Scream, You Die (25 page)

Everyone was on their best behaviour. Two detectives from Professional Standards, or the “Rubber-Heel Squad”, as they were more commonly known, were sat in morning briefing. Very little in the way of results came from it. Lots of work was ongoing but no fresh leads were being delivered. Scarlett kept her head down, doodling on her pad, feeling as if a great weight was bearing down her. From her lowered head she eyed the two Professional Standards detectives with wariness. The last thing she wanted was to be interviewed by them right now. She prayed that Alex and Rose would find her sister’s friends today.

Scarlett made her way to the office following break-up of briefing and picked up her things from her desk ready to begin her day. Tapping the edges of a bunch of house-to-house forms into line she caught the sound of Professional Standards talking with DI Taylor-Butler in the corridor outside and she attempted to jolly Tarn along for them to leave.

“I’ve just got a couple of phone calls to make, Scarlett,” he replied, picking up the phone.

Hearing the doors opening behind her she stuffed the pink forms into her bag and answered back, “Okay, I’ll just be with the HOLMES team next door. Just come and collect me when you’re done.” With that she hurried off, slipping past the two Professional Standards investigators coming though the doors, without giving them a glance.

****

During mid-afternoon Scarlett and Tarn got a breakthrough, of sorts. Two streets along from Brixton Station Road a mechanic who worked in a small garage remembered seeing two strangers pull up in a silver car near to the premises shortly after eleven p.m. on the day Andrius was murdered. After parking up, he described seeing the men get out of their car, put on baseball caps and then walk off down the road in the direction of Brixton Station Road. He told them he hadn’t been able to see their faces, but was able to say that one was taller than the other and that the smaller of the two was overweight. He described them as both wearing mid-length black leather jackets and that the silver car they came in was a BMW. Unfortunately the man didn’t see them come back to their car because he was working in the back of the garage.

They got a statement from him and phoned it in.

Scarlett had just returned her BlackBerry to her bag when her personal mobile rang. She pulled it out, viewed the caller and saw that it was Alex.

“Got to get this, Tarn,” she said urgently and turned away, swiping the screen to answer as she took a few steps out of earshot from her partner. “Hello,” she answered, deliberately not calling Alex by name.

“We’ve found them!” he said.

Scarlett cupped a hand around her phone. “Where?” she hissed quietly.

“Rose and I are with Gareth now. We found him at his old stomping ground at Charing Cross. Rose is speaking with him now. She’s trying to persuade him to go for a coffee.”

“Listen, Alex, hold onto him. Don’t let him get away. I’m coming across there right away.” She ended the call and dropped her phone back into her bag. She glanced up to see Tarn looking in her direction. She walked towards him. “Tarn, I’ve got to go, something’s cropped up.”

He gave her a puzzled look.

“Can’t say too much at the moment. I’ve got to meet with someone urgently. Can you cover for me for a couple of hours?”

His bottom lip tightened. “You’re not doing a Lone Ranger on me again are you?”

She threw him a grin. “No way, Tonto.”

The edge of his mouth curled up and he shook his head at her.

Scarlett said, “Promise I’ll fill you in soon. You couldn’t drop me off at the Underground could you?”

“Sure thing,
Kemosabe
,” he winked.

Scarlett caught the train from Brixton, jumped off at Stockwell and then took the Northern Line into Charing Cross. Emerging from the station she texted Alex to say she had arrived and got a text back to say they were in a coffee shop on the Strand. Putting in a brisk walk she found the place five minutes from the station. Alex, Rose and her friend Gareth were sitting at a table by the window. She joined them, offering out her hand to Gareth as she sat.

He took it and gave her a weak handshake saying, “I can’t believe I’m collaborating with the cops, man.”

Gazing across the table she took in Gareth’s dishevelled appearance. His shoulder-length light brown hair was lank and greasy. The combat jacket, which she had seen him wearing on the last couple of occasions, was stained and the cuffs were frayed. Though she had to admit one thing as she looked him up and down – he was a good-looking man. Thinking about her sister she couldn’t help but wonder what his background story was and how he had ended up living rough.

Rose flicked his upper arm with her fingers. “We’ve already talked about this, Gareth. You’re not collaborating with the cops. You’re helping us catch our parents’ killers and the people who hurt Grazyna. And anyway, Scarlett is my sis. She’s a good cop.”

He looked Rose in the eye and shrugged. “You’ve changed.”

Rose’s face took on a hurt look. “That’s not fair, Gareth. I haven’t changed. I’ve just seen things differently over the last couple of days. I’ve kept it bottled up all these years and now I know it’s time to sort things out. Catching who killed Mum and Dad has always been my aim. Catching up with my Scarl has brought it to the fore.”

He held up his hands. “Your call, Rose.”

Scarlett locked onto Gareth’s blue grey eyes and said softly, “I’m guessing Rose has explained everything to you?”

He nodded. “I’ve known about her parents’ – your parents’ – murders a long time. She’s filled me in with what’s happened recently and also the thing with Grazyna.”

“So you know how important it is we speak with Grazyna then?”

His face gave up a look of reluctance. “She came to us for help. Everyone from the squat has issues, man, especially with the law. I’m not too sure about this.”

Rose reached across and took his hand. They exchanged gazes. She said, “Look, Gareth, you still trust me don’t you?”

He seemed to think about the question for a few seconds before responding. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Good. Well you don’t think I’d be going to all this trouble to cause you any problems? Especially after everything you’ve done for me. Grazyna is just like I used to be – lost, grappling with her problems and a long way from home. Can’t you see we’re trying to help her? My Sis is trying to help her.”

Scarlett interjected, “Gareth, I know you have issues with cops. I can’t imagine for one minute what your life has been like over the years. Just speaking with Rose over the last few days has certainly opened my eyes, but I’m definitely not here to add to your burden. Grazyna and her friend were tricked into coming to this country, held prisoner and seriously hurt, and we now believe her friend was murdered. Grazyna can help us put these men away for a very long time. It is imperative we talk to her.”

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.”

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.”