‘Then you’re more stupid than you look.’
Mac stood up.
‘Okay I’ll pass your message on to Mr. C and I’ll also let him know that I can’t find out why someone is abducting his girls because a certain Mr. Dhaliwal won’t co-operate. Best of luck, you’re really going to need it.’
Mac went to leave but a hand drew him back.
Jay Dee’s face had turned a couple of shades whiter.
‘You know him?’
‘Of course, we go back a long way. I know that Kayla was one of his girls and he wants to know what happened to her.’
‘Can I make a quick call?’
‘Please do and tell your boss my name’s Mac Maguire. I’m sure Mr. C will have mentioned me.’
Mac joined Mary in the hallway.
‘What the hell is going on?’ she asked in a low voice.
‘Let’s just say we need Mr. Dhaliwal’s co-operation so I mentioned a mutual acquaintance. He’s just checking something.’
‘A mutual acquaintance? I take it you can’t tell me who?’
Mac shook his head. He heard his name called from the living room.
Jay Dee licked his lips.
‘Mr. Maguire I’m so sorry. Please get the lady back in I’ll tell her anything she wants to know.’
‘You’ll do it politely too. Oh and don’t mention Mr. C’s name to the police, he doesn’t want his role in this advertised.’
‘You won’t say anything to him about me, will you?’ Jay Dee implored.
Mac could see real fear in his eyes.
‘Not if you tell the nice lady everything she needs to know. And another thing, when we go ring around everyone whose address you’re about to give us and tell them to co-operate too.’
Mac opened the door and called Mary back in.
‘Ask what you like,’ Mac said.
She gave Mac a puzzled look before asking, ‘Mr. Dhaliwal we need the names and addresses of all the girls who work for you and any other acquaintances of Kayla James that you know of.’
‘No problem.’
He then reeled off a string of names and addresses which Mary wrote down in her notebook.
‘Is there anything you can tell me about the night Kayla disappeared?’
‘It was just a normal shift, didn’t even know she’d gone until the night after.’
‘Who knew Kayla best?’
Jay Dee gave it some thought.
‘Probably Chanelle, they shared a flat together.’
‘That’s it for now, you can get back to bed. We may need to return to ask more questions, is that alright?’
‘Fine, great anytime you like,’ he replied with a smile that wasn’t a smile.
Outside Mary stood on the pavement and looked at Mac with wonder.
‘Just how the hell did you do that? One minute he won’t tell us what day it is and the next he’s giving us the phone book.’
‘I just convinced him it was in his own interest to co-operate.’
‘His own interest?’
‘Well let’s put it this way I let Mr. Dhaliwal know that someone way up the food chain wants this case solved. He checked and found out that I was right.’
‘I’ll bet you can’t tell me who though?’
‘You’re absolutely right there.’
‘I was expecting to be surprised by you but I find I’m still surprised. Okay at least now we have something to go at. Let’s see…’ she opened her notebook. ‘Yes we’ll try Chanelle Burdon first, as she was Kayla’s flat mate and as she’s also just around the corner.’
A few minutes later and Mary was knocking on the door of another scruffy terraced house but this time she didn’t have to knock twice. A pretty young girl with tired eyes wearing a pink dressing gown opened the door. She beckoned them to come inside. The house was the exact opposite of the one they’d come from being recently decorated and tidy.
‘Jay rang and said you were coming. Surprised at him helping the police though, perhaps he did feel something for Kayla after all.’
‘If that’s what you want to think,’ Mary said. ‘What can you tell us about Kayla, especially around the time she disappeared?’
‘Me and Kayla started doing this at the same time so we kind of hung around together and became friends. She wasn’t hard, like a lot of the girls you meet, she’d had jobs before but could never keep them for long. I suppose she wasn’t too bright but she was really fun loving, so she’d either get the sack for making mistakes or for mucking around, or usually both from what she told me. Then her Dad threw her out. He was getting remarried and needed the room, he said. So poor Kay was on her own, no money, no job and nowhere to sleep.’
‘So how did she end up here?’ Mary asked.
‘She had a friend in Luton so she came here and, when she found out that Kay had no money, this friend introduced her to Jay. Some friend she was! Anyway as she saw it she didn’t have any choice, she said she was only going to do it for a year or two until she could save enough money to go back to Jamaica. She had some aunts there and she thought they might be able get her some work. Worst comes to worst, she always said, at least he sun will always be shining.’
‘Do you remember anything about the night she disappeared or anything unusual leading up to it?’ Mary asked.
‘I’ve thought through it again and again but no, nothing out of the ordinary happened that night that I can remember.’
‘When was the last time you saw her?’
‘It was the fourteenth of November. I’ll never forget that date. It was about nine and we were on our usual corner. Well this big Jag pulls up and it was Kayla’s turn but, as I was a bit behind, she let me take it. I’ve wondered ever since if she’d have taken the Jag, as she should have done, if she’d still be alive now.’
Chanelle gave Mary a sad look.
‘So she was still on the corner when you left?’
‘Yeah, when I got back she’d gone. I didn’t know at the time that she was gone for good.’
‘Was anyone else with her when you left?’ Mac asked.
Chanelle gave it some thought.
‘Yes of course, Denise was there when I got back. I remember her saying she’d been stuck there for a while. Maybe she saw Kay.’
Mary looked in her notebook.
‘That’s Denise Maybrook?’
Chanelle nodded.
‘Right stirring cow she is though, I try to have nothing to do with her.’
‘Is there anything else you can think of that might help us to find who did this to Kayla?’
‘I’m sorry no. I am glad that you’re looking into Kayla’s death though, I tried reporting it myself but got nowhere. A policeman laughed at me when I reported her missing, hardly a priority for your people is it? Then when they found her I went and told them that Kay wasn’t a user, that someone had done that to her, but they wouldn’t believe me.’
She wiped away a tear as she said this.
‘Are you scared? Are the girls out there scared right now?’ Mac asked.
Chanelle hugged herself and nodded again.
‘Some of them are so high or so stupid they don’t care but I feel it. I feel like I’ve been marked, like there’s something terrible out there waiting for me.’
‘So why carry on?’ Mary asked sincerely.
Chanelle shrugged her shoulders.
‘No choice, I’ve got nowhere else to go.’
Mac was curious.
‘You’ve told us how Kayla got into the business but what about yourself?’
‘Just bad luck, Mr. Policeman, bad luck.’
Outside on the pavement Mary turned to Mac and said, ‘There but for the grace of God…I felt so sorry for her Mac.’
‘Best way we can help her, and the other girls, is find whoever killed Kayla.’
‘You’re right, come on then Denise Maybrook is next.’
A short drive and they found themselves outside yet another scruffy terraced house. A blowsy blond wom
an in her early thirties covered by a worn dressing gown opened the door. Mac could only think she must look better with make-up on.
She looked at them through bleary eyes. Mary flashed her warrant card. The woman nodded at them to follow her inside. Inside it was dingy and smelt ripe, as though something was decomposing somewhere. Denise didn’t seem to notice.
‘Jay rang. Actually ordered me to tell you everything I knew. Bloody world’s coming to an end isn’t it? Anyway I’m knackered, can we get this over with as quick as possible?’ she asked as she lit a cigarette.
‘I want to ask you about the night Kayla James disappeared. I believe you might have seen who she went with.’
‘Yeah, I remember that night, another one gone. Never got on with Kayla though, too much mouth, never stopped talking that girl. I knew Babs though, I got on with her, bloody shame that was.’
‘Do you mean Barbara Mason, the second girl who disappeared?’
‘Yeah, oh well she’s probably better off out of it. Anyway when I came on there was just Kayla there so we just said hello and that’s it. As I say we don’t get on. I was only there ten, fifteen minutes and this car pulled up, nice car, and Kayla bends down to speak to the driver. Then she gets in and off they go. She never came back that night as far as I know.’
‘Denise, please this is very important, think again. Anything at all you can remember, no matter how small, might be important. Can you remember the make of the car, colour, anything?’
Denise took a drag on her cigarette while she gave it some thought.
‘It was dark coloured, I think it was blue but under the street lights it’s hard to tell.’
‘Just the one person in the car?’
‘Yes, just the driver, there was no-one in the back as far as I could see.’
‘Don’t suppose you got a look at the number plates?’ Mary asked hopefully.
‘You’re kidding, I’m keeping me eyes skinned looking for customers not looking at bloody number plates.’
Mary gave her a card.
‘Please call me any time, night or day, if you think of anything.’
As Denise led them to the door she said, ‘Pity that bitch Brenda didn’t get that bloke, perhaps he’d have done her in instead.’
Mac stopped and turned to face her.
‘Tell me,’ he ordered.
‘Well that Brenda and her gang have a spot down the road but she keeps moving up the road trying to steal our customers.’
‘How?’
‘Well sometimes the punters are a bit shy and they’ll park a bit away and just look for a while. When they pluck up the courage they’ll drive over but sometimes they just drive away. It’s happened a few times because that mad cow has come down the road and tapped on their window and frightened them off. I’ve had words with her about it. Anyway that night, the man in the car, he’d been parked across the road watching us ever since I came on and then I see that Brenda sneaking up on him. She must have spoken to the driver as her head disappeared for a minute. I was getting ready to go over and pull her hair out when the car drove over and Kayla got in. I shouted at Brenda to go back to her own end of the road which she did do but not before she stuck two fingers up at me. I’d love to swing for that cow, I really would.’
‘Do you know her full name?’ Mary asked.
Denise shrugged.
‘Just know her as Brenda but she’s on her corner of the road most nights. Can’t miss her, big blonde bitch.’
Mary wrote down the address, then giving her a card said, ‘Thanks Denise, now don’t forget, if you think of anything else call me.’
As she started up the car Mary said, ‘Might be on to something there Mac, only problem is we’ll have to wait until tonight before we can speak to her.’
‘Not necessarily. Can you hold on for a moment?’
Mac got out of the car and rang the number that Mr. C had given him.
A man with an Asian voice answered.
‘How can I help you Mr. Maguire?’
Mac gave him Brenda’s name and the address of the street corner that she usually operated from.
‘I’ll call you back in a few minutes.’
The line went dead.
Mary got out and looked at Mac suspiciously.
‘What’s going on, Mac?’
‘Just waiting for some information.’
A few minutes later his phone rang. Mac listened and then spoke to Mary.
‘Her name is Brenda Smith, have you got your notebook handy?’
Mary pulled out her notebook and Mac gave her an address not far from High Town Road. Mac ended the call and got back into the car.
‘That’s the second time. Was that the ‘someone up the food chain’ again? Bloody handy person to know if you ask me!’
‘Believe me you wouldn’t really want to know this person but yes, in this case it is handy. For once our aims are the same, we both want the person who’s killing these girls to be caught.’
Brenda lived above a newsagents shop. Mary banged on the door for several minutes until they heard a voice on the other side.
‘Alright, alright, if you’re not knocking on my door to tell me I’ve won the lottery then fuck off!’
‘It’s the police, Brenda. We just want to ask some questions.’
The door opened a fraction and Mary showed her warrant card. The door opened wider. A tall blonde woman in her thirties with a Yorkshire accent and a very ample bosom showed them in. She was wearing a purple dressing gown and slippers that made her look as if she was wearing two full sized dogs for shoes. She led them into a living room that, while being tidy enough, just had too many primary colours.
‘What have I done now?’ Brenda asked as she lit a cigarette.
‘Nothing,’ Mary replied. ‘We’re looking into the death of Kayla James and I believe that you may have spoken to the man she was last seen with. He was parked over the road from Kayla’s pitch and Denise Maybrook saw you speak to him. Do you remember?’
‘I don’t get on with that Denise, she’s a bitch but Kayla wasn’t too bad, liked a laugh anyway. Shame her dying like that. I remember one of the girls the day after telling me that Kayla had disappeared. Must admit it scared me, I’d heard of girls disappearing but, as I didn’t know any of them, I wasn’t too worried. Kayla going though was getting was a bit close to home for me. Let’s think.’
She took a drag from her cigarette and then looked at it.
‘Yes, that’s it. I remember I’d ran out of fags and I was going to the offie when I spotted this car, a BMW it was. I could see the driver was watching Kayla but I thought ‘What can I lose?’ and tapped on the window.’
‘What happened next?’
‘He wound the window down and said, ’Fuck off, I don’t need an old slag like you’. Nice eh?’
‘Did he have an accent?’
‘Yes, I saw a film recently, good one it was too with loads of explosions and stuff. Anyway the baddie was from the Russian mafia and this guy spoke a bit like him.’
‘Did you get a good look at him?’
‘Yes, I suppose so. He was in his mid-twenties, slightly chubby face and I remember he had a moustache. We don’t see many men looking for our services with moustaches nowadays, gay thing, isn’t it?’
‘What happened then?’
‘I asked him if he had a cigarette and he threw a packet at me and then wound up the window. He drove off then and stopped over the road and then I saw Kayla getting in. I picked up the packet but there was only one cigarette left. I smoked it though, even though it tasted strange, not like English cigarettes.’
‘What made you think the cigarette wasn’t English?’ Mary asked.
‘Well the packet looked different and the writing wasn’t in English. I don’t read so well but even I could see that.’
‘What were they called?’ Mac asked.
Brenda shrugged her shoulders.
‘I’m not sure but I think they were called Soapy somethi
ng. Sorry that’s all I remember.’
Mary stood up.
‘Okay Brenda get dressed please, we need you to come with us to the station.’
‘No way love, the only place I’m going now is back to my bed. See yourself out.’
Mary got out her notebook and showed her a page.
‘That’s the address of your pitch, isn’t it Brenda? By the way this here is my boss DCS Maguire. What do you say boss, could you spare me for a week or so? Wouldn’t mind doing nights for a change as I really want to keep my friend Brenda here company for a while. Of course I’d have to warn off anyone who tried to ask for her services, perhaps arrest a couple of them for kerb crawling, what do you say?’
Mac played along.
‘It’s a bit slow at the moment, take two weeks if you like.’
Brenda got the message.
‘I’ll just get changed then,’ she said with a conciliatory smile.
Chapter Ten
Dan and Adil were waiting for them when they got back to the station. Mary had parked Brenda in an interview room and stationed a uniform outside in case she had any second thoughts.
Mary told Dan and Adil what they’d discovered. When Mary commented on ‘Mac’s wonderful powers of persuasion’ and how helpful Jay Dee had turned out to be, Dan looked questioningly at Mac but didn’t explore it any further.
‘Seems like you two have really gotten onto something,’ Dan commented. ‘The police artist will be here in a few minutes. Mary can you keep Brenda company and then drop her back afterwards?’
Mary gave Mac a rueful smile.
‘Sure boss. Did you find anything?’
‘We spoke to Annie’s pimp first which was a total waste of time. However, as young as she was, Annie had been on the streets for over five years so we had some of the girls who worked with her on file. The only possibly relevant information we got was from a girl called Karin Ivanovic who was a friend of Annie’s and, apparently, the last one to see her alive. She saw Annie get into a car that night, a BMW, and, while it was unfortunate she didn’t get a look at the driver or remember the number plate, she did hear Annie say something. Adil, what were her exact words?’
Adil got his notebook out.
‘She said, Oh, haven’t seen you for a while.’
The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery Page 9