Jack’s hopes flared. He was sure Claudia was the link. ‘And in return?’
‘Take me on a date. Since coming to this country I have never put on a pretty dress and been taken out for dinner by a polite man with no expectations. I want no money to exhange hands, I want no touching. I want to be spoken to with good manners and treated like a proper lady by a handsome man for just one night, someone who splurges on great food, great wine, limo —’
‘Done!’ Jack spluttered down the phone. ‘I’ll be your prince, Claudia, just help me.’
‘I haven’t finished, Handsome Jack.’
He gritted his teeth and waited.
‘And then I want you to get me some legal aid and help me find a way to stay with my daughter.’
Smart Claudia, he thought. ‘I’ll do my utmost to help you … that’s a promise.’
‘I’ll take you at your word. Sarah said I could trust you.’
‘She said that too, did she?’
‘Ask your questions. Better still, let me talk, it’s quicker. I’ve been looking after the needs of a man for a couple of years. He has special requirements, you could say. He has never hurt me, but certainly his tastes are … er, how you say, strange? Individual?’
‘Perverse?’
‘Yes, perverse. I’ve never known his name. He calls himself Zeus.’
‘Zeus? As in the Greek myths?’
‘Yes — as in king of the gods. That’s how he acts as well. Here’s an address, got a pen?’
‘I don’t need one, just tell me.’ He waved a hand and got Sarah’s attention silently, then began repeating what Claudia said. ‘Ford Cottage, Camlet Way, Hadley Wood, got it. Just a sec,’ he said to Claudia and then spoke to Sarah. ‘Get a squad car out to that address. In the meantime, find out who lives there.’ He turned back to the phone. ‘What else?’
‘He talks like a doctor. I mean, he doesn’t ever discuss his work but once or twice he’s mentioned that he could get me into a clinic — you know, some work could be done on my face. I have a mole high on my cheekbone. He calls it my imperfection and has offered to have it removed. He also once said something about preserving my youth and that he could do it. I didn’t pay much attention. I’ve never been interested in what my clients do for a living, only that it can afford them my services.’
‘What’s he like?’
‘He’s like every very rich man. Arrogant.’
‘Has he ever hurt you?’
‘No, never. But he’s creepy. He likes to take polaroids of our faces, you know, when we orgasm. Once he drew over a boy’s face with this strange black pen. He said he could make him even prettier.’
Jack’s felt sure this was the man they were hunting; the one who might now be slicing into Kate’s face. He closed his eyes to block the thought. ‘Claudia, tell me, how did you meet him?’
‘He came cruising around like they all do. He was in a car, asked me how much. I told him, he asked me to go with him and I refused. I have a rule. Well, I did then … I still do although he’s the only one I break it for — he pays me plenty and I trust him.’ She gave an ironic laugh. ‘I trust him.’
‘So what happened at that first meeting?’
‘I didn’t do him that night because I was meeting Mr Gluck and he buys my whole night. We sit and talk, eat salt beef sandwiches at Milo’s. But Moshe was late that night and so Zeus offered to buy me a coffee while I waited for him. It was midwinter you know, really icy. We went to Milo’s and chatted. He was nice, what can I say? Very charming, very easy, very rich. He refused to fuck me in the station but he agreed that I could bring along some others to the motel he’d found not far away. That’s how it began. He liked several — I’ve never done him alone, in fact. And then because there were a few of us we agreed to go to his house and it’s been like that ever since. He has booze, food, drugs, music, movies, whatever we want.’
‘Did you ever introduce him to Gluck?’
She didn’t answer immediately. Finally she spoke. ‘I think I did.’ She sounded suddenly unnerved. ‘I can’t really remember clearly, but I seem to recall Moshe wanted to swap our regular evening but I couldn’t … he got upset, and came looking for me. It was one of those moments of … how you say it … when the planets align perhaps?’
‘Serendipity?’
‘I don’t know that word but it sounds like it would be right. He found me sitting with Zeus in the car because no taxis were around that night and Zeus had agreed to pick three of us girls up. If we’d left just moments earlier, or if there had been taxis, or if Moshe didn’t have some pressing business, they would never have met. Anyway they did. Moshe was very upset and I remember being surprised because Zeus actually got out and talked to him.’
‘Did you hear what they said?’
‘No, I felt it was rude to listen, so I started talking with the other girls. At first I thought Zeus might hit him or something because Moshe was angry, you know? But it ended with them shaking hands. When Zeus got back in and I asked him if things were okay, he said they’d settled it like gentlemen and were meeting for a salt beef sandwich at Milo’s sometime. I thought he was making a joke. I have no idea. Perhaps they did meet again.’
‘What could they have in common?’
He could almost see her shrug. ‘Nothing, I suppose, other than me. One’s a businessman, the other is a doctor … well, I think he is.’
‘Mmm, yes, a doctor who needs people to practise on. Perhaps your Mr Gluck is not so much a businessman as an entrepreneur — someone who finds these people for the surgeon to practise on.’
Claudia remained silent, presumably shocked.
‘Claudia, one final question. Is Zeus Chinese?’
She made a small scoffing sound. ‘Whatever gave you that impression?’
Jack ground his teeth. ‘Describe him.’
‘Tall, strong, very — I don’t know the word — I think it’s distinguished; he probably had golden hair as a young man. Now there are silvery white streaks, but he’s still extremely handsome. He knows it, but then I’ve already told you he’s arrogant. He dresses extremely smartly — I saw very expensive suits in his dressing room. He speaks with a cultured voice, but accented.’
‘Accented?’
‘I don’t know what it is. English but with a sort of strange shortened sound.’
‘Okay, we have his address, I should have a name any moment. Claudia, I’m going to ask Sarah to organise some police protection for you and your daughter … just in case.’
‘All right. I didn’t think Britain would care if another hooker got taken off the streets.’
‘We care more than you think and it seems Sarah’s determined to help you. I’m going to hand you back to her, okay? But listen, thank you. I know what you’ve done for us this evening goes fully against your creed, but it’s going to make a difference.’
‘You won’t forget dinner, will you?’
Jack sighed softly. ‘When this is done I give you my word I’ll find you and treat you to dinner.’
‘I’m holding you to that, DCI Hawksworth. Goodbye.’
He liked her smoky voice and intended to keep his promise. He handed the phone to Sarah. ‘All yours. Do we have a name?’
‘Yes, sir. A Dr Charles Maartens. Sir, here’s —’
‘I know the name from our meeting discussions with Chan at the hospital. What nationality is he?’
‘Zimbabwean, sir. Sir, please —’
‘Right. Where’s Benson?’
‘It’s what I’m trying to tell you. He ran off, sir, and asked me to get you to call him straight away, but not to use this phone. Here, this is yours and Kate’s got a line open on it.’
Kate had watched Maartens painstakingly clean the body of the young prostitute. The smell of surgical spirit was powerful and made her feel dizzy. The girl was hastily being pulled into a pale grey tracksuit. It was new; Kate could see the labels were still on the clothes and they had been taken out of sealed plastic bags with glov
ed hands. Maartens was certainly taking no chances and that would explain why forensics had been unable to give them much information on the victims already found.
Maartens’s mobile rang. ‘Yes?’ he said, brisk and businesslike as he zipped up the girl’s new hoodie.
Kate tried to hear what was being said by the tinny little voice, barely escaping from the phone, but it was impossible. Her thoughts were fractured when she most needed to focus. What could she do? She looked around helplessly; her feet and wrists were bound and her hands were behind her so she was effectively useless in terms of physical movement. She scratched her nails into the cloth of her chair just in case some of the fibres could be identified later. It was terrifying to think like this, but if she was going to die, she was going to make certain this arsehole was nailed. If she could, she told herself, she would get some of his DNA on her somehow.
Maartens closed his phone and moved toward her. ‘Adieu, my Kate. It’s time for you to leave. You will get dressed in your own car. Up please.’ He cut the ties binding her to the chair and hauled her awkwardly to her feet. ‘I’m sorry it’s turned out this way. I would have liked to get to know you better, but it can’t be helped.’ He opened the door and Kate saw the headlights of two cars outside, dazzling her momentarily and diverting her crazy thoughts of asking Maartens for a farewell kiss in the mad hope he’d leave his DNA on her. The headlights were suddenly turned off, and she could see one of the cars was her own black Fiat Punto.
The man who emerged from it was wearing a balaclava. ‘Nice little car,’ he said into her ear, but there was nothing distinctive about his clothing, build or voice that she could latch onto, not that it hadn’t struck Kate that she might never be in a position to turn him in. Her police training had kicked in and she couldn’t help herself, committing every detail she could to memory. She could see the dim lights of the clinic in the distance, but it was too far away and it was still windy. She had no chance of alerting anyone.
‘You know what to do,’ Maartens said to the newcomer. ‘Don’t stuff up.’ He looked up to the night sky. ‘Whatever was brewing has blown through. You should be fine.’
Kate was bundled into the back of her Punto.
‘Get dressed,’ Maartens said, throwing a sealed plastic bag at her.
‘Fuck you!’ she snapped, enjoying the moment of defiance, no matter how pointless it might prove to be.
Maartens produced a scalpel. ‘I can cut off your gown and leave you naked with this man. Is that how you’d prefer to be found? Sent to the morgue bruised and in your birthday suit?’
Kate felt the betrayal of tears stinging at her eyes. She banished them. ‘How am I supposed to dress myself when I’m tied up?’
‘We’re going to untie you, obviously, but try anything, Kate, and I’m going to let these guys sort you out, okay? I’m trying to handle this politely … like a gentleman.’
‘Politely?’ If she’d had any moisture in her mouth she would have spat at him.
‘Yes, good manners to the last, you could say,’ he smirked. ‘Now the keys are out of the car and the doors will be locked so you’re going nowhere. Just get your clothes on and be quiet.’
Her bindings were cut and as promised she was locked into the car. Maartens stepped back to give her a modicum of privacy and through the windscreen she watched them talking, absently looking back at her pulling off the gown. She couldn’t care any longer. All she was after was one thing. Her mobile. Was it still in the pocket halfway down the leg of her cargo pants? Impossible luck! … it was there. She nearly cried out as she felt its hard reassurance as she dug into the plastic bag. He’d said he’d had her clothes vacuumed so whoever did that should have known about the phone — but maybe they hadn’t wanted to touch it, or more likely didn’t think she’d have the chance to use it. Perhaps it hadn’t been found? It was a ridiculously lightweight thing her sister had brought back from her holiday in Bangkok. Perhaps Maartens had momentarily forgotten its presence. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t infallible! Was this his great error? She was going to make his arrogant arse pay for the oversight.
It was not an easy task making it look as though she was nervously dressing while her fingers were moving rapidly over the keys, dialling Jack’s number. They couldn’t see her movement below the car’s headrests and so long as she didn’t pull the phone out of the pocket they may never guess. Hurry Kate! Using only touch she tapped the number and hit send. Then as she sat forward to pull her sweater over her head she cast a prayer to whatever out there in the cosmos was listening to calm this storm completely and let her call get through. Jack could trace her via the mobile, now that the line was open.
‘Find me, Jack,’ she whispered as she did up the button fly on the cargo pants. Then she yelled to Maartens, ‘I’m freezing in here,’ to signal she was done.
He nudged the bloke standing next to him and the fellow started to move toward the Fiat. Behind him, from what she could make out, the other car would be final transport for the poor dead Eastern European girl, currently being carried out and placed in the boot. Where she was headed to was anyone’s guess.
‘Get out,’ the man in the balaclava ordered, banging on the window.
‘Where am I going?’ Kate asked.
He simply laughed and yanked her out.
‘I told you he wouldn’t be as polite,’ Maartens, who had sidled up beside her, murmured.
She was manhandled around the car and stuffed into the boot. It was a hatchback so it wasn’t too claustrophobic, but Maartens grabbed her hands and cruelly cuffed her wrists.
‘There,’ he said smugly, handing the driver the keys to the cuffs. ‘Did you bring those stick-on blackouts for the window? Can’t have her staring out and begging for help.’
‘Yes,’ the sidekick answered. ‘I’ll get them on now.’
‘Farewell, Kate,’ Maartens said. ‘Don’t be too forlorn. I’ve ordered a quick and painless death for you. Give him no trouble and he won’t hurt you — that’s a promise, okay?’ He smiled, and slammed the boot down. Kate tried to hold her fear at bay and position herself so that she might see out of the side window and perhaps get some idea of where she was being taken.
26.
Geoff Benson had commandeered a SOCO car and was flying —blue light flashing, siren off — towards Hertford.
He’d finished speaking with Superintendent Sharpe, who’d asked him to take temporary control of the case as Jack would be heading to Athens shortly. Geoff had tried to argue against Jack being taken off Panther, but he knew his protest would be in vain before he even took his first breath. He knew police protocol as well as the next officer and there was no alternative; Sharpe could not bend the rules on this … not even for the golden boy.
He had finished the awkward conversation with an agreement to meet Sharpe the next morning, and turned to speak to Jack. His friend was still talking on Sarah’s phone and then Jack’s phone had rung again in Geoff‘s hand. He’d fully expected it to be the superintendent again, but when he’d glanced at the screen, he’d felt a surge of hope and excitement. The screen said Kate Carter.
‘Hello?’ he had yelled, plugging the sound of the wind with a finger in his ear and running toward the eaves of the house. He hadn’t been able to hear anything. ‘Hello? Kate?’ He was shouting now. He ran inside the house and screamed at everyone to shut up.
The downstairs of the house had fallen momentarily silent. He’d tried again. ‘Kate?’ All he’d been able to hear were muffled sounds, possibly a voice — but nothing he could make out. He’d stared at the phone. The line was definitely open and connected.
He’d run back out to Sarah, told her what had happened and flung her Jack’s mobile with Kate’s phone still connected. He was moving blindly on instinct but he realised time was of the essence. Jack would catch up quickly but someone had to get moving towards her. Every second might count towards saving her life. He got onto Central Control at Hendon on the car phone and knew his urgent call mig
ht mean the difference between life and death.
To his relief he’d been put straight through to a senior officer on the night shift. ‘Tony, I need a location on a mobile of one of our team please. The line’s open and connected to DCI Hawksworth’s mobile.’ He gave both phone numbers.
‘Okay, sir,’ Tony said, ‘hold the line. I’ll need to contact British Telecom.’
‘Thanks,’ Geoff said, ‘but please hurry.’
He could hear Tony talking to an operator at BT, giving Kate’s number.
The few moments felt like hours, but he sat forward as he heard Tony finally repeating the grid references that BT had located.
Tony’s voice crackled back on the car radio. ‘Okay, sir, I’ve punched those grid points into the GPS mapping system and the call is coming from Hertford. We can only pinpoint an area of 500 square metres but from what I can see there is only one property within those boundaries, sir.’
Geoff had heard enough from Jack’s discussions with his team at Kate’s house to take an educated guess. ‘The Elysium Clinic complex?’
‘Yes, sir, a clinic,’ Tony confirmed.
‘Right,’ Geoff said. ‘Thanks, Tony. We may need to keep you on this, mate. I can’t trust that her position will remain static.’
‘That’s fine, sir. I understand this is for Panther and that DI Carter’s safety is threatened. I’ll stay on the GPS and call you back if anything changes.’
‘Good man, thank you.’ Geoff stepped harder on the accelerator, roaring towards the motorway, pleased that the night roads were blessedly free of traffic snarls. He kept his own phone beside him. Any second it would ring. And it would be Jack.
The radio signalled an incoming message and he snatched at the receiver.
‘Central Command again, sir,’ said Tony. ‘The signal’s just changed.’
Jack stared at the phone that Sarah had given him. He clamped it against his ear, but could hear nothing outside or inside the house. Following in Geoff‘s footsteps, he heard only muffled noises, more like static than anything.
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