"Miss Kennedy. Thank you for coming in at such short notice." Detective Bevin smiled at her. She was an attractive young woman. Nothing at all like the impression her records had left him with. "If you'll follow me, Detective Day is waiting in Interview Room Two.

Mercer pulled out the chair indicated and sat. "What's this all about? I've already given you a statement."

"Yes, Miss Kennedy. Mercer. Can I call you Mercer?" David Day looked up from the notes he had in front of him. She nodded so he continued, "We have some new evidence and wondered if you could help us a little more." He watched her fold her arms protectively across her body and hold her head defiantly in the air.

"I'll do my best," Mercer scoffed.

"We've called Legal Aid for you. They shouldn't be long and we need to read you your rights. It's a routine thing."

"Yes. I know. I don't need Legal Aid because I haven't done anything wrong." She flipped her hand at him. "Go ahead. Read me my rights."

The door opened as he began and a little dweeb of a man came into the room with his hand held out. "Hammel Turner. Legal Aide." He shook each person's hand, and then took his seat next to Mercer.

"I don't need you," she said looking down her nose at him.

Hammel shuffled on his seat and was about to stand up when Tim Bevin indicated he stay where he was. "You're here now. You may as well stay, Mr. Turner." He looked at Mercer. "If it's all the same to you, Miss Kennedy we'd prefer he stayed."

"Whatever." She flipped her hand again and waited until they finished reading her, her rights then she signed the paperwork.

"Mercer. Can you run through the events of the day Sally died for us again please?"

"It's all there in front of you. This is a waste of time because I'm just going to tell you the same things all over."

"That's okay, if you'll just humour us, Miss Kennedy." Detective Day cocked his head and smiled at her.

Mercer huffed. "Okay. It was a normal day up until Rohan Wayland came in with a bleeding nose. He'd gotten into a fight with someone over at that café. Sally was all over him. She had a big crush. God knows why because he's such a weirdo. She used to stir the shit out of him until he retaliated one day." Her hand shot to her mouth "Oh. I forgot about that."

"Can you tell us about it please?"

"May as well. It won't make any difference to Sally." Mercer looked at both men. She used to say things to him like, I bet you'd like to get your fingers into my vagina." Mercer chuckled when she saw the surprised look on their faces. "Oh. You're shocked. That wasn't the worst of what she'd say and do to him." She laughed again. "Anyway, one day she locked him in the office and was shoving him about because of Annie in the café. Sally pushed him too far. He grabbed her and shoved his hand between her thighs. He said is this what you mean? Something like that. I think he hurt her but she didn't actually say. Then he pushed her against the wall and told her to leave him alone." Mercer huffed. "It didn't work, because you couldn't tell Sally to leave someone or something alone. It just made her more determined."

Mercer lifted the glass of water beside her and took a sip. She put it down and continued, "Within a few weeks she was obsessed by him and tried to break up him and his girlfriend. She pretended Rohan was her boyfriend and he was trying to have an affair with Annie to use her for sex because she and Rohan had a fight. Could you believe that? I don't think Rohan would even be capable of having sex let alone have an affair." Mercer laughed again and luffed her hand in front of her. "It didn't work anyway. I'm not sure what happened. I don't think anything was said about it to be honest."

"Have you ever met Rohan Wayland before he started work at Sykes?"

"No."

David studied her face and moved on. "We've been told you and Sally had a fight the day she died. You threatened to cut her with your letter opener."

Fury contorted Mercer's face. "That bloody bitch, Penny Macy. What a fucking big mouth she has. I haven't said anything about her secret." She folded her arms across her chest and huffed. "I wasn't the only person Sally had a fight with that day. There was her landlord and Bill and Penny too."

"So, it's true? You did fight with her." David shifted on his chair and looked her in the eye.

"Yes, it's true. It was over her using me and using Bill." She looked from one to the other. "Yes. She was fucking me too." Mercer wiped a tear from her eye. "The only difference was, I loved her. She didn't care though. Sally Parks was a nymphomaniac. She'd fuck anyone if she could get something out of them, even that old ugly landlord of hers. Ugh." Mercer shivered. "What a horrible thought."

"Her landlord?" Detective Bevin scanned the paperwork in front of him. "Have we interviewed him?" He looked up at David Day.

"Yeah. I know the man." David leaned over and whispered in Tim's ear, "Can you get a team over there? I want his DNA." As Tim stood, David said for the benefit of the recording, "Detective Tim Bevin is leaving the room." He cleared his throat, and then looked over at Mercer. "Thanks for being so honest, Mercer. We really appreciate it."

The door opened. Tim Bevin took his seat again and said, "Detective Tim Bevin has entered the room." He met Detective Days' eyes and nodded.

David looked at his paperwork again. "Do you know of any goings on within the company as in people doing anything illegal?"

Mercer frowned. Was he hinting at her stealing the photocopy paper and staplers? Surely not, no way, ain't gonna put her hand up for it. She sat up straighter in her chair, folded her arms once more, and then shook her head.

David leaned forward on the desk. "Are you sure, Mercer?"

She jerked her head as if to nod, hesitated and thought some more. No loyalty had been shown to her. She sighed. "Penny Macy has a gambling problem and was stealing money from the company."

Now they were getting somewhere. David smiled. "How do you know this?"

"Sally told me."

"And how did Sally know?"

"I'm accounts receivable and Sally was accounts payable. Some weird invoices had been coming to her from a new chemical company we had started to use. They didn't seem right to her and she was looking into it." Mercer thought some more. "I'm not sure how far she'd got with it but her theory was that Penny was stealing from the company because of her gambling problem."

Mercer looked from one detective to the other and shrugged. "That was her theory anyway. I don't know if it's true. I'm just repeating what Sally told me."

"Did Miss Macy know this was Sally's theory?"

"I'm pretty sure, because it came up in the fight. Sally accused Penny of listening at doors and said something like, if she did the same as Penny, she wouldn't have to have sex with dirty old men for money. It was something like that."

This was good. Really good. David looked at his notes. "Have you ever met Rohan Wayland before he started work at Sykes?"

"No..." Mercer studied him hard.

"Are you sure?"

"He's not someone I could easily forget." Mercer frowned. "Not someone anyone could forget." She cocked her head and dropped her hands in her lap. "Why are you pushing that? I've already told you I haven't."

David tapped the paperwork in front of him. "We have your records here, Mercer." How was he going to approach this without causing her trauma? "From when you were a child."

Mercer's back stiffened. Bad Baby. You're not a Bad Baby. She squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled. You're not a Bad Baby any more. Mercer exhaled. Not anymore. She took in another breath, opened her eyes, and then looked straight into Detective Day's. "What's it got to do with any of this?"

"Your parents, Miss Kenne..."

"Were the worst parents a girl could ever have! I don't see them anymore and they don't want to see me. They can go to hell. Once Anton came along, they never had time for me so fuck them." She stiffened once more and looked straight at him.

"Not your adoptive parents, Mercer. I'm talking about your real parents."

"I don't remember them. They died when I was six." Mercer flicked her eyes to the floor and gasped. Bad Baby. Bad Baby.

"Mercer. I don't mean to upset you but we have to talk about this. I know you know they didn't die. I know you're in therapy. I've spoken a little to Doctor Starmer about this. She said you've made great progress and you'd be strong enough to handle what I have to ask you."

"I don't see what this has to do with Sally's death," Mercer whispered. "How is what they did to me relevant to Sally?"

"It's less to do with Sally and more to do with Rohan Wayland. I need you to tell me honestly if you have ever met Rohan Wayland before, maybe in a foster home, orphanage? You have similar backgrounds. If you've met him before maybe you think you have to protect him for this reason." David held her stare. "He's my prime suspect."

Wow that explains a lot. Mercer nodded. She looked from one detective to the other. "No. I have never met Rohan Wayland before and no, I am not protecting him."  

I wonder what Detective Day knows about Mercer's real parents?

Photo - istock photo