Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [18]
Chapter 13
Lilly stood up and slow clapped Mann’s speech. She pushed the girl in front; the whole row collapsed amidst lots of giggling. Lilly looked across at Tammy and grinned. Tammy had felt the tension grow in the hall. Now Lilly’s eyes lingered on Tammy as if she knew. Tammy grinned back. Mann got down from the stage and called Lilly over. They were left alone in the hall.
‘Sit down.’
Lilly sat and looked around the room as if she were bored.
‘Tell me, Lilly, what’s a bright girl like you doing coming out of a Triad initiation ceremony?’
She turned and stared hard at him, tried to read his expression. Her eyes were the colour of caramel. She had freckles across her nose. Her skin was light. She was taller than most girls her age.
‘I saw you coming out of the building where the girl got murdered last night.’ Mann could see from the way her eyes had stopped seeing him that her thoughts were backtracking. For a second she looked worried and then she rolled her eyes and looked at her nails, chewed off a bit of loose skin, made her finger bleed, and smiled as she looked at him as she sucked the blood from her finger.
‘Not me, Officer. I was at home last night doing my homework. Now, if you don’t mind I have a lesson to go to. You know what it’s like for us mixed-race kids – we have to work hard. We don’t all have our dad’s money to fall back on.’ She went to stand.
‘Sit. You’ll go when I say.’
She sat back down with a groan and looked at her watch.
‘Let me explain something to you. You’re in shit up to your neck. The girl who died last night was mutilated, her hands cut off before she had her throat severed.’
Lilly snapped her head as she looked at him. ‘I wasn’t there.’
‘But you were in the area. What do you think happens when people play with Triads, Lilly?’ Mann watched her. ‘What do you think you are going to get from all this? They’re playing with you, Lilly. It could be you next week lying in your own blood. They’re just sitting back and waiting and watching and enjoying the spectacle of kids like you killing one another. You’re disposable.’
A crack appeared in Lilly’s bravado. She looked towards the hall entrance, agitated, fidgety. She went to stand again.
Mann pushed her back in her seat. ‘We can continue this at the police station if you like or we can do it here. What’s the big global message they’re selling you, Lilly? Somehow I don’t think a designer handbag is what you’re in this for. Tell me, Lilly. You want to belong, don’t you? You want to leave your mark on the world but this is not the way.’
She blew an ‘I don’t give a fuck’ out of the corner of her mouth. But he could see her bravado starting to dissolve. She was just a scared little girl. From the corner of his eye, Mann saw the headmaster standing at the edge of the stage. He knew he’d gone far enough without taking her in. He knew there would be no point in doing that. She would say nothing; she’d be a lot more frightened of her Triad masters than she would