Page 107 of Stolen Ones

Alex reached into her pocket and showed Noelle the top of the phone.

The woman’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘You’ve got a decent phone and you’re gonna let that lowlife use it?’

‘She has muscle,’ Alex said, even though Titch would never touch her.

She forced fear onto her face. ‘I can’t say any more. If Titch finds out I’ve said anything…’

‘But when and how is she getting the phone?’

‘I can’t say any more or…’

‘Hang on. Don’t you work alone in the library on a Thursday afternoon?’

Alex shifted her eyes to the door and back again. Just enough times for Noelle to think she’d worked it out all on her own. She bit her bottom lip for added effect.

‘Okay, enough said,’ Noelle offered with a smile on her face before she turned and walked out of the cell.

The smile wasn’t as big as the one on Alex’s face once she’d left. So far that was two for two and, right now, there was not one drop of blood on her very clean hands.

Sixty-Five

Harte and his lawyer were sitting side by side in silence. Kate Swift was busy scribbling on a notepad. Whether she was writing notes about Harte’s case or a shopping list for a trip to Sainsbury’s, Kim had no idea.

‘Thank you for joining us, Inspector,’ Harte said.

‘You’ve very welcome. We have been a little busy sightseeing some local beauty spots, but we’ll come to that later. I’ll hand over to Bryant for the formalities.’

She opened the folder she’d been carrying. It had been bolstered with plain sheets of paper to make it appear they had more information than they did.

‘Thick folder you have there,’ Harte commented with an amused glint in his eye, once Bryant was done.

‘It’s building, Mr Harte, it’s building.’

She stopped at the page that had her notes and then leaned across them. Harte had controlled enough of this process.

‘Mr Harte, did you know that Jenson Butler was a sex offender?’

He appeared unperturbed by the question.

‘My client doesn’t have to answer that,’ Swift offered.

Kim waited to see if he would interject. He didn’t.

‘Did Mr Butler solicit your advice way back at university about a situation he found himself in?’

‘My client doesn’t have to answer that.’

Kim kept her gaze on Harte. ‘Did Jenson Butler admit to you that he’d slept with a thirteen-year-old girl?’

‘My client doesn’t have to—’

‘I know that, Ms Swift, but I do have a question that I really would like him to answer.’

‘Go ahead,’ Harte said.

‘Why have you suddenly lost your voice since your solicitor arrived?’

‘Is that a serious question, Inspector?’ he asked.