PI Kate Brannigan Series Books 1-3: Dead Beat, Kick Back, Crack Down. Val McDermid

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      I wiped my bowl clean with the last of the chapatis, and pulled out the most recent photograph I had of Moira. I shifted in my chair till I was facing the prostitutes, who were enjoying a last cigarette before they went out to brave an afternoon’s trade. The café was so small I was practically sitting among them. I flipped the photograph on to the table and cut through their desultory chatter. ‘I’m looking for her,’ I explained. ‘I’m not Old Bill, and I’m not after her money either. I just want a chat. An old friend wants to get in touch. Nothing heavy. But if she wants to stay out of touch, that’s up to her.’ I dropped one of my business cards on the table by the picture.

      The youngest of the three women, a tired-looking Eurasian, looked me up and down and said, ‘Fuck off.’

      I raised my eyebrows and remarked. ‘Only asking. You’re sure you don’t know where I’ll find her? It could be a nice little earner, helping me out.’

      The other two looked uncertainly at each other, but the tough little Eurasian got to her feet and retorted angrily, ‘Stuff your money up your arse. We don’t like pigs round here, whether they’re private pigs or ones in uniform. Why don’t you just fuck off back to Manchester before you get hurt?’ She turned to her companions and snarled, ‘Come on, girls, I don’t like the smell in here.’

      The three departed, teetering on their high heels, and I picked up the photo and my card with a sigh. I hadn’t really expected much co-operation, but I’d been a bit surprised by the vehemence of their reaction. Clearly the pimps in Bradford had drilled their employees in the perils of talking to strange women. I was going to have to do this the hard way, out on the streets and in the pubs till I found someone who was prepared to take the risk of talking to me.

      I left the café and went back to move the car. I didn’t feel happy about leaving it parked in such a quiet street for any length of time. I’d look for a nice big pub car park fronting on the main drag for a bit more security. As I started the engine, I was aware of a flash of movement at the edge of my peripheral vision and the passenger door was wrenched open. Bloody central locking, I cursed silently. My mouth dried with fear, and I thrust the car into gear, hoping to dislodge my assailant.

      With a flurry of legs and curses, a woman threw herself into the passenger seat and slammed the door. I almost stalled in my surprise. ‘Just keep fucking driving,’ she yelled at me.

      I obeyed, of course. It seemed the only sensible thing to do. If she was carrying a blade, I wasn’t going to win a close encounter inside my Nova. I flashed a glance at her and recognized one of the women who’d been in the café. But she gave me no chance to ask questions. At the end of the street, she shouted at me to turn left, then right. About a mile from the café, she stopped shouting and muttered, ‘OK, you can stop now.’

      I pulled in to the kerb and demanded, ‘What the hell is going on?’

      She looked nervously behind us, then visibly relaxed. ‘I didn’t want anybody to see me talking to you. Kim would shop me soon as look at me.’

      ‘OK,’ I nodded. ‘So why were you so keen to talk to me?’

      ‘Is it true, what you said back there? You’re not after Moira for anything?’ There was a look in her pale blue eyes as if she desperately wanted to trust someone and wasn’t sure if I was the right person. Her skin looked muddy and dead, and there was a nest of pimples round her nose. She had the look of one of life’s professional victims.

      ‘I’m not bringing her trouble,’ I promised. ‘But I need to find her. If she tells me she doesn’t want to make contact with her friend, that’s fine by me.’

      The woman, who in truth didn’t look much older than nineteen, nervously chewed a hangnail. I was beginning to wish she’d light a cigarette so I’d have an excuse to open the window – the smell of her cheap perfume was making me gag. As if reading my thoughts, she lit up and exhaled luxuriously, asking, ‘You’re not working for her pimp, then?’

      ‘Absolutely not. Do you know where I can find her?’ I wound down the window and gulped in fresh air as unobtrusively as possible.

      The girl shook her head and her bleached blonde hair crackled like a forest fire. ‘Nobody’s seen her for about six months. She just disappeared. She was doin’ a lot of smack and she was out of it most of the time. She was workin’ for this Jamaican guy called Stick, and he was really pissed off with her ‘cos she wasn’t workin’ half the time ‘cos she was out of her head. Then one day she just wasn’t around no more. One of the girls asked Stick where she’d gone and he just smacked her and told her to keep her nose out.’

      ‘Where would I find Stick?’ I asked.

      The girl shrugged. ‘Be down the snooker hall most afternoons. There or the video shop down Lumb Lane. But you don’t want to mess with Stick. He don’t take shit from nobody.’

      ‘Thanks for the advice,’ I said sincerely. ‘Why are you telling me all this?’ I added, taking thirty pounds out of my wallet.

      The notes vanished with a speed Paul Daniels would have been proud of. ‘I liked Moira. She was nice to me when I had my abortion. I think she maybe needs help. You find her, you tell her Gina said hello,’ the girl said, opening the car door.

      ‘Will do,’ I said to the empty air as she slammed the door and clattered off down the pavement.

      It took me ten minutes to find the snooker hall off Manningham Lane. It occupied the first floor above a row of small shops. Although it was just after two, most of the dozen or so tables were occupied. I barely merited a glance from most of the players as I walked in. I stood for a few minutes just watching. Curls of smoke spiralled upwards under the strong overhead table lights, and the atmosphere was one of masculine seriousness. This wasn’t the place for a few frivolous frames with the boys after work.

      As I looked on, a burly white man with tattoos snaking up both his bare arms came over to me. ‘Hello, doll. You look like you’re looking for a man. Will I do?’ he asked jocularly.

      ‘Not unless you’ve had your skin bleached,’ I told him. He looked confused. ‘I’m looking for Stick,’ I explained.

      He raised his eyebrows. ‘A nice girl like you? I don’t think you’re his type, doll.’

      ‘We’ll let Stick be the judge of that, shall we? Can you point him out to me?’ I demanded. It seemed like a waste of time to tell this ape that I was neither nice, nor a girl, nor a doll.

      He pointed down the hall. ‘He’s on the last table on the left. If he’s not interested, doll, I’ll be waiting right here.’

      I bit back my retort and headed down the aisle between the three-quarter-sized tables. At the end of the room, there were four competition-sized tables. A chunky black man was bending over the last table on the left. Behind him, in the shadows, was the man I took to be Stick. I could see how he’d earned the name. He was over six feet tall, but skinny as his cue. He looked like a stick insect, with long, thin arms protruding from a white t-shirt and twig-like legs encased in tight leather trousers. His head was hidden in the shadows, but as I approached, he emerged and I could see a gaunt face with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes surrounded by black curly hair grown in a thick halo to counteract the pinhead impression he’d otherwise have given.

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