The Silent Witness

The Silent Witness
Casey Watson

‘I’m so sorry, Casey,’ my link worker John said, sounding weary. ‘I know this is probably the worst time I could ring you, but we desperately need someone to take a child tonight.’It’s the night before Christmas when Casey and Mike get the call. A twelve year old girl, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her father is on a ventilator, fighting for his life, while her mother is currently on remand in prison. Despite claiming she attacked him in self-defence, she’s been charged with his attempted murder.The girl is called Bella, and she’s refusing to say anything. The trouble is that she is also the only witness…

(#u89468748-1129-5c6f-abfc-ea9afb434db5)

Copyright (#u89468748-1129-5c6f-abfc-ea9afb434db5)

This book is a work of non-fiction based on the author’s experiences. In order to protect privacy, names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed or reconstructed.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by HarperElement 2017

FIRST EDITION

© Casey Watson 2017

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cover image © Tanya Gramatikova/Arcangel Images (posed by model)

Cover layout © HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

Casey Watson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green)

Source ISBN: 9780008142643

Ebook Edition © June 2017 ISBN: 9780008142650

Version: 2017-11-22

Contents

Cover (#u12329fda-0393-5826-825d-42f969391190)

Title Page (#u5822c200-a02d-5089-bde1-e3844ef96aac)

Copyright (#u94bcf4a6-12e9-5677-ba98-6721487bf483)

Dedication (#ub67c1e55-2879-5eb1-9afa-468480135787)

Acknowledgements (#ud22c6c8d-5543-56c3-a426-2c96128873a5)

Chapter 1 (#u8ad90342-86f9-5131-abcc-0200d7fa8f00)

Chapter 2 (#uabe3c540-ffd6-59a1-a528-557c1472a1b6)

Chapter 3 (#ub457720e-c568-5863-95b3-e09017a8ffe1)

Chapter 4 (#ua6b24f37-b99d-56ef-8906-ea2072896c42)

Chapter 5 (#u730413cd-e1a6-5a0d-bb2e-438a168e4b1a)

Chapter 6 (#uef36c854-cfda-5ca9-98f2-938a9eaec1d7)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)