Time to Play (North East Police) (23 page)

'Hi,' she greeted, smiling at the girl who stared back with distrustful eyes. 'I'm Marlo, what's your name?'

The girl just stared back, huge brown pools of fear and fear.

'Do you speak English?' asked Marlo, keeping her tone neutral.

Again the girl didn't speak, but Marlo was certain she understood.

'Let me help you, love. I know you've been staying here, taking food from the fridge and hiding, but without knowing what you're hiding from, I can't help you. If I can't get any information from you, I'll need to contact an interpreter, maybe even immigration. But I suspect you know exactly what I'm saying, don't you?'

Elvie had a decision to make. She couldn't run, the woman wouldn't let her. If she didn't speak she'd be deported back to the Philippines where she had nothing and no-one and would potentially get taken again by the same men. Her fear grew as she contemplated her options. She couldn't go through all that again. She knew that if they found her they would kill her. There would be no selling her to the highest bidder, nobody trying to touch her. There would be just death. She was terrified and her lips were trembling, but she made the decision.

'Elvie,' she whispered. 'Please no send me back. Men will take me again. Bad men. They hurt me.'

'What men?' said Marlo.

'Bad men,' repeated the girl gravely, 'they take me from house, bring me here. Many other girls die but I live. I help Nita from truck. Then they take her, do things to her. They take me to big house. Try to make me marry man. But Danny help me get away.'

'How old are you?'

Elvie looked confused.

'Age? How many years?'

'Fifteen,' replied Elvie, understanding. 'Danny nice man. He help me. I need to find Nita, help her. She in bad place.'

The girl's words were now running into each other, she was babbling, trying to pass information that made little sense to Marlo. She had goose bumps from hearing what had already happened to the girl. Who was Danny? And Nita? She was out of her depth. Marlo knew she needed help. She would have called Sharpie but he had kids and they would all be tucked up at this late hour.
Ali,
a little voice niggled in her mind.

'Elvie, I will help you. I'll not let anything bad happen, but you need to trust me. Can you do that?' Her words belied her own uncertainty. The girl had a long hard road ahead of her, navigating immigration and possibly even a criminal investigation. Would she be better off?

'I trust Marlo,' said Elvie.

'I'll get us some clothes, then we need to go see a friend of mine, OK?'

Despite the fear in her eyes, Elvie nodded.

15
^th
November, 0215 hours - Ali's flat, Sunderland

Ali groaned loudly then cursed even louder. Who the hell was knocking at this stupid time in the morning. He pulled on a pair of shorts, and headed for the door.

It had been late when he'd got to bed anyway. He'd found himself listening for movement in Marlo's flat so he had an excuse to knock. Which was ridiculous, he knew, but he'd still done it.

Flinging open the door, his face quickly softened from thunderous to much less annoyed when he saw Marlo stood with a young girl beside her. The girl looked ready to bolt, and he instinctively knew it was partially in response to his demeanour when he'd yanked open the door. He stood aside to allow them access, one eyebrow rising up in question as Marlo caught his eye.

'Sorry to wake you, Ali. This is Elvie. I think you need to hear what she has to say.'

To be fair, the girl had already piqued his interest. He didn't see Marlo as the type to pick up waifs and strays, so there must be some connection there. He could feel the cogs turn rapidly as Elvie bombarded him with information. It didn't take him long to realise she had been illegally trafficked into the country. He should be taking notes, preparing to hand information over to the NCA, National Crime Agency, who dealt with human trafficking, as well as contacting the likes of immigration and his own supervision. But instead he found himself enthralled. From what she said, it was a miracle the girl was still alive, let alone sat in his living room. And he didn't want to rush things. Besides, he knew what would happen when he informed immigration. She'd be detained in one of the immigration buildings, pending an asylum investigation. The details of the case would be handed off to someone other than him, and he would likely never even find out the outcome. And Elvie deserved more than that.

Deciding he had time to take the official route, he looked the girl up and down. She looked exhausted, her skin paling as she struggled to stay awake. Getting up, he pulled the throw from the chair behind him, and covered her shoulders, telling her to go to sleep.

Motioning with his head at Marlo to follow him, he headed to the kitchen.

'Is she OK?' he asked, concerned.

'She took a dip in the sea trying to get away from me, had to give her mouth to mouth. She's fine, coughed up all the water, but she's had a lot to deal with. I think it's probably just stress and exhaustion to be honest. Do you think I should take her to hospital?'

'No,' Ali shook his head, 'that'd just open up a whole can of worms. I'm sure you're right; she'll be exhausted with everything she's put up with.'

'She's been hiding in the dive HQ building. Stealing food and the like. She's been there at least the last few days.'

'Few days?' said Ali incredulously, 'How on earth does someone hide in a police station for a few days? When that gets documented no doubt the shit will hit the fan.'

'For sure,' agreed Marlo. 'Listen, I'm sorry I woke you to deal with this. I'd have called my sergeant but he has kids and I figured he'd be flaked. Besides, he's a stickler and probably would have just woken the super for advice. Just figured you'd probably know what to do for the best. Can't believe this sort of stuff happens on our doorstep. I'm a bloody cop, and I'd never thought for one second that human trafficking would be happening here.'

'Know what you mean. It's some scary shit. All we do and see, you'd think we'd be better equipped to stop this stuff happening, or at least be more accustomed to it all.'

'What're you gunna do?'

'Honestly? I should ring this in now, get immigration up to speed and get her interviewed. But that stuff can wait. She's already stressed to hell. I think she could use a day to get her head straight before she has to start answering the questions that will be asked, don't you? I'm happy to take the fall if there's any blowback. Though, I'm sure we can get around the red tape with a bit of explaining. She's welcome to stay here until I have to make the report. Right now, how about we put the world to rights with a cup of tea?'

Marlo shook her head with a smile. 'I'd best not to be honest, I'm supposed to be on rest days but I know Bravo Team was called to assist with a search down near Barnard Castle late yesterday afternoon. They'll be tied up with it for a couple of days, and you can pretty much guarantee we'll get called in to deal if something comes in.'

'Yeah, you're right. I'm on earlies too, swapped shifts with Alex again. One day I'll call in these chips – reckon he owes me a fortnight so far.'

'Must be nice having a brother on the force too?'

'Yeah. Dad was killed in the line of duty. It was the only thing me and Alex ever wanted to do. We virtually passed our training at the same time with the same grade. Mum worries of course, but she knows we do it for the love of the job.'

'Sorry about your dad.'

'Ancient history, but thanks. Was pretty tough growing up without him like, but mum was amazing. I truly don't know how she managed to do it. We all take care of her now, though.'

'Must be nice,' Marlo's voice had turned wistful without her realising, but Ali had picked up on it.

'What happened to your parents?'

Marlo paused, her usual lie of a 'car accident' turning her tongue sour. Deciding on the truth, she answered. 'Never knew my dad, he's not listed on the birth certificate so I wouldn't even know where to start looking. And Mum was a junkie. She overdosed. I must've been about four I think. I don't really remember. The care home told me as I got older that I'd been lucky. She'd died with me in the house, surrounded by needles and filth apparently. I was too old to be wanted by the people looking to adopt, and the number of foster carers was as scarce back then as it is now. I grew up in a communal home.'

'What was that like?' asked Ali.

'Awful,' she said with a grim smile. 'This was back when kids fell through the cracks with social services, not like now where they try and dot every i and cross every t. I slept in a small room with four other girls. The beds were bare even in winter. There was damp on the walls and the bathroom was disgusting. We had to bath in the same water once a week. Mrs Reay had a water metre so didn't want to waste good money. She fed us enough so questions didn't get asked, and clothed us in second hand clothes. Needless to say, it wasn't very nice.'

'Jesus, I thought places like that only existed in musicals like
Annie
. How'd you end up turning out so right with all that crap to deal with?' He had the grace to look embarrassed at his slip.

'I had a good teacher at school, Mrs Black. It was the stupidest thing, she saw something in me I didn't even know was there and she encouraged me. She paid for school trips so I didn't miss out. Gave me extra tuition so I could stay at school longer. Without her guidance, God knows what would have happened.'

Marlo paused. Mrs Black would have turned in her grave if she'd known about the screams Marlo heard, and what had caused them. And what on earth had caused her to tell Ali the truth? She never spoke about her past.

'I presume you'd like to stay with Elvie? I'll grab you a blanket. The chair's a recliner. Or you can take the bed? But I think the bairn would be more comfortable if she woke up and saw you rather than me.'

'You don't mind? The chair is great, thanks, Ali.'

Marlo had turned to face him, and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. She felt heat surge through her body, and knew instantly that if he did, then she'd have kissed him back. But the spark in his eyes faded and he pulled back, stepping past her into the lounge. Had she imagined it?

She wondered what she'd done wrong as he handed her the blanket and retreated to the safety of his bedroom, a dark frown across his face.

Chapter Twenty-Two

15th November, 0830 hours - Sunderland City Police HQ

Ali had made it to work on time which was surprising, seeing how he'd practically had a domestic with Marlo before coming in.

He had planned to bring the girl into the station with him to start hashing the whole situation out. That was the right thing to do.

But Marlo had begged him to let Elvie spend a rest day before the ordeal to come. ‘Elvie will stay inside your flat and she won’t leave,’ she’d promised.

Ali had argued – even though he knew it was pointless. Marlo had stood her ground and eventually – just to keep the peace – he’d acquiesced, giving Marlo his spare key.

He was more than aware he had come close to kissing her last night, and knew fine well she had picked up on his intention. The fact that he'd pulled back had caused her to be snippy that morning, and he understood why. He'd sent out the right signals, then backed away like an idiot. He knew that was the right word. Half the nick would have been over the moon to be in a position to kiss Marlo, if only to challenge the reason they called her Buck. He'd heard the banter, knew many had tried to take on Marlo but failed saying 'the bucking bronco strikes again', indicating she'd bucked them off before they'd even gotten close. He understood her reluctance though: hell, he was hardly one to talk.

He'd felt a yearning to feel her lips on his, and then, just as he was about to act, Tina had popped into his head and he couldn't do it. He knew it was irrational, stupid even. She'd been gone for years now, but it had felt like she had been watching over his shoulder.

Shaking his head, he pushed thoughts of her from his mind. Deciding he really needed to deal with the issue of Elvie, he stood and put one arm through his jacket. Feeling around for the second arm, he jumped as the phone rang.

Jacket still only half-on, he answered, 'DI McKay.'

'Hey, boss, it's Inspector Whatmore in the control room. Just wanted to make you aware of a job just coming in. It's a serious assault: caller reporting that two masked men have just forced entry into her house and hit her husband over the head with a bat. He's alive; we've got ambulance travelling.'

'OK, no problem, acting sergeant Charlie Quinn will deal.'

'Great, thanks. I'll pop her down as allocated. It's log 103 of today.'

Pulling his arm out of his coat, he sat down with a sigh. He'd deal with Elvie later. Right now he had other things to do.

15th November, 1010 hours - Connor's parent's house, Sunderland

It all seemed quiet as Connor made his way up the path to the front door. It was a rarity, to not hear any noise for once. He actually felt dread at the thought of what was to come when he walked inside. His sister was due home at the weekend for a visit. She’d delayed coming the weekend before as she had an assignment to hand in. It had been a few months since she'd been back. He’d told her snippets on the phone but he hadn't wanted to burden her initially, then as time passed it just became more difficult to talk about. Besides, she still had exams and course-work and he wanted her to be able to do it without having to worry.

On entering the kitchen, he was surprised to find his mum bustling about while his dad sat drinking a cup of coffee. It looked like any normal family environment –

anyone else’s, anyway.

'What's going on?'

'Me and your mum are going out for the day. We're going to the seaside.' His dad sounded pleased as punch, and his mum turned and smiled.