The Mute and the Liar

By

Victoria
Best

Copyright ©
Victoria Best
2
0
14

eBook Design by Rossendale Books:
www.rossendalebooks.co.uk

eBook ISBN: 
978-1-326-07384-8

All rights reserved, Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention and Pan American Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author. The author’s moral rights have been asserted.

This
is
a
work of fiction.
Names,
characters,
corporations,
institutions,
organisations,
events
or
locales
in
this
novel
are
either
the
product of
the
author’s
imagination or,
if
real,
used fictitiously.
Any
resemblance
to
actual
persons
(living
or
dead)
is
entirely
coincidental.

A Little Birdie Told Me (2012)

ISBN
978-1780033549

Crime:
Woman
claims
her
husband
stole
£1000
from
a
savings
account
she
set
up
for
her
baby.

Interesting
Details:
Woman
is
unemployed.
Husband
is
working
on
a
construction
site.
Neither
is
earning
much
money.
Baby
is
six
months
old.
The
relationship
has
been
rocky
for
a
while.

Alicia’s
Answer:
Woman
is
just trying
to
get
pity
from
her
family
and
friends.
She
is
a
desperate
attention-seeker,
fed
up
with
her
life,
and
has
created
a
scandal
to
get
everyone’s
sympathy,
and
hopefully
their
money
as
well.
The
money
she
claims
is
stolen
never
existed
in
the
first place.

Verdict:
WOMAN
IS
A
LIAR.

Outcome:
(Crime
officially
solved
by
Father
and
Jeremy
on
the
28
th
February)
I
was
right.

Note
to
self:
Remember
to
collect
history
homework
from
Mr E on
Thurs.
Psychologist’s
appointment
on
15
th
February.

*****

13
th
February
2011

Crime:
Man
found
stabbed
to
death
in
the
local park.

Interesting
Details:
A
neighbour
claims
he
saw
the
man
leaving
his
house
on
evening
in
question
with
someone
else.
Neighbour’s
sister
was
married
to
victim.
Neighbour
and
sister
come
from
a
very
religious
family.

Alicia’s
Answer:
Neighbour’s
family
disapproved
of
sister’s
marriage
to
victim,
who
followed
a
different
religion.
Victim
murdered
by
neighbour
because
he
disapproved
of
the
marriage
and
loved
his
sister
and
wanted
the
best
for
her.
He
thought
she
would
be
better
off without
her
husband.

Verdict:
NEIGHBOUR
IS
A
LIAR.

Outcome:
(Crime
officially
solved
by
Police
after
new
evidence
gathered
by
Crime
Investigation
Team
on
1
st
March)
I
was
right.

Note
to
self:
Remember
money
for
lunch
at
school
tomorrow.

*****

14
th
February
2011

Crime:
Woman approached
the
police
station
early
this
morning
and
demanded
to
be
put
in
prison
on
account
of
murdering
her
husband
of
fifteen
years.
She
handed
them
the
gun
she
said
she
used,
and
was
then
arrested.

Interesting
Details:
She
had
a
teenage
daughter.
She
was
described
as
a
kind,
good
woman
who
gave
to
charity
frequently,
had
many
friends
and
was
loved
by
all.
She
was
a
spokesperson
for
a
charity
helping
disabled
children.
Her
family
said
she
was
in
a
loving relationship. Her mother has stated that she did not think she was capable of murder, but did she
kill her
husband?

Alicia’s
Answer:

I
have
absolutely
no
idea.

*****

I
don’t
understand.
I’ve
always
been
good
at
this.
Solving
mysteries.
It’s
become
an
obsession.
I’ve
been
filling
in
notebooks
with
them
for
over
five
years.

My
father
is
a
Detective
Chief
Inspector.
He
mainly
deals
with
homicide,
but
he’s
good,
and
murders
don’t
happen
very
often
here
in
Elmview,
so
he
is
often
in
charge
of
other
serious
crime
investigations.
Maybe
that’s
where
my
obsession
comes
from.
Every
day,
the
moment
I
get
home
from
school,
I
scan
through
the
Internet
and
newspapers
for
any crimes
that
have
happened
recently and try to solve them on my own.

I
don’t
mean
to
sound
boastful,
but
I’m
good.
Honestly.
I
am
very
rarely
wrong,
and
if
I
am,
it’s
usually
because
of
the
lack
of
evidence
or
information
I
have been able
to
get.

This
is
the
first
time
that
a
case
has
ever
completely
thrown
me.
I
suppose
it’s
not
that
I
have
any
idea
what
happened
exactly,
or
the
forensic
evidence,
or
the
motives,
or
the
effects.
I’m
good
at
being
able
to
tell
exactly
what
happened,
and
the
reasons
why.
I
know
the
reason
why
I’m
struggling
with
this
mystery. But I’m not going
to
start
writing
about
that
right now.

You
know,
my
psychologist
told
me
I
should
keep
a
diary.
She
said
it
would
be
a
good
way
to
‘Express
my
feelings.’
So
maybe
I
will
give
it
a
go.

I
don't
think
I
will
last
long,
though.
I
hate
words.
They
are
so imprecise,
open
to
interpretations,
a
weak
attempt
at
communication.

What
I
like
are
numbers.
Equations
where
there
is
only
one
possible
answer,
and
if
you
just
think
with
the
right
logic,
use
the
right
methods,
and
suffer
through
a
fair
amount
of
trial
and
error,
you
know
you’re
eventually
going
to
find
the
right
answer.
I
suppose
that’s
why
I
like
playing
detective.
You
know
something
must
have
happened.
You
know
there
must
have
been
a
reason.
So
with
determination
and
logic, you’ll
solve the problem
eventually.