Daisies

Chapter Two

TWO

“Loneliness is the most terrible poverty”

-Mother Teresa of Calcutta

There was only a table with four uncomfortable chairs in the room Freddy was put into. There was a device on the table which he figured was a tape recorder, a camera in the corner and a mirror wall which he presumed was a two-way mirror and that there would be someone stood on the other side that could see him. He had been informed of the reasons behind the large number of police vehicles at the scene earlier – there had been a previous tip-off from a source they had within a drug gang. This source had informed the police that there was to be a drug heist at a secluded area along the coast, and the police had stationed themselves at various beach locations which could be considered secretive in the hope of catching the dealers. That also explained how they had all arrived so quickly – they were already in the area looking for any sign of trouble. The police had taken his phone to analyse the pictures and get as much information from them as possible and while this was being done, Freddy had been asked to wait in the interview room to wait for questioning.

Maggie had been taken to a different room after first having had the chance to be comforted by her father. The police had congratulated Freddy on being so brave, and protecting his daughter and had given Maggie a lollipop and sticker for being such a brave young girl. The room to which Maggie had been taken was much comfier than Freddy’s room. There were two comfy red sofas, a large blue armchair and a couple of coloured bean bags. There were stacking boxes piled neatly in one corner of the room with toys packed in categories inside. Next to the stacking boxes there was a blue plastic table with three red plastic chairs around the sides not pressed against the wall. On the table, against the wall, there was a paper tray with two sections – one filled with plain paper, the other with lined. There was a pen pot with coloured pencils and pens and a ruler lay next to it. There were pictures on the wall near the table that children had drawn. Maggie, typically, noticed that all of these were happy pictures depicting a reunited family or a child smiling next to a police man. None of them depicted the victims of crime or people feeling unhappy. Maggie supposed that was because no one wanted to look at unhappy pictures, much like people only took photos of happy times. It only ever seemed to be Maggie who took photos of things that looked sad, like the burnt out car she had seen on her way to school and the cat with three legs that often wandered onto the school playground.

A man in a very smart pinstripe suit knocked on the door of the interview room Freddy was in and entered before Freddy had a chance to respond. The smartly dressed stranger sat down in the chair next to him. “My name is Simon Macintosh”, the smartly dressed man stated, “I’m here as legal guidance for you”. When he Simon saw the look of astonishment on Freddy’s face he added, “Don’t worry. You aren’t charged for this”. Freddy breathed a sigh of relief.

“Freddy Samuels”, he said, holding out his hand to shake with Simon, “though I presume they already told you that”, he finished. The solicitor nodded and smiled encouragingly at Freddy.

“It would be my advice that you tell me what happened before you are interviewed. We have been given half an hour while the detectives look up your history. Anything dodgy that has happened in your past they will bring up. It’s their job. If you haven’t done anything wrong, which from what has been said I don’t think any one doubts, then you will be fine. But just in case, would you like to tell me what happened?” After Simon’s speech, silence fell for a moment while Freddy contemplated what the man had said. Would the police go back as far as his childhood? He had been given a warning when he had stolen some sweets from the local newsagents, and had had a lot of dealings with the police where he used to live, through no fault of his own.