Free Girls Of The Dark by Katherine Pathak Page B

to address Dani. ‘It was a pleasure to meet you, detective . I hope my comments didn’t offend you. We come from entirely different worlds, you and I. If it wasn’t for the education I received in prison, I would never have come into contact with someone like you socially. But now I have been given that education and the notoriety of my conviction. Don’t you see that I have a duty to use it?’
                  Dani nodded solemnly. ‘Actually, I do.’
    *
    Morgan returned a few minutes later. ‘What did you think of him?’
                  ‘He’s articulate, polite and persuasive. I liked him. Unfortunately, he has the power to make life very difficult for James’s family. The worse thing is, I can really see his point of view.’
                  ‘I thought you would comment on the way he has totally disengaged himself from the young man he used to be.’
                  ‘That makes sense to me if he’s guilty. Calvin can claim it was a different person who killed those girls back then – not the man he is now.’
                  Rhodri nodded. ‘Or, it is simply as he says; that the education he received in prison changed him on a fundamental level.’
                  Dani sighed. ‘If being a police officer has taught me anything, it’s that people don’t change, not really. They can wear better clothes, talk differently and completely jettison their previous lives. Deep down they’re still the same. It just takes an unsettling event to strip it all back. Then we see the essence of that person revealed. The Calvin Suter who was convicted of killing those girls back in 1975 still exists. He lives and breathes within the man who left this flat a few moments ago.’
     
     
                 
                                 
                 
                 

Chapter 16
     
     
    A ndy was about to leave the building for the evening when he received a call from reception.
                  ‘I’ve got a lady on the line for you, DC Calder. She said you handed her a card a few days ago - when you were knocking on doors along Maryhill Road?’
                  ‘Put her straight through, please.’
                  A distant voice crackled onto the line. ‘Detective Calder? It’s Mrs Livingstone, from number nine?’
                  ‘Aye, I remember. How can I help?’ Calder’s heart began beating a little faster.
                  ‘I don’t want to waste your time. I expect you know more about it all than I do. It’s just that you were talking about Kath a lot when we spoke the other day. It seemed like a huge coincidence. Well, an awful one, of course.’
                  ‘What did? I’m sorry, Mrs Livingstone, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
                  ‘Kath Nevin. She was knocked down yesterday afternoon near the bus stop on Western Avenue. Kath told me herself that her car was going in for a service. But it was the day she picked up her wee grandson from school. She’d have trekked through deserts to do that. So Kath was taking the no. 7. It’s a busy road and a car hit her straight on as she crossed. The poor woman passed away from her injuries last night.’
                  Calder was silent.
                  ‘Oh, I hope I’ve not broken a rule by ringing a detective about a traffic accident.’
                  ‘No, Mrs Livingstone. Thank you for calling. I didn’t know about this. If you hadn’t taken the time to pick up the phone, I might never have done.’
    *
     
     
    ‘You didn’t think to treat the death as suspicious?’ Andy’s tone was dripping with sarcasm, his face crimson with barely controlled fury. ‘Kathleen Nevin was the Kerrs’ next-door-neighbour, the last person to see the pair alive and the one