Chasing Innocence Read Online Free Page B

over and say hello. To what end? She was on the verge of walking over anyway, but instead she forced herself to look away, checking through the shapes and colours for Adam. Where was he?
    When Sarah looked again the girl had vanished. She took several faltering steps towards the alley. Where did she go? But only the deep shadows remained.

SIX
     
    It was easy because of what he knew, easier even than he had imagined. He waited through the day, moving through the small market town, looking for some discord, for a ripple at odds with the usual weave of humanity. He saw only the bustle of busy minds. And then it was time. He stood the sign at the mouth of the alley, facing out to the car park. A big red triangle: No Entry, Chemical Cleaning . Beneath the words a symbol depicting liquid corroding a hand. Even kids backed away from that.
    It was then about waiting those last minutes in the shadows, leaning against the wall. Five of his long steps from the High Street, seven for anyone else. More for a child. The box was ready and folded. A flick of the wrist and small latches locked it open, a reinforced base, plywood sides. Just big enough for a foetal child if you folded the limbs tight to the body. Outwardly it looked like he had just bought a hi-fi.
    Sourcing the right product and size had been difficult; over time it had evolved. Just like the contents of the syringe in his hand. Learning the basics of anaesthetics had been easy, he’d read the books. Getting the drugs and the mix right was not. He used two syringes. The first was powerful and quick acting, the second lay waiting in the boot of the car, less potent but longer lasting.
    For Simon it was all about preparation, to the simple end of passing unnoticed in the minds of strangers. He was not inconspicuous if discovered now, but guiltless. He waited patiently for the girl to appear, always working through the scenarios and what might go wrong. But she arrived just as every other time, adjusting those boots. He called her by name. ‘Andrea?’
    She turned and took two distracted steps towards him, then another, uncertain.
    ‘How do you know my name?’
    ‘Your dad sent me, Andrea. Brian sent me to pick you up.’
    Knowing her father’s name placed him within the realm of credibility, just long enough. Confused she walked right to him, puzzling the nice-looking man who knew her father. And then he moved, fast. Clamped his hand over her mouth and pulled her into him. The white exposed skin of her neck spattered with a squirt of liquid as he cleared the needle, then plunged it into her flesh. Her innocent eyes were now wide with a sudden fear, her mouth working beneath his hand, her body squirming against his leg. Her struggle was brief. He lifted her as a father would, the syringe hidden back inside his jacket, and moved further back into the alley. Ten seconds and counting. He flicked open the box with a twist of his wrist, hearing the reassuring sound of the latches locking. He folded her inside, shielded from the street by his broad back. It took fifteen seconds more and then he lifted the box in both hands and calmly walked to the car park, laying the sign flat on top of the box as he stepped from the alley and towards the Rover.

SEVEN
     
    Where did the girl go? Sarah took a step towards the alley, looking down the street and back to the alley, but the girl had vanished. She walked across the street with shoppers sidestepping to avoid her, squinting into the shadows but seeing only a quiet dark. She stepped across to Boots and peered around advertisements into the store, hands like a visor over her eyes, edging sideways to look down the aisles. No sign of the girl. Her mind clawed for an obvious answer.
    She looked back to the street, her eyes darting from one shape to the next. Hundreds of legs danced the shopper’s hoedown but none were clad in those small weary boots. She looked to the alley again. It was the only place . She took one and then two steps,