‘What …?’ Lewis tries to scramble to his feet.
I fire the gun.
27
‘Why did you turn it off?’
‘You’re not saying anything. No point me recording silence.’
‘I’ve already repeated it twice.’
‘I know. And I’m sorry to have to ask you to go through it again. You’ve been so incredibly helpful.’
‘Wasn’t the recording on his phone clear enough for you?’
‘Loud and clear, ma’am. You have no idea how grateful I am to have it. But I need to hear the story from you, in your own words. I know you’ve already told Detective Gessinger, but—’
‘And then can I ring my family?’
‘Absolutely for sure. Don’t worry, they know you’re safe. I reached out to your husband myself.’
‘Can’t we do this after I’ve rung home? And slept? I’ve missed a whole night’s sleep.’
‘I have an idea: how about if you only tell me about the last part, for now? Then tomorrow we can talk properly, once you’re rested.’
‘Where’s Flora?’
‘Detective Gessinger’s with her now. She’s hanging in there. Her parents are on a plane, on their way over.’
‘And her children? She’s got four children!’
‘Mrs Leeson, please let us take care of everything. There’s nothing you need to concern yourself with. Trust me. We’ve got this.’
‘Okay.’
‘Now, I need you to tell me what happened. From the beginning.’
‘All right. I—’
‘Wait a second. Resuming the interview at 1100 hours. Detective Sophia Steel interviewing Mrs Elizabeth Leeson. All right, Mrs Leeson, I need to hear your account of how Mr Braid lost his life.’
‘He had a gun. He’d come to the house to kill me – he made that clear over and over again. Kept saying it. I don’t know about Flora. I didn’t think he was going to kill her – I think he might even have said he wasn’t – but then later he implied that maybe he would. It’s all in the recording, just listen to it.’
‘Go on. You’re doing great.’
‘He would have done it. He’d have killed both of us. I had no idea that my question would throw him in the way it did. I assumed—’
‘Wait, back up. You asked him a question while he was pointing the gun at you?’
‘I think … I’m trying to remember. I think he was facing away from me, pointing the gun at Flora, when I asked him why Thomas had been taken out of school. I assumed he knew that had happened, but he didn’t. He was shocked. We both saw it, me and Flora. Any second, he was going to kill us. We both knew it. When he turned round to say something to me, she ran at him and either grabbed him or shoved him, I don’t know which.’
‘And then?’
‘The gun fell out of his hand. Landed on the floor. Oh – he’d clicked it just before that happened, like people do when they’re about to shoot.’
‘What happened after the gun fell?’
‘I picked it up and started to back away towards the front door. I was thinking I could open it, run outside and scream for help. Lewis and Flora were both on the floor at that point. She’d landed on top of him. He was struggling to climb out from under her. Then he did, and he grabbed a knife from the block on the kitchen island. He started walking towards me, holding the knife like this – his hand was level with his head, in position to stab down.’
