes to make things up?
MC:The clue is in the name. He’s old. Sometimes his memory might play tricks on him. He gets confused. He doesn’t mean any harm.
OB:And your brother, where might he have been first thing yesterday morning?
MC:Why are you asking me? Why not just ask him?
OB:All routine questions and standard procedure.
MC:My brother is a hardworking, honest, decent man. And he was born to be a policeman.
OB:That’s debatable.
MC:Sorry?
OB:Your brother didn’t even show up for work today.
MC:Then there must be something wrong. That’s not like him.
OB:I’m just doing my job—
MC:You mean his job? That promotion should have been Carter’s. Why does Hope Falls need a senior detective from London? What happened here yesterday was just another suicide. Seems to me you just want to justify your existence by going around asking people questions that don’t need asking.
OB:There’s no need to get upset.
MC:Hope Falls is our home, always has been, always will be. Other folks come and go, but the people who live in this village stick together. My brother only has good things to say about you, he trusts you, thinks you can teach him a thing or two. Me, I’m not so sure.
