*
When they got back, they found Lorne’s father sitting at the table with Jade, who seemed worried about something.
Lorne gave her a quick hug and introduced Katy to her. “I remember Katy from your wedding. Hi, nice to see you again.”
“Likewise,” Katy said before she left the room.
“What’s up, Jade?” Lorne asked. She switched the kettle on then bent down to have a cuddle with her dog. A cuddle with Henry always put life back into perspective.
“Apart from being concerned about Dad? I wanted to see how you got on at Angie’s the other day.”
Lorne noticed sadness in her sister’s eyes. She stood up and made the five of them a drink. “Didn’t I ring you the day I visited her?” She wracked her brain. “I’m sure I did.”
Irritated, Jade flung her arms in the air. “All right, you rang me.”
Lorne walked over to the table and placed a mug of coffee in front of her father and Jade, then returned to fetch Tony’s and her own. She sat in the chair next to her sister and gave her a puzzled look. “Let’s have it.”
Jade inhaled deeply and then released a heavy breath. “It’s Angie.” She looked down at the table and started turning her mug in her hand.
“Jade, honey, has something happened to her?” The words were hard to get out as Lorne fought the unwanted images rifling through her head. She knew the type of people she was dealing with by now, and anyone who spoke out against them in any way usually found themselves on the wrong end of a beating.
Tears erupted in Jade’s eyes and tumbled down her pale cheeks. “I called her and she didn’t really want to talk to me. She cut the conversation short, which is unusual for Angie. So I jumped in my car and went over to see her. The butler tried his hardest to prevent me from seeing her, but I shoved past him. Lorne, she was in an absolutely terrible state. She was sitting in her chair—unable to stand, I’m guessing…” Her voice trailed off.
“Why? Why couldn’t she stand up, Jade?”
“She was in dreadful pain—she must have been.”
Typical Jade, going around the houses as usual instead of getting directly to the point. Lorne prompted her gently. “Jade, can you describe what was wrong with her?”
“Not in a month of Sundays. Covered in bruises, from what I could see. She wore winter clothes, most unusual for Angie. You know, a polo neck and trousers. This time of year, with the weather warming up, she should be wearing her summer clothes.”
“Did you ask her what happened?”
“Of course, I did. What do you take me for?”
“All right, Jade, there’s no need to snap. I’m only trying to find out what went on.”
Their father interjected, “Jade, just tell Lorne what was said.” He sounded tired, and having a go at Jade was totally out of character for him.
Jade bristled and grudgingly gave the information. “I asked her what happened and she told me she’d been in a car accident. I know she was lying, though, because I walked past her car in the drive and there wasn’t a scratch on it.”
“Could she have been driving her husband’s car, perhaps?” Lorne asked, perplexed.
“I asked her that; she definitely said it was her car involved in the accident.”
“Did you ask if she’d been to hospital?” Tony asked his brow furrowed as he sipped at his coffee.
“I asked, she said she hadn’t. That’s what I thought was strange. Well, that, and her car not being damaged. Then…” Jade paused for dramatic effect until Lorne urged her to continue.
“Yes?”
“Then, her maid brought us a pot of coffee, and she had bruises, too.”
“Jai San?” Lorne asked incredulously.
“What’s going on?” Katy asked as she retrieved her coffee off the worktop and joined them at the table.
Lorne filled her in quickly before Jade responded, “If anything, the maid or au pair—whatever she’s called—was in a worse state than Angie.”
“Shit. We have to do something.” Lorne’s hand crashed down on the table and her coffee sloshed out of the cup.
“Lorne, we can’t. Not yet.” Tony looked at her father for support.
“Tony’s right. It would be foolish to intervene now.”
“What do you suggest then, Dad?” Lorne asked.
“Let’s consider your options. You could go down the police route, which so far has drawn a massive blank. You could stick with Croft and his informants—it seems to be bringing some results, though tiny results, admittedly. Nonetheless, it’s still delivering possibilities we should be able to work with eventually. Or you could go to the source of the problem. In my opinion, that’s the agency. Go and throw your weight around down there.”
“You’re right! Actually, that was going to be our next stop, wasn’t it, Katy?”
Katy gave an assertive nod. “Definitely our number one stop.”
“That’s settled, then. Katy and I will go to the agency. Tony, can you drop an anonymous call to the council about the warehouse first thing?”
“Yep, already on my extensive to-do list. I’m going to get in touch with MI5, too, see what I can dig up.”
“Hang on,” Jade said, “What warehouse?”
Not wishing to upset her sister any more than was necessary, Lorne made up something. “Oh, it’s another case we’re working on.” She winked at Tony and her father to back her up.
“That’s right, a drugs case. The business is really picking up,” her father said with a smile.
“Hey, if ever you need a hand with the kennel side of things—you know, until Charlie gets better—I can help out for a couple of hours during the week. My God, I forgot to ask—how is Charlie?”
Lorne left the others to explain about Charlie while she rang the hospital and spoke to Tom.
Chapter Sixteen
Lorne and Katy set off before it was light the next morning.
“Are you sure Tony didn’t mind doing the chores this morning? He looked pissed off to me,” Katy asked with a grin.
Lorne stifled a yawn. It had been a long, sleepless night for her, as she’d been unable to shut out the images of the girls in jeopardy. “He doesn’t mind. He probably didn’t get much sleep last night. I kept him awake for most of the night.”
Katy coughed slightly. “Umm…too much information. You’ll be making me blush soon.”
“Idiot! Not like that. I just couldn’t prevent this case from playing out in my mind. All the old memories came flooding back, which then led me to feel guilty about Charlie and her latest disastrous escapade. Why does life have to be so cruel?”
“Life is always hard. It’s how we deal with the scenarios it throws up that counts. Charlie knows that you love her. She’ll pull through this latest scrape, I’m sure. She has her mother’s determined genes.”
Lorne indicated and turned in to the next road on the right. Even in the dark, the area looked dog rough. At the top of the road were several flickering lights. Lorne strained to make out what they were and gasped when she realised it was a tiny community—a cardboard city settlement. She shuddered at the thought of people living on the streets.
After locating the correct address, Lorne parked the car in a space a few doors down from the agency. They waited for the sun to come up and Tara Small to arrive.
“How are we going to handle this?” Katy asked, resting her head back against the headrest of her seat.
“Not entirely sure yet. Let’s see what we pick up, and we’ll go from there. Do you think halfway through the conversation you could ask to use the loo and take a snoop around?”
“Sure thing. I bet she doesn’t allow it, though, I can feel that in my water.”
They both chuckled. They had to wait for over an hour until they noted the first flurry of activity at the address. Two skinny girls left the building. They staggered down the steps, their arms tightly linked.
“Are they drunk? What are they doing coming out of the building? I expected t
o see people turning up here, not leaving,” Lorne said.
Katy pointed as the door to the property opened just wide enough to let another two people out. This time, two men emerged. “Wait, there’s more.”
“Interesting.” Lorne craned her neck to look up at the three-storey building. “Could this be some form of bedsit property, do you think? Or could these girls be using this property as some kind of brothel?”
“It’s hard to tell. If it is a brothel, would they be letting these girls go off on their own? Are those two men customers or what?” Katy joined in.
“That seems to be the end of people leaving, although I can see a few lights on at the very top of the house.”
Katy leaned forward in her seat. “Yeah, I can see, in the attic. That sounds more like it: make the girls live in a tiny attic and service men regularly.”
“Looks like Tony will be making another anonymous call to the council when we get back. Hang on, this looks like the woman we’re after.”
A thin black woman got out of a sleek Mercedes AMC sports car and crossed the road to the house. She ran up the dozen or so steps daintily in her six-inch heels. Somehow, Lorne had imagined a rough looking woman with a face like a bulldog, but this woman was the total opposite, if she were indeed Tara Small. There was only one way to find out.
“We’ll give her five minutes to get settled in and then surprise her.”
Before they could get out of the car, a huge black limo double-parked outside the property and a tall, well-dressed gentleman exited the rear door, walked up the steps, and entered the building.
“Interesting development,” Lorne stated, placing her elbows on the steering wheel and resting her chin on her fists. “Wonder what part he plays in all this?”
“You say that as if you know him.”
Lorne turned and winked at Katy. “Might, might not.”
“You know what? Sometimes you infuriate the hell out of me,” Katy retorted with a mock snarl.
“That’s why you love working with me. Pete loved it, too; it used to keep him on his chubby toes.” She smiled as she remembered her overweight partner, but her smile waned when the gentleman caller returned to his car. “Well, that was short and sweet. We’ll go in as soon as the car drives off.”
Katy already had her hand on the door handle, eager to leave. The limo eased away gracefully and glided around the corner at the top of the road.
“Let’s go.”
The early morning sun warmed their faces as they made their way from the car to the house. Lorne tried the handle, and, thankfully, the door opened. The last thing she wanted to do was to announce their arrival and allow whoever was inside to hide any evidence of illegal activity.
In the hallway, there were two doors, one on either side. Lorne tried the handle to the door on the right, and walked into the room that contained numerous filing cabinets and a secretary’s desk that was secretary-free. Behind the desk was another door that Lorne presumed to be Tara Small’s office, even though there was nothing to indicate the fact. She approached the door, gave it a brief tap, and walked in with Katy close behind her.
“Who the hell are you?” The woman was holding a hankie to her nose, but it was doing very little to stem the blood gushing from it.
“What happened?” she asked, rushing to aid the woman.
The woman held out an arm and stepped back. “Don’t come near me.”
Lorne persisted and handed the woman a box of tissues that had been lying on the desk. “We’re trying to help. What happened?” she repeated.
The woman looked her up and down in disgust and shouted, “I fucking walked into the door, what d’ya think happened? Dumb bitch.”
The venomous way the woman looked at her and addressed her made the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
Katy, who had remained by the door, said, “Calm down and tell us what went on.”
“Are you two crazy? I know—you’re from that campsite up the road, ain’t ya?”
Lorne took that to mean the cardboard city community they’d spotted at the end of the road. She couldn’t help laughing at the woman’s absurd assumption.
“Whatcha laughing at, you dozy mare? You see me laughing?”
“I wouldn’t be if I were in your shoes,” Lorne said haughtily.
“Meaning?” the woman said, dabbing at her nose and replacing the bloody tissue with another from the box Lorne had given her.
Lorne raised an eyebrow. “You’re looking for clarification of my statement with a nose like that? You’re more stupid than you look.”
The woman shoved her shoulders back and charged at Lorne, who held her position firmly. The woman, who was at least six inches taller due to the heels she was wearing, towered over her.
“You want a broken nose, too?”
Lorne laughed and turned her back on the woman and mumbled under her breath, “I’d like to see you try.” Winking at Katy, who was grinning in the doorway, she said to Tara Small, “Either you tell us what happened, or I’ll call the police and report the assault—it’s your choice.”
“No police. I don’t want them here,” Small snapped back before she reluctantly sat in the chair behind her desk.
Lorne and Katy exchanged knowing glances. The woman was about to open up to them; fear had that effect on people. Nevertheless, her theory was about to be proved wrong.
“I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’ until you tell me who you are and what you’re doing here.”
Lorne and Katy moved to stand in front of the desk, obviously obtained from a cheap furniture store. “My husband called you at the end of last week.”
“Lady, I get a lot of calls from men—hundreds every day—you wanna give me a hint what it was about?” Tara Small eyed her cautiously.
Lorne’s eyes rose to the ceiling, repulsed at the thought of what the calls had entailed. “I’m a private investigator.” She paused to gauge the woman’s reaction, but there was none. “We’re investigating a case, and the name of your agency has cropped up a few times during our investigation. If you don’t mind, we’d like to ask you a few questions about the set-up you have here.”
Small picked up a new tissue. “Depends.”
“On what, exactly?” Lorne asked.
“Whether I want to divulge my business to some filthy P.I. or not. Go on, then, try me with one of your questions.”
Small smirked, and Lorne had an idea that she was about to get the runaround. This woman appeared to know what to say and how to say it. She decided she would ease into the questions gently. “You don’t mind if my colleague here takes notes, do you?”
Small shrugged. “Makes no odds to me.”
“How long has the agency been open?”
“Three years,” Small replied abruptly.
“And what sort of services do you offer here?”
“What services have you heard that we offer here?”
Hmmm…so you want to play cat and mouse games, do you, missy?
“It’s come to our attention that you employ girls from the Far East to work as au pairs and maids.”
“That’s correct.”
“I take it this morning’s visit was from a very dissatisfied customer, then?” That rocked her. Small’s eyes narrowed, and she struggled to speak for a second or two, so Lorne prompted her. “The service you provided must have been pretty bad in his eyes for him to blatantly assault you like that.”
Small’s gaze lowered to the desk in front of her as she mulled over Lorne’s question. Then she replied quietly, “He’s a business associate, not a punter.”
Lorne raised a questioning eyebrow. “A business associate, huh? What’s his stake in it?”
Small bristled in her seat and her back straightened in the chair. “That’s my business, and I ain’t tellin’ ya.”
Lorne turned to Katy. “Then our job is done. Ring the police, will you?”
Small shot out of her chair and tore around the desk towards Lorne. “You fucking d
o that, and you might as well get in touch with the undertaker at the same time.”
“What do you mean?” Lorne asked, guessing what the woman meant, but needing her to confirm it from her own mouth.
“Just how stupid are you, lady? If I snitch on these guys, they’ll come after me. With every torture device you can think of. You don’t mess with these guys—ever.”
Lorne noticed that in spite of Small’s tough exterior, her hands were shaking.
“If they’re that bad, then why in heaven’s name did you get mixed up with them in the first place?”
“I didn’t get a choice,” Small said. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, she returned to her chair.
“Care to enlighten us further?”
“My business did start off legit—honest, it did. After a year or so, this guy came to see me—to tell me—that he was going to become my new partner.”
“I see. Did he say what would happen if you refused?”
“He said he’d break every bone in my body. You kind of listen to someone when they threaten ya like that. I didn’t get a choice. My business went from a legit au pair agency to a brothel and illegal people-trading business overnight. I’m the public face; any shit comes my way, like this morning. And I’ll tell you this, lady: there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. I’m fucked. I either do as they say, or I meet my Maker early.”
“I’m sorry, Tara. That’s a difficult situation to find yourself in. Is there no way you can get out?”
The woman slowly shook her head and unexpected tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped them away swiftly with the back of her bling-covered hand. “I thought about it. I even made it as far as the airport one day. I had a flight booked to Jamaica, but they got wind of it and sent two bruisers to persuade me to return. I’m stuck here as much as my girls.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Are your original girls still employed with you? Or did these guys force you to take on the girls they provided?” Lorne asked, genuinely concerned for the woman’s welfare.
“Some are still with me, but others…”
“Others, what?” Lorne asked already knowing what the answer was going to be.
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