Nicola Sanders

Do you think Chloe had anything to do with that?’ I bite my bottom lip. He thinks about it.

I don’t know, and that’s the truth. Do I think it’s possible? Yes. Do I think she killed her mother? I don’t know, but there are too many questions to rule it out.

But I’ll tell you something else. I saw Mr Atkinson and Chloe together once when I came to the house to speak to him for my article. He quickly sent her out of the room, but I saw the way she looked at him, and it was cold. Like she was dead inside. It gave me the shivers. Then I caught the look on Mr Atkinson’s face and believe me, Joanne, he was scared of her. That man was afraid of his eleven-year-old daughter.

He knows. He knows what she’s like, but he pretends he doesn’t. Or maybe he is so much in denial that he can’t bring himself to admit it. But one thing is suddenly very clear: he doesn’t want to provoke her.