Doc surveyed the pub, taking in the assorted memorabilia tacked to the walls. The only common theme he could identify was grime. Everything was coated in a layer of dust cemented into place with congealed grease and the tar from thousands of cigarettes. He was inspecting an ancient wooden plough, wondering what it had to do with this central London watering hole, when Sade’s voice brought him back.
‘I’ve told the police everything. It hurts to talk y’know.’
She was in a tatty dressing gown, probably naked underneath Doc thought as she sat, not bothering to cover her thighs, the gown falling aside exposing her almost to the waist. He noted a pock mark on her breast close to her cleavage. A cigarette burn. He forced himself to concentrate on the task.
‘I know. Thanks for seeing me, Sade.’ He tried not to stare, was not sure where to put his eyes, the naked flesh or the distorted face. One side was badly bruised and swollen...
Clack. Clack. Clack.
He looked away, had an internal monologue for several seconds, determined to dispel the visions.
‘Christ! Do I look that bad?’
Doc resumed his stare. Sade had pulled her robe round her, her left hand covering the battered side of her face. She was distraught.
‘No. Not at all... I’m sorry. You... you reminded me of someone.’ He squeezed out a smile, heart thudding, the visions fading. He wanted a drink, the stale stench of rancid alcohol, distasteful when he first arrived, now made him lick his lips.
Sade, sharp as a stiletto, must have seen his eyes flick away and then linger on the optics displayed behind the bar.
‘You need a drink or somethink?’ Her voice was muted, the words sounding tight as she spoke through jaws clamped shut with wire.
‘No, really Sade. But thank you.’ Get on with it, man. ‘Let me explain. I need to understand the mental state of the man who put you through your ordeal. Obviously we don’t want him to attack anyone else.’
‘Bastard. That’s why I went to the police. I knew he was a bad ‘un, a con, but they’re usually okay when they first get out, y’know?’ She sniffed, pulled some cigarettes from her pocket, offered Doc, then lit up. ‘He was an odd one though. In the bar. Like he was superior. The tosser.’ She blew ash off the end of her cigarette, watched the red glow.
Remembering other times? Other men that liked to hurt women? Doc felt for her, wondered at her story. What life had thrown at her to bring her to this – risking her life and her health every day. For the dream of a pub with Mike.
‘Why do you say that? Was it his body language?’ Prostitutes were often expert readers of the signals men sent.
‘Yeah, a bit. But he also kept on about his bird. Some posh tart he reckons he’s got.’ She snorted. ‘Soon burst his bubble. Told him he stank!’ She laughed at the memory, but then winced as the mirth pained her broken jaw. Her muffled sounds became a whimper before she continued. ‘Prison. You know, makes them stink.’
Doc knew.
‘You insulted him? Deliberately?’ That insult alone could be enough to justify this attack in Leech’s mind. ‘Is that a good way of getting customers?’
‘Listen. I used to work the streets. I had to shag the dirtiest bastards you’d never want to meet. I’ve done things I’m not proud of. And I was hurt real bad by a pimp.’ She chain-lit another cigarette. ‘Mike rescued me.’ She blew smoke, a lungful that billowed round them. She waved a hand at it, making no difference but the action seeming to help her find more words. ‘Beat him to pulp and I moved in here. Got a place nearby for punters. It’s my business see. Not Mike’s.’
‘It’s okay Sade, Mike’s not in any trouble.’
‘Too right he’s not! All he does is keep an eye out for me. And it was him what got that sick fucker Leech’s fingerprints. Kept his beer glass, just in case. Always does that for me.’ He saw her expression soften, thought that maybe she had found something that passed for love in her depressing life. ‘Got worried when I hadn’t come back after forty minutes. His mate watched the bar while he came round the back and found me. I was in a right state.’ Her eyes hardened again. ‘He called the police. At first they weren’t convinced it was rape.’ A tear trickled and she swiped it away as if the display of weakness made her angrier than Leech or the police. She sucked hard on her fag.
‘Really? I thought it would be obvious...’ Carver had told him there was no question, it was rape.
‘He’d paid hadn’t he! But not for this!’ She touched her cheek. ‘And I told him I don’t do Greek... You know? Anal. All my regular punters will tell you that. Even Mike don’t go there. A girl’s gotta have some things for herself. Well that’s mine... But that mean shitbag. He split me open. Hurt me real bad. Then made me clean him with my mouth, busted jaw an’ all. Evil bastard.’
Doc gave her a minute as she chained her third cigarette, her fingers trembling. She filled her lungs again and blew out as she spoke.
‘S’probably all he knows. The copper I spoke to reckoned he’d been inside since he was a kid. Anyway, when that fucker Leech said he thought I might be diseased I told him he was more likely to have AIDS than me! From taking it up the arse!’ She whimper-laughed again as she remembered.
Twice. She had insulted Leech twice.
‘What did he say to that?’
‘Not much. We went round the back soon after.’
‘And he attacked you immediately you arrived in your room?’
‘Nah. I got stripped off and he just stood there. No expression. Dead face. Apart from those bloody eyes. I’ll never forget them. Having nightmares about them. Glowing green... Like luminous snot. Ugh!’
‘Then what happened?’
‘I undressed him. Some are passive like that. Didn’t think much of it, just wanted to get it over with. Know what I mean?’
He nodded, encouraging her to continue.
‘Anyway, he was Mr Floppy, y’know? Told him it was normal after coming out the nick. I’m pretty good with my tongue though. Said I needed extra, reached for his jeans to get him his wallet – he was just stood there still! Next thing I know I’m airborne, he’s got me by the hair, thought the top of me head was gonna rip off. Then he yells something about me thievin and whacks me...’ She paused for a nicotine break.
Doc’s fear for Leech’s state of mind was spiralling as her story unfolded.
‘I reckon that’s what got him hard. I was out of it – that man knows how to slap.’ She fingered her face, her limited expression rueful. ‘Didn’t know whether to puke, faint or piss meself.’
‘I know it’s difficult – ’
‘Nah. I’ve had worse.’ Doc didn’t want to hear it, was finding it harrowing enough listening to her talk about Leech. ‘It fuckin hurt though, I know that. He was angry. Kept on about his birdy.’
‘This girlfriend? The posh one? What did he say?’
‘I can’t remember exactly, I was too busy surviving. It was as if he was shaggin her though. In his mind like... I wouldn’t want to be her for any money... Thought he was bullshitting me at first.’
‘And now?’
‘Oh she’s real alright. Even in the bar those green eyes got all misty when he mentioned her. Must be one of those stupid bitches that write to murderers and offer to marry them. Serve her right if he does!’
Doc would check. Find out if any of the prison groupies had been in regular contact, possibly even visited Leech. He was in no doubt the woman was in danger.
‘Did he tell you anything else about her?’
‘Said she worked for the government, though I didn’t believe that. And it was like a nickname he had for her.’
‘What, birdy?’
‘Yeah. It was my birdy this, my birdy that. I reckon he’s obsessed with her.’
She had not mentioned this to the police. Or if she had then Carver did not realise the significance, the danger this woman was in. He needed to call Carver, have them find this birdy.
‘I think you are very brave for coming forward Sade.
I know he threatened you.’
‘You think so? I just don’t want him doing this to some other girl. I’ll be alright, I’ve got Mike, though I’m gonna be off work for a few weeks. Do me a favour, just catch him will you?’
‘We’ll do our best. Thanks for your time.’ He stood to go, but she reached out, took his hand for a moment.
‘You’re a nice man. I can read it in your eyes. Dunno what you’re doing this job for.’
‘Sometimes I wonder.’ He was touched.
‘One last thing. After what he did to his poor old mum and dad, they put him away for life... Why the fuck did they let him out?’
He had no answer for her.
***
‘We’ve got a real problem Jack.’ Doc’s taxi was heading for Tower Bridge. ‘I’m sure he’ll kill again if we don’t get him back inside.’
Silence.
Then Carver’s raised voice echoed down the line. ‘Why the fuck did you let him out then?’ He calmed almost immediately, business-like in a moment. ‘Okay. I know that shouting won’t help. Tell me, if you think he’s going to kill, why is that prostitute not in the morgue?’
The doubt in Carver’s words, hope perhaps in his voice, needed to be quashed.
‘He didn’t think he needed to kill her. Otherwise she would be dead. He thought threatening her would be enough. And how many girls like Sade get taken seriously when they cry rape? Even your team was sceptical.’
‘True... So you think he expects her to keep schtum?’
‘Yes. She doesn’t realise how lucky she is. She needs protection.’
‘Oh come off it Doc!’
‘Needs it Jack. If he comes back for her and finishes the job you’ll be blaming yourself for the rest of your life.’ Doc would blame him too, and though unspoken, he knew Carver got the gist.
‘We don’t have the budget or the manpower. Christ Doc, you know how it is... And for a hooker?’
‘A girl. A vulnerable, abused, beaten, raped girl who has had a far tougher life than you or me. Someone’s daughter... How’s Sally, by the way?’ Jack’s daughter. Doc may be a nice man as Sade said, but he would stoop as low as he needed to get what he wanted, especially if someone’s life was involved.
The line was quiet as Carver digested that. ‘You haven’t lost your touch have you Doc? Okay. I’ll put a man in the pub to keep tabs on her from opening to closing, see if Leech returns. Her boyfriend can cuddle her at night.’
‘Fair enough. But just make sure you have a team on standby to take him down. He’s a powerful guy. And he won’t worry about harming or even killing anyone, uniformed or not.’
‘Are you sure you’re not over-reacting?’ Again Doc heard the doubt, the hope.
Was he?
No. They had made a mistake releasing Leech. A potentially fatal mistake. He knew it.
‘I think this could get very bloody. Call it instinct or gut-feel. But just believe me.’
‘Fair enough. We’ll keep a car in the area, a few of our heavies. We’ll give her an emergency alarm, though I think the pub’s wired into the rapid alert system already. God knows what the PTBs will say...’
Doc remembered, PTBs. Jack’s shorthand for the Powers That Be. The faceless bureaucrats and bosses with the budgets at their command and the power to say yes or no.
‘Leech threatened to come back for her. I think we should take him at his word. If I’m right about his current state of mind, anything that upsets him, if someone doesn’t do what he wants or insults him, could trigger him off.’
‘And other girls are at risk?’
‘Not just street girls Jack.’ He told him what Sade had said about Leech’s girlfriend, asked him to check prison visitors and any mail. ‘He may be obsessing. We need to find her. Quickly.’
‘Is this just about sex, Doc?’
‘No. Although in his mind he almost certainly equates violence and domination with sexual arousal. Prison conditioning I’m afraid. And it’s not just women... He’s probably anally fixated, though he may not realise it, or may be in denial.’ The cab pulled up outside a gleaming smoked glass tower. He fumbled for cash, almost dropped the phone as he juggled it and his wallet.
‘Anything else Doc?’
‘Yes, I’m at Shaun Leech’s office now. I think he may be in danger too.’
***
‘Thanks for seeing me at such short notice, Mr Leech.’
Doc had called the Judge’s office before meeting Sade, and had a secretary call to forewarn Shaun that he was on his way.
The man was unsmiling. ‘I gather my brother has already broken the terms of his parole. He’s broken rules all his life Doctor Powers, so there is no surprise there.’
Doc took a seat in a white leather sofa tucked in a corner of the plush office. The view was stunning, like an IMAX screen only better. Shaun sat opposite and poured them both coffee.
‘Unfortunately it’s rather more serious than that Mr Leech. Your brother has assaulted a lady. Beaten her rather badly.’
‘Really?’ Shaun seemed uninterested. It was as if it had nothing to do with him.
Doc needed to shake him up a little.
‘He was released on Friday morning.’ Doc knew parolees’ victims were not given the exact date or location of release. ‘By ten o’clock that evening he had brutally raped a woman. I think anyone he sees as having committed an act against him is in danger.’ Doc sipped his coffee – it was good. ‘Including you.’
‘So, a few weeks ago you were on the panel that released him. Now you’re telling me I’m in danger?’ His scowl raked Doc’s conscience, turning over the guilt, exposing it to unforgiving light. ‘Tell me Mr Expert, why did you release him?’
It was the third time Doc had heard the question this morning, and he still had no viable answer. Prison budget cuts? Expedience? Woolly liberal thinking? His personal problems getting in the way of his professional ability? All of the above?
Instead he avoided the question. ‘I’m trying to help put him back behind bars. I need to understand him... I know it’s been a long time.’
‘Oh, don’t you worry. I can’t forget the life I lived with my brother. I could tell you stories all day and still not cover the extent of the malignancy inside that evil sod’s head.’
An attractive brunette appeared at the door, timidly opening it to tell her boss, ‘There’s an urgent call – ’
‘For fuck’s sake. Not now. I’m not available.’ Shaun finally showed some emotion, Doc assuming the anger he felt at his brother was being displaced, re-directed at the secretary.
She closed the door without a sound.
‘Thank you.’ Doc appreciated the time he was being given, even if the man was hostile.
‘Right.’ Shaun’s lips compressed. ‘Since I heard about the chance he would be paroled my life has gone to hell. I can’t concentrate on my business. I’m losing clients. My credibility and reputation are my business, and I’m in danger of losing everything. I’m a consultant, like you... I thought he was in for life.’ His eyes speared Doc, held him as he said, ‘He stabbed my father in the back. Literally. Severed his spine. My dad was a big man. It was the only way that cowardly shit could’ve killed him... Then he went for my mother, hacked her to death as my father lay bleeding. They say he came back and finished my father as he tried to drag himself across the kitchen floor. They could tell by the blood. The pattern.’
Doc could not remember that detail, it was so long ago and Leech’s file contained only a summary. He could only wonder how Shaun’s life had been since that day, the nightmares, the mind videos... Reliving the horrors in his imagination.
Shaun went to the window, gathered himself. ‘He was trying to reach my mother. Or maybe the phone... Who knows? They’re dead now. And, until a few weeks ago, as far as I was concerned, so was my brother. You think he’ll come after me?’ Shaun had his back to Doc as he spoke, any fear in his expression unreadable, but not a trace of it in his voice. Then he spoke more strongly
, not waiting for Doc to respond, confident now. ‘I hope he does. Then I’ll have an excuse to kill him.’ He came back and sat as he added, ‘It seems the justice system in this country can’t protect us from people like him, so I’ll just have to take my own chances... And so will Peter.’
Doc did not know what to say. He felt inadequate. But there was something else troubling him. To hear Shaun threaten to kill his own brother, making a bald statement, devoid of any feeling, made Doc wonder, was Shaun more like Peter than anyone realised?
He tried to shake off the thought, but for a sliver of a moment, a microsecond, Peter’s claim that Shaun was the killer seemed credible to him.
He probed. ‘Can you tell me about that day?’
‘Of course, it’s as vivid as if it happened yesterday.’
***
He heard himself whistling as he slid the key into his parents’ front door lock. His mind was buzzing. Nothing could spoil his mood. After all, he had just completed his final exams, the sun was warm on his back, the whole lazy summer stretched ahead of him.
And Suzie. She was desperate to see him. She’d been practically panting on the phone, describing in delicious detail what exactly she planned to do to him later. A bitch on heat. Life was fantastic for Shaun, he was rich, brilliant, handsome and great company. He also knew he was a babe magnet. And Suzie. Well, she was the best.
He shoved open the oak slab door. ‘Mum! Dad! Surprise!’ He dumped his suitcase in the hall and burst into the kitchen. ‘I’m back a night early...’The words choked and died in his throat as his eyes registered the scene.
His brain struggled to make sense of what he saw, his world collapsing in on him. He dropped to the floor, gagging, his lunch threatening his tonsils. Some detached part of his mind insisting he mustn’t puke on his mother’s floor, a ridiculous whisper in his head, while another part of his brain screamed back at him, ‘She’s dead. Dead. DEAD!’
He felt lead in his arms as he struggled to push himself to his feet, the muscles refusing to take his weight, the ground sponge beneath his hands.
Remorseless: A British Crime Thriller (Doc Powers & D.I. Carver Investigate #1) Page 20