Swift took the opportunity of Kim’s shift in weight to turn on her side and dislodge her thighs. She pushed up and managed to topple her to the ground.
Swift was on her in a second. The first blow landed on the side of her face. As the second one came down, Kim managed to move her head out of the way. Swift’s fist landed on the ground.
‘You fucking bitch. How dare you stop me.’
Kim continued to dodge the blows, but the woman was stronger than she looked, and Kim’s bucking was not shifting her. Swift had her in the exact same position that she’d used. All she could do was hold up her arms to defend herself.
‘Get the fuck off me,’ she cried as a left hook caught her cheekbone.
‘She didn’t deserve to live,’ Swift spat as another blow made it through. Swift’s knuckle made a direct hit on the side of Kim’s nose. Her vision blurred as the pain shot into her head.
Her arms couldn’t keep up with the blows reigning down from the woman whose eyes had glazed over. Hair had broken free from her ponytail, and spittle was flying out of her mouth.
This woman bore no resemblance to the controlled, professional solicitor who had sat opposite her for the last couple of days. And she had a good idea why. She was no longer Kate Swift. She was Melody, the little girl who was prepared to kill to get what she wanted.
Kim had to find a way to break free. Swift’s rage was fuelling her energy. Just one of these blows could render her unconscious.
She tried catching one of Swift’s wrists, but she broke free easily. Her centre of gravity from above gave her every advantage.
Another punch to the head brought the nausea to her stomach.
She continued to hold her hands above her head as she counted. There was a pattern to the blows. Right, right, left. Right, right, left. Right, right left. Right, right and Kim grabbed the left wrist with both hands.
She twisted it until Swift howled, then bucked her body with every ounce of strength she had left and sent her tumbling to the ground. Swift rolled once before jumping up and banging on the door.
‘Let me at the little bitch.’
‘It’s over, Kate. You’re not going to hurt another one,’ Kim said, wiping a trail of blood from her nose.
‘She has to die. I’m the special one, not her.’
The woman’s eyes blazed.
‘She is special, and so were the others: Lexi, Paula and Helen.’
Every name was like a bullet going into her body, but not because she was sorry for what she’d done, but because Harte had loved them too.
Swift continued to bang on the door. ‘Let me out,’ she screamed.
How had Steven Harte warped her to this degree?
‘Not happening. You’re getting nowhere near her,’ Kim said as her breathing began to return to normal. The danger was over. She ignored the pounding in her head and all over her face. She needed to get some answers.
It had all come to her outside. Alison’s observation that Harte was lying about the murders. His cryptic clues that he would lead them to Melody, but never once had he stated she was dead. They had assumed that from day one. The bunk bed in the room instead of the bigger bed described by Suzie and Libby indicated that, at times, there had been more than one girl in the room. Swift’s reaction when he had talked about the other girls. She hadn’t been annoyed that he was going against her advice. She had been upset at the very mention of their names. When Kim had shown them the old photo of Lexi, Swift had been horrified. Not because of the fate of the little girl, but because it was a reminder of having to share Harte. Her rage when Harte had declared that he’d loved Lexi was not because he was going against her instruction, but because she was jealous of his feelings for her first victim. And finally, her sharp exit from the station at the mention of Grace’s name. That’s when she’d learned there was another one, and she’d known exactly where to come.
‘What was different about you, Kate? Why didn’t Harte let you go like the others?’
‘I didn’t want to leave,’ she said, turning around.
‘What?’
‘Oh, wake up, Stone. Have you met my family?’
‘I have but still…’
‘But still what?’ she asked, sliding down the door and landing on the floor. ‘Look around you. My own bedroom, television, bathroom, new clothes, occasional toys, games. No fear. Why would I want to leave?’
‘You didn’t miss anybody?’ Kim asked, trying to understand.
‘Stone, I don’t know what your childhood was like. You probably come from two loving, well-adjusted parents who prioritised you and made you feel loved, cared for, treasured.’
‘Not quite.’
‘Well then perhaps you’ll understand that it’s hard to miss people to whom you meant nothing. How do you miss people who feel like strangers? I was the youngest, the runt, the invisible, the forgotten. I detest them and I don’t feel bad. They’ve made enough money over the years.’
Kim heard the bitterness in her voice, and she could understand why. ‘You said you’d escaped the fear – of what?’
Swift tipped her head and raised an eyebrow.
‘Your brother?’
She nodded. ‘Most nights.’
‘You couldn’t tell your mum?’
‘I did. She told me he’d soon get bored if I just lay there and took it.’
Kim felt the nausea rise in her throat.
‘So I wake up here,’ she said, sweeping one arm around the space. ‘Everything I ever needed or could have dreamed of. It was all mine. And no one wanted anything in return.’
‘You were being watched the whole time,’ Kim said, nodding towards the camera.
Swift shrugged. ‘Didn’t care. I wasn’t being touched, mauled, raped. I was away from all that. I was safe and protected.’
‘What happened?’
‘One day, after about a year or so, the door opened. I was confused. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I waited but no one came. I didn’t want to leave.’
‘So?’
‘I closed the door and carried on as normal.’
Kim couldn’t help but wonder what Steven Harte had made of that. ‘And then what happened?’
Kim had a pretty good idea but she wanted Swift to walk her through it.
‘Some months later, I woke up to find myself in a smaller bed, up high with another bed below.’
‘Did you understand what that meant?’
‘I think I did and I didn’t. I guessed that another girl was coming, and I didn’t mind until Lexi actually arrived. Jesus, she did nothing but moan and cry.’
‘Is that why you killed her?’
Swift looked as though she was going to argue the point, but as a lawyer especially, she must have understood the futility of denial. Only moments ago, Kim had entered the room to find her with her hands around the throat of a little girl, doing exactly what Steven Harte had tried to admit to doing.
‘No, it wasn’t that I was angry. Once she stopped crying she was sweet and nice and…’
‘You were jealous?’
‘She was trying to take my place. I was the special one. I was the one he took care of, and I didn’t want to share.’