Chimera (16 page)

Hastily, before Theo could say anything else, Kate assured him that they were anxious to catch these women. “Anything you
can
remember could help us, Mr. Harker.”

“Yeah, I know that. Thing is, I can’t remember much at all. They were young, sort of pretty. Eastern European. They both had long dark hair. That really is about all I can remember.”

“Did you do any drugs with them when they were here?” Kate asked.

Harker looked uneasy. “Um…”

“We’re not going to press any drugs charges—” Kate began and heard Theo mutter
yet
under his breath. She fought the urge to kick him. “Seriously, we’ve got more important things to worry about than whether you had a joint or a few lines that night. Did you?”

Harker still looked uneasy, but after a moment, he nodded. “Yeah.”

“What was it exactly?” Kate persisted.

“Um… both of those. Bit of weed, bit of coke.”

“Nothing more? Nothing stronger?”

“Stronger?” Harker looked positively alarmed.

“Heroin,” said Theo brusquely. “Do any heroin with them?”

Harker’s eyes bulged. “Heroin? Are you kidding? No way. I’ve never touched that in my life.”

“Hmm.” Theo looked unconvinced but Kate believed Harker. She shot Theo a repressive look and turned to the other man.

“Thanks very much, sir. If there’s anything else you can tell us, be sure to get in touch won’t you?”

“What a
wanker
,” said Theo explosively, as soon as Harker’s front door closed behind them.

“Shhhhh!” Kate flapped a hand at him. They got into the car and Theo started the engine. Kate smiled mischievously. “You’re just jealous.”

“
Jealous
? Of that prick? I don’t think so.”

“He’s clearly the swordsman that you want to be,” said Kate, laughing inwardly. God, it felt good to be able to laugh at something again, even if it wasn’t really that funny.

Theo snorted. “Yeah, right. He wishes.”

Kate bit down on a giggle. “Anyway,” she said, sobering up. “We have a tentative identification of Maria Todesco. Hopefully the press conference might bring in some more info.”

As it happened, they arrived back in the office to find Olbeck and Jane watching the tail end of Anderton’s address to the media on the office television. Kate felt the familiar pulse of longing at the sight of Anderton’s face on screen and stamped it down. That’s it, she told herself. I am no longer allowing myself to feel anything towards him. The second I get a hint of it I’m going to – to pinch myself hard. And she did just that while the others had their attention turned towards the screen.

Olbeck turned off the television and swung round just in time to catch Kate wincing. “You all right?”

“I’m fine,” said Kate impatiently. “Is Anderton going to debrief us?”

“Yep. He’ll be here any minute.”

As usual, they heard the human whirlwind that was Anderton approach the room a minute before he crashed through the door. “Hello, everyone. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Everyone settled themselves in their usual spots. Anderton began pacing the floor. “Now, I presume you’ve just seen my ugly mug on the telly.” Kate pinched her hand again. “We’ve put out a request for information about the two women we believe are involved in the robbery and death of Adrian Fellowes – Maria Todesco and Rosa with the unknown surname. We’ve also now informed the media and the public that there is a batch of contaminated heroin out there that is highly dangerous. Hopefully that might prevent any more overdose deaths but we can’t take that for granted.”

Olbeck raised a hand. “I guess we’ve pulled in all the dealers we think might be involved?”

Anderton nodded. “Yep. Nothing from that as yet but you never know. Now, one thing you might not be aware of is the possibility that the Costa brothers may be involved. Well, I’ll clarify that. Stelios Costa could be involved – apparently his revolting brother is currently overseas at the moment, Spain to be exact. I’ve got a tail on Stelios at the moment and he’ll report back in a couple of days. Right, what else?”

It was Kate’s turn to raise a hand. “Sir, we believe there’s a link between Trixie Arlen’s death and the death of Adrian Fellows. Rosa’s fingerprints were found at both scenes. We know she was the Arlens’ cleaner and possibly also for Adrian Fellowes, but it sounds more likely that she was at Fellowes’ place as an associate of Maria Todesco.”

“Right,” said Anderton, pausing by an empty desk and lifting himself onto it to sit, swinging his legs. “You know what I think?” Everyone waited. “I think it’s highly possible that Rosa might be the dealer who supplied Trixie with her gear. She may very well be the person who took all the drug evidence from the crime scene.”

“So she’s knowingly supplying people with deadly drugs?” Theo asked and pursed his lips in a soundless whistle. “No wonder we can’t find her. She’s on the run.”

Anderton shook his head. “We can’t know that for certain. But it’s imperative that we
do
find her.”

Kate had been thinking. She raised her hand again and spoke. “There’s one thing I can’t work out. Why would you deal drugs which have been contaminated with this deadly substance? I thought the whole point of dealing was to keep your customers hooked so they come back to buy more and more. What’s the point of giving them something that’s just going to kill them? You’re just going to eventually do yourself out of a customer base.”

“Exactly,” Anderton said, giving her a smile. She couldn’t pinch her hand in his full view but she felt like doing so. “That’s what doesn’t make sense.”

“Perhaps – if Rosa is a dealer – she doesn’t know her heroin is contaminated,” Olbeck suggested. “Why would she?”

Anderton nodded. “Well, almost everything we’re talking about is pure speculation. What we need is some evidence. Does anyone else have anything to add?”

Nobody did. Anderton gave them a quick rundown on the findings from the Fellowes post mortem, reminded them to read through the multitude of forensic reports, and brought the meeting to a close.

Kate went back to her desk feeling dissatisfied. It was as Anderton had said – where was the evidence? All they seemed to be doing was scratching around in the dark, scrabbling for clues and coming up with nothing. She began to flip through the pile of reports on her desk but was interrupted by the telephone.

It was Kirsten Telling. She’d rung to tell Kate that the blood samples from the other overdose cases from the last month had now been tested.

“And?” asked Kate, feeling her heart rate speed up a little.

“It’s as we suspected,” said Doctor Telling’s quiet voice. “The samples taken from Peter Hardew, Wayne Potter and John Henry Miller all show high levels of Sulatenil.”

It was as Kate had feared. “Right. I understand.” She thought for a moment. “Can I suggest you talk to Sergeant Bill Osbourne to see if he has anything else that might need testing as well?”

“Very well. I’ll do that.”

After she’d put the phone down, Kate told Theo what she’d just learned. He raised his eyebrows. “Just as well we put that appeal out,” he said.

“I know.” Kate got up and went over to Olbeck’s office to pass on the news.

Chapter Twenty One

Kate got home at ten o’clock that night. Exhausted, she made a half-hearted effort to eat something before abandoning her plate of partially eaten toast. She was so tired she decided not to have her usual before-bed shower and was just stripping off her clothes by her bedside, thinking how inviting the bed looked when her phone rang.

Kate cursed and considered ignoring it, but saw Olbeck’s name winking from the screen. She cursed again and pressed the ‘receive’ button in a resigned manner.

“You in bed?” was his opening remark.

“I wish. What’s the problem?” Kate could hear the tension in Olbeck’s voice and her tiredness began to abate as adrenaline kicked into her system. “What is it?”

“The station just rang me,” said Olbeck. “There’s a girl in reception who says her name’s Rosa Ilenko.”

Kate sat down on the side of the bed, winded. “You think it’s her? The one we’ve been looking for?”

“Yes, I do. I’m heading there now.”

“Me too,” said Kate, quickly. “I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

Driving to the station, Kate found herself picturing this mysterious Rosa. Was she a heartless drug dealer? A killer of men? Why had she handed herself in? Kate saw her in her mind’s eye: long dark hair, a lean, hungry face. Vampiric. A succubus. A monster.

Yet, when Kate got to the station and made her way to the interview room where Rosa had been taken, she realised she’d been wrong. Here was only a sick and terrified girl.

Rosa was as thin as Kate had expected – thinner, even. Her blotched, grey skin was stretched tight over blueish bones that could be seen beneath their inadequate covering. Rosa was shaking and sweating, her eyes ringed with shadow.

Kate and Olbeck took one look at her and then at each other.

“Doctor,” was all that Olbeck said, and Kate nodded and hurried off to make the call.

As was usually the case, the medical attendant for the station seemed to take ages to arrive. Once she did, Kate and Olbeck stood outside the room, shifting from foot to foot and waiting impatiently for the verdict.

Eventually the doctor stepped outside.

“Well?” asked Kate.

Doctor Scofield looked from Kate to Olbeck. “Well, as I expect you’ve guessed, she’s going through quite serious withdrawal at the moment.”

“Withdrawal from heroin?”

“Yes. I’ve given her some methadone which should make her more comfortable. That’ll kick in soon and she should calm down a bit. I can leave some anti-nausea medication for her as well.”

“Can she be questioned?”

Doctor Scofield nodded. “You’ll have to take it easy with her. Keep her warm, make sure she’s getting plenty of fluids, some food if she’ll take it.”

They conferred a few moments longer and then the doctor left. Kate turned to Olbeck.

“Should we proceed?”

“Yes,” said Olbeck. He added, a little callously, “It might be useful. Soften her up a bit.”

“Come on,” said Kate. She opened the door a crack and looked through at the shivering, crying girl perched on the edge of her chair, hugging her arms across her body. “She’s in bits anyway.”

“We’ll go easy on her,” said Olbeck. “Come on.”

They took her a cup of tea and a blanket. Rosa looked up at them as they entered the room. Tears trickled down her grimy face.

“Here,” said Kate, handing her the warm paper cup. “Make sure you drink this.”

Rosa reached out a shaking hand for it. She took a sip and then promptly retched, dropping the tea. Warm liquid splashed over Kate’s legs, but she barely noticed as she helped Rosa to the wastepaper basket in the corner of the room and held back her greasy hair as she vomited.

Eventually, Rosa straightened up, shuddering.

Kate rubbed her back. “Are you okay now?”

Rosa nodded. “I’m sorry,” she gasped, rubbing her mouth.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Kate. “Now, do you think you’re going to be sick again?”

Rosa shook her head. Kate took the blanket that Olbeck was holding out and wrapped it around the girl’s sticklike arms, pockmarked with needle tracks. She moved the wastepaper basket to the corridor outside.

“We need to ask you some questions, Rosa,” said Olbeck. “Do you think you’re up to that?”

The girl nodded, her head hanging forward. “Yes,” she said, with a tremor in her voice. “I must talk, I must tell you. I need to talk.”

“We’ll get the duty solicitor to sit in with you,” said Kate, knowing there was no point even asking Rosa whether she had a lawyer. Rosa said nothing, but nodded jerkily.

Once they were all seated in the interview room, Rosa appeared to become a little calmer. She pushed her lank hair back from her face and took a deep breath. “I came here because I was afraid. I’m afraid they will kill me.”

“Who will kill you, Rosa?” asked Kate.

Rosa wiped sweat from her forehead with shaking fingers. “The men I work for. They are gangsters. They have girls working for them in a house in Arbuthon Green.”

Kate glanced at Olbeck. “When you say ‘working for them’, how do you mean?”

“As brothel.”

Kate nodded. Rosa wiped her face again. “Can you give us the names of these men?”

“One is called John, one is Terry.”

“Do you know a man called Stelios Costa?”

Rosa flinched. “Yes. He is boss of the others.”

Olbeck leaned forward. “Have these men specifically threatened you?”

Rosa looked frightened. Kate shot Olbeck a look and he leaned back again. Kate used as warm and sympathetic a tone as she could as she continued. “Don’t be frightened, Rosa. You can tell us everything. We can help you.”

Rosa clasped her shaking hands on the table in front of her. “Can you – please can you get me some gear?”

Kate bit her lip. “No. I’m sorry but no. We can’t do that.” She hesitated and added “Rosa, if you really want to get off heroin, we can help you with that. We can arrange for you to have treatment, to go to a clinic, anything you might need to help you. But you have to tell us everything you can before we can do that.”

Rosa nodded, wincing again. “I am heroin addict. That’s how they get me to do everything they made me do. I do it all for the heroin.” She began to cry. “My family – my family must not know how I am. They would be ashamed of me. I was not like this back in Romania.”

“Is that where you’re from?” asked Kate.

Rosa nodded, brushing the tears from her face. “I come here three years ago, to study. But I run out of money and I get in with bad people and all this bad things happen.”

“Can you tell us where Maria Todesco is?” Kate asked.

Rosa’s pale face became even whiter. Her features seemed to shrink a little. “I think she is dead.”

“You think?”

Rosa nodded. “John and Terry took her away. They were angry because of what happened at the man’s house.”

“What man?”

“I don’t know his name. Maria and me go to his house, have sex with him, tie him up. But then he dies and we don’t know how to help him. We were very scared. I called Terry and he said to leave him.”

Kate found a photograph of Adrian Fellowes in one of the files on her lap. “Is it this man, Rosa?”

Rosa looked and nodded jerkily. “We didn’t hurt him. We didn’t hurt any of them. They wanted to be tied up, you know, it was like a game to them.”

“How did you meet them, Rosa?”

Rosa wiped sweat from her face again. Kate thought that she probably should be offering her some water or tea, but remembering what had happened last time Rosa had had a sip of tea, perhaps that wouldn’t be such a good idea. At least the girl wasn’t shivering so much.

“The first one came to brothel,” said Rosa in a low voice. “He liked to be tied up there as well. When he was paying, John spoke to him and I think he told him that we could come to his house next time. So next time, we go to his house but before we go, John tells us we have to steal all we can once man is tied up.”

Kate and Olbeck exchanged glances. “You didn’t argue with him?”

“With John?” Rosa’s incredulous tone said it all. “Never, never argue with John. You don’t understand – Maria, me, we have to do what he tells us. When he tells us. He is the one who gets us gear, you see? And if we argue with him, he beats us. So – we don’t argue.”

Kate understood. It was funny how she and the rest of the police had been thinking of these two girls as the villains of the piece, when it was obvious that they were as much victims as the men they’d targeted.

“How many times did this happen?” asked Olbeck gently.

“I think three – maybe four times,” Rosa said. She rubbed her temples, closing her eyes as if she were in pain. Kate asked her if she had a headache.

Rosa nodded. “Such a pain in my head. My body needs drugs. How can I go without them tonight?” She looked at both of the officers with sudden panic. “I cannot do it, I cannot, you have to help me—”

“All right, Rosa, all right,” Kate tried to make her tone as soothing as possible. “We’ll have the doctor come and see you again tonight, after we’ve spoken to you. Okay? She might be able to give you a sedative, or something to help you sleep.”

Rosa, having held herself rigid as she pleaded, nodded and slumped back against her chair. Kate waited for the duty solicitor to say something but the grey-haired, portly man was staring at his client with something like disapproval. Kate was conscious of a spurt of anger. Who was he to judge?

“So, let’s recap,” she said, as nicely as possible. “You freely admit to meeting these three, possibly four, men, tying them up and then taking their possessions.” The duty solicitor shifted in his seat but Kate hurried on before he could interrupt. “Did you drug them to make sure they were nice and compliant? I mean—” She substituted another word “Did you give them drugs to make sure they wouldn’t fight back?”

Rosa shook her head. “I thought we would have to. But all of them, they wanted to be tied up. For them it was sexy game, fun to do, you know?”

Kate nodded, thinking. Hadn’t Jack Harker said he thought his drink had been spiked? But it seemed just as possible that he’d drunk so much he’d passed out.

Olbeck cleared his throat. “What can you tell us about Trixie Arlen, Rosa?”

Rosa’s twitching body stilled. She swiped a hand under her nose, her eyes downcast.

“Rosa?” Olbeck prompted.

Rosa looked up. There was a moment’s silence. Then she began to speak. “In Romania, when I am little, I want to be a veterinary surgeon. I love animals. I think I will study very hard. If you could have told me then, what I am now, I would not have believed you.”

Neither of the officers spoke. Kate, regarding Rosa’s thin, haunted face, imagined her as a little girl: dark glossy curls, mischievous eyes, dainty little arms and legs. The contrast to what she could see now was horrible. Pity wrenched at her throat.

Rosa was still speaking. “I come to England three – no, four – years ago. I get work as cleaner, real cleaner, I mean, not cleaner like I am for Home Angels. But I lose my job as they don’t want me anymore. When I have no money at all, I become sex worker.” Her voice faded out for a moment. “By that time, I am doing heroin. It makes me feel better. Soon, I am doing anything so I can keep taking heroin.”

She stopped speaking. After a moment, Olbeck asked her the question he’d asked before. “Can you tell us anything about Trixie Arlen, Rosa?”

Rosa rubbed a tear from the corner of her eye. “Home Angels send me to Trixie’s house. I clean for her many weeks, no problems. And then one day, she asks me if I can get her heroin.”

“Sorry?” asked Kate. “Trixie Arlen asked you to get her some heroin? Just like that?”

Rosa looked at her, sullenly. “She saw that I am addict. She knows I am. She knows that I have heroin.”

Kate and Olbeck exchanged a glance. “She knew from looking at you that you were taking heroin?” Kate asked, to be absolutely sure. Looking at Rosa, she could see how that might have happened.

Rosa nodded. “She sees my eyes, so little, and the marks on my arms, and she knows. She told me her husband was the same.”

“When was this?” asked Olbeck.

Rosa shrugged. “I don’t know exact time. Maybe six months ago.”

“So you got her some heroin?” Kate reiterated.

“Yes. She pay good money. We took it together, that first time.”

Of all the things that Rosa had so far said, this shocked Kate the most. The idea of Trixie, the beautiful, famous, wealthy celebrity, injecting heroin with her poor, drug-addicted prostitute cleaner, was both incongruous and sad. That was the reality of addiction, Kate supposed: it made bedfellows of the most unlikely people.

“Did you take drugs with Trixie often?” she asked.

Rosa nodded. “Many times. I would come round at night with the gear and we would do it then. The children were always asleep.”

Kate risked a look at Olbeck and saw without surprise that his mouth was crimped with disapproval. She hoped he wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t.

Kate pressed on. “What about the night Trixie died, Rosa?” She expected the solicitor to intervene at this point but he didn’t. Perhaps he considered that Rosa had already gone too far in her confession for his intervention to make any difference at all.