O’Banyon stripped cellophane off a vending-machine sandwich and bit bread stained with mustard. ‘You’ll have to excuse me. Crazy shift, I’m famished.’

‘Shouldn’t I have a lawyer?’

‘You don’t have to say anything,’ O’Banyon explained. ‘Obviously, anything you choose to say in this room is being recorded and may be used as evidence.’

She licked mustard off fingertips, then pointed to a camera, up on the ceiling inside a heavy Plexiglas dome.

‘What’s your full name?’ O’Banyon began.

‘Charlie Luanne Croker.’

O’Banyon scratched something on a pad. ‘And you’re thirteen years old?’

Charlie reckoned O’Banyon was trying to ease her into talking by asking questions she had no reason not to answer. Charlie sat upright and tried to sound strong.

‘First off, I’ve already spoken to a lawyer and he told me to say nothing unless he’s present. Second, I’d like to report that the officer who arrested me kneed me in the face when I was already pinned with my arms behind my back.’

The cop chewed slow as she considered her response.

‘That’s a serious accusation,’ O’Banyon said finally. ‘It’s not my department, but I’ll pass that along and someone from internal affairs will speak to you as soon as they can. But let’s focus on the big picture here.’

O’Banyon dragged her chair forward, and locked fingers on the desktop. The cop’s orange nail varnish was the same shade as her stubbly hair, and Charlie thought it seemed fake: putting so much effort into a look that was supposed to show that you didn’t care.

‘Think of your situation like a ticking clock,’ O’Banyon said. ‘You’re in deep. You’re facing serious charges. But if you’re honest and you co-operate with us now, the sentence you end up with could be minimal.

‘And I’m not talking about a few months’ difference, Charlie. Play ball and the state attorney might let you plead down to a charge like assault with a deadly weapon and you’ll get two to five in juvenile detention.

‘But you try to be clever, the state attorney will get the bit between her teeth. Thirteen-year-olds can be tried as adults for murder or attempted murder in this state. That’s fifteen years in an adult prison, before you get a sniff at early release.’

Charlie folded her arms. I’m Buddha. Don’t react. Don’t make eye contact with this phoney punk.

‘Look,’ O’Banyon said, making a theatrical sigh as she leaned in, then lowering her voice for added drama. ‘You did something bad, but people will have a lot of sympathy. We all had crazy teenage crushes. When I was twelve, I fell in love with Todd Pendragon. Are you old enough to remember him?’

Charlie tutted and shook her head.