Page 140 of Stolen Ones

‘Is that why you killed her?’

Swift looked as though she was going to argue the point, but as a lawyer especially, she must have understood the futility of denial. Only moments ago, Kim had entered the room to find her with her hands around the throat of a little girl, doing exactly what Steven Harte had tried to admit to doing.

‘No, it wasn’t that I was angry. Once she stopped crying she was sweet and nice and…’

‘You were jealous?’

‘She was trying to take my place. I was the special one. I was the one he took care of, and I didn’t want to share.’

‘Did you strangle her?’

‘Yep,’ she said with not one ounce of emotion. ‘I waited for her to go to sleep, and I knew what to do. Robbie had done the same to me when I threatened to tell my teacher what he was doing to me. When he put his hands around my throat and squeezed, I felt as though I was going to die, so that’s how I did it.’

Despite the lack of emotion in Swift’s voice, Kim’s mind recoiled at the scene. A child on top of another child, squeezing the life out of her.

‘What happened next?’

‘Steven came and took her away. He didn’t speak to me, and it was the first time I saw him.’

‘He just disappeared with her body?’

Swift nodded.

‘And then there was Paula?’

‘Yeah, I didn’t like her for even a minute. She climbed up on to my bed. I told her I didn’t like to share. She said it was better than some of the foster homes she’d been in. I did her after three days.’

There was no remorse in her tone.

‘Kate, you were a child.’

She shrugged. ‘I wanted them gone.’

‘Was Helen the last?’

Swift nodded. ‘She fought me harder. I actually got a bruise on my arm from her fingers, and I had to use a pillow to finish her off.’

The emotionless recital of the facts was chilling Kim to the bone. Whatever had been instilled in Swift over the years hadn’t included a conscience.

‘When Steven came to get her, I told him I wasn’t going to stop doing it.’

‘And what happened?’

‘A couple of weeks later he came and got me and took me home.’

‘Home?’ Kim asked. Her home had been on the Hollytree Estate.

‘My new home, his house, and if I thought this was heaven, you should have seen my new room.’ Her eyes lit up. ‘A four-poster bed, all matching furniture, bigger television, games and toys and books.’

Kim realised that it was almost like the murders hadn’t happened.

‘That’s when Melody died and I became Kate.’

Kim wondered if she really had disassociated herself completely from the person who had killed three girls, or if she truly had no regrets for what she’d done.

‘Steven formally changed my name and sent me to private school as his orphaned niece.’

Now Kim understood why there was no trace of the Black Country accent. ‘And no one suspected anything?’