Then She Was Gone (21 page)

Tan Woman had lost a little bit of confidence now and simply nodded meekly in response. Rossi almost felt guilty for a millisecond, then forgot Tan Woman existed as Simon Jackson entered the
lobby.

‘Is this them?’ Jackson said to Tan Woman, eyes darting between her and Kirkham. Rossi was given a slight once-over, but his attention was on Kirkham.

This will be fun, Rossi thought.

‘Simon Jackson?’ Rossi said, interrupting Tan Woman before she had chance to speak. ‘Have you got somewhere private we can have a chat?’

‘Yes, please, follow me.’

Rossi glanced towards Kirkham and then followed Jackson. She could see rows of desks to one side, behind glass-panelled doors, but was led away from them. She was glad of it, the banks of people
all wearing headsets had set off something nasty inside of her.

‘Just here,’ Jackson said, holding an office door open. ‘Can I get you anything, tea, coffee . . . my solicitor?’

It was said as a joke, but Rossi didn’t smile in return. She was pleased to see DC Kirkham didn’t either. ‘No, thank you. Hopefully we’ll be out of your hair quite
quickly.’

Rossi walked over and plonked herself down on one of the chairs facing the only desk in the room. She waited for DC Kirkham to do the same, then had a gander at her surroundings. It was much as
she’d expected the office of someone like Simon Jackson to be – neat, orderly, sparse. Very white, to match the outside decor, with a few certificates on the wall behind where Jackson
now finally sat down. There were a couple of photographs underneath the degree certificates and another one in a frame on his desk, next to the Apple Mac taking up most of the room. Rossi leaned
forwards to look at it. ‘Family?’

‘Yes, wife, Sophie, daughter, Emily.’

‘Very nice,’ Rossi said, sitting back in the chair and looking out of the large window to the side of where they were sitting. ‘Nice view as well.’

‘Thank you, although I didn’t have much to do with it,’ Jackson replied, running a hand through his hair. It was longer than Rossi had expected, and had a Hugh Grant foppish
look to it, a single curl flopping down onto his forehead after he’d finished with it. Jackson wasn’t particularly tall, but only if you were looking for it. He was slim, but well built
with it. There was a nice figure underneath the suit he was wearing, she guessed, but the whole look wasn’t exactly impressing her.

‘What’s this about then?’ Jackson said, affecting an air of relaxation. Rossi wasn’t buying it, but took it anyway. ‘Not often I get a visit from Her
Majesty’s finest.’

‘You know where we’re from?’

‘The accent does really give it away. Liverpool, I assume?’

‘You’re right. Somewhere you know well?’

‘Of course,’ Jackson replied, leaning back in his chair and crossing his fingers over his midriff. ‘I studied at university there a fair few years ago.’

‘You’ve done well, getting your own office before you’ve even turned thirty.’

‘Yes, well, hard work, that’s all.’

‘I’m afraid we’re not here with the best of news,’ Rossi continued, ignoring the remark. ‘It’s my duty to inform you of the passing of someone you knew quite
well when you were a student.’

‘Really . . . who?’

Rossi shot a look at DC Kirkham, who was silently studying Jackson.

‘Sam Byrne. He was found dead yesterday morning.’

‘Oh, that’s terrible. What happened to him?’

Rossi was trying hard, but she was unable to quieten the annoyance Jackson’s performance was provoking. ‘I was sure you would know already, what with it being on the national news.
You don’t keep up to date with what’s happening around the country?’

Jackson hesitated, caught in a lie, Rossi presumed. ‘I went home yesterday and went straight to bed. Didn’t catch up on things, sorry. It’s a total shock to me.’

‘Really? Then it’s a shame you had to hear it from us.’ Rossi decided to move past what was obviously an untruth. ‘Did you keep in touch with Sam once you’d
graduated?’

‘Well, I’m not sure what you’ve been told, but we weren’t all that close really. We had some time together at university, but we weren’t good friends. Certainly not
lately, anyway. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.’

Rossi nodded, removing her notepad from her jacket pocket. ‘When was the last time you spoke to him?’

‘Oh, it will have been years ago. Maybe three, four years ago. I’m not sure. I’ve been so busy–’

‘Do you keep in touch with many people from university?’ DC Kirkham said, cutting in. ‘Any relationships that have lasted since then?’

Jackson shifted in his seat, removing his hands from where they’d been resting on the desk and placing them on the arms of his chair. ‘No, not really. I don’t keep in touch
with anyone. I’m too busy working and they have their own lives to lead. It was all such a long time ago now. Years, in fact. I’m sure you understand.’

‘Help me understand this then,’ DC Kirkham said, lifting a finger and pointing to the wall behind Jackson. ‘Why would you keep a picture of yourself with Sam Byrne and six
other gentlemen, if you weren’t all that close?’

Rossi almost grinned, watching as Jackson opened his mouth, becoming more pale by the second.

There was a noticeable change in the atmosphere now, Murphy feeling like a spare ornament as Vicky sat down and wrapped her arms around herself. The room had grown colder
somehow, as if they had let an evil spirit inside, allowing it to fester and become bitter.

‘He was wrong,’ Vicky said, the bravado she had shown when they had first arrived now a distant memory. ‘Gone in the head. I’ve had some shit in my work before, I know
the worst of the worst. Men who treat us like scum, just there to satisfy whatever they need. This was different though. He wasn’t normal.’

‘Tell us what happened,’ DC Hashem said, sitting on the threadbare sofa opposite the one Vicky was slowly drawing back in to.

‘He picked me up on a Tuesday night, about a month ago, I think. No, I know it was. It’s not like I would forget really.’

Vicky smiled, but there was no warmth to it. Murphy shifted across and perched himself on the arm of the sofa DC Hashem was sitting on.

‘Must have been about ten, ten thirty at night,’ Vicky continued, seeming not to notice Murphy. ‘Maybe a little later. He wasn’t someone I’d seen before, not on our
patch anyway.’

‘Where was this?’

‘Do I have to say?’ Vicky replied, eyeing DC Hashem with suspicion. ‘Only I don’t want to have a load of us lose a good patch.’

‘It would help a lot,’ DC Hashem said, scribbling notes in her pad.

‘Can you promise not to stop us working down there?’

DC Hashem turned and looked at Murphy, who decided to give her a small nod.

‘Fine, it’s down near Regent Road, near the old warehouses. Bankfield Street. We keep moving about, but that’s more or less where we feel best. Usually all we get is lonely
auld fellas, desperate for a bit of attention. Can do five or six of them before midnight.’

‘This guy was different, though,’ Murphy said, steadying himself as he moved a little and the sofa made a loud creaking sound. ‘Sam. He didn’t just want a handjob in the
front seat of his car?’

‘No, not at all,’ Vicky replied. She had become almost emotionless, her words coming out in a stiff, staccato manner. ‘He pulled up alongside us – there was only three of
us standing there at the time, but we weren’t stood next to each other, of course. He checked us all out, then came to a stop beside me.’

Murphy looked her over, wondering if there was something about her appearance which marked her out. She looked younger than the age he knew her to be. Small, diminutive. She could easily pass
for a teenager on a dark night. He logged it for further thought.

‘He rolls down the window and I speak to him. He’s not bad looking at all, which meant I didn’t worry at first. He seemed normal. Young, fit. Looked like he’d had a
shower, which if you’ve been doing what I’ve been doing, you suddenly start appreciating a lot more.’

DC Hashem gave her a tight grin which didn’t travel to the rest of her face. ‘What did he say to you?’

‘He said he needed someone for a few hours,’ Vicky continued, shaking her head as if she was trying to free the memory of what had happened that night. ‘Offered me a ridiculous
amount of money.’

‘How much?’

‘Five ton.’

Murphy’s eyes widened. From what little he knew about the business, five hundred quid was more than women working on the street would usually make in an entire week.

‘I couldn’t really turn that money down,’ Vicky said, looking away from them now. ‘He was in a really nice car, wearing a suit which looked really good, and I just
trusted him. He had one of those faces. Of course, when I found out who he was, I wasn’t surprised that he was doing so well. He could sell a lie like no one I’ve ever met
before.’

‘What kind of car was it?’ DC Hashem said, not looking up from her notepad.

‘Silver Audi,’ Vicky replied without missing a beat. She then reeled off the first part of his number plate without pause as well. ‘I knew he had the money, but I still
wasn’t sure, like. Then he said he’d pay me half up front, the rest when we got to where he wanted to take me. I didn’t really think twice, to be honest. Just gave the nod to the
other girls, just in case, then got in the car.’

‘What happened next?’

‘He drove into the city centre, which made me feel a bit safer, then past Lime Street and up that road that goes towards the uni there. Parked up in a car park behind the building and we
went up to his apartment. It was all normal until we got inside.’

Murphy made a mental note to check the car park behind the apartment block, to see if there were any records kept by on-site staff. If there were any staff, of course.

‘The lights were all off and he only put on a couple of lamps. Couldn’t really see much, the lights were all red, but it didn’t look like what I’d been expecting. It
wasn’t lived in, you know what I mean? He made me take my clothes off and change into something else.’

‘What did he make you wear?’

‘It was like a schoolgirl outfit, which isn’t really out of the norm. Had to do that before. It was when he took me into the bedroom that things got worse. I didn’t want to be
tied up, I never normally let that happen, but he wasn’t even listening to me by that point. He was stronger than I’d thought he would be, so I just let him get on with it. All I could
think of was the money. It was more than I’d earned in a long time and it wasn’t like he was hurting me then.’

Murphy could sense where things were leading and held a hand up to stop Vicky. ‘Are you comfortable with me being here, Vicky? I can step out if you want.’

‘No, it’s fine,’ Vicky replied, fixing him with a stare. ‘It’s not like you’re anything like that. I can tell.’

Murphy wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or not. He decided he would be.

‘He had me in different positions, but it was never any effort to move me. He was just throwing me around, wherever he wanted me to go. He took pictures, I know that. There was a tablet or
something on one side and he kept picking it up. There was no noise from it, but I know what he was doing. At first, he was just using things on me, without lube which hurt like a motherfucker, but
I just got on with it. I was talking to him at first, like I thought he’d want, but he made me stop. Took my knickers and stuck them in my mouth.’

It was DC Hashem’s turn to squirm uncomfortably now, but thankfully Vicky was still oblivious to the two of them.

‘It turned bad pretty quick. He had me on my front, arse in the air, which I thought was just going to be the sex thing and we’d be done. Then he moved away and I could feel
something being stroked against my back. Something thin. I knew what it was when it came down on me.’

‘Cane?’

‘Yeah, I think so. You tell me,’ Vicky said, standing up and turning around. She lifted her top and revealed her lower back. The marks were faded, but still noticeable. Criss-cross
lines of red and silver. Murphy tried to count them from where he was perched, but gave up after a couple of dozen.

‘Christ,’ DC Hashem said under her breath. ‘How long did he do this to you?’

‘I didn’t keep track of the time, to be honest. Bit hard to, you know, when you’re trying to stay alive through the most pain you’ve ever been through. And I’ve
given birth three times, so I know pain.’

‘Did he stop at that?’ Murphy said, half-expecting the answer to be negative.

‘No, he wasn’t done by a long shot. Once he’d whipped me raw, he . . . he had sex with me from behind, but he had his hands around my neck as he did. At first,
it was just pressure on the back of my neck, but then he moved his hands to the front, so he was proper choking me.’

‘
Ya lahwy
,’ DC Hashem said under her breath, earning a sharp look from Murphy. It was bad enough when Rossi had an outburst in Italian, now he had someone
exclaiming in Arabic.

‘I started seeing spots,’ Vicky said, continuing as if she hadn’t heard DC Hashem say anything. ‘Thankfully, he was finished before I proper went under. I thought he was
going to kill me. I thought I was done, finished. I thought I was going to die in that room, after everything he’d done to me.’

‘After he was, erm, finished, what happened?’ DC Hashem said, more pale than Murphy had ever seen her before.

‘There was like a switch that went on. Not that he went back to being nice or anything. He just threw my clothes at me, untied me and wanted rid of me as soon as possible. I bolted out the
door, half-dressed, but he brought me back inside to give me a bit of a speech. Told me he’d track me down, kill me, my family, all that sort of thing. If I talked about what happened there,
of course. I was so scared, I just did as I was told and agreed to everything he had to say. He gave me the rest of the money, said he’d find me if I told anyone, then got me out of the door.
Bastard didn’t even give me a lift back.’

Murphy closed his eyes for a second, swallowing down the bile of information they’d just been given and trying to make sense of it.