Behind Closed Doors (23 page)

‘What about McVey?’

Sam shook her head, finished her mouthful before replying. ‘Still nothing. We’ve explored the connection with Nigel Maitland as far as we possibly can. Until they get some new sources on it, that one’s drawing a complete blank. Frustrating. Anyway, after the hospital I went with Caro Sumner to see Lewis McDonnell.’

‘Oh, really? And?’

‘His company definitely owns the flat at Carisbrooke Court. He had one Katie Smith down as the tenant, although he claims she wasn’t paying rent. Says he was doing her a favour because she was down on her luck. Claims to know nothing about what was going on there.’

‘You’re going to see Scarlett later?’

‘Yes,’ Sam said. ‘Just want to check through her file again and then I’ll head over there. Caro’s gone to collect her from the hotel.’

‘I had an email from Mr Buchanan this morning, came in on my mobile. There’s some pressure to get her out of the VVS. He’d copied in SB, so unless you can get something useful out of her I can see Waterhouse is going to be itching to pass her over to Social Services today. I can’t see her going home to Annie and Clive somehow, can you?’

‘I think they’ve been trying to find her some emergency accommodation. Want me to talk to Orla, if she’s there?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘Another thing about McDonnell. He thinks there’s a team on him – told us to let them know they weren’t doing a very good job. I don’t know if he was just winding us up – power trip thing, you know. I expect Caro has passed it on to Mr Waterhouse by now but I thought you should know too.’

The canteen door swung open then, taking them by surprise. A uniformed sergeant came in, had a look round, and left.

‘So… anything else you feel like talking about?’ Sam asked, leaning across the table.

Lou managed a smile. ‘I have no idea what you mean.’

Sam nodded. ‘Hm, okay, then.’

‘I think I had a row with Jason.’

‘You think? What about?’

‘I’m not even sure. Last night he told me he loved me – when he was drunk, mind you – and then this morning he was all frosty, gone off in a huff.’

‘What did you say?’

‘Nothing significant. I was on the phone to Mum; next thing I knew he was out the door. I’ve got a horrible feeling it’s because I’ve invited him to come to my cousin’s wedding with me, because I was telling Mum about it. I think he’s got cold feet about meeting them all, and I can’t say I blame him – ’

‘I meant, what did you say when he used the L word?’

‘Oh! I can’t remember. I don’t think I said anything in particular. Kissed him.’

‘You didn’t say it back?’

‘No…’

‘Do you love him?’

Lou was about to open her mouth to say
Yes
, of course I do
, but something stopped her.

Sam put her hand over Lou’s, on the table, gave it a squeeze.

‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘Don’t be kind to me, Sam, you’ll start me off. I know you all think I’m some sort of cougar. Probably for the best if it is all over with.’

‘Nobody thinks you’re a cougar, for heaven’s sake. You’re only – what – five years older than him? What difference does that make?’

‘I know if it was the other way round nobody would give a shit.’

‘Nobody gives a shit anyway! It’s not as if you look like his mum or anything.’

That made Lou smile. She had seen pictures of his parents: his mum was a right-on radical, white hair cropped short, neat glasses with funky red frames, university lecturer. His dad was a retired police officer. She’d even spoken to them on the phone once or twice, a little awkwardly.

Sam said, ‘I think the only person who’s even noticed there’s an age gap is you.’

‘My mother will notice, believe me. It’ll be the first thing she comments on.’

‘And if she does? You don’t see them that much; does it really bother you what they think, as long as you and Jason are happy with each other? What is it you’re so scared of?’

Lou thought about this for a long time, and unbidden a small voice inside said,
I’m scared that he’ll wake up one day and think I’m old.

‘Right,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘Enough moping. I’ve got a good feeling about today. Scarlett’s going to tell you everything she knows.’

‘That’d be nice.’

The crisps and chocolate had disappeared as if by magic. Lou found herself wondering what sort of takeaway to pick up later. Likely to be an Indian, since the Akash Tandoori was next door to the off licence, which would be her first stop. Outside the canteen they went their separate ways, Sam towards the car park, Lou back to the office.

Her mobile started to ring as she got inside the door – not a number she recognised.

‘Louisa Smith.’

‘Oh – hello. Hi. It’s Annie here. Annie Rainsford.’

Lou tried not to let her surprise register in her voice. ‘Hi, what can I do for you?’

‘You said I could call. You gave me your card.’

‘That’s right,’ Lou said. ‘Is everything okay?’

A long pause. Lou could hear her breathing, otherwise she might have thought Annie had hung up.

‘Annie? What is it?’

‘Look, could we meet? Somewhere – I don’t know – a pub, maybe?’

‘Of course. Where?’

‘Somewhere out of town… the Coach and Horses, on the Charlmere Road. Do you know it?’

‘I know it. Do you want me to pick you up?’

‘No, no. I can get there. Can you be there at about half-past two?’

‘I don’t know where to start,’ Scarlett said. ‘This isn’t official, is it?’

‘It should be,’ Sam said. ‘But, if you just want to talk for now, that’s fine too. It’s up to you. You might not want to say all this a second time.’

‘Or even a first time.’

‘I’d like to take notes, if you don’t mind?’

Scarlett didn’t answer, but she didn’t object either. They were alone in the kitchen in the VVS. Caro had gone straight back to work after dropping Scarlett off, and Orla had gone to the office to make some calls about emergency accommodation.

‘You and that Lou Smith asked me about Nico,’ she said.

‘That’s right. You called him an arsehole.’

Scarlett laughed, briefly. ‘I think he had something to do with it,’ she said.

‘What – your abduction?’

‘Yes. I was so innocent – you wouldn’t believe it now, would you? He was older than me. He said he was sixteen but he could have been any age. I was just so miserable; he cheered me up and I fell for him. He told me he could help me escape, from my family. I would have done it, too. He said I should meet him on the last night of the holiday. I was going to go, but that day I realised I couldn’t leave Juliette behind. She was – well, you know. She was finding things tough. I needed to watch out for her, and I couldn’t go and leave her. And she wouldn’t have come with me. So I went to meet him… Nico. I was going to tell him I couldn’t go with him after all. Then a van came along the road and stopped next to where I was waiting. This man got out and he started talking to me in Greek; I didn’t understand what he was saying. He just kept yammering at me, and then he pushed me into the back of the van. One of them got in with me, and when I started screaming and kicking this man in the back put his hand over my mouth…’

Scarlett stopped, then, reached for her tea mug. Sam noticed her hand was unsteady.

‘I’m sorry,’ Scarlett said. ‘It was so long ago but at the same time, you know, it’s like it just happened.’

‘Take your time,’ Sam said.

‘I thought it was Nico, at first. I thought it was part of his plan. That’s why I didn’t scream harder, or fight more. I thought they were taking me to him. When I realised they weren’t, I was a long way away. They took me on this fucking endless road trip north, in the back of this van. There were other girls too. The other two were older than me. They didn’t speak English.’

‘Did you ever find out their names?’

‘Krystyna and Ysabella. I think. Before them, there were two other ones but they both died.’

‘They died?’

‘One of them hit her head, and the other one – Yelena – she got shot in a car park. I saw it happen. She’s the one I dream about, like I told you yesterday.’

There was silence for a moment. Sam was watching Scarlett’s face, wondering if this was true or something that the fifteen-year-old Scarlett had imagined, or exaggerated.

‘I used to make up stories about Yelena. We never really got to talk, even though we were together for hours. It felt like we were, I don’t know, in it together. And then she died and it was my fault – we were trying to run. I never knew anything about her, where she was from, how old she was. So I tried to keep her alive in my head by making up this history for her. I invented her family, her school, her friends. I imagined her a boyfriend and then her getting married and having children and being happy.’

A single tear slipped from Scarlett’s eye. She wiped it away. ‘She never got any of that, of course.’

‘What happened to her?’ Sam asked. ‘After she got shot?’

Scarlett shrugged. ‘They drove off and left her.’

Sam made a note. There would be records; surely there would be records. It wouldn’t be impossible to find out. Europe was much more open than it had been, even ten years ago. It felt like an important thing to check.

‘We ended up in Poland and we were there for weeks, months. I lost track. It was September when we arrived and when we left it was snowing. The other two girls got taken out of the flat every day; they left me behind. Sometimes with this woman, this old fat woman. She was really nasty. Sometimes there were men there, too. They had drugs, a lot of drugs, in the flat. They used to cut the drugs up on the dining room table, bag them up. I didn’t understand what they wanted with me. I thought I was there as a maid or something, so I used to clean the flat when I got bored. The old woman was supposed to do it but she was lazy. The men didn’t use the drugs – not when I was there, anyway – but they smoked skunk the whole time. Tried to get me on it too. I kept refusing. They used to laugh at me, said I’d start taking it soon enough. Said I’d need it.’

Scarlett chewed on a thumbnail, inspected it, chewed it again.

‘Where did they take the other girls?’ Sam asked. ‘You said the other girls went out every day.’

‘They were making them work. When they got back it was the early hours. I didn’t really twig at the time, but I guess they were putting them in a room somewhere. Within a few weeks they were both smacked up, anyway.’

‘So you were there – in this flat – until the winter. What happened then?’

‘One day, without warning, these two men came for me. They put me in another van for a day and a night. There was a week I was in a flat with five other girls. I have no idea where that was. I was ill; I spent most of the time asleep. Then they took me somewhere else – only a few hours away. Then I was in Prague. I was there for years.’

Sam took a drink of cold tea. ‘Can you remember any names?’ she asked. ‘Any of the people who transported you from place to place?’

‘No. I only ever found out the girls’ names, some of them. If they were even their real names… In any case they were all talking in foreign languages – fast, you know? Half the time I was out of it. I think they put sleeping tablets in the bottles of water. Kept us quiet when we were going across borders.’

‘I know it was a long time ago,’ Sam said, ‘but do you think you would recognise any of them? I might be able to get some pictures for you to look at.’

Scarlett stared at Sam, unblinking. ‘They all looked the same. Fucking big men with jackets. And you know what? After a while I stopped trying to look them in the face, because they all scared the shit out of me.’

It was understandable, Sam thought. They had more chance of identifying the people who had brought Scarlett into the UK, and for their purposes that would be more useful anyway. Who knew where all those people were right now? Some of them might even be dead.

‘Wait,’ Scarlett said. ‘The old fat woman was called Irene. Something like that – Irina maybe. But that’s not much good, is it? I don’t even know where in Poland that was. And since it was her that told me I was in Poland, I can’t even be certain that it was. Could have been bloody anywhere cold.’

Sam paused, aware of Scarlett’s eyes on her.

‘It’s okay,’ Sam said, softly. ‘You know you’re doing really well.’

There was a tension in Scarlett’s shoulders. ‘It was when we got to Prague that they made me have sex with men for money. I told you what happened the first time. They’d been trying to sell me all that time. I don’t think the men in Poland were that bothered about virgins, or else they didn’t have the money.’

A pause. Sam said, ‘I remember. You said there was a man who was minding you, and a woman who filmed him. Do you remember their names?’

Sam saw instantly that the question had heightened Scarlett’s anxiety. She looked away, to the left, looking for the memories.

‘Not the man. The woman was supposed to be training us; she said her name was Tina. Who knows if that was her real name or not. She wasn’t English but she could speak it quite well. Had a funny accent.’

‘What do you mean, she was there to “train” you?’

Scarlett said, ‘She told us that we were going to work in the city’s red light district. She told us how the system worked: that we had a debt to pay off, and that if we were good and did as we were told we would earn money to pay off the debt quickly and then have a nice life. She said once we had paid off the debt we could do as we pleased, but that we would be earning such good money that we would probably carry on with it. She said that was what she was doing. She said she had been an estate agent but that this job earned her three times as much money and it was the best job she’d ever had. But after we’d had that nice little chat she took me to another apartment somewhere else in the city for that first time. I thought she was there to make sure they didn’t hurt me. Afterwards, when she was driving me back, she made me sit on a carrier bag. Bitch.’

There was a pause. Sam gave her a moment. ‘Can you describe what she looked like?’