Girl A by Dan Scottow (ebooks online reader .TXT) 📗

his eyes darted around the room, took in the surroundings.

Everyone was looking.

‘Look what you’ve done, you stupid cow!’ he shouted.

‘I don’t care. I need to talk to you. I need to explain.’

‘There’s nothing to explain. And there’s nothing to say. You’re a child killer. And your name isn’t even Lucy!’ He walked away from her.

‘Glenn, I’m still the same girl I’ve been all summer. Please… can we go somewhere more… private, and talk about this?’ Kitty glanced nervously around the canteen, painfully aware that people were staring at them. ‘Nothing has changed,’ she pleaded.

Glenn spun around to face her, and she saw that familiar hatred in his eyes.

‘Yes it has,’ he spat. ‘Everything’s changed. Leave me alone. Don’t ever speak to me again, you hear me? Just fuck off.’ And he walked away.

There were a few sniggers. Some people whispered. Some simply looked at her, waiting for her to react, to cry, or run away. But she didn’t give them the satisfaction. She walked out of the canteen, her head held high. Over the years, she’d learned to put on a brave face.

With her rucksack slung over one shoulder, she headed home, away from yet another school.

A week later Kitty and her family moved, again.

32

The driveway was empty as Beth pulled up outside. She left her car door open, running towards the house. With a trembling hand, she slipped her key into the lock.

Stepping into the hallway, she half expected Cooper to come scurrying out from the kitchen.

And then she remembered.

‘Charlie?’ Beth shouted as she rushed through the corridor. ‘Daisy? Peter?’

Her shouts were met with an unfamiliar silence. It wasn’t often the house was quiet.

No dog barking. No kids arguing. No television.

Nothing.

She hurried up the stairs and along the landing, poking her head into each of the children’s rooms on the way. Empty.

She checked the bathroom, the door wide open. The whole place, still and quiet. Deserted.

A wave of panic shot through her. She ran into her own bedroom, throwing open the wardrobe. Some of Charlie’s suits and shirts were missing, the hangers dangling empty on the rail.

Down the stairs, Beth made her way into the kitchen. A crisp sheet of white paper lay on the island unit. A pen beside it. She picked it up. The writing was Charlie’s.

Beth,

I appreciate it must have been difficult telling me the truth after all these years. I thank you for finally being honest with me.

While I am grateful, and also aware that this is a stressful time for you, I can’t pretend I’m not hurt and angry. It’s a lot to take in.

It’s not the details that you have divulged, but the fact that you’ve been lying for so long that’s so painful. I feel that you have put our family, my children, at risk, and continued to do so by not coming clean when this situation first arose.

It’s clear that somebody is targeting you because of your past. It is also clear that our children are not safe around you. They may as well have targets on their backs while somebody is trying to hurt you.

I need time to think.

And I have to keep the kids out of harm’s way. That’s my primary concern now.

I implore you to talk to the police. It’s obvious this has got to a point where you are in danger. I am in two minds to tell them myself, but I feel it’s your decision. Please make the right one.

Stay safe.

Charlie

Beth stared at the note. The words swam around in her head, stinging like a paper cut in her brain. She screwed the sheet up into a ball, and dropped it on the floor, fishing her phone from her pocket. She hammered Charlie’s number into the keypad. He answered after a few rings.

‘Oh thank God, Charlie, I didn’t think you would pick up for a second there.’

‘I almost didn’t.’

‘Charlie, please, can we talk?’

‘There’s nothing to say. Everything I have to say for the time being is in the note.’

‘But I love you. And I love the kids.’

‘Then you’ll understand why I have to do this. It’s for the best. They’re not safe with you.’

Beth flinched, as she wondered if there was a double meaning in Charlie’s statement.

‘Where are you?’

The sound of Charlie’s heavy breathing was the only answer she received.

‘They’re my children too. I have a right to know where you have taken them!’

Eventually, a sigh.

‘We’re gonna stay at Derek’s rental for a while. It’s empty, and he said it’s fine for as long as I need it.’

‘Does he know?’

‘About you? Of course he doesn’t. You think I’d want to advertise… that?’ Charlie’s spiteful tone was painful.

Beth sat, her ear to the phone for a few moments.

‘When can I see the kids?’

‘Beth, I really don’t think it’s a good idea.’

‘Charlie, please–’

‘No. Not at the moment. If you go to the police, get them to sort out what’s happening, then we can discuss it. But for now, it’s not safe. Surely you understand that?’

Beth didn’t answer. She knew he was right, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She had never spent a day away from her Daisy. Peter was older, he had slept over at friends’ houses, stayed out at parties, but Daisy… she was Beth’s baby.

She was Beth’s world.

‘Oh, and if you find Peter’s phone in the house, can you let me know? He’s doing my head in going on about it.’

‘Okay.’

The line went dead before Beth could say any more.

She sank to the floor, her back against a kitchen cupboard. The phone clattered on the tiles as it slipped from her hand.

In all her years with Charlie, she’d never heard him sound like that. The fondness in his voice, his chirpy demeanour, absent.

Beth wondered if their relationship would recover. The worst part was that she couldn’t blame him. Everything he had said was true. She had lied, repeatedly, and put her family in danger to protect her own dirty little secret.

A thought struck her as she glanced down at her phone. Picking