London Noir: A gripping crime suspense thriller (Kal Medi Book 2)

by Ann Girdharry

  Though Kendrick concealed it well, she could feel the nervousness in him. Perhaps he’d been teased for his lack of ability with the opposite sex.

  ‘I’m Karla, but my friends call me Kal,’ she said, offering nothing more and noting his questioning look. It didn’t seem he remembered her from Montgomery Road, but still he must wonder if she could be a prostitute. Kal had chosen her image to suggest it; wearing a dark red velvet dress that was so short she was glad there was no breeze today. She wore a good layer of makeup too. His mind would put together Kal’s image and Sophie’s presence at Montgomery and wonder if Kal could be in the sex trade. As she prepared to stand, she wriggled to the edge of the seat and allowed the hem of her dress to ride up, noting that Kendrick turned away.

  Kendrick had a beautiful office with lazure effect walls and concealed downlighting. Even the carpet oozed opulence – Kendrick most likely adored spending ten times as much on his purchases as everyone else. For people with a certain type of personality, it could become an addiction.

  Kendrick steered them away from two armchairs arranged next to the window. He indicated a chair in front of his desk. Yes, she thought, he wants the safety of a barrier between us.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind if we get straight down to what brought you here. You told me on the phone you have information about Sophie?’

  ‘I’m here for the money, Mr Kendrick. On your website it says there’s a reward for information.’

  Kendrick pressed his lips together and Kal could almost feel the tension squeezing along his jaw. It told her Kendrick wasn’t a generous man.

  ‘Tell me what you know first and then we’ll see if it’s worth a payment. I think that’s the only fair way to proceed, don’t you?’ he said.

  The more Kal got a handle on Kendrick the more she disliked him. She flicked back her hair and the man almost winced. No, he certainly didn’t feel comfortable around women.

  ‘I was visiting a friend of mine in Montgomery Road and I saw Sophie there. She’s your sister, right?’

  ‘Sophie is my half-sister,’ Kendrick said. ‘Where exactly did you see her? Did you speak to her? Was she with anyone?’

  Kal assessed Kendrick’s intonation, the nuances in his facial muscles, the changes in his breathing. This man was eager for information. If any concern was there, it came as a weaker undercurrent. It didn’t seem to her Sophie was his dearly beloved, lost sister, no, any feeling he felt for Sophie was too pinched by his own agenda.

  ‘I overheard Sophie asking for a man called “Sugar G” and then one of the women took her into a house on Montgomery Road, number forty-one I think it was. I didn’t see her after that and I’m sorry I didn’t speak to her. Your sister seemed anxious, maybe even afraid. If you like, I can ask my friend to find out more because she knows Sugar G.’

  ‘You’re sure it was Sophie?’

  ‘She looked the same as on the flyer and she called herself that, so yeah, I’m certain.’

  ‘And what were you doing in Montgomery Road?’

  ‘Like I said, I went to see my friend and I’m not a prostitute if that’s what you’re asking.’

  Kendrick raised his eyebrows. ‘Then what are you?’

  Good. He was taking the high ground, looking down on her just as she’d anticipated. It would make him less vigilant.

  ‘I’m an escort and that’s completely different. I only work with top-end clients and, for your information, they pay a lot for the privilege of my company.’ Kal injected a spark into her delivery to suggest she might be irritated, but not so much it would put him off, nor make him feel overpowered. Kal smiled to soften the moment. ‘If you’re ever in need of a woman to go to dinner with…’

  Kendrick’s neck flushed red. ‘That won’t be necessary and I won’t be paying anything for your little visit here.’

  In Kal’s mind she saw Kendrick’s wallet snap closed and he even sat up straighter in his seat. It made her think about Sophie’s share of the inheritance.

  ‘What you’ve told me is of no value at all,’ he said.

  ‘That isn’t fair. I’ve come all the way here to see you. I saw your sister, aren’t you worried about her? Aren’t you looking for her? You said you were.’

  ‘What you’ve told me is useless.’

  Kendrick was lying. She could tell by his delivery of those few words. Sighting Sophie in Montgomery Road had been of interest to him and so had the mention of Sugar G’s name.

  Kendrick was on his feet, looking down his nose at her. ‘I don’t need your information because I know exactly where my sister is. She’s back where she should have been all along.’

  Kal worked hard to keep herself in role. Shit, surely Sophie wouldn’t have gone back there? It would have been the last place she’d anticipate Sophie to go.

  Kendrick pushed back his chair. ‘Sophie is safely in the care of Melrose Clinic so please don’t bother me with your petty pleading for cash. You won’t be getting anything from me.’

  His voice was full of greed and satisfaction and Kal’s dislike of Kendrick solidified. This man was passive aggressive, full of tightness and frustration and only able to express it in an underhand, nasty way. Sophie would soon be eighteen and then she’d be eligible for her full half of the inheritance. Was Kendrick low enough to threaten his sister in order to gain control of her money?

  Let’s see what else she could squeeze out of him before he got rid of her.

  ‘And what about my other offer? Wouldn’t you appreciate my glamorous company at one of your high-flying clubs? Or maybe an evening event?’ Kal leant forward and gave a sultry smile.

  ‘Certainly n-not. Surely you don’t believe I’d have the s-s-slightest interest in a woman like you.’ A flash of spite flared in his eyes and he didn’t try to tone down his disgust and there had come the giveaway, because Kendrick must have been a stutterer. He’d probably spent years in speech therapy to overcome it. The remnant of it reappeared only briefly and specifically in response to her flirtation. Before he overcame the problem, in the company of girls, Kendrick’s life must have been a misery.

  Kal tossed her hair and stalked out, purposely swaying her backside as she went. She could almost feel Kendrick’s paralysis as he stared at her in horror.

  Kal wanted to rush straight to Sophie but there was one thing she had to get straight in her mind first. One thing which niggled her about Kendrick, that didn’t sit right. Once outside the building, she found a quiet spot around the side. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and thought about Kendrick, about how he spoke and how he held himself, his choice of words and the feelings she had sitting opposite him. Ideas always came to her this way. It was a tried and trusted method of profiling your target and a technique taught to her by her father, David Khan. Kal ran through the meeting in her mind, noticing the details, being systematic and putting together the puzzle as if she could see into Kendrick’s psyche and pin him out like an insect.

  Wait, be patient, it’s going to come into focus. This is important.

  In the background, a car reversed into a parking space. Kal heard it shuffling backwards and forwards, then the thunk of car doors. Two pedestrians chatted together as they walked past, one woman and one man. Then the street grew quiet except for a lone bird perched up on a roof somewhere. A few moments later, Kal’s eyes snapped open. Bingo. A nasty, cold feeling had settled at the back of her neck. She felt certain her insight about Kendrick was spot on – Kendrick didn’t just feel anxious around women, he hated them.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Given the differences between us you might have thought it would be difficult to attract Charlie’s attention. Not so. She was someone who enjoyed a bit of clandestine activity, as I was soon to find out. We began dating in secret. As I told you, I can play the part. She seemed impressed by my academic achievements and by my insipid jokes.

  I’d two successes to my name by then, Tracey, and another girl called Diane. I began manoeuvring Charlie into position t
o be my third victim.

  Any novice can slip up, and this is when I made a serious error. Like with the other girls, I should’ve worked on Charlie quickly. I didn’t, and it meant she started messing with my mind. How could someone as disciplined and single-minded as me be thrown off course by their own target? I can’t explain, except to say I allowed Charlie to live for month after month, and the longer she survived, the more I allowed myself to weaken and prolong her life.

  This wasn’t a delay of anticipation and meticulous planning, though I think I often told myself it was. As I watched her and followed her and mapped out her life, I wondered about obsession, because to me she was like an angel. An angel who walked the earth. One evening, I even went into a church and stared up at saints in the stained glass windows. I stayed all night though I didn’t pray, and something about me prevented anyone from approaching, even the pastor. It can’t be true that I thought about being saved. I don’t have a conscience, you see. I don’t care. I am without empathy. Every feeling I pretend is an act. But something kept me rooted on that hard bench like a penitent. If anyone could save me, Charlie could, and part of me knew that. What would I choose, salvation or damnation? The battle raged in me month after month, and made me falter like a weakling. Because inside, don’t we all want to be rescued from the horrible parts of life? From the horrible parts of ourselves? Yes, even the monsters of this world like me.

  And that delay in taking Charlie’s life would cost me.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Having been born in London, Kal knew the city could be infuriating and chaotic and wonderful all at the same time. The sun was doing its best to show through scattered clouds. A mass of people dashed here and there like crazed things, amidst zillions of cars and buses. Kal joined the rush.

  Melrose Clinic was located in the affluent district of Westminster, on a stretch near Harley Street. Harley Street had a worldwide reputation for private health care, being prized by the rich and famous for a range of health services and cosmetic surgery.

  Getting from The Strand to Harley Street gave Kal time to research Melrose Clinic. She tried to puzzle out why Sophie would return to the place she’d professed to hate. The best guess Kal came up with was, that Sophie spent so many years at the clinic, she’d become institutionalised. Institutionalised patients couldn’t cope with normal life. With life outside. They’d spent so long incarcerated, they became unable to function for long outside of the rules and safety and routine of the place looking after them. In the olden days, institutionalisation in long-term hospitals meant that patients became stripped of the skills, and even the desire, to live in society. The idea sat uncomfortably with Kal. She’d seen Sophie as a young woman struggling for her freedom. Being confined didn’t fit with that picture and hadn’t Sophie specifically said she felt watched all the time at Melrose? Trapped?

  With a team of over twenty consultant psychiatrists, the site of Melrose Clinic had been a private, psychiatric hospital for many years. In more recent times, it had modernised to offer mental health out-patient sessions and a specialised residential service for adolescents.

  Inside Melrose, the atmosphere seemed more like a hotel retreat or spa than a hospital. The positive impression was reinforced by a casually-dressed receptionist, who showed Kal to a waiting lounge and said she’d find out where Sophie was. A large television screen played a popular nature series and two young people, whom Kal thought were probably both residents, played chess in the corner. The furniture in the room was of high quality, not at all resembling a student or adolescent residence, more like an exclusive club. Being cared for at a place like this would cost an absolute fortune. With everything supplied for Sophie – meals, cleaning, laundry, therapy and support – it would make it an incredibly difficult place for her to leave.

  As soon as Kal set eyes on Sophie, she knew something was wrong. Sophie’s movements were laboured, as if she dragged her arms and legs through treacle. It took her an age to cross the room. Another young woman, dark haired and around the same age as Sophie, trailed Sophie across the floor. The second girl followed so closely it was almost as if the two of them were joined. Kal felt a sinking feeling, and she was ashamed to admit it felt very close to dread, as she observed the second girl, who was so thin she appeared emaciated. The starkness of her bone structure and the way her skin shrivelled to her bones, reminded Kal of photographs she’d seen of Holocaust survivors. Very likely this girl suffered from an eating disorder like anorexia and had done so for a long time. She barely clung to life. Her clothes were glitzy and fashionable but they hung ludicrously baggy. Kal found the overall effect shocking.

  As the pair reached her, Kal noticed a boy, younger than the two girls, slip in at the doorway. He took a seat over with the chess-players, who didn’t give him a second glance.

  ‘Oh Sophie, thank goodness I found you. I wish you hadn’t run off like that.’

  Kal wrapped her arms around Sophie. It was as if a layer of shine had been polished off, leaving Sophie dull. The girl seemed listless.

  ‘Kal. How did you find me?’

  ‘Just a lucky guess and I was kinda surprised you came back to Melrose.’

  Sophie sat down next to Kal on the couch. The dark-haired girl remained standing, though she moved behind Sophie’s far shoulder, maybe to remain as close to Sophie as possible whilst getting as much distance between her and Kal as she could.

  ‘This is my friend, Eliza. She’s shy so I don’t think you should speak to her. We’re best friends, like you and Marty I suppose.’

  It surprised Kal that Sophie’s mind would be clear enough to remember about Marty. Whatever medication Sophie was on, it must not have affected her thinking as much as it had her physical presentation.

  ‘Eliza and I have known each other forever,’ Sophie said, and Sophie took Eliza’s hand in hers.

  The action was full of gentleness. Sophie really cared for Eliza. What must it have been like for these two? Dumped in this place, probably from an early age? Kal wanted to help them both so much, it started to hurt.

  ‘You can sit down if you like, Eliza,’ Kal said softly. ‘I’m Sophie’s friend, so I guess that makes me your friend too.’

  Eliza made no sign she’d heard.

  ‘The receptionist told me all this is voluntary, Sophie. That you’re free to come and go as you wish but that your room is paid for all the time. How long have you been living here?’

  Kal hoped in her heart that Sophie hadn’t been here since she was nine years old.

  ‘After my parents died, my brother tried to look after me on his own. He hired a string of au pairs but it didn’t work out and I was miserable all the time. I was sent to doctors and specialists. In the end, I went to boarding school and that didn’t work out either because I had panic attacks. When I broke down, Dr Kaufman, who was an old friend of my father’s, offered to look after me here. That was five years ago and I’ve been at Melrose ever since. It’s a relief being here. I’ve been studying for my diploma in Art and I want to train to be an art therapist. I had to postpone my application because of those terrible headaches I told you about.’

  Sophie hadn’t mentioned any headaches. Kal glanced over to the television set and let their conversation die down. She wanted to keep it as relaxed and easy as possible, not like an interrogation. The boy over the other side of the room sat so that he faced them and she knew he observed everything and strained to catch every bit of their conversation.

  ‘I’m not sure if you told me about getting headaches?’

  ‘Yes, it’s been the cause of all the trouble. I’ve been getting terrible headaches for the last few months. None of Dr Kaufman’s medications seem to have much effect and he thought I should stall leaving here until we’ve sorted it out. It was a real shame because my new art teacher was really keen on helping me. He used to know my mother. He said I had a talent like hers.’

  ‘Right, I see. Well, I think I’d like to meet him. Only I thought you felt trapped h
ere, Sophie? Isn’t that why you ran away?’ Kal lowered her voice. There were no staff around, but in places like this, walls had ears.

  ‘Gosh I’m so embarrassed about that. It was a silly thing to do and I’ve no idea what came over me. Melrose is really the best place for me.’

  Kal stared at Sophie in astonishment. Not only were Sophie’s words so different from those she’d said at Kal’s apartment, her whole delivery and demeanour had transformed. The Sophie in front of Kal was compliant. That was the trouble with medication, it could change your whole mind state and personality, for the better or for the worse.

  ‘Sophie should leave,’ Eliza said. It was a whisper and the girl’s voice was wheezy, as if she had trouble drawing enough strength to speak.

  Kal saw Sophie squeeze Eliza’s hand.

  ‘I’m never going to leave you, Eliza, and we have to face the truth, I’m not a safe person to be around out there in the real world. I tried to stab you, didn’t I Kal? It’s better for me to be back here, where they can keep an eye on me.’

  Kal’s stomach flipped. Was Sophie saying she’d come back to Melrose to protect Kal? She’d given up her freedom because she’d attacked Kal?

  ‘No, Sophie, no. I was never in danger from you.’

  ‘We have to face the truth. I’m not a safe person to be around outside Melrose.’

  Sophie repeated the same lines, her voice dull.

  ‘Listen, Soph, I’m more than capable of looking after myself – you were never any threat to me. You left Melrose for a reason and I don’t know what that reason was, only I know it was important. Important enough for you to be running into a road in the middle of a storm.’ Kal saw her words weren’t getting through. A wall had been constructed and the Sophie she’d met in the rain could no longer be reached. ‘Why don’t you come back with me and we can try to piece it all together? You’ll be safe at 701 with me, I give you my word.’