Page 98 of The Guilty Girl

‘Where is she?’

‘In the sitting room.’

Sharon led them into the kitchen, still wearing her Disney pyjamas. Today Lottie thought the little girl was more like a big girl in child’s clothing.

Garda Lei was sitting at the table.

‘Did you get any sleep?’ Lottie asked.

‘A little.’

‘Detective Kirby needs a hand at the station.’ Seeing the fatigue in his eyes, she added, ‘If you want to catch a few hours’ rest first, that’s fine.’

‘It’s no bother.’

‘You’ll have to walk,’ Lottie said.

‘The fresh air will blow the cobwebs off. See you later, Shaz.’

Sharon gave him a slow wave and stood awkwardly, biting her lip.

Lottie said, ‘I wonder if I can take a look around Jake’s room?’

‘I should ask Mam, but I suppose it’s okay.’

‘I’ll be as quiet as a mouse. This is Martina. You can stay down here with her, or come up with me if you’d prefer?’

‘I’d like to go with you.’

Following the child up the stairs, Lottie felt her heart tug at the sight of Sharon’s thin little ankles. Such a torment that had been visited upon this family. It wasn’t fair.

Jake’s bedroom was no more than a box room. A large poster of a local band, the Blizzards, was pinned above the single bed. It covered most of the wall.

‘Dad liked them,’ Sharon said. ‘That’s why Jake has the poster and Dad’s T-shirts.’

Lottie checked out the bed. Plain blue cotton sheets. A three-legged wooden stool in place of a bedside cabinet, with a lamp, an empty Coke can and an opened packet of Haribos. The scuffed floorboards were littered with T-shirts. A pair of inside-out jeans lay on the bed.

‘Did Jake have a phone?’

‘Yeah. Mam says he has it glued to his hand.’

It’s in the bottom of the canal or burned in the car, Lottie thought. ‘Any laptop?’

‘Just his PlayStation. It’s connected to the telly in the sitting room and you’re not going in there to wake Mam.’

‘I won’t.’

The single wardrobe held very little clothing. A school uniform hung there, the shirt collar and underarms sweat-stained. Sharon went over and held the shirt to her nose.

‘It smells just like him. He sprayed himself in Lynx before he went out. I like Jake’s smell.’ She let the shirt drop back, lifeless on the hanger, and this broke Lottie’s heart a little bit more.

‘You loved your brother, didn’t you?’

Sharon sat on the bed, tongue stuck to the inside of her cheek, trying hard not to cry. She pulled the jeans onto her knee. ‘He was the best brother in the world.’

‘Did he buy you nice things? You know, for your birthday and Christmas?’

‘He had no money. He used to say, “We have nothing but we have each other.” He sometimes brought me home a bag of chips when he went out. And chicken nuggets if I begged him.’