Page 71 of Glasshouses

Her face sagged. “I don’t remember much apart from what I told you.”

“I’ll come back to that later. When was the last time you saw your mother, because I don’t believe that you haven’t seen her since the fire.” It was a stretch and half gut instinct, half trying to get in the mind of Amanda.

Lily paled, looking out of the window. “The lilac tree will need pruning; I need to add it to the list for September.”

“Did Amanda come to see you, Lily? Because I’ve seen some paperwork that makes me think she was trying to prove your innocence.” I didn’t look at the lilac.

Lily bit her lips together, her hands frozen in her lap. “I told you I haven’t seen my mother.”

“That’s the first time you’ve referred to her as your mother.”

She looked around the room.

“I think your mother found where you were working. It was a risk choosing to live back here and not changing your first name, almost like you wanted someone to find you. Lily’s Blooms isn’t the most subtle way to keep yourself hidden.”

“I deserved a chance to find who I was, detective.”

“But it was a beacon to anyone looking for you. And not moving away – why stay in the place where you’re most likely to be recognised? It would’ve been fairly easy for your mother to start looking for you, especially if you made it into gardening journals, which you have. A woman your age with the same name as her daughter, who loves gardening.” I carried on watching her, her eyes shifting, looking down to the floor, avoiding me.

“She found me. Once. I told her I didn’t want to see her again and she got upset.” Lily picked at the skin around her nails.

“Why didn’t you want to see her again?”

Her head lifted, chin up, defiance steel in every bone. “She didn’t ever look after me. Him – her husband – hated me and she never helped me. She’d just tell me what to do so I didn’t make him cross but he was always cross with me.”

“Did you make him cross, Lily? You got into a lot of trouble before the fire.”

“Because I wanted to be taken off them, to be so bad they had to get rid of me.” She now looked at me, her eyes vacant.

“And you succeeded, didn’t you? You were taken into hospital and your mother didn’t come to see you. How did that feel?”

“Good because I didn’t want to see her. I didn’t want to see her here either but she had to come and find me and tell me she was sorry. It was too late for that.” Her shoulders dropped. Something had passed.

“What did she say to you when she came to see you, Lily? I think she was trying to find out who started the fire that killed your dad and brothers because she didn’t believe it was you.” There was no other explanation for why those printouts had been there.

Lily gripped her thighs, pressing her palms down hard on them. “She told me she was sorry and she wanted me to tell her what had happened that night and who I was with.”

“And did you?”

“I was drunk that night, Detective. I don’t remember anything apart from running out of the house because it was on fire.” She was back in full control and I didn’t believe her.

“The medical report done after you were found contradicts that. There was no sign of alcohol in your system.” It had been overlooked, maybe on purpose. A fourteen-year-old girl being drunk and wild was easier to blame than a sober one. An explanation was offered straightaway, no need for any further digging.

“That must’ve been a mistake. I haven’t drunk alcohol since that night.” More nail picking.

“The blood test results said otherwise. No alcohol or drugs in your system. In court, the responding officer described you as presenting as intoxicated, but the only smell was petrol, which tied you to the scene. You didn’t defend yourself, so the jury assumed you were drunk - ”

“I was.” She said it too quietly. “And Amanda was just after compensation. She said that if a court found I’d been wrongfully convicted, I’d have been entitled to a ton of money. She said she had enough evidence to get the court to relook at the case.”

“Why weren’t you interested?”

“Because she was just in it for her own sake. She probably needed to give The Holding more money, I don’t know. She never bothered about me.” Lily stayed staring at the floor, frozen, wrapped in self-pity.

I opened my bag and pulled out the box, wrapped in an evidence bag.

“What’s that?” She sounded like I’d just pulled a gun out.

“A box we found in your mother’s garden shed at the house she was renting. Do you recognise it?”