Girl A Dan Scottow (reading women .TXT) 📖

was… but I had people keeping an eye for me. I called in favours and I found out. So one day, Taylor booked himself a flight out of the UK. Never returned. It’s like he stopped existing.’

‘So he could be anywhere?’

‘I suppose. I’ve often wondered if he took his own life.’

Charlie stood up, slamming the hot tea down onto a side table.

‘How the hell was this allowed to happen?’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘Served his time. Did his eight measly years. He was free. If somebody wants to disappear enough, then they will do it.’

‘But he was dangerous!’

‘Was he?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘What makes you think Kieran Taylor was dangerous?’

‘He killed a little boy. Tortured him.’

‘Mmm-hm.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘What I mean, Mr Carter, is that I was never convinced Kieran was the main protagonist in this story.’

He watched, smiling as Charlie let that sink in.

‘The jury found him guilty,’ he continued. ‘They also found Kitty not guilty. I never agreed with that decision either.’

Simms coughed again, pulling a tissue out of his pocket. He filled it with something brown and lumpy from his mouth, tucking it away in his sleeve.

‘They saw a pretty little blonde girl with big blue eyes who looked ever so sad. She had them all wrapped around her finger.’

‘She was seven years old.’

‘Yes, and she was wise beyond it. She knew exactly what she was doing. I spent many, many hours interviewing that girl, and I never once got the impression she was an innocent party. Her lies never washed with me. But I was in the minority. My superiors thought I had a vendetta against her.’

‘Why were you so sure she was lying?’

‘I watched her. I talked to her. I felt it was all an act. When she was alone and she didn’t know we were looking, she didn’t show an ounce of emotion. Her demeanour was totally passive. Like she was… bored. But the moment people entered the room, her face changed. She was as cold and calculating as any killer I have met. And I’ve met many.’

Charlie fidgeted nervously with the hem of his jacket as he listened. Having a daughter of a similar age he struggled to see how it could be possible.

‘But she was so young,’ Charlie whispered.

‘Yes, and that’s how she got away with it. The jury couldn’t entertain the idea that she had been a willing participant in the murder. Done those terrible things to another kid.’

‘But you think she was?’

‘Oh yes. Absolutely.’

‘Why?’

‘Gut feeling. That little girl… she wasn’t right. I spent a lot of time with her. She was… well for want of a better word, terrifying.’

Simms sipped his tea and coughed again, spraying droplets of phlegm down his front.

‘How can a seven-year-old girl be terrifying?’ Charlie was incredulous.

Simms paused, considering the question. He looked Charlie straight in the face.

‘Her eyes. There was nothing there. No compassion. No sorrow. No fear. A psychopath in the making. I’ve not come across anyone else quite like her. And I hope I never do.’

Charlie smirked, thinking Simms was being melodramatic.

‘Do you know what actually killed Billy Noakes?’

Charlie stared at Simms, who didn’t give him a chance to reply.

‘Because I do. He was tortured and beaten, yes, but that didn’t kill him. They took their time with that boy. They ignored his cries and his pleading screams for his mother. They enjoyed it. What they did to him was… well, it was evil. There’s no other way to describe it. But what ultimately killed him… she took him up onto a balcony in that old hotel, about twenty feet high and she pushed him off. That boy had been traumatised beyond belief… what he must have gone through, nobody can imagine. And then she tossed him to his death. Like a piece of trash. He was… broken. We couldn’t let the parents identify the body. It would have been too harrowing for them. Had to rely on dental records.’

‘Why are you so sure it was her?’

‘We did some investigations at that hotel. It was dilapidated. The balcony was weak. We struggled to get any of our forensic team up onto that ledge. We had to use a cherry picker. The whole thing was so knackered, it wouldn’t support much weight. Kieran Taylor wasn’t a big lad by any stretch of the imagination, but he was much bigger than Kitty. We tried a sandbag the same weight as him on those floorboards and it went straight through. We tried a much lighter sandbag, around Kitty’s weight, taking into account the extra mass from a toddler and it held firm. There is no way Kieran could have gone up onto that mezzanine alone, never mind carrying a small child with him. No way at all. But Kitty… she could. She could easily have gone up there.’

Charlie sat back down on the sofa.

‘How come this wasn’t used in court?’

‘It was. But the defence solicitor, Beverly Whitehouse, piece of work she was… she put up a good argument. She knew her stuff. Convinced the jury that this theory was not rock solid, that it was simply hocus-pocus to convict an innocent child. They looked into those big baby blues and believed what you and every other person has chosen to believe. There’s no way that sweet, pretty little girl could have done what they’re accusing her of.’

They sat for a while, neither of them saying a word. Charlie couldn’t bring himself to speak. Simms seemed exhausted.

‘So you don’t know where either of them are now?’

‘I don’t. And I don’t care to know. That case has never escaped me. I haven’t been able to forgive myself… I didn’t do a good enough job to convict that girl. I will take that to my grave. But I have no desire to find either of those children. I dread to think what sort of adults they became.’

Charlie stood up, smoothing down the front of his jeans.

‘Right, well I guess we’re done here. I’ll let myself out.’

He turned and opened the