Gareth stroked his chin, exchanging looks between Scarlett and Rose.
Rose’s face displayed a pleading look.
For the best part of thirty seconds there was silence around the table and then Gareth answered, “Okay, man. But no pressure on her. If she doesn’t want to talk you walk away and let her be.”
Scarlett crossed her chest. “Promise. Just let me talk to her for five minutes.”
“And you have to promise to leave us out of it, ’cos we don’t want to get involved. And you won’t tell anyone where we are once I show you.”
Scarlett gave him a reassuring nod. “I promise about that as well. It’s only Grazyna I need to talk with.”
“Okay, man, we need to catch the train, we’ve got a place at Charlton. I’ll just make a call and tell them we’re coming.”
Fifty-eight
Gareth’s new squat was in a Victorian house, among a row of derelict villas on the Woolwich Road. The overgrown, weed-infested frontage was boarded up and Gareth took them around the back, across a muddied and rutted string of adjoining gardens to where one of the houses had a weathered door instead of boarding.
Gareth motioned towards it, “We found that door in one of the gardens and put it on a couple of days ago and we’ve already informed the council we’ve taken possession of the house and asked for a council tax bill.” He opened the cracked, peeling door. “We do everything legit, man. This way it makes it harder for them to evict us. Once we were left alone for almost three years, you know.”
They stepped over the threshold onto bare boards.
Scarlett recognised a number of faces from the maisonette squat. They were sat in an array of chairs set out in a semicircle in front of a glowing wood fire burning in an open grate. The room was partly filled with wood smoke but it was warm. Four people got up and Rose went to them and gave each one of them a hug. One asked how she was and two of them told her she looked well.
Scarlett searched among the faces even though she didn’t know what Grazyna looked like. She turned to Gareth, “Grazyna?”
Gareth turned his attention to one of the women who had hugged Rose. Scarlett thought she looked to be in her early thirties. She was small and slim with long dark hair in a thick French plait, and she wore a baggy purple woollen jumper which had long sleeves covering her hands.
Gareth gave her an exploring look and she flashed her eyes upwards to the ceiling.
“She’s up in the back room with Phillipa and Andrew.”
“Is it alright to go up and speak with her?” enquired Scarlett.
“I’d like Phillipa and Andrew to stay with her while you talk. Just as witnesses,” Gareth responded.
“Sure, no problem.” Scarlett gave Alex and Rose a look which told them she was going up alone and she walked to where she guessed the stairs would be. She was right. A bare, narrow, rickety wooden staircase ran up the middle of the house. Either side the walls were covered in peeling flowered wallpaper. She had to steady herself on the walls as she climbed because the handrail was missing. As she clomped up the stairs she experienced a drop in temperature and by the time she had reached the top her breath was leaving her mouth as fine wisps of fog.
On the small landing she called out to Grazyna, and a man’s voice to her right answered, “In here.”
The door to the bedroom was ajar. Scarlett pushed it. This room was carpeted. The pattern reminded her of the eighties. In parts it was threadbare and a number of sleeping bags were dotted around the floor.
Though Scarlett had never seen what Grazyna looked like she instantly spotted which of the three she was. Grazyna’s face had a recognisable Eastern European look, with high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes. She was wearing a duffel coat which looked too big for her and a pair of jeans and boots. Scarlett smiled as she stepped towards her. “You must be Grazyna?” she said, holding out her hand.
Grazyna looked uncomfortable but took her hand.
Scarlett could feel her shaking as she grasped her cold hand. She tapped the back of it. “I’m Scarlett. I’m a detective with the Metropolitan Police. I’m guessing you’ve been told why I’m here?”
Grazyna nodded.
“My sister Rose, downstairs, who until a couple of few days ago was staying with you in Notting Hill, has told me all about what happened to you. I’m here to help you.”
For a few seconds she eyed Scarlett up and down then blurted, “I’m scared. The men you want hurt me and my friend. They said they would do the same with my sister back home. She is only fifteen. I’m terrified for her.”
“I promise you nothing will happen to your sister. Once you tell me who she is and where you are from I will get the police there to protect her and your family.”
“You can do that?”
Scarlett nodded, “I can do that, Grazyna. I will do that just as soon as you give me some details.”
“And you will protect me against these bad men?”
“I can promise you that as well. We will give you a place to stay and look after you while they go to court. If they’ve done to you what I’ve been told, they will be locked up and put in jail for many years.”
“And my friend Kofryna. I think she is in danger. She didn’t manage to escape like me. I don’t know what happened to her. I don’t know where she is. I think they will have beaten her. Maybe even rape her like they did me.”
Scarlett let go of her hand and took a step back. Giving her a serious look she said, “I’m sorry to be the one giving you this sad news, but we think the men who held you prisoner killed your friend.”
Grazyna’s hand shot to her mouth. She paled. “Oh God!”
“That’s why I’m here, Grazyna. I want to put away the men who killed your friend, but I don’t know who they are or where they live, but you do. With your help we can put these people in prison for a long time.”
“And you can promise that these men will not hurt me?”
“Yes I can promise that.”
“And you can protect my sister and my family back home?”
“They will not come to any harm. As soon as you tell me where they live I can sort that out.”
Grazyna shifted her gaze between the two people she was with and then returned it to Scarlett. “I trust you. I will tell you.”
For the next quarter of an hour Grazyna outlined how she and Kofryna had met up with Andrius and Henrikas back in Lithuania and how they had told them they would have work if they came to the UK. She told Scarlett of the horror heaped upon her and Kofryna following their introduction to Skender, the Albanian, who told her he had bought them and that they had to work for him. She then told her of the rapes, and the brutality of the branding carried out by Arjan and his friend. Finally she finished with her escape and meeting up with Gareth and his crew.
Scarlett let off a low whistle. “That is a horrible story, Grazyna. How you must have suffered. As I say, now you’ve told me all that I need to do something about it. But, I can’t do it on my own. I work in a team and I have to inform my boss of everything so I can support you and keep you from harm.”
Grazyna offered an unsure look.
“I can see this is pretty frightening for you, but you have to trust me on this. I made a promise to you and the only way I can keep it is by informing my boss.”
“And he can be trusted?”
“It’s a she. Her name’s Diane. Yes, she definitely can be trusted. She’s a good person.” Pausing for a moment, she fished out her BlackBerry from her pocket, and tapping the phone called up DCI Harris’s mobile. As she hit the call button, she looked Grazyna in the eyes and said, “You need to know that Andrius and Henrikas are also dead. We think this Skender and Arjan, who you’ve mentioned, killed them.”
Fifty-nine
On the phone Scarlett arranged to meet her DCI in the same coffee shop on the Strand where they had been earlier. She told Diane Harris very little, other than she had found a couple of crucial witnesses in the case and asked her to come alone
.
Then she contacted her partner Tarn and told him the same.
After that, Scarlett, Rose, Alex and Grazyna left the squat and made their way back to the train, where they travelled back to Charing Cross station, and then headed up the Strand.
Once they were settled around a table in the coffee shop and had ordered drinks, Alex said his goodbyes, informing Scarlett that he thought it would be best if he wasn’t around when her boss arrived, that it would only complicate things further. Then he left.
Tarn arrived within minutes of Alex leaving and pulled himself up a seat.
Scarlett introduced him to Rose and Grazyna and gave him a quick resume of everything that had gone on over the last few days and informed him that the DCI was also going to join them.
His face bore an incredulous look once she had finished. He said, “Bloody hell, Scarlett. No wonder you’ve been so secretive. Does the boss know all this?”
Shaking her head and pursing her lips she responded, “No. I’m going to tell her I tracked Rose down last night, otherwise I’m in for the high jump, but I’m going to tell her the truth about finding Grazyna this morning, and I want you to pretend you were with me when we found Grazyna. Now you know everything, I want you to just go along with me when I tell the boss.”
Tarn shook his head. “You’re certainly not giving me much option in this are you?”
“What do they tell you at training school? Always obey an order from a supervisor, even if you don’t like what you’re being asked to do?”
“I don’t think covering up a lie is included.”
Scarlett laughed. “Oh, Tarn Scarr! I happen to know you’ve told a few porkies in your time. Just think of your loyalties here. Anyway I’m going to make you a hero.” She reached across the table, tapped his sleeve and gave him a wink. “Now let me get you a coffee. You look like you need one.”
****
Diane Harris arrived ten minutes later wrapped up against the elements. The wind and the rain had picked up since Scarlett and the group had entered the coffee shop and she remembered the weather warning on the news the night before.
Pulling away a spare chair from another table and issuing a greeting smile Diane Harris unwound her scarf from around her neck, unbuttoned her coat and squeezed herself in between Tarn and Rose.
She looked at Scarlett first. “This is all very mysterious. I know I said we have a leak in the office but I wouldn’t have thought this was necessary.”
“I think it might be when I tell you what I’ve got,” Scarlett replied.
As the DCI shook off her coat Scarlett poured out her story. While she talked the DCI repeatedly switched her gaze between Rose and Grazyna.
They both shied away their eyes, diverting them to their cups of coffee.
Upon Scarlett finishing, DCI Harris clasped her hands together and clamped her eyes upon her. “You say you tracked your sister down yesterday?”
Scarlett nodded.
“So why couldn’t you tell me this, this morning, in my office, once briefing was done, if you didn’t want it leaking out?”
Scarlett could feel her neck flushing.
Rose snapped up her head and interjected, “Because I told her not to. I told her if she told you I would disappear again and this time no one would find me.”
Scarlett met her sister’s eyes. Inside she was thanking her. She returned her gaze to her DCI. “Rose is still circulated as wanted in connection with our parents’ murders. If I’d have brought her in, even though I knew she’d not done it, she would still have to go through the process of being arrested and interviewed and so on. It would just have slowed everything down, and she was the one person who could support Grazyna and fill in all the blanks as to who the two Albanians are. And be able to persuade her that she could trust us.” When she finished she pushed herself back and heaved a sigh. Most of that was true, she told herself.
The DCI was silent for a while. Her face took on a thoughtful look. She unclasped her hands and laid them palm flat on the table. “Right, plan of action. We need to protect Rose and Grazyna until these Albanian’s are under lock and key. Scarlett, you’re right when you say they’re crucial witnesses, and you’ve rightly pointed out that while we have a leak in our department we can’t afford for these two to be compromised. This Skender guy and Arjan have already murdered four people to our knowledge. What I’m going to do is go back to the office with Tarn and make some phone calls. You go nowhere near it. You go home with Rose and Grazyna, pack up some things for a few days and wait for me there. I’ll phone you and then come by and pick you up.”
Scarlett asked, “Where are we going?”
“You, Rose and Grazyna are going to a safe house until this is all ended.”
Sixty
The safe house was a three-bedroom detached house in a quiet street in Ham, backing onto woodland. DCI Diane Harris helped Scarlett in with her bags, checked over every room with her, ensured her personal radio was working, and that she had a spare battery and confirmed there was enough charge in her BlackBerry. Then she handed over a set of keys.
She said to Scarlett, “Right, you three are to remain here, and you only leave on my say so. You do not answer the door to anyone but me, is that clear?”
Tight-lipped, Scarlett nodded, roaming her eyes around the room. The furnishings were basic, but it was comfortable, and eyeing a TV in the corner, she thought they at least had that to see them through the boredom.
“I am the only person who knows you three are here. I’ve used this house before, and I’ve managed to pull a few strings with the Yard to get it. You’ll be okay here.” She opened the front door and an icy blast came in. She shot a glance over her shoulder. “The weather’s picking up out there, they’ve forecast ninety-miles-an-hour winds over the next twenty-four hours. Once I’ve gone lock everything up and keep yourselves tucked up. I’m going back to the office to pull together the operation to get Skender and Arjan off the streets, once and for all. I’ll try and keep you in the loop, but I’m going to be pretty busy over the next day or two so just hang in there until you hear from me.”
Scarlett gave her a nod, holding onto the door, which bucked in the wind as the DCI walked to her car. She watched her leaning into the gusts thinking that she didn’t envy her having to go back into work on a night like this. She was in a much better place right now, she told herself. As the DCI pulled off the drive Scarlett shut the door, locked it, put the two security bolts in place and then returned to the open-plan kitchen-cum-lounge.
When she entered Rose was rifling through the carrier bags on the work surface. Earlier while packing she had had the foresight to empty the fridge and freezer. Watching her sister picking out the salad stuff she was glad she had – she was famished.
Between them they put together a salad, microwaved a jacket potato each and oven-cooked three chicken fillets.
Rose brought to the table a bottle of wine she had smuggled into a bag. She poured herself and Grazyna a glass but Scarlett resisted. Although she would have loved to have had a glass with her meal she knew she had to keep a clear head and remain focussed until this was all over. Scarlett made herself a coffee instead.
After the meal they all cleared the table and while Rose and Grazyna hand-washed the dirty pots she made a phone call to Alex. Although she didn’t tell him where she was she explained that they were in a safe house and would be staying there until the Albanians were arrested. Before ending the call, Alex asked her to ring him tomorrow morning and to take care, and as she finished speaking she found herself staring into space and musing. It had been a long time since Alex had said anything affectionate to her – since they’d split up seven months ago, in fact. She wondered if he was telling her something. Before she could dwell on it further her phone rang again. It was Tarn. She took it. He told he was just checking in and said that the DCI had just called it a day. He said, “We’re all in at half six tomorrow morning. We’re doing a number of raids. The boss has informed
everybody about the two witnesses you found, but she hasn’t mentioned Rose and Grazyna by name. And she’s also named Skender and Arjan as our suspects.” He paused and continued, “Hey and guess what?”
“What?” she asked.
“We’ve actually got a hit on the Skender guy! His full name is Skender Dosti, he’s forty-two and he is Albanian. Came here fifteen years ago. He was arrested in Soho seven years ago for assaulting a woman but for some reason the case never went to court. We’ve got a couple of addresses for him, from back then, so we’re hitting them tomorrow morning first thing. I’ll let you know once he’s under arrest.”
Scarlett thanked him and asked him if the boss had questioned him about her story about Rose.
“Never raised it, Scarlett. She thinks it is as it is. She’s none the wiser.”
“Good. Thanks for backing me up. Again!”
“No problem, Scarlett, that’s what partners are for.” Then he said, “Speak tomorrow. Sleep tight,” and ended the call.
She had just put down her phone when it rang again. She picked it up – DS Gary Ashdown. She took the call.
“Hi Gaz, what’s up?”
“Nothing. The DCI just asked me to check in with you –see if everything is okay. See if the witnesses are comfortable.”
Scarlett flashed a look at Rose and Grazyna. They were just putting away the pots and cutlery. “They are, thank you. Everything is fine.”
“Good, glad you’re all okay. Oh and by the way, good job finding them. Commendation coming your way when this is done. I’m envious.”
“It’s a team effort at the end of the day, Gaz. I’ve just got lucky.”
Scream, You Die Page 23