Beth didn’t move. Charlie barged past her and lifted the envelope from the windscreen, tearing it open. He pulled out its contents. Charlie stared down at his hands, eyes wide.
‘What the hell…’
‘What is it?’ Beth’s voice trembled.
Trying to make sense of what he was looking at, Charlie’s eyes darted about the page.
A smiling face. Somehow familiar.
It was too dark to read any of the smaller print, but thick black letters at the top stood out. This was all he needed to see.
And then it hit him. He knew that face. Those eyes.
Joining him at his side, Beth looked at the paper.
‘Is this you?’ Charlie asked slowly.
She didn’t reply.
‘Beth. Is this you?’
Beth looked down at the newspaper again. A pretty blonde girl, not much older than Daisy, beamed out from the page. Above the image in large capital letters, the stark headline.
SHE GOT AWAY WITH IT.
15 July, 1985, Perry Barr, Birmingham, England.
Kitty sat on a grown-up chair. Her feet didn’t reach the ground. She swung her legs back and forth as she glanced around the stark room, catching her reflection in a large mirror spanning almost one whole wall. Her mother, who sat next to her, across from the policeman, wouldn’t look at her.
She was upset. Kitty could tell. That was okay. She could cope with her mother being angry. But her father…
Another lady, who’d been introduced as Mrs Whitehouse, sat next to her on the other side. Kitty wasn’t sure who she was. She’d already asked Kitty all sorts of questions about what happened to Billy. She’d told Kitty what to say, and more importantly, what not to say.
‘Kitty, I need you to tell me the truth, okay? Do you understand how important this is?’
Kitty looked at her mother, but her mother stared straight ahead. Mrs Whitehouse nodded, and Kitty did the same.
The policeman spoke again.
‘For the benefit of the tape, Kitty Briscoe is nodding. Kitty, you must speak up, okay. Do you understand?’
‘Yes,’ Kitty replied firmly.
‘Kitty, do you know why you’re here?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you tell me why you think you are here?’
Mrs Whitehouse gave Kitty another nod.
‘Because something bad happened to that little boy.’
‘That’s right. Now, do you know what happened to the little boy, Billy Noakes?’
Kitty shook her head. Tears welled up in her eyes. ‘No.’
‘Now you said you would tell the truth, didn’t you, Kitty?’
‘I am!’
‘I don’t think you are. You were at the summer fair in the park that night, weren’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And can you tell me who you were there with please, Kitty?’
‘Kieran. Kieran Taylor. He lives on the posh estate.’
‘Okay. And what did you and Kieran do at the fair?’
There was a long pause. Kitty laced her fingers and fidgeted with them, staring down at the tabletop.
‘Kitty?’
She bit her lip, but still refused to speak.
‘Kitty, did you and Kieran take Billy away from the fair?’
Kitty nodded.
‘Yes.’
‘Right. And why did you do that?’
Kitty stared at her hands as she wrung one over the top of the other.
‘Kieran wanted to play with him. He said it would be okay.’
Her mother let out a quiet sob and put her hand to her mouth. Kitty looked at her, but Mrs Briscoe wouldn’t look at her daughter.
‘Okay, Kitty, so how did you lure Billy away from his mother?’
‘She was talking to another lady at the candyfloss stand. She had her back to him. Kieran made me do it. I didn’t want to do it, but he said the boy would come to me. I waved until Billy saw me. I had this lollipop. Kieran stole it from one of the stalls, it was a big, bright colourful one with circles. I showed it to Billy… offered it to him from across the way.’
‘And then what did you do?’
‘I called him over. His mum wasn’t paying any attention. He came over easy. I didn’t have to try very hard.’
‘Then what happened?’
‘Kieran and me, we took him.’
‘Where did you take him, Kitty?’
‘Into the woods.’
‘Why did you do that?’
‘Kieran said he knew a cool place where we could play.’
‘Can you remember where that was?’
‘The old hotel. The one that had the fire.’
‘And you took Billy there?’
‘Yes.’
‘Was Billy happy to go with you?’
Kitty looked down at the table again.
‘Kitty?’
‘At first, yes.’
‘What do you mean at first?’
‘He was okay cos he had the lollipop. But as we got further away, he started to get upset. He was crying for his mummy.’
‘And then what happened?’
‘Kieran was telling him to shut up. To stop crying, but he wouldn’t.’
‘You didn’t think at that point that maybe you should take him back to his mother?’
Kitty shrugged.
‘You thought it was okay that he was upset? A little boy? He was two. You thought that was okay?’
‘No.’
‘So why didn’t you? Why didn’t you take him back to his mum?’
Kitty looked at Mrs Whitehouse for reassurance. She nodded.
‘I was scared.’
‘Scared of what, Kitty.’
‘Kieran. I was scared of Kieran. He’s much bigger than me. And he’s strong. He hurts me sometimes. I have to do what he tells me.’
Kitty’s mother sobbed uncontrollably beside her. She held her hand over her mouth to stifle the noise.
‘Do you want to take a break?’ the policeman asked her mother. She shook her head.
‘And then what happened, Kitty?’ the policeman continued.
‘Kieran walloped him. Really hard.’
16
Charlie stared at his wife. She was looking straight at him. He couldn’t read her expression in the dim light. But he thought she looked hurt.
‘Of course it’s not me, Charlie.’
‘It bloody well looks like you.’ He waved the page of the newspaper at her.
‘It’s a little blonde girl. It could be anyone… but I’m telling you that is not me.’
Charlie stomped towards the driver’s side door, unlocked it and climbed in.
‘Can we get in the car, please? Before Derek and Anna hear us and come out.’
Beth opened her door and got into the passenger seat. She didn’t look at Charlie.
‘Beth, I need you to be honest with me.’
She snatched the newspaper from him, looking down at it. He watched her intently as she read the page.
‘I remember this case.
