‘Detective Crawford.’
Oscar pursed his lips and then nodded his head. ‘Bear with me for a moment. A run-of-the-mill solicitor, seeing the evidence against you, would have kept the case in the Magistrates’ Court. Harkins likes to keep a tidy diary and would have set a prompt trial date.’ Oscar uncrossed his legs, sat up and leaned towards me, looking serious. ‘Had that happened and was the victim to testify you would have been found guilty. And were further charges, for instance trafficking, to be subsequently brought against you, you would appear in the Crown Court as a convicted criminal. It shouldn’t happen that way, but it would affect the sentencing.’
‘Jeez that’s just great!’ I exploded. ‘That’s what you get for helping the victims of trafficking.’
Mike stood up. ‘Are you sure about that Oscar?’
‘If further charges are brought,’ Oscar said, addressing me, ‘the police will arrest you, hold you in custody, question you, the same rigmarole all over again including another court hearing.’
Bitterness coursed through me. I glared at the sketch of the three monkeys; they had it easy and were able to ignore injustice. I couldn’t, I was being framed.
The bitterness subsided. The monkeys were of no help. It was up to me.
I looked at Oscar. ‘Why do you want me in the Crown Court?’
‘All right, I’ll tell you.’
You’ll damned well tell me.
Oscar leaned back into his chair. ‘The disadvantages first; when it comes to sentencing—’
‘I’m innocent.’
‘Yes, but we are a long way from proving that. Let me continue?’
‘Okay.’
‘The Crown Court has less wiggle room when it comes to sentencing.’ Oscar held up a hand. He must have seen the flash of anger in my eyes. ‘One thing at a time.’
I nodded.
‘The second disadvantage is that the Crown Court is more formal.’ Oscar crossed his legs at the ankles and studied his shoes for a moment. ‘Although we can turn that to an advantage. A witness, or in your case the victim, when testifying under oath in front of a jury and in the formal surroundings may be intimidated into telling the truth.’
‘He’d better, the worthless piece of shit.’
Oscar grinned. ‘That leads me to you, Tina. As long as you can control your language.’
I curled my lip.
‘You will make a good impression on the jury. They decide if you are innocent or guilty. The judge, if a guilty verdict is reached, hands down the sentence.’
‘I get you.’
‘It is easier to sway the hearts and minds of jury which does not fully understand the law. A single judge like Harkins and it’s only human nature, will judge based on the law and the facts presented.’
A dreamy look came into Oscar’s eyes and he raised a hand theatrically. ‘The charming, intelligent and articulate Tina Thompson against the oafish and brutal accuser.’
‘You’re a silver-tongued devil.’
Oscar reached into his satchel, extracted a small tape recorder and set it in front of me on the table.
‘I want to you to tell me your story,’ he said, ‘in its entirety with no omissions. Think of it as a deposition. It is critical that I know everything, no holding back.’ He smiled at me. ‘I’ve heard it all before from countless clients. I have lost cases by not knowing all the facts.’
I swallowed. ‘Clients’ names?’
Oscar laughed. ‘You can mention Mike.’
‘Thanks,’ Mike said.
Oscar pressed the record button and I began to relate my version of events, starting with rumours going around about an Albanian mob muscling in on the red-light scene. The first cloud on the horizon was Erjon’s phone calls. That’s about when Martha, an escort of many years, who worked out of an apartment along the corridor from me decided to give up her apartment and quit for good.
Then there had been someone working on the building’s CCTV system. Next the intercom system went down. Mike hadn’t liked that. I smiled at him, remembering his ploy of using the names of ex-US presidents. There had been a problem with the intercom, but no one had authorised any work on the CCTV system.
I’d talked all this through with Mike. Then Ivonne showed up with Markus, a bodybuilder and part-time bouncer. As Mike had predicted that drew Erjon’s attention. He made an appointment to visit Ivonne, and Mike had arranged our own CCTV surveillance for my and Ivonne’s apartment in advance of Erjon’s visit. Mike also organised a device for planting a tracking program into Erjon’s mobile, to which Ivonne and I agreed. It was for our safety.
We got the program installed on Erjon’s mobile – that was scary enough. Erjon sensed someone else was in the apartment, maybe he was guessing it might be Markus. He held a knife to Ivonne’s face and demanded to know where Markus was. We had a lucky escape.
Just as we’d got the tracking device working, Mike and I went down to the lobby. Dumb luck, but whilst we were downstairs, Erjon came back into the building. He took Markus out, busting his knee and leaving him pole axed.
Next came the police raid. I explained Mike’s role as the white knight. How Driscoll had entered my apartment, his bulbous nose red with anger at discovering Mike. And then the horror of the press, who’d been tipped off, and was waiting to photograph us being led away.
I went on to explain how Maria had run into our arms seeking help. And how minutes later I had discovered that the building’s CCTV feed from my floor was being rerouted to Martha’s ex-apartment which Erjon had taken over, and from which Maria had escaped. How I’d rescued two other girls from the apartment. Suspecting that DS Driscoll was taking backhanders from Erjon, we decided not to phone the police and, instead, using disguises we’d fled with the girls in an attempt to reach a refuge.
I recounted our attempt to reach a refuge using the bus system. How we’d been pursued, the fabulous way in which the bus drivers had helped us stay ahead of Erjon and his thugs, and how in the end, I’d made a hoax bomb threat.
Although Oscar said nothing as I mentioned the bomb threat, he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
‘I couldn’t think of anything else,’ I said. ‘I was desperate.’
‘Go on.’
I explained about how we’d split up in Crew Street station. How the thug had come in through the station’s exit, right in front of me, and that I had known not to hesitate but to go on to the attack. It was that or lose Yana.
Then I told the part about Mike coming over to Markus’s apartment with a digicam and how he had recorded the harrowing stories of Maria, Olga and Yana. And that Mike had made Ivonne and I write down our version of events.
Then it was on to the car chase across the city in an attempt to get the girls to the refuge. How that had failed, how we’d been captured and locked up in a storeroom. That Erjon had been planning to get rid of the girls by selling them to a brothel in Turkey. And that Ivonne and I had been destined to be sold into an Arab country.
Finally, I recounted our escape from the storeroom, Ivonne calling the police and my recording the faces of those involved in the auction on one of the phones belonging to Erjon’s thugs. I reached into my bag and brought out the thug’s phone, which Ivonne had given me earlier, and set it on the table.
Oscar switched off the tape recorder, then leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. His hand drifted towards his jacket. He pulled out a packet of cigarettes, looked at Mike, who shrugged. He then looked at me. ‘Do you mind?’ he asked holding up the pack.
‘Is it that bad?’
He stared at me, not sure if I was referring to his need for nicotine or what I had told him.
‘Go ahead,’ I said.
‘Depends,’ he said, pulling a cigarette and a lighter out off the pack, ‘on the police. Now let me go through it with you.’
Oscar lit the cigarette. Mike produced an ashtray. I stood up, opened a window and sat down again.
‘Okay,’ Osc
ar said, ‘the video surveillance in your apartment and Ivonne’s is legal. Tracking Erjon’s phone is not, as is the backup data you emailed to yourself from the janitor’s office.’
Oscar drew on the cigarette. ‘The DVD recorder taken from the apartment in which the trafficked girls were being held is admissible, particularly, as it will show Maria’s escape and you returning to free the other two girls. That taken in conjunction with the surveillance footage, legally acquired, from your own system and any trafficking involvement brought against you within the Merchant Building, we might be able to refute.
‘The affair on the bus,’ Oscar said, and took a draw on his cigarette. ‘The police will be keen to find a culprit for the bomb threat.’ He tapped his cigarette on the ashtray. ‘The mobile you used to phone the Transport Police is the one which the police have?’
‘Yes,’ I said, lowering my head, ‘and now that they have it, they’ll trace the call from the phone.’
Oscar rubbed his chin. ‘I haven’t dealt with bomb threats before. I’d guess that a charge of creating a public nuisance will be brought.’ He glanced at Mike and then back to me. ‘The worst part will be the press; it’s the sort of story they’ll love – add in the tweets, the nun and the cop.’ Oscar shook his head. ‘When they connect all of that, they’ll go digging, and they’ll find Nina the escort.’
‘But, I’ve dumped all my web profiles.’
‘That might not be enough. If the press gets one whiff of you as an escort.’
‘Omigod.’
‘That’s right.’
I’d never put any pictures on the net showing my face. But, Driscoll wasn’t playing fair and he was bound to refer to me as a known escort and maybe even add my working name.
Oscar allowed me a few moments as I stared at the three monkeys, trying to adjust to the nightmare of being exposed.
‘Tina,’ Oscar said. ‘Neither of us knows what action the police will take.’
‘If it’s up to that spiteful bastard Driscoll—’
‘Slow down; let’s get back to where we were.’ Oscar crushed out his cigarette. ‘If the bomb threat goes public, the ABH case will fade into the background. The victim may well retract his statement and refuse to testify. And now that I know you’ve been practising Taekwondo since the age of fourteen; a good case can be made that you knew what you were doing and that it was, in fact, self-defence.’
‘Jeez, that’s fabulous,’ I said. ‘The ABH case goes away and then I get centre-staged as public nuisance and get exposed as an escort. What a price to pay.’
Mike came across and placed his hands on my shoulders.
‘Don’t,’ I said, shrugging him off. I crossed my arms and glowered at Oscar. ‘Is there more?’
‘Yes, but first; let’s not forget your courage and determination. You did what few would have done; you can be proud of that. How many girls did you save from slavery?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, checking my fingernails.
‘Four in the refuge? How many more from the warehouse?’
‘Five in total.’
‘Don’t forget that you are the unsung heroine.’
‘And unsung I’d like to remain.’
‘Nonetheless, the heroine.’ Oscar opened his pack of cigarettes. ‘Do you mind?’ he asked.
‘Oscar,’ I said, cocking one eye at him, ‘you really should read what it says on the packet.’
‘Noted.’ He lit the cigarette, exhaled and looked up at me with a grin. ‘Maria, Olga, Yana and the other girl from the warehouse are in the refuge on Talbot Street?’
‘That’s right,’ I said with a smile. ‘Ivonne visited them this morning.’
‘Ah,’ Oscar said, ‘Ivonne should not go near the refuge. If she becomes involved in a trial it could be construed that she is interfering with witnesses.’
‘Understood.’
He tilted his head to one side, looking at me intently. ‘Now, put yourself in the shoes of those girls. Remember Erjon is still in business and he is still lining Driscoll’s pocket. Would you testify? Will they?’
‘But what about their stories which Mike videoed?’
Oscar raised both hands. ‘Retractable, made under duress, shall I go on?’
My stomach lurched. I looked at Mike.
He shrugged. ‘It was worth a try.’
‘Go on, Oscar,’ I said. ‘What comes next?’
‘The refuge will identify them as trafficking victims,’ Oscar said. ‘Their names will be taken, they have no passports, they are illegally in the country, they will have to be repatriated, the authorities will become involved – the police who will take their fingerprints. Those are all over your car which was found at the warehouse and which the police now have. You transported the girls from one part of the city to another,’ Oscar placed a hand across his brow, ‘and it will be alleged for the purpose of exploitation. That alone constitutes a trafficking offence.’
‘You’re joking?’
‘I’m afraid not.’
‘What about Ivonne?’
‘She’s an accomplice,’ Oscar said. ‘The other reason why she should stay away from the refuge. And she should keep her head down, or go home to Poland for a while. We will have to wait and see if the police try to connect her.’
I shook my head. I’d hoped meeting Oscar would have boosted my confidence and he’d have found a way of making the ABH case go away. He was twisting everything against me. No that wasn’t true; he was spelling out how it could be twisted against me. I pointed at the mobile on the table. ‘What about the film I took in the warehouse?’
‘Evidence which should have been given to the police.’ He shifted in his seat. ‘The official version of what happened last night is still fuzzy. It’s been admitted that trafficking was involved. The press is trying to squeeze information out of any and every contact they have.’
Oscar leaned forward in his chair. ‘The normal course of action is to cooperate fully with the police.’
‘Can’t we go above Driscoll’s head?’ I asked. ‘Won’t they see that I am innocent?’
He shook his head, slowly. ‘I don’t see that as an option. What troubles me is the speed with which the case was put together and Driscoll’s words “an open-and-shut case.” The police know you haven’t got a criminal record. They should have asked themselves what’s your motive? They should have talked to you; asked you to cooperate, looked at your version of events and only then should they have considered a charge.’
‘But they didn’t.’
‘Ask yourself; what does Driscoll gain?’
‘That’s bloomin’ obvious,’ I said. ‘Money and a scapegoat to cover his connection to Erjon.’
‘Which means going above Driscoll’s head won’t help.’
‘Bollocks,’ I said, seeing the obvious. ‘What happened at the warehouse isn’t going to go away.’
‘Exactly. He’ll build a chain of evidence against you. Take that and the fact that you are a known escort.’ Oscar shook his head again. ‘I’m sorry, if you go above Driscoll’s head, we’re talking about more senior police officers, but still, people make assumptions and jump to conclusions.’
‘Yeah, I’m prone to doing that myself sometimes.’
‘Remember few trafficking victims will testify. Driscoll knows that and might twist events, alleging that Maria ran into your arms. You did not contact the police and instead fetched the other girls out of the apartment, and, duped them with the sole intention of selling them at the auction.’
‘Christ that’s going a bit far!’
‘You lack witnesses.’
‘What about Ivonne?’
‘An accomplice, tarred with the same brush.’
‘Mike?’
‘A stand-up guy,’ Oscar said, raising an eyebrow at Mike. ‘Isn’t that right?’
‘Certainly,’ Mike said, and straightened his tie. ‘A respected member of the business community and all that.’
‘Duped,’ Oscar said, ‘by a kn
own escort and led along by the nose. A witness who wasn’t in the bus, who wasn’t in the car and who wasn’t in the warehouse.’ He made a flourishing motion with his hand. ‘The witness is all yours, counsel.’
Oscar scratched his chin. ‘In fact, despite all the surveillance material you have, who is to prove that you didn’t dupe Mike and the girls. At no stage did you seek the help of the authorities.’
‘But, I couldn’t because of Driscoll.’
‘Detective Sergeant Driscoll,’ Oscar said, ‘is a highly respected and longstanding member of the police force, until proven otherwise.’
Shocked, I shot forward on the seat and grabbed the phone lying on the table. ‘But what about this?’ I held the damned thing up in front of Oscar. ‘I filmed the buyers with Erjon.’
‘Tina,’ Oscar said, ‘this is a worst case scenario.’
‘It blinkin’ well doesn’t feel like it.’
‘Oscar,’ Mike said, ‘do you have to?’
Oscar leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘because we’re dealing with a crooked police officer.’ He tilted his head to look at me. ‘Tina, the people on the film will be threatened with broken legs, or whatever, by Erjon, and, he will have witnesses to corroborate that he was miles away at the time.’
‘Witnesses? Low-life criminals more like it.’
He winked at me. ‘I doubt that. Nevertheless, you’re going to have to start thinking like a lawyer, like a detective. Keep going over the whole incident, looking for anything to corroborate your version of events. But above all, you are going to have to find a way of proving that Driscoll is crooked.’
‘How the heck am I supposed to do that?’
‘Does he live in a big house, drive an expensive car. That is a start. Then there is gossip – contact Martha.’
‘When am I supposed to find the time to do all this legwork? I have exams to sit.’
Oscar looked at Mike and raised an eyebrow. Mike shrugged.
‘If you can’t,’ Oscar said, ‘then you’ll have to hire a solicitor or a junior barrister.’
And that meant another bill.
‘I would prefer it if you did the legwork,’ Oscar continued. ‘You are sharp and intelligent and pardon the expression; it’s your ass on the line – that will give you the edge.’ He placed both hands on the armrests of his chair. ‘If more charges are brought against you,’ he smiled at me, ‘and that may not happen, all the statements and the evidence in the prosecutor’s possession will be made available to us before a trial.’
Bitter Sweet Page 23