Free Case One by Chris Ould Page B

pass for older if she tried. She was quite pretty, with long, dark hair – darker than natural – and just a bit too much eyeliner. Her clothes were from the cheap end of Topshop or the top end of Primark.
    â€œWere you anywhere near here yesterday evening?” Holly asked. “Between six and seven?”
    â€œMe? Nah.” The girl shook her head. “I just heard it was Ash – Ashleigh, right?”
    â€œThat’s right. Do you know her?”
    â€œA bit. We’re not best mates nor nothin’. Same school, that’s all.”
    Holly nodded. “What’s your name?”
    The girl hesitated for a beat, then said, “Taz.”
    â€œTaz?”
    â€œTamsin. Stupid, innit?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Holly said. “It’s unusual. I’ve never heard of anyone else called that.”
    â€œNo, cos no one else’d give such a crap name to a kid – no one ’cept my mum anyway.”
    â€œDo you live around here?” Holly asked, gesturing towards the blocks of flats.
    â€œNot here: Penrice House. It’s just as bad as this though.”
    Holly didn’t make any comment on that. Instead she said: “Does Ashleigh know anyone else on the estate? We’re just trying to work out who she might have seen before she was hurt.”
    Taz gave her a knowing look. “You don’t mean hurt by the lorry, right? People say she was raped. That true?”
    â€œWe don’t know yet,” Holly said, choosing her words carefully. “We’re still making enquiries. Can you tell me anything about Ashleigh’s friends – who she might’ve seen?”
    She expected the girl to just say “no” and clam up like everyone else had done, but instead Taz made an odd kind of shuffle, as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. Then she cast a look around.
    â€œListen, I’m not saying nothing here, okay? People see me…” She pulled a face.
    Holly took a moment, then pressed the girl. “Ashleigh was hurt pretty badly,” she said. “If you know her and you could help us find out who did it you’d really be helping. No one else needs to know.”
    Taz hesitated, then she said, “What’s your name?”
    â€œHolly. Holly Blades.”
    â€œOkay. I might go down the market later – Crisp Street, yeah? Might be in the caff. ’Bout an hour – just you, though.”
    â€œListen—” Holly began.
    But Taz was already turning away and moving back the way she’d come. “I live here,” she was saying irritatedly and loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. “I got a
right
to go through. Stupid plods!”
    And it was that – the smart way Taz had covered herself – that made up Holly’s mind. She reached for her radio.
    â€œDC Simmons from Seven-Six-Two, receiving?”
    A few metres away Taz rounded a corner and disappeared from sight without a backwards look.
    â€œ
Go ahead,
” Simmons said over the radio earpiece.
    â€œIt’s TPO Blades on the cordon. Could I talk to you for a minute?”

8.
    CRISP STREET MARKET
11:34 HRS
    As the car pulled in at the kerb Holly knew that DC Simmons wasn’t fully convinced by all this, and now neither was she. Or at least, she was less convinced than she had been before.
    To begin with she’d been pretty sure that Taz knew something about last night and was willing to talk about it. But the more Simmons and DS Woods had discussed it – along with the practicalities of a meeting – the more Holly had started to realise that she’d gone out on a limb. If Taz
had
just been spinning her a line and didn’t turn up, this was going to be seen as a massive waste of time: her fault.
    But, for good or bad, they were here now and instead of her uniform jacket and vest, Holly was wearing a dark grey fleece several sizes too large for her. It had a lingering scent of