Read Online If You Were Me by Sam Hepburn - Free Book Online Page B

you?’
    â€˜Yeah. We turned off the water and patched it up and we’re going back this morning to sort it properly.’
    He didn’t hang around after that and I was glad. I couldn’t face talking to him or anyone else, so I stayed in my room, hunched over the PlayStation, ignoring my phone. When Bernie Watts started calling, I turned it off.

ALIYA
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    T hey went over the same things again and again. The man getting angry, drumming the table, chewing his cheek and the woman stepping in, trying to keep him calm, insisting they just wanted my help. Then they’d leave me on my own in that grey, ugly room as if I was a criminal and come back a little later with more questions and cups of tea that were too weak or too strong and food that I didn’t want and couldn’t swallow. It went on like that for most of the day, until finally, at about eight o’clock in the evening, the woman came back alone.
    â€˜You must be tired, Aliya. Just a couple more questions, then you can go. Does your mother have a mobile phone?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Do you?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜How do you contact people?’
    â€˜I have no one to call. Just the doctor and sometimes the refugee centre. If Behrouz isn’t there, I use the telephone at the garage opposite our flats.’
    She frowned a little and wrote something down.
    â€˜Are you certain Behrouz had his new mobile with him when he left the flat?’
    â€˜My mother told me so, but I was not there. Why?’
    â€˜We didn’t find it on him, but it may have been destroyed in the explosion.’
    Along with Behrouz. I looked down and tried not to let the tears come.
    â€˜All right, that’s enough for tonight.’
    â€˜When can I see my brother?’
    â€˜We’ll let you know.’
    â€˜Can I speak with his doctors?’
    She looked away and shook her head, her mouth tight. ‘The hospital’s issuing regular press bulletins. As of thirty minutes ago, he was stable but still unconscious.’
    â€˜What is stable?’
    â€˜No better, no worse.’
    No worse. This was something to hold on to .
    She handed me a card. ‘If you remember anything that might be of help to us, please call me on this number. If we need to speak to you, we’ll contact you at the hotel.’
    â€˜Hotel?’
    â€˜You can’t go anywhere near Meadowview, not untilwe’ve finished searching your flat and the surrounding area.’
    I pushed away the thought of the gun and the phone in the Margaretta and looked down at the floor. ‘There is nothing in our flat, I promise.’ It wasn’t a lie. It just felt like one.
    â€˜Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Sahar. WPC Rennell will drive you to the hotel.’
    I stood up. She raised her finger. ‘Remember, if anyone contacts you, trying to get a message to Behrouz, you call me immediately.’
    A round-faced, pink-cheeked policewoman marched me down the hallway, her swinging hips rattling the keys and handcuffs on her belt. I was so empty and tired I could hardly keep up. The only thing keeping my legs moving was the need to get away from the grey walls, the endless questions and the sour smell of people shut up for too long in a stuffy room. We turned a corner. I saw swing doors with a glimmering green sign above them saying EXIT . WPC Rennell didn’t walk towards it. She turned left down some stairs that disappeared into darkness. I pulled back. She had been lying. She was going to lock me up!
    â€˜Where are you taking me?’
    â€˜Out the back way. The press have found out you’re here. Someone’s posted it on Twitter.’
    â€˜No!’ My throat tightened around the sound.
    â€˜It’s all right. Come on, quick, before the crowd gets any bigger.’
    She hurried me down the steps, through a door into a gloomy underground car park and guided me towards a small red car. It was old, with a