‘It isn’t that. It’s just that my whole line of investigation could be self-defeating. Instead of potentially rescuing Viola from some terrible fate, I could be delivering her into something far worse. But if I tell Raleigh I’m quitting, he’ll just get someone else. That someone else may well find Viola and won’t have the information that I got from you, so they’ll just hand her over to him without a thought.’
‘You find yourself in a moral quandary, Daniel.’
‘Exactly the words I would have used, Cherry Blossom.’
She punches me in the arm.
‘You have to play it by ear,’ she says, firmly. ‘If I was you, I’d keep going and try and find Viola. You’ll come to a point where you have to make a decision about what you’re going to do next, whether you report your findings to Raleigh or whether you don’t. That point hasn’t arrived quite yet. You still haven’t discovered what happened to Viola and it’s possible you never will. At the moment, you have nothing to lose by continuing and you will also be paid. You may be the one person who can help her. You must do the right thing as you see it.’
‘You’re right. If these qualities when adopted and carried out lead to harm and to suffering, then you should abandon them.’
She turns to look at me, her eyes wide with mock amazement.
‘So you are a Buddhist now, Daniel?’
‘Tell me how Viola was booked that night, step by step.’
‘A woman called Mrs Amelia Finch rang me up. She’d seen my website and was making tentative enquiries about booking a girl for an overnight outcall.’
‘Did you record the conversation?’
‘No. Why would I do that?’
‘It doesn’t matter. What did she sound like?’
‘She was well spoken. Educated accent. Home counties. A bit tentative. I couldn’t really guess her age. Not that old, but that’s all I could discern. Twenties, thirties – who knows; it’s difficult to tell on the telephone sometimes.’
‘Did she ask for Viola straight away?’
‘No. She just asked some general questions about my service. Basic things, like how she could pay. She said she was happily married, but had been dying to experience sex with another woman for some years. She didn’t know that escort services like mine existed.’
‘Did she sound genuine?’
‘I had no reason to think otherwise. She sounded typical, I would say. It was similar to a lot of the enquiries that I get. She was concerned about how discreet the service was. She didn’t want it to be sleazy or dangerous. I assured her that it would be neither of those things. Because she was a first-timer, I told her about the possibility of having a tantric massage.’
‘What did she say to that?’
‘She was interested. I described what would happen. I told her that the masseuse would be either partially clothed, or, if she wished, totally naked. It would be up to her. I told her that she could stop the massage at any point if she felt uncomfortable with it. She, of course, would be naked during the massage.
‘I also suggested that she and Viola – or Natasha as we referred to her – could perhaps meet for a drink or go out for a meal before going back to her hotel room. I tried to give her the impression that she would always be in control of the whole evening, from beginning to end. She seemed very interested in this and wanted more details.’
‘Which you gave her.’
‘Yes. I told how the massage would proceed from beginning to end. I told her about the exciting intimacy of a tantric massage when given by another woman. I told her which of my girls were qualified to give a massage like this.’
‘How many girls was that?’
‘There were three choices. It did say on the site, but I didn’t want her to have to do a lot of clicking back and forth while she was on the phone. She said she was sitting in front of her computer. I told her that the girls she should choose from were Amber, Anneliese and Natasha.’
‘And she chose Natasha.’
‘Eventually, yes. She said that she liked Anneliese’s looks, but was also quite taken with Natasha. In actual fact, Anneliese is a slightly better tantric masseuse – she’s been doing it for longer – but in the end she chose Natasha. She said she liked Natasha’s face.’
I watch Sakura carefully as she’s relating all of this. She’s so lovely. She said that she was an escort herself once, and I find myself wondering how much her services would have been. Very expensive, I would imagine. I snake a hand around her waist and draw her towards me, kissing her neck. She gasps and frowns with concentration and I wonder whether this is a genuine response or not.
‘Where are your parents from, Sakura?’
‘I was wondering when you’d ask that. Everyone does. My father was Italian. He was from Oristano in Sardinia. He moved to the UK when he was in his twenties. He was a biochemist. My mother was from Nagano in Japan. She was working for a pharmaceutical company in London, which is where they met.’
That would explain the unique combination of features. Talk about exotic.
‘Did you feel that Amelia Finch manipulated you into suggesting Natasha, in a way that you might not have realised at the time?’
‘Manipulated? I don’t think so. It was me that suggested the tantric massage, for example. No. Wait.’ She bites her lower lip and runs a hand through her hair. ‘I think she might have mentioned massage in our initial chat. Not tantric massage, but she maybe mentioned something about massage parlours that she’d seen advertised and had been curious to whether the girls there did extras for women as well as men. I said I didn’t know. That may have been why I mentioned tantric massage to her.’
‘And once you’d mentioned that and she seemed to be interested, it immediately narrowed down her choices from twenty-four to three. And then from three to one – Natasha.’
‘Yes. It’s possible that could have happened. I don’t know. I can’t remember every single word that was spoken. No one could.’
‘OK. So she wanted to meet Natasha/Viola in a hotel. How does that work?’
‘I have very strict rules about that for the protection of my girls. When you are outside the law, you must always be more careful. One of those rules comes from a time when the main clients of call girls were men. The client chooses the hotel. At this end of the market, it will always be a four or five star hotel and it will be in a good area of London. I would expect the client to book a room for themselves, but also to book a room for the girl that they will be seeing.’
‘So they have to book two rooms. Isn’t that expensive? Don’t they object to that?’
‘Some do, but if they want one of my girls, it’s something they have to go along with. They can like it or lump it, as they say. It changes slightly if a client is booking two girls. They will book a room for themselves, but they don’t have to book separate rooms for the girls. They can share.’
‘I don’t understand. Why book two rooms if they’ve booked one of your girls for the night?’
‘Safety, pure and simple. The girl will go to the room of the client. They will talk, maybe have a drink. If the girl thinks everything is alright, she will probably spend the night in the client’s room. However, if something seems wrong with the client, then they have somewhere to go. The client will have booked the extra room, but they will not have a key for it. It may be that the client is high on drugs or drink. The client may seem unbalanced and possibly dangerous or potentially violent. If this is the case, then the girl is not trapped all night in a hotel room with someone they are unsure about in one way or another. It also saves the girl having to find transport home in the middle of the night. They won’t be stranded in a strange area at an inhospitable hour. That has happened to me in the past and it can be very frightening.’
‘Do you get many women who are like that? Violent or drunk?’
‘Not so far. As I said, it’s a hangover from the days when men were the predominant clients of call girls and one I have always thought was a good idea. Some t
errible things have been done. Just because you are a prostitute, it does not mean that you can’t be savagely beaten or raped.
‘You are perceived as a non-person, even today, and you have no rights. Just the word ‘whore’ is a common and degrading insult against women. Even now, for me, when I hear the word ‘whore’ or ‘hooker’ used in jest or as an all-purpose casual insult, it is like a knife being plunged into my heart. It is a reminder of how low down you are, in case you had forgotten.’
God Almighty. I thought I’d got the whole thing in perspective when I was looking at those websites the other day, but the big picture is starting to form in my mind now. The exploitation, the way men perceive women, the way men perceive women that they have paid for and the rights they think that gives them.
I try to steer my thoughts away from it, but I start to wonder why Sakura is a fifth degree black belt in karate and what gave her the focus to get that far, as it can’t have been easy. There could be an innocent explanation, of course. Her mother was Japanese. Perhaps she passed her skills onto her daughter like in some film. I won’t ask. Not yet. I slide my arm around her waist and let her rest her head on my shoulder. She smells of perfume, sweat and sex.
‘OK. So you sorted out the time and date. Amelia Finch booked a room for herself at The Bolton Mayfair and she also booked one for Viola or Natasha. It was an overnight outcall, yes?’
‘Yes, it was. There was nothing suspicious about it. Several of my girls had worked at that hotel in the past. It was just another shy, cautious, bi-curious married woman letting her hair down. I insist that all the girls text me soon after they’ve met the client. If everything seems fine, they’ll send me a text saying “Pick up shopping”. If everything doesn’t seem fine, they’ll send me a text saying “We’re out of milk”. The girls all think this is very silly, as you might imagine.’
‘And Viola sent you the shopping text.’
‘Yes she did. As soon as I got that, I thought no more about the job. I just hoped that Viola gave the woman a good time and that she wanted to use my company again.’
My company. I didn’t think about it that way. I wonder how Sakura fills in her tax return. Perhaps she doesn’t bother. I lean back and stretch. Sakura runs a hand up my chest and massages my shoulder. I hope she’s not starting a tantric. I don’t think my body could take it. I’m going to have a three hour-long soak in the bath when I get home tonight.
‘How did Amelia Finch pay for this? What normally happens?’
‘Well, I spoke to her a week before the date that we’d arranged. An overnight date with Viola was three thousand. I class overnight as fourteen hours. Obviously, we would not be booking her out on that night, and she would probably not work the next day, so we have to have some guarantee that the date will be happening, so we ask for a deposit in cash of, in Viola’s case, five hundred pounds.
‘The remaining money would be given to Viola within five minutes of her meeting the client. It would normally be in an envelope. Viola would, after some chat and maybe a drink, retire to her room, count the money and send me the text we spoke of. Then she’d go back to the client’s room.’
‘And it would always be a cash payment.’
‘Yes.’
‘And how did Amelia Finch get the five hundred to you?’
‘She sent it here by courier.’
‘Here? Is that – it that safe for you? The police, I mean?’
‘There is no evidence whatsoever in this flat of my occupation and I’ve been doing it for years without any side effects. The police have better things to do than execute stings on madams. Besides, I have contacts with some very senior police officials, some of whom I have known for decades, and two of whom are clients of mine still. They would let me know if the law had any plans for me. It hasn’t happened yet, and I’ve been at it for a long, long time.’
So she is called a madam. I’m glad I didn’t have to ask.
‘I like this. Being in bed with you, talking and cuddling,’ she says.
‘Really? I’d have thought you were far too decadent and sophisticated for this sort of thing.’
There’s that laugh again and the hand going up to the mouth.
‘I am not as sophisticated as you might think. Remember, I had bangers and mash for lunch. We could make some popcorn and watch a movie.’
I’d love to ask her how she started in this business. At fifteen, too. But I’m not going to; it’s far too clichéd. I’d also like to ask her about her police clients and what she does with them. So now I not only have the name that Viola used at The Bolton Mayfair, I also have the name of the woman who booked her. I have to consider that Amelia Finch isn’t her real name. It isn’t that difficult to book yourself into a hotel under another identity. I’ve done it plenty of times.
If she was using a false name, though, I’m wondering how she managed to book two rooms in the hotel. Most hotels will ask for your credit card within minutes, and it’ll need to match the one you used if you booked in advance online, so she’ll need to have sorted that out, too. They’ll also ask for some ID, though many use your credit card as ID. I need to find out what credentials The Bolton Mayfair would ask for.
This is good. I’m one step closer to Viola than I was when I got up this morning and I have to find out who Amelia Finch is. If she’s a genuine married woman, out for a bit of bi-fun, then she should be easy to trace. If she was someone else, it’ll be more difficult, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. As Sakura runs a hand down one of my biceps, I think about what to do next. Visiting the hotel is the obvious choice. I need to see who was on duty the night that Amelia and Natasha had their tryst and see if anyone remembers either of them or has any hard information about Amelia. It could be a dead end, but there’s still a route I can take while I’m here.
‘When did you start to get worried about Viola?’
‘Well, when a girl has been on an all-nighter, I don’t really expect to hear from her until late the next day. She may need to sleep into the afternoon when she gets home. I would have expected Viola to give me a call sometime that evening, maybe. When she didn’t, I didn’t really think much of it. I rang her the next day, but she wasn’t answering her mobile or her landline. I waited for another twenty-four hours, then took a cab to her flat. I rang her bell, but nobody answered, so I let myself in.
‘I’ve always had a key to her flat, she insisted upon it when she moved in. The place didn’t feel as if anyone had been in it for a few days. It was then I started thinking of reporting her missing. I called the police the next day. When I told them she would have been booked under another name and gave them the name of the hotel, they knew what the score was straight away, although the woman I spoke to was too polite to mention anything. She was quite sympathetic, actually, which I didn’t expect. She had a lovely, husky voice. I was quite entranced, under the circumstances.’
Olivia. I wonder if I should take her up on that dinner date she mentioned. I’d like to, but I’m not sure it’s wise, particularly at the moment. She might become curious about me and start checking me out.
‘And that was it. They haven’t got back to you,’ I say.
‘The next time I heard anything about this was today, with you. I told you what Viola said about her father. How he got angry if she got close to anyone else. That was why I reacted as I did when I thought you worked for him.’
‘Yeah. That makes a lot more sense in the light of what you’ve told me.’
‘She described what happened to him when he lost his temper. It sounded rather terrifying.’ She yawns and stretches, her arms high above her head. I try not to look at the result of this, but it’s impossible. ‘Viola had some sort of boyfriend a few years back, or maybe he was just a drug buddy. I can’t remember his name. Jim? Jake? She said that he was walking back somewhere – I think they’d been out for a meal or something – and these two guys appeared out of nowhere and really badly beat him up. He had to be taken to hospital and have st
itches and things. She said that she was sure that those guys were either working for her father or had been employed by him. I wasn’t sure whether she was being paranoid or not. Muggings happen all the time, except these two guys didn’t steal anything from him, apparently. When she went missing, I was afraid that they’d somehow track me down and attack me. That somehow her father would blame me for whatever had happened to her. When you turned up, I thought it was going to happen to me.’
I wonder if Raleigh had private detectives on this boyfriend or whatever he was. If he had someone following me, someone who he had no need to feel hate, jealousy or aggression towards, then it’s quite possible.
For the moment, though, I have to think of friend Amelia as the main suspect in this, though God knows what her motivation may have been.
‘Is it possible that Amelia Finch and Viola had such an intense experience that night that they decided to run away together, damn the consequences and cut all ties with everyone they’d ever known?’
She laughs. ‘It is a romantic idea, but no.’
‘Could Viola have decided that she’d had enough of the lifestyle and make a run for it? Perhaps something happening with that client that repulsed her and made her want to make a clean break, even from you?’
‘Unlikely. Viola was too polite. If that was the case, I’d have got a telephone call, at the very least.’
‘Has this ever happened to you before, where a girl went out on a job and disappeared immediately after it without getting in touch with you?’
‘No.’
‘Have you heard of it happening with anyone else?’
‘A madam I knew about ten years ago had one of her girls murdered by a client. He cut her face off and left her in the hotel room. That’s the closest thing I’ve ever come across. You read about things, of course…’
‘But you’ve heard of nothing recently. This isn’t the latest in a sequence of call girl murders or anything like that.’
‘I would have heard.’
She gets up, walks over to her dressing table and sprays some perfume on. When she gets back into bed, she moves in close, assuming her previous position. I wish I could somehow transport this image back to my fifteen-year-old self. He’d have loved it.
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