‘Sixteen,’ Kelly said quietly.
‘Sixteen?’
‘I met a girl. A new girl. She’s sixteen years old and utterly terrified.’
Marlie linked her hands together and lifted them to rest on the back of her head. ‘Jesus, Kell! You gotta get in that cop shop. You gotta tell them. This has to stop! Time was, there was rules. Time was, this was a way to earn a good living for those that wanted it — but grown-ups, though! Girls old enough to know what they were getting into. These kids, they don’t want to be there, do they? I’ll run you down.’
‘What about you? You can come in with me. You can tell them what you know, too?’
Now it was Marlie who was shaking her head. ‘Can’t do it. I can’t be the solution and the problem at the same time, love. The cops know me, they know what I do. I turn up to talk about sex workers like I’m all high and mighty and they won’t hear a word I’m saying. More than that, though, I gotta be looking after those girls. When you go down there today you’re gonna cause a stink. It should all go just fine — but say they let Freddie out? Or they don’t round up his foot soldiers? They’ll leave me and my girls alone. No way they’ll think I’ve got anything to do with it — not for a few days at least. That’s why she came to me first. I’ve done my bit. I gave her some stuff from the house and I came here today. And besides, the only person with a longer rap sheet than Holly round here is me. I wouldn’t get through the door, love. You, you’re different. We all know it — that’s probably why I never liked you! You got no history with the cops. Holly said they don’t even know you exist. You walk in there talking nice like you do and you tell them a story, they’ll sit and listen. I’ll take you down. I’ll drop you near, but then I gotta get out of there. But when the time is right, when you got that piece of shit on the floor, we’ll all be there to twist the knife.’
Kelly stepped away. There was so much to take in, so much to consider. ‘I can’t . . .’ she said, finally. ‘Libby, the girl from last night . . . I’m meeting her tonight for work. I need to get her safe first. If I don’t turn up it’ll just be her . . . and he might already have a sniff that I’ve gone to the police . . . Other than a name, I don’t know anything else about her to warn her.’
‘This is your chance, girl. Tell the cops she’s in danger. They’ll meet her.’
‘There isn’t time! Not to be sure!’
‘This Libby needs to look after herself. You’ve been long enough worrying about other people. This is your chance to be free. Holly’s given you that. Fuck! Holly died for that!’
‘It’s so much. Too much! It’s not fair. Holly should have talked to me before she decided the next step in my life. Now there’s all this pressure . . .’
‘The cops, they can take that all away. Put it on them to keep you safe — that’s what they do. This ain’t for you to bear. I think she thought this would be easy, that you would walk in there and they would take over. It’s not like that, I can see that, but they will listen. That should be all you need.’
‘I need time to get my head sorted — to get it all straight in my mind. Then I’ll go and see them. I’ll tell them what I know. I’ll ask them to get me safe. But I can’t go now. I need to work today. I need to talk to Libby — she’s just a kid. I’ll need to take her with me. She’s the little posh kid you were talking about — they’ll listen to her, too! I have to get her first — I can’t just abandon her. Holly wouldn’t want that. She never abandoned me. I never wanted to be responsible for anyone else . . .’
‘Nor did Holly. I guess she took you under her wing, right? I know there was more to it with you — I know you gave it all back — but she took a punt. In this game, caring for other people can get you hurt. It got her killed.’
‘She made that choice!’ Kelly snapped. She backed down immediately.
So did Marlie. ‘You’re right, love. I’m sorry. That came out all wrong. This is your last chance, though. I gotta get going. I’ve been here too long already.’
‘I will go. But after. I need to turn up today and I need to get everything straight. Then I’ll go.’
Marlie locked onto her as if satisfying herself that there was no chance of changing her mind. ‘Tomorrow, then.’ Marlie wrapped Kelly back up in a hug and whispered into her ear. ‘Holly’s looking down on us right now. Your ma, too. And they’re both proper proud!’
Kelly’s eyes filled with tears. She embraced the hug to the point she was disappointed when Marlie pulled away and spun for the door. She didn’t slow or look back this time. The closing door brought the silence back but it seemed different: thick, like a blanket wrapped around her too tightly. She cast a glance at her mother’s empty bed, the duvet still pulled back from where they had lifted out her lifeless body. Her head swam. She had to get out of there. She moved to the door. Her mother’s coat still hung on a peg on the wall. Its scent was disturbed as she wrenched the front door open — her mother’s perfume. It stopped her dead. She reached out for the sleeve and pushed it to her face, rubbing it against her cheek as she inhaled gently. She pulled it right off the peg and hurriedly slipped it on. She turned back for her car keys. They were on the side, and she fixed on them, not wanting or daring to lift her gaze to anything else.
Chapter 16
Maddie swept past the untidy queue to make straight for the back of the coffee shop. It was established as her usual haunt by now, a place she had visited countless times as a way of stepping away from the police station and the intensity of investigations, to take a moment to breathe. Today however, she could do without it. She had finally given the Justin Harnett case file some attention but that had only served to remind her of just how much work was required. But today’s meeting was not one she felt she could postpone. It was not for her. Today was about Rhiannon Davies.
Rhiannon was still working CID, despite Maddie making a couple of attempts to poach her for Major Crime. She’d come close, too, but Rhiannon had suffered a recent setback when she was seriously injured in the line of duty. Maddie had blamed herself, but the fallout had been a crisis in confidence for both women. They had met up fairly regularly almost since Maddie’s move to the force but had become very aware that the tone of the meetings had changed since that incident. Where previously they had been chatty, jovial and a welcome break from the day-to-day running of investigations, they could now be awkward and unnatural, with both parties careful over their words.
Maddie sat down opposite Rhiannon, who leaned back in greeting.
‘Hey!’
‘Hey yourself. Thanks for getting them in.’ Maddie gestured at the coffee waiting on the table.
‘No problem. I think it was my round anyway.’
‘Well, this was my idea, so that probably means I should be buying.’
‘You can get the next ones.’
‘Deal.’ Maddie leant on her elbows and tried to work out where to start. It never used to be like this. Rhiannon had been the first person she had spent any time with when she had first arrived in Lennockshire. For Maddie, it had been a new force, a totally different role and in circumstances where she couldn’t help but feel sorry for herself. Rhiannon had managed to make it better almost instantly. Her enthusiasm was contagious and she had pulled Maddie along with her, rekindling her passion for policing and reminding her what she was there for — catching bad guys.
Now their exchanges were staged and clumsy. Maddie fidgeted with a sugar sachet, then watched the swirl as she stirred it in.
‘So . . . this was your idea. Which means you have to talk!’ Rhiannon chuckled but it sounded forced.
‘I guess I just wanted a catch-up. It’s been a week or so, you know. I was just wondering how you were?’
‘Fine. Nothing’s really changed since last week.’ Her face hardened a little.
‘You know, this is getting ridiculous.’
‘What is?’
‘This. Us two. Meeting up time after time and just sitting opposite each other. It’s like we’ve fallen
out!’
‘Well, we haven’t. I think you fell out with yourself.’
Maddie leaned back, looking down to where the liquid in her coffee was starting to settle. ‘You might be right. What else do you think?’ Rhiannon eyed her with a little caution, enough that Maddie felt she needed to prompt her. ‘And you can be as honest as you want. Off the record, see.’
Rhiannon shrugged. ‘You don’t like yourself very much sometimes. You blamed yourself for what happened to me — maybe you still do. It’s like every time you see me, I’m some sort of reminder of some weakness or a failing and it means you can barely talk to me.’
‘Okay, then. And what about you? How come you can’t talk to me?’
‘I did. I told you this wasn’t your fault. I told you that in hospital straight after. You came for me — you and DI Blaker. I’ve never been so happy to see two people in all my life!’ This time her smile was more genuine.
‘Harry carried me for that whole investigation — that’s what it felt like, anyway. I do blame myself. I try not to work with Harry as much anymore. I feel like he knows it — he must do. I don’t know if he has confidence in me and I’d thought he was just starting to get some.’
‘Have you said that to him? Asked him if that’s how he feels?’
‘No. He would spare me that anyway, even if it was how he was feeling.’
‘Harry Blaker? He doesn’t spare anyone anything!’
‘I might have agreed with you a couple of months ago, weeks even. But I saw some vulnerability in Harry. It was nothing to do with the job — his home life crept in a little. I think if he were to have a go at me he would have to face up to his own issues.’
‘So, there you are . . . we’re all vulnerable. We all have good days and bad days and I don’t think anyone could beat you up as hard as you are beating yourself up anyway. I read all the reports, all the evidence when it was prepped for court, and I still don’t see what it is that you did so wrong?’
‘I wasn’t careful enough. I underestimated what we were dealing with and it nearly got you killed.’
‘Then we both did.’
‘I should have known better.’
‘Fine, then. You can get the next two rounds in! But then we’re back to normal, okay? Because I can’t keep doing this.’
‘This?’
‘Turning up for these catch-ups and then sitting making shitty small talk just because you feel guilty. And now every time I go out on enquiries, I have some uniform chaperone stood next to me with his arms crossed. It can get in the way. Just yesterday I had to go out and speak to a sixteen-year-old girl who’s definitely had a night out gone wrong and I had to make him wait at the bottom of the stairs. No way would she have spoken to me otherwise! I’m fine. I’m not so fragile that I need a bodyguard. I survived, don’t forget!’
Maddie held her palms out. ‘Okay, I get it! Do you feel better now?’
‘I do, actually. Now, maybe we can go back to talking about nothing much and me taking the mick out of you about Vince. What’s the latest with him anyway?’
‘Latest? What do you mean latest?’
‘Is he still endlessly pursuing you? I still say he’ll wear you down one day.’
‘I hear he has a girlfriend, actually. Someone out there has been naïve enough to let that man into their life.’
Rhiannon leaned forward and she dipped her head as if to force Maddie to make eye contact.
‘What?’ Maddie said.
‘Are you okay with that? Because I think that’s jealousy I hear . . .’
Maddie giggled. ‘You know, I think I preferred the shitty small-talk phase!’ She laughed fully now, Rhiannon too.
‘It is jealousy, then?’
‘I guess it must be. My last chance for happiness, all gone.’
‘I’m not convinced he’ll ever stop worshipping you.’
‘We shall see.’ Maddie picked up her coffee cup. She felt lighter. ‘Work’s okay, then? What’s the story with this girl with the bad night out?’
‘You tell me. She didn’t! We get a seventeen-year-old lad found beaten unconscious in the small hours — his face was, like, twice the size it should be. I make a few enquiries and find out he was out with his girlfriend, Libby Battle. Great name, eh? So I go round to see our Libby and she’s not so keen to tell me how her boyfriend was nearly beaten to death. She says he dropped her home in a taxi and he was just fine, but she wasn’t telling me everything.’
‘Her name’s Libby?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I had a call from Custody this morning! There was a young girl at the bat phone. She said she’d spoken to a female officer about an assault and she wanted to talk to her again. She said her name was Libby.’
Rhiannon straightened up. ‘When was this?’
‘Early . . . like six a.m. early. I went down to have a look but she’d already left.’
‘So maybe she wants to talk to me after all.’
‘Maybe she does.’
Rhiannon glanced at her watch. ‘I should . . .’
‘I know. Go and see this Libby. Do you want company? And I’m not a bodyguard or a chaperone or anything — I’m just interested, if I’m honest.’
‘Don’t you have the car over the cliff to investigate?’
‘Well yeah, but there’s not much I can do this morning. In fact, Harry would have me write it off at this point if he had his way. Meaning it’s either come out with you or go back to my desk and build a pointless case file that Harry keeps getting hassled about.’
‘I imagine that hassle rolls downhill, though? Are you sure you’re not better off going and getting that file done?’
‘I would absolutely be better off. But I don’t want Harry to think that I’m going to be doing what I’m told all of a sudden.’
‘No, you need to keep him in his place. Do you not want to write this cliff thing off? Personally, I’m always happy to get rid of a case.’
‘Me too if it’s a waste of time — and Harry clearly thinks it is.’
‘But you don’t?’
‘Actually, I’m at the point now where I think it probably is. I just don’t want Harry to be right just yet. All that I have found out seems to point back towards some local criminal. Freddie Rickman — you know him?’
‘No?’
‘Me neither. He seems to be one of these people that anyone who has worked here for any length of time knows is up to no good but nothing ever sticks. There doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite to find something that does, either.’
‘But you want to?’
‘I don’t like him.’
‘Did he like you?’
‘I’m sure he would if he met me! It’s just his reputation I don’t like. Maybe I’m too fixed on finding something that isn’t there. Like I said before, I’m not sure Harry is in the mood to give me too much freedom at the moment — certainly not enough to follow up on a hunch.’
‘So you haven’t even met this bloke yet and you’ve got it in for him?’
‘I know. I want to. Maybe I’m being unfair. He might be a lovely fella.’
‘Just misunderstood?’
‘Exactly!’ Both women laughed. Maddie dipped her head, suddenly aware of her surroundings. ‘I might go and see some sex workers. There’s not much to know about our taxi driver and I think we have all we’re going to get about him. I’ve got very little on the female victim. Seems like a reasonable line of enquiry before I write it off.’
‘And you know where to find sex workers, do you?’
‘Nope. But there were some addresses in a book she had when she died. Seems like a good place to start.’
‘Addresses? Is that all?’
‘Pretty much.’
‘And what do we know about them? From police systems, I mean.’
‘Nothing recent. Land registry shows that they’re all owned by one person. Can you guess who?’
‘Give me a clue?’
‘Okay . . . It’s someone
I’m not particularly keen on despite never meeting . . . someone who owns twelve properties and nothing is known about how he had the income to buy them . . .’
‘And you’re just going to turn up and knock the doors?’
‘I was going to do a few. There’s one building in particular that seems to have a few places he owns. Looks like there’s a caretaker there who has called the police a few times and lives on the top floor. I thought I’d speak to him at least. There’s not much else I can do. Harry’s already convinced himself that they’re just rooms for this Freddie’s working girls to use.’
‘But you’re not?’
Maddie shrugged. ‘I think he’s probably right. It’s the only thing that really makes any sense. But Holly Maguire can’t tell me that for sure and I think I owe it to her to try and get a few more answers, seeing as how she seemed determined to take them to her grave.’
‘Grim thought.’
‘It is. Anyway, I planned that for early afternoon, as I don’t reckon those places are in use much in the morning, so it means I have the time to come out and meet your Libby Battle.’
‘Just so we’re clear, no crossing your arms to accentuate your muscles and no steely looks. You’re not a bodyguard.’
‘Fine. Like I need to accentuate these!’ Maddie gurned as she tensed both her arms then stood up. Rhiannon looked around, aware that she might be attracting attention. They both roared with laughter.
* * *
Kelly finally made it to the fourth floor. Her foot found the thin carpet of the corridor and she stopped to catch her breath. The lift was stopped on this level, the doors hanging clumsily open, one wider than the other with the OUT OF ORDER sign written in bold as if to mock her. She could barely remember a time when it had worked. She pushed through a heavy fire door that led back out into the open air. From here a length of walkway clung to the side of the building with identical front doors lined up on the left at equal distances from each other. On the right was a concrete wall at hip height that was then topped with a mesh of steel, which filled the space up to the concrete ceiling. Overall, the impression was of an oppressive grey rat-run — a cage for humans.
He Knows Your Secrets Page 11
