Page 132 of The Guilty Girl
‘Follow me. And stop waving your hands. You’re making me seasick.’
She had to give the lad a break. After all, he’d got the information, whether it turned out to be relevant or not.
The door pushed in easily, the lock busted a long time ago, evidenced by the amount of rust on the mechanism. She stepped inside, walking on top of debris. Bottles, cans, fast-food wrappers. A feeding ground for vermin. An involuntary shiver shook her spine and she tugged the sleeves of the fleece down over her hands.
Pressing forward, she glanced into the side rooms. A narrow staircase beckoned her upwards. Pausing at the bottom, she craned her neck to see around the bend halfway up and listened. Was that something skittering along the floorboards? Were there even floorboards left up there?
‘If you want, I can go ahead of you,’ Lei said.
She held a finger to her lips. ‘No need to alert the world to our presence,’ she whispered.
‘Oh, sorry. I didn’t think—’
‘Shh, for God’s sake.’
She ploughed on up the stairs. On the landing, she heard squeaking and stopped quickly. Her companion ploughed into her, almost knocking her off balance.
‘What the …?’
‘Jesus, Inspector. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … I’m sor—’
‘Quit it.’ Lottie glared at him over her shoulder.
Lei blushed and stumbled back. She grabbed his sleeve and he righted himself.
‘And don’t say sorry again.’
The landing was as narrow as the stairs and the accumulation of rubbish worse than in the hallway below.
‘Stay here,’ she instructed in a whisper. ‘Keep an eye out for anyone arriving or leaving.’
The young guard nodded energetically. She escaped down the narrow corridor before his head flew off.
The doors had been removed from their hinges. In places, the walls had been stripped of paint and plaster, exposing wires and insulation. Plasterboard hung loose from ceilings; floorboards had been ripped up. She searched each room only to discover similar carnage.
At the end of the corridor she reached another flight of stairs. She mouthed at Lei to remain where he was and began her ascent.
The skittering and squeaking was louder now. It appeared to be coming from within the stripped walls. She pulled up her fleece hood, sheltering herself from anything that might drop from the exposed ceiling, then clamped her arms to her body, jacket cuffs down over her hands, and inched forward.
On this landing Lottie was met with a similar level of neglect and dereliction, but one door remained on its hinges. She edged forward. The lock was damaged. A wire hanger in the slot where a handle should be. Pressing her shoulder to the door, she pushed it inwards.
A child’s soft whimpering greeted her.
She quickly assessed the level of danger she might be walking into, but only the child was present.
‘Sharon? Oh my God, are you okay?’ She noticed a streak of blood on the girl’s chin. ‘What are you doing here?’
She reached out, but Sharon kept hugging her knees, her tear-stained face red from exertion. At first glance, Lottie couldn’t see any obvious wounds, but what about those she could not see?
‘Take my hand, Shaz,’ she said. ‘You’re safe now. Come with me.’
‘Go away. You’re making it worse.’
Hunkering down to the girl’s level, Lottie noticed a scattering of coins on the floor and a balled-up sweet bag.
‘I know you miss Jake, and I want to find out what happened to him. I need you to help me, Sharon. I can help you too.’
‘No one can help me.’ Sharon refused to unlock her hands from her knees. ‘Jake is dead.’