Nanowrimo Extract

This is actually chapter 2 and I’ve written it like a transcription of a police interview. It hasn’t been edited so please bear with any mistakes. Enjoy!

Chapter 2 from ‘A Terrible Beauty’

From the transcription of the Police Interview with Benedict Ashton

Case 410

Present – Detective Morris Franklin and Sergent Barry Moss, Benedict Ashton and Janet Blake (lawyer)

19^th August 2013 at 12 noon

Det. Morris – Mr Ashton you were acting as the guardian for Sharon Benson.

Mr Ashton – Yes.

Det. Morris – How long was she in your care?

Mr Ashton – In the beginning it was on and off but by the time she was eight she was with us full-time.

Det. Morris – Us?

Mr Ashton – Me and my wife, Maria.

Det. Morris – So you were her parents…

Mr Ashton – No! We were never her parents. I looked after the grounds and my wife the house. The child was just part of the estate.

Det. Morris – Like property.

Mr Ashton – No, I mean yes, I mean we were not her legal guardians.

Det. Morris – Yet she had your surname in the local school, the girl’s school.

Papers can be heard rustling.

Det. Morris – St. Non’s School for Girls.

Mr Ashton – Yes, but that was only for convenience.

Det. Morris – So she was known as Sharon Ashton, but she used the name of Ash.