Page 90 of The Guilty Girl

The door opened another fraction and Lottie saw glitter sparkling on Sharon’s Disney princess pyjamas. It could be Belle or Elsa; she wasn’t sure which and it didn’t matter. She was about to destroy a little girl’s world.

‘Can we come in, Sharon? We’ll phone your mum.’ Lottie wondered at Liz leaving her daughter alone. Was it a regular occurrence? In normal circumstances she could report her to child services, but this was anything but normal.

‘Where’s Jake?’ Sharon opened the door fully, her face gleaming with hope as she peered around Lottie. ‘Did you bring him home?’

Lottie put an arm around the girl’s shoulders. ‘Why don’t we go inside? Garda Lei will contact your mum.’

Sharon resisted. ‘You’re going to tell us Jake’s dead. I know you are.’ With that, she screamed and fled up the stairs.

‘Phone her mother and get her back here quickly.’

‘Are you going upstairs?’ Lei asked dubiously.

‘I am.’

‘But what about … you know …’ He stalled as if unsure he was in any position to question a superior. ‘Think about child protection protocols.’

‘I don’t care, to be honest. That little girl is about to have her heart broken all over again. I need to comfort her.’

‘Again?’

‘You’re already aware her daddy died last year, and I know what that can do to a child. Get busy and find her mother.’

Lottie knocked on the open door and peered round. ‘Okay if I come in, Sharon?’

The girl was sitting in the middle of her bed, a pillow clutched to her chest, her head buried in the softness. Another princess adorned the duvet. Snow White this time.

‘Can I sit beside you?’

‘Don’t care,’ she sobbed.

Lottie sat on the end of the bed, thinking how Boyd would be better able for this. He had a way with kids that she hadn’t, even though she was the mother of three, and up until a few weeks ago, Boyd had believed he was the father of none. Manifesting his calm and soothing spirit, she reached out her hand and laid it on Sharon’s tear-stained arm.

The child continued to sob. ‘Jake said he’d bring home chicken nuggets and chips for me, but he never came home and I promised not to tell Mam he’d gone out.’

‘It’s okay.’

‘It’s all my fault.’

‘No, it’s not. No one is blaming you for anything, Shaz.’ Lottie inched along the bed and raised the girl’s chin with her finger so that she could look into her tear-filled eyes. ‘Did Jake ever do anything like that before?’

‘He wouldn’t go off and leave me and not come back. He just wouldn’t.’

Lottie heard the front door open and slam. Voices downstairs.

‘Mam’s home.’ Sharon leapt off the bed and scuttled out the door.

By the time Lottie reached the kitchen, Liz was standing by the kettle, her hand smoothing Sharon’s hair, throwing dagger stares at Garda Lei. He was shifting from foot to foot, clearly at a loss in the situation.

‘Liz,’ Lottie said, ‘I think you should sit down for this.’

‘Don’t give me orders in my own house. The two of you shouldn’t be alone with a ten-year-old child. There must be rules against that. It’s not right.’

And you shouldn’t have left her alone, Lottie thought. Avoiding Garda Lei’s uncomfortable shuffling, she pinned the woman with her gaze.

‘I have news about Jake and I’d prefer it if you’d sit down. Garda Lei can make you a cup of tea.’

Dragging her daughter by the arm, Liz marched towards her. ‘I don’t want a fucking cup of tea. I want my son. Have you found him? Why aren’t you out looking for him like I was? I’ve tried his friends, scoured the town, but he’s nowhere to be found.’