The Scarlet and the..... Grey? Part Eight
The
body was already stone cold when the dog found it. Lying in a narrow alleyway
just off Jamaica Lane, covered by a cardboard box, only her feet visible.
Alistair stood back as the Scene of Crime Officers picked the murder scene
apart. The snow was falling quite heavily, giving the alley a bright glow that
seemed totally out of place. The entirety of Jamaica Lane had been cordoned off,
and the prostitutes who worked there were craning their necks to see which one
of their friends hadn't made it through the night.
He
watched as Alex made her way over to a prostitute standing alone, dragging
heavily on a cigarette. Gently, Alex led her to one side and discreetly motioned
for Alistair to join her. So far, there had been no sign of Tim this morning,
and Alistair was a little impatient. The Voodoo symbol had been scrawled on the
wall this time, not on the floor, and the dead woman had an inverted cross
carved into her chest, almost severing one of her breasts.
She
was young, no older than maybe 25, but had none of the hard look of the streets
about her that prostitutes normally had. Her startlingly red hair contrasted
starkly with the snow that enveloped her, almost the same colour as her blood
that had seeped into the hard ground. Alex was serious as he approached her.
"Nikki,
this is D.S. Greig, he's in charge of the investigation. Do you want to tell him
what you just told me?"
Nikki
looked at him resentfully, then looked back at Alex, who silently nodded. Nikki
threw her cigarette to the ground and stamped on it.
"Her
name's Amanda Sargent. She lives in Lancia Gardens with her parents."
Alistair
looked at Alex in surprise. You hardly expected a prostitute to live in the more
expensive area of Sun Hill with her parents. "Tell him the rest,
Nikki."
"She's
not on the game. She's studyin' medicine at Imperial College. Her dad's a doctor
an' all. Works down at St. Hugh’s."
Alistair
looked surprised as he took all of this in.
"Then
what was she doing in Jamaica Lane, Nikki? Does she come down here to make money
or to get her kicks?"
Alex
looked at him sharply.
"Neither.
She came down here last night to drop somethin' off for me. I left my condoms at
'ome, and I called her and asked her to bring me some. Okay?"
Alex
put her arm around Nikki.
"Look,
would you come down to the station and tell us this? Talk on the record?"
Nikki
looked doubtful as she surveyed the scene.
"Nikki,
we really do need to talk to someone who knew Amanda well. It would really be a
great help, okay?"
Alistair
heard Alex soften her voice as she talked to the obviously frightened young
woman. Her accent became a little stronger as she tried to lull Nikki into
trusting her.
"D'you
really think this is gonna help her?"
Nikki
was uncertain as she looked down at Alex, and then back to Alistair.
"Nikki,
it may not help Amanda, but it could stop this happening to you and the other
girls down here."
Alex
looked at Alistair in surprise as his voice filled with compassion.
"You
were lucky it wasn't you last night. Now, if anything you can tell us can make a
difference, then it'll be worth it, huh?"
Slowly,
Nikki nodded and allowed Alex to lead her to the car. Making sure she was safely
in the back of the car, Alex turned to Alistair.
"Well
done. I knew you had to use that charm for something..."
She
smiled warmly at him while gently taking his hand and squeezing it, an innocent
gesture to most onlookers.
Apart
from Tim Bayliss, who had just arrived on the scene, three hours late, unkempt
and dishevelled. Alex looked at him thunderously.
"Where
the hell have you been? You were supposed to be in by 8! In case you hadn't
noticed, we have another murder on our hands!"
Tim
looked sheepish.
"I'm
sorry, my, uh, alarm didn't go off, and I guess I overslept. Sorry, Alex."
"Bit
late for sorry, Tim, don't you think?"
"I
had a late night last night, I, uh, couldn't sleep."
Alex
suppressed a snigger.
"More
like you didn't want to sleep, you mean..."
Alistair
picked up on her meaning and turned away from Tim so that he wouldn't see the
desperate strain of trying not to laugh. Alex looked at him with an amused look
in her eyes.
"Okay,
we'll talk about this later. There's nothing else we can do here for now, so we
might as well all go back down to the station. Tim, I want you to sit in on
Alistair and I when we interview a possible witness, okay? You can see how we do
things over here."
Tim
wasn't amused as Alex made him sit in the back with this two-bit prostitute who
was probably lucky to be alive herself. He slumped next to her in the back seat,
blatantly ignoring her as she looked him up and down. Alex and Alistair were
talking quietly in the front of the car, and Tim could make out occasional
snatches of the conversation, enough to know that they were talking about the
fresh body.
He'd
spent the night with Jolie, hardly getting any sleep at all. The woman was an
animal in bed! She had gone out for an hour or so around midnight, saying that
she had left something important at the office, but, when she returned, had
pulled him into bed for a marathon sex session. Spent and exhausted, she had
finally let him go to sleep at 5. Not exactly ideal conditions for having to be
into work for 8. Now he was paying the price, and he was afraid that Alex and
Alistair would have something to say about it once they got back to the office.
Reg
Hollis stared at the quartet as they walked into the front office. None of them
looked totally awake, and Tim, especially, looked a little the worse for wear.
Tim looked over at Reg smirking, certain that the whole station could tell what
he had been up to with Jolie the night before. He wasn't wrong. His smug smile
gave it all away.
Alistair
closed the door of the interview room, just as Alex was indicating that Tim and
Nikki should sit.
"Either
of you two want coffee? Nikki?"
"Yeah,
white, 2 sugars."
She
slumped in her chair as Tim nodded his affirmation.
"Alistair,
will you give me a hand with the coffees?"
He
followed her out of the room and to the coffee machine.
"You
were a little harsh on Tim, weren't you? I mean, what's the poor guy done, for
God's sake? Nothing worse than what we did last night..."
Alex
looked at him accusingly.
"At
least we had the decency to make it into work on time," she whispered
sharply.
Alistair
smiled as he looked around to make sure that no one was in the vicinity.
"I couldn't exactly be late, could I, Guv, you would have eaten me alive!"
He
pulled her into his arms and kissed her warmly. She pulled back almost
immediately, smiling at him.
"No
I wouldn't, I'd have saved that for tonight! Maybe I was a bit of a bitch, but
he was late, and if I'm lenient with either you or him, I have to be lenient
with everyone."
Alistair
nodded as she handed him two coffees, one for him and one for her.
"Come
on, let's go find out what Nikki knows, okay?"