Girl A

by Dan Scottow

  ‘Careful, it’s really unstable. If you move me too much, you’ll bring the whole thing down on top of us. Just leave me. Go make sure the kids are okay. I’m fine.’

  ‘But–’

  ‘Go, Beth!’

  The sound of a slow clap echoed around the space. Beth stood up quickly, pivoting.

  ‘How touching!’ a voice called out from the darkness.

  A figure walked slowly towards them from the shadows. A beam of light hit his face. Michael Noakes stood before them.

  ‘If only someone had shown this much compassion to my brother he might still be alive.’

  ‘Michael, you don’t have to do this. I understand you’re angry, and you want to hurt me, and that’s fine. But please… let my family go. They don’t deserve any of this.’

  Mikey frowned, continuing towards Beth.

  ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ Charlie shouted, his voice full of hatred.

  ‘Why don’t you ask your wife?’

  ‘Michael, please… don’t,’ Beth begged.

  ‘Oh that is beautiful, that right there. You pleading with me for mercy.’ Noakes laughed.

  ‘I will do whatever you want… I deserve it. But let my family go,’ Beth continued.

  ‘I don’t want to hurt them. If I’d wanted to do anything to your kids, I’d have done it when I spoke to your daughter in town that day… gave her the lollipop. I simply wanted to mess with you, flirt with you… seduce you. Then tell your husband here what had happened. Destroy your perfect little family like you destroyed mine. And God, you should have seen your face that night when I kissed you. You pathetic old slapper. You actually thought I was interested in you.’

  Beth’s eyes shot down towards Charlie. She felt her cheeks flush. The look on his face was heartbreaking.

  ‘Oh yeah. That’s right. Your pretty little wife here… she threw herself at me. She was gagging for it. I took her out to a gig and she couldn’t get down my throat fast enough.’

  ‘Shut up!’ Beth hissed at him. But the damage was already done. Charlie sagged, his shoulders dropped, face crumpled. Noakes took a few more steps towards them.

  ‘And what about Zoe? She didn’t deserve to die. She did nothing to you.’

  ‘Who the fuck is Zoe?’

  ‘My son’s girlfriend.’

  Noakes frowned again and shrugged.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ He took a step closer to Beth. She crouched down, retrieving the hammer from where she’d dropped it when she was attempting to untie Charlie. Springing up, she waved it wildly in front of her, gripping it with both hands.

  ‘Woah…’ Noakes held up his palms towards Beth. ‘What are you doing?’

  Beth continued to swing the hammer back and forth.

  ‘Get back!’ she screamed. ‘I will hit you with this if you come any closer.’

  Noakes backed off a little, lowering his hands, eyes fixed firmly on the weapon.

  ‘Can you put that down? Didn’t you do enough damage to my face already? I could have quite easily gone to the police, but I didn’t.’

  ‘You could have? Is that a joke? After everything you’ve done, I’m the one who should be going to the police.’

  ‘I’m pretty sure I haven’t done anything illegal… apart from keying your husband’s car… I couldn’t resist. But I’m guessing you didn’t report that anyway.’

  Beth was astounded by his arrogance. The man was clearly unhinged if he thought he had been behaving within the limits of the law.

  ‘Look, Beth, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I came in good faith when you asked me to meet you here. Why don’t you calm down, stop waving that hammer around like a lunatic, before you hurt someone, and tell me what it is you want?’

  Beth paused momentarily, confused by the statement.

  ‘What do you mean when I asked you to meet me?’

  Noakes pulled out his phone. He tapped on the screen, reading aloud.

  ‘Mikey, I think this has all got a bit out of hand. We need to talk. Meet me at the Marshall Hotel. I’ll wait for you inside.’

  Beth glared at the handset.

  ‘I didn’t send that.’

  Noakes turned the screen, holding it out towards Beth, taking a few steps towards her. She flailed the hammer between them as a warning, then took a step closer for a better view of the phone. The message appeared beside her name.

  But she hadn’t sent it.

  Letting go of the hammer with one hand, she pulled her phone out, scrolling through her messages. She found Mikey’s name, turning it to show him.

  ‘I didn’t send it,’ she said firmly.

  Noakes’s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of the situation.

  ‘Well somebody did,’ he replied sarcastically.

  Cogs began to whir inside Beth’s head. A rush of information swam around, and she felt suddenly dizzy.

  ‘How did you find me?’ she shouted.

  ‘Huh?’ Noakes still seemed to be trying to figure out if Beth was lying or not.

  ‘In Brighton… how did you find me? I was so careful. I always thought it was Vicky who had told you. But when I was in your flat and I saw your little shrine to me, some of the photos you had there predated Vicky working with me. You must have tracked me down before that. How?’

  Noakes smiled.

  ‘Oh right, yeah. I got an anonymous tip-off. A handwritten note delivered through my door one night. It had your name, your address, and a photo of you. I knew it was you as soon as I saw it. I showed my mum, to make sure. She was adamant.’

  ‘But that doesn’t make any sense. Who would have done that?’

  ‘It could have been anyone. You haven’t changed that much… not really. Your eyes are the same. Anyone could have recognised you.’

  Beth considered this for a moment. She noticed Noakes eyeing the hammer in her hand, which she had lowered down to her side by now. He edged forwards slightly. She swung her arm up towards him.

  ‘Don’t!’

  Noakes stopped. His eyes wide. He looked confused. Beth swung her arm again, but he appeared to be looking through her. He was trying to trick her, and she wasn’t going to fall for it.

  A shove from behind sent Beth falling onto her hands and knees. She glanced up to see a dark figure dressed in black motorcycle leathers and helmet stride past her towards Noakes. His eyes widened further in terror, as an arm swung up, holding a knife.

  ‘Look out!’ Charlie yelled, but it was too late.

  The blade plunged deep into the side of Noakes’ neck. As the biker pulled it out, a plume of red rocketed out, showering the floor around him, splattering across the biker’s jacket and trousers.

  Beth screamed.

  Mikey made a gurgling sound. Raising his hand to the wound, he held it there, trying to stem the blood flow. A look of confusion and disbelief fell across his face as he realised what was happening. He stumbled backwards a few paces, before steadying himself slightly.

  Without warning the biker thrust the knife forwards, plunging the blade deep into the front of Noakes’ throat. He fell to his knees slowly. The biker pulled the knife out, and Mikey’s body slumped face forward into the dirt, blood mixing with dust.

  Beth watched in horror, as his life ebbed away.

  The biker turned towards her, unzipping his jacket. He slid the knife into an inside pocket, then began fiddling with his chinstrap.

  Beth glanced down at Charlie. He looked broken; eyes fixed in horror on the corpse on the ground. They both returned their attention to the biker, who grasped the sides of the helmet with his hands, then slowly lifted it off, the moonlight glistening off the iridescent visor.

  And what was left of Beth’s world crumbled into confusion.

  58

  An abundance of deep auburn curls tumbled from beneath the helmet, as Margot pulled it off her head.

  Beth and Charlie both stared, dumbfounded. Suddenly Beth was able to place the smell.

  Margot’s perfume.
<
br />   ‘Margot… I thought you were hurt… I don’t understand.’

  Margot looked down at Beth on the floor. Her face devoid of its usual friendly smile.

  ‘Oh you mean my little scream down the phone? You’re not the only actress here, my dear!’

  Beth looked across to her husband, who was staring in disbelief at what was unfolding before him.

  ‘Please… this wasn’t all you?’

  Beth stood up slowly, hammer in hand, looking back at her friend. Margot returned her stare with the hint of a grin.

  ‘Oh, Kitty, you really are quite stupid, aren’t you?’ she said mockingly.

  ‘My God… that night… it was you! You rammed my car off the road?’

  Margot nodded proudly.

  ‘But why, Margot? I don’t understand why you would do this to us. I thought we were friends.’

  ‘So did I!’ Margot spat, her voice laced with venom.

  She pulled the knife out from her jacket, pointing it towards Beth.

  ‘You’re not the only one who can change your accent you know, Kitty.’

  A trace of Brummie crept in beneath the perfect pronunciation.

  ‘I started taking puberty blockers pretty early on while I was inside. A man I was… friendly with, shall we say, had them smuggled in for me. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. I knew from an early age that I had been… born into the wrong body. You can’t imagine how terrible that is for a child. Knowing your anatomy is all wrong. Living a life that isn’t your own.’

  Beth glanced at her husband as what Margot was saying sank in.

  ‘By the time I got out, I should have been through puberty, but the drugs delayed that. At the first opportunity I went abroad and had the operation. And I became the person I had always wanted to be.’

  ‘Kieran? You’re Kieran Taylor?’ Beth whispered, wondering if she should laugh or cry.

  Margot’s face changed instantly. A look of pure disgust.

  ‘Don’t call me that. I’m no more Kieran Taylor than you are Kitty Briscoe. Why should you be the only one who gets to rewrite her past?’

  Margot stepped forwards. Beth swung the hammer towards her.

  ‘Eight years, Kitty. You robbed me of my childhood. I thought we were friends. We agreed neither of us would say a word. You promised. I stuck to it. I didn’t tell them anything. I kept my mouth shut! But you… you spilled your guts to the police as soon as you got into that room with them.’

  Margot’s eyes were fixed firmly on Beth’s own.

  ‘And you lied, Kitty… you lied!’

  ‘I didn’t lie. I told them what happened. I told them what you did.’

  Margot laughed loudly, but there was no humour.

  ‘No, Kitty… what we did.’

  ‘Stop calling me that… that’s not who I am anymore.’

  ‘Yes… you managed to walk free from court, get a new identity, start again. You got to have a new life. But you will always be Kitty Briscoe. You’ll never be able to escape what you did.’

  ‘I didn’t do anything!’

  Margot took a few steps to her side, edging closer to Charlie. Beth swung the hammer, and Margot danced backwards, narrowly avoiding its claws.

  ‘Is that what you honestly believe? Have you been telling yourself that rubbish for so long that you actually think it’s true?’

  ‘I was seven!’

  ‘And I was eleven! I was a kid too.’

  There was silence as Beth and Margot stared at each other. Kitty Briscoe and Kieran Taylor together again.

  ‘I tried to start a new life. I really did. And for a long time it worked. My hatred for you… for what you did to me, it faded away as I accepted responsibility. Because, you see, Kitty, I did that. I accepted my responsibility for the part I played. But you never have, have you?’

  Beth lowered the hammer a little. The weight was becoming hard to bear.

  ‘I studied. I bettered myself, became a lawyer… it’s easy enough to fool people if you know where to get paperwork. And I met some extremely dodgy individuals inside. Some of them turned out to be quite useful to me. I decided I wanted to help children. Because that’s what I felt was right. To make amends for what I had done. That was my penance. And for a long time I didn’t think about you.’

  Margot eyed the hammer, lowered down by Beth’s side, and took another step towards her. Beth swung her weapon manically back and forth.

  ‘Then one night, I was sitting eating my dinner at home, minding my own business, and there you were. On my screen. With your perfect little family, laughing in the street. The reporter was banging on about some royal visit in Brighton or something. And I knew… as soon as I saw your eyes, I knew it was you.’

  And suddenly it began to fall into place.

  Beth remembered the day well. The only time she let her guard down. She had been joking with the kids and hadn’t noticed the news crew pointing a camera at her.

  She had screeched and howled at them. She remembered vividly the fuss she had made… how terrified the children looked. The way Charlie had watched her, like he didn’t know who he was looking at. The reporter had assured her they wouldn’t use the footage. Clearly he had lied to appease her.

  ‘I tried to forget about it. But all of a sudden, I knew where you were. And that knowledge ate away at me like a cancer. I went from being cheerful and bright, to obsessed and angry. You were all I could think about. You looked so… happy. I remember thinking how unfair that was.’

  Beth lowered her head. Charlie watched in bewilderment as the scene played out. His eyes darted between Margot and Beth.

  Beth glanced at the bloodied body of Michael Noakes, lying off in the distance. She couldn’t help thinking how sad it was that both the Noakes brothers had met their demise in this dismal place.

  ‘So Noakes…?’

  ‘Michael was simply an all-too-willing puppet. I knew he was on some mad quest to find you, although I had no idea what he was planning to do if he ever did. I fed him enough information to help him along on his journey a little. Wound him up and watched him go, like a little clockwork soldier. I needed someone to misdirect the attention from me. You should have seen your face that night you met him. Like an excited schoolgirl. I was quite surprised… I always thought you and Charlie were solid. But I suppose you’re rotten to the core… you can’t help yourself, can you?’

  ‘None of this was him? Zoe…’

  ‘Ah yes, Zoe. I was particularly proud of that part. I saw the way Peter looked at her. Heard how you gushed about her at work. It was clear that she was special to you. So I took her away from you all. I managed to slip Peter’s phone into my purse the night I babysat. I also found your spare front door key in a bowl on the kitchen worktop. That came in very handy. I had a lot of fun creeping around your house! Zoe was a lovely girl… she deserved so much more than your family. I did her a favour, really. You should have seen the terror in her eyes as I tightened that scarf around her throat. She didn’t understand. She died afraid and alone. And that, my dear, is all on you.’

  ‘Why, Margot… why, if you were doing so well, why throw it all away to come and get revenge? Is it worth it?’

  ‘YES!’ Margot screamed. The level of her fury made Beth jump.

  ‘Yes, it was… because I realised you had got away with what you did, with not even so much as a slap on the wrist. I paid. I went to prison. And can you imagine what happened to a slim young effeminate boy in there? I’ll tell you… I was fair game for everyone. They thought all their Christmases had come at once. And do you know what? I even told myself I deserved it. Because what we did to that little boy, it was horrendous, Kitty. Horrendous!’

  ‘Margot, I’m sorry, okay. Is that what you want to hear? I’m sorry. But you did what you did!’

  ‘No! WE! It was us. You know that as well as I do. It was your idea. You wanted to take him! Not me. I wanted to impress you. All I ever wanted was to impress you. Perfect little Kitty Briscoe. With her pretty blonde
hair, and big blue eyes.’

  ‘I didn’t… it wasn’t me! I would never–’

  ‘Yes, Kitty, you did! We were at the fair and you saw him. You said let’s take him.’

  ‘But I only wanted to play with him… I didn’t want to hurt him. I wouldn’t!’

  ‘Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night? My family disowned me. And it was all because of you! When I got out of prison, my father wouldn’t even let me go home. He gave me one hundred grand and told me he and my mother never wanted to see me again. Can you imagine what that feels like for a young person? To be… abandoned by the people who should support you through anything? Although, with enough funds behind you, it’s scarily easy to disappear. I suppose I should be grateful to my parents for that at least.’ Margot paused, a smile creeping onto her face.

  ‘Talking of families… How is your mother, Kitty?’ Margot’s voice had a playful edge to it.

  Beth said nothing.

  ‘I managed to track her down. You hid her well, I’ll give you that. But I found her eventually.’

  Beth heard a gasp from beside her. She looked towards Charlie on the floor.

  ‘Beth, what’s she talking about? I thought your parents were dead?’

  ‘Oh, Charlie, you poor deluded fool. Haven’t you figured out yet that everything she told you was a pack of lies? Her father is dead, yes. But her mother is alive. Well, she was… not so much anymore.’

  Beth’s head whipped round towards Margot.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I looked her in the eye and I slit her throat. I made sure she knew who I was too… so she knew she deserved it. I wish I could tell you that she didn’t feel a thing, that she didn’t suffer… but–’

  Beth screamed, hurtling towards Margot, keeping her shoulders low. Margot was caught off guard and didn’t have time to move out of the way. Beth’s head connected with Margot’s stomach, and they both tumbled to the ground. Margot wheezed as the air was knocked from her lungs, her knife clattering across the ground.

  Beth had dropped the hammer, but she straddled Margot, holding her arms down, pinning them tightly. Margot writhed, trying to throw Beth from her, but Beth had the advantage. She reached to her side, but she couldn’t quite get the hammer. She lifted her hips into the air slightly, trying to extend her body further. Margot brought her knee up hard, throwing Beth into a heap beside her.