Miss Take

Chapter 6 (4919)

Chapter 6 (4919)

Kelly hunched her shoulders, trying to look as small as she could and turned her head to look out the passenger side window. Her hair was loose, a wild shaggy bush that helped hide her face. She felt naked and exposed without a hood over her head. She felt that at any moment Lavius would realise it was her. She tried to calm her breathing, to not draw his attention away from his driving. The last time he saw me, she told herself, I'd been in heals, make up and a padded bra. My hair had been tied back, I had glasses on, there is no way he could recognise me, surely?

As the blood stopped ringing in her ears and her breathing slowed, she realised the car was speaking.

'She's just going to nag you until you put your seatbelt on,' said Lavius not unkindly.

She wriggled in her seat and put the belt on, keeping her head down.

'Going to tell me what was going on, kid?'

Kelly squirmed a little and looked out of the window again.

'Just some bad guys.'

'Uh-huh. What did they want?'

'Dunno.'

The detective sighed. 'Ok, then, let's start from the beginning. What's your name?'

'What's it to you?' replied Kelly in her best surly boy voice. 'You arresting me? For what? I was just walking. It was you that wanted me to get in your car. You a pervert?'

Lavius laughed. 'I just saved your skin; a bit of gratitude would be nice. Listen kid, I can either take you to the station or take you home? Which is it?'

'Home.'

'OK then,' he said, keeping his eyes on the road as they cruised down onto Princes Street. 'Where is that?'

Kelly thought for a moment, considering what lie to give. 'Broomhouse Road.'

'Sighthill is it?' asked Lavius, looking for a turning.

'Aye.'

'I'm going to speak to your parents. So that better not be a fake address.'

Kelly cursed herself, and unable to think of anything else gave the only address she could think of.

'Fuck's sake man. Craigs Park then. Up from the Gyle.'

Lavius smiled but said nothing. The drove for a while, then he started the conversation again.

'So, what's your name?'

'Gavin Newgate.'

She gave him the alias she used when dealing with Treacle.

'How old are you?'

'Twelve.'

'What school do you go to?'

The fictional character of Gavin Newgate had grown over the years. She had developed him a lot, giving him a long and complicated backstory. She'd enjoyed it, even, making up a family for him, his school situation, why he had resorted to crime and everything else. It had all been wasted on Treacle, he either didn't believe her or didn't care, more likely the later. She fought the temptation to bring it all out for Lavius, reasoning that he might get suspicious if she sounded like she was reading off someone's Wikipedia entry.

She kept her face away from the detective and her arms and legs folded to try and hide her gender. She was used to lying to people, and knew that it was better to keep the lies simple, don't try and give seemingly helpful answers and above-all, don't ad-lib. It was better just to deny everything.