Girl A by Dan Scottow (easy books to read in english .TXT) 📕

the office, back to his desk. Again the chatter stopped as he approached. He sat, aware that all the attention was on him. He turned around.

‘I’m really sorry about your friend. I… I had no idea about the perfume. It was sent in. I had nothing to do with it.’

They glared at him, suspicion in their eyes. But nobody spoke. At least it had shut them up for a minute, Charlie thought, instantly regretting it. He sat in front of his computer and scrolled through his emails. He had a backlog to work through. He didn’t know where the time had gone this week.

One email caught his eye. It had been sent a few days earlier.

The subject line said Perfume and the sender’s name appeared as unknown.

Charlie’s head swam. A tiny vein in his temple pulsed and bulged, and more perspiration ran down the back of his neck, soaking into his collar. He glanced around nervously, as if people knew what he was looking at.

He clicked the email.

Hope Kitty liked the perfume.

* * *

Charlie looked about the office again. Then clicked delete on the message.

He was aware that what he was doing was wrong, but he was scared.

He emptied his deleted messages folder. He was sure this wouldn’t be enough if the police felt inclined to go through his computer, but he’d have to make sure it didn’t come to that.

He would try to charm them. He was usually able to get people on side. It was a skill he’d possessed since his teens. If it was a female detective, perhaps he could even flirt a little.

He stood and walked through the office to the toilets. Past the room full of eyes on him. He pushed the door, and it banged against the wall. He was burning up. Standing at a sink, he ran water into his hands, splashing it on his hot face. It trickled down, soothing his skin. Feeling suddenly dizzy and nauseous, he lowered himself to the ground, with the tap still running. He lay on his side, the cold tiles felt good against his body. He pressed his cheek into the surface, sighing as he did so. He didn’t care that it was a communal toilet floor. He needed it. Let them see. Let them laugh.

Charlie wasn’t sure how long he lay there, but eventually his phone beeped. He sat up and pulled it out of his trouser pocket.

A text. From an unknown number.

He opened it.

Kitty had a lucky escape. She still has her pretty face…

A second message appeared immediately on the screen.

For now.

41 June 1985, Perry Barr, Birmingham, England.

As Kitty’s eyes adjusted to the dark, she stood up and looked around the vast space she now found herself in. She couldn’t see Kieran, didn’t know where he had gone.

‘Kieran?’ she called out feebly.

No reply. Something dripped, echoing in a far corner. A noise to her right. Scurrying.

The interior of the old hotel was huge. Shafts of pale sunlight shone down through splits and gaps in the roof, illuminating areas, making others look darker.

The smell. Kitty didn’t know what it was. But it was unpleasant. She screwed up her face.

A lot of the internal walls had collapsed, reduced to piles of bricks, rubble, scattered around the floor. An old chandelier sat shattered a few feet from where she stood. She took a few steps into the darkness.

‘Kieran. I don’t like this. I’m going home.’

Still no reply. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something move quickly through a shaft of light. She turned, terrified.

‘Kieran?’

‘Kitty! Help me!’ A strange, scratchy voice, then a low gurgling noise.

She followed the sound through a dilapidated doorway. The next room was darker. She could hardly see anything. But in the middle, a dark shape lay on the floor.

The noise had ceased. Everything was quiet.

Kitty heard birds twittering outside in the sunshine and desperately wished she was out there with them. But rather than turn and run, she walked towards the mass. As she drew nearer and her eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, she realised it was Kieran. His eyes closed, hands by his side.

‘Kieran, this isn’t funny. What are you doing?’

He didn’t react. He lay deathly still. Kitty crouched, holding her breath, leaning over his body. She reached out her hand, touching his shoulder.

His arms shot up and grabbed her. She screamed.

Kieran sat up in fits of laughter.

‘You should have seen your face!’ he shouted in between hysterical cackles.

‘I hate you, Kieran! That wasn’t funny. I thought Bloody Mary had got you. You’re a pig!’

‘There is no Bloody Mary. I made that up. This place isn’t haunted. It’s cool. Don’t you think?’

Kieran stood up, dusting himself off, brushing gravel from the seat of his jeans.

Kitty did a slow three-hundred-and-sixty-degree rotation, taking in the space they were standing in.

‘I don’t like it,’ she said finally.

‘How come? It’s a fab place to play. We can make it our hideout. It can be our secret.’

‘But it smells funny.’

‘It’s only damp. You’ll get used to it. It’s the rats you should be more worried about.’

‘Rats?’ Kitty shivered, wrapping her arms around her bare shoulders.

Kieran slapped her back.

‘I’m kidding. It’s fine here. Relax, won’t you? Come on, come see this other room.’

Kieran grabbed Kitty’s hand and rushed to the other side of the space, dragging her behind him. There was a large archway, derelict like the rest of the structure. Three shallow steps led up into a huge cavernous space with a high ceiling. Huge domed skylights in the roof were covered in leaves and dirt. Dappled light filtered through in between.

‘I think this was the ballroom or something,’ Kieran said. Kitty looked around the space. To her left was an old staircase, leading up to a balcony. Kitty had never seen anything like it in her life. She ran to the steps, placing one foot onto the bottom. She climbed a couple, gripping what remained of the bannister.

Her leg went straight through the mouldy board, like it