No Going Back (14 page)

As he watched, Katya shook her head slightly and came back towards the door.

‘She's not here.' She looked shattered by the realization.

‘In one of the other rooms, maybe,' Daniel suggested, feeling sorry for her but not surprised. Katya had always believed that finding Elena would be easy, just as long as they could get inside the house, and his warnings to the contrary had consistently fallen on deaf ears.

Kat brushed past him and out the door, going immediately to the next one along.

‘Katya, wait!' Daniel was closing the first door as quickly and quietly as he could. As he moved to join her, they were both shocked into stillness by the unmistakable sound of a door shutting somewhere below them, followed by voices, male and female.

Although at first they couldn't make out words, it was clear from the tone of the exchange that a heated row was in progress.

While Daniel hesitated, Kat pushed open the door to the second room and would have gone in if he hadn't caught her arm.

‘Let me go!' she whispered angrily.

‘There's no time. We've got to leave.'

‘But she might be in here.'

‘She might be in any one of these rooms,' Daniel pointed out. ‘We haven't time to search them all.'

From the ground floor, a man's voice carried clearly but incomprehensibly to Daniel. A glance at Katya's face, however, told him that it wasn't good news.

‘What did he say?'

‘It's Anghel! He says he is coming up to check.'

‘To check what?'

‘He didn't say.' Kat paused as the woman's voice was raised in reply. ‘She says not to blame her, it wasn't her idea. And he says . . .'

‘Never mind that! In here, quickly.' Daniel bundled her through the open door and pulled it close behind them, hoping against hope that the occupants hadn't been woken by the shouting and so cry out in fear.

‘I can't see. Lend me your torch,' Kat whispered.

‘Are you mad?' Daniel hissed back incredulously. ‘Stand still and shut up!'

Katya did as he said, and although he could almost feel the indignation radiating from her person, at that moment he didn't care. Macek was on his way upstairs. Just what he was going to check up on, they couldn't know. Pray God it wasn't that all the doors were safely latched, because if it was, they were in big trouble. Even if it wasn't, they would be lucky if he passed without noticing the hook hanging down.

If Macek did see it, then the best they could hope for was that he might assume it had been left undone by accident and lock it again, leaving them some breathing space to consider a plan of action. The worst – and most likely – scenario was that he would check the room out. With the light on, there would be nowhere to hide.

This in mind, Daniel let go of Kat and risked a quick flash of the torch at the ceiling. One shaded light, hanging dead centre. Moving swiftly but quietly, he reached up and removed the bulb before returning to his position by the door hinges.

‘He's coming,' Kat breathed. She reached for and held Daniel's arm and he could feel her trembling.

The creaking of the Georgian floorboards heralded Macek's approach and Daniel let out a long-held lungful of air as the heavy footsteps passed without stopping. Moments later, however, he froze again as the Romanian shouted out, just feet away.

‘What did he say?' Daniel had to know.

‘He says to check the windows downstairs,' Kat translated. ‘Why would he do that?'

Daniel frowned. Why indeed? Had Macek seen and recognized the Mercedes, parked back up the road? If so, he was more on the ball than Daniel had given him credit for.

When they heard Macek continue along the corridor and turn up the stairs, Daniel came to a rapid decision. Whether or not he found the window they had forced, they couldn't stay where they were, and as their escape route to the roof was cut off, they had to take a chance on going down and getting past the woman without being seen.

‘Quickly!' He grabbed Katya's arm as he opened the door and, after a brief look up and down the passageway, pulled her after him as he set off towards the head of the main stairway.

‘But Elena . . .'

‘Not now!'

‘What if Yousef's down there?'

‘We'll deal with it somehow.'

Down the first flight of stairs, turn, three more and then down the flight that led to the hall. Still holding Katya's hand, Daniel made straight for the front door.

‘Keep your head down,' he instructed. ‘There's a camera in the porch.'

But it seemed they were fated not to reach the porch, for as well as being double-bolted, the heavy Georgian front door had an old-fashioned lock and the key was missing.

Damn! They would have to escape via one of the windows.

‘Come on.' Daniel turned Kat round and would have propelled her across the hall but all at once their way was barred by the flame-haired young woman Daniel had seen earlier that day. Her mane of curls tumbled around her shoulders and across her face as before, but now she wore a jade satin dress, which hugged her curvy figure. Her eyes were wide with fear.

‘Katya! Mam
ă
de Dumnezeu! Are you mad?'

‘Marika!' Katya took a step forward, speaking rapidly in her native tongue, gesturing towards the locked door, her tone pleading.

Marika looked from her to Daniel and back again, and her response was equally incomprehensible to him, but she seemed to have come to a decision. ‘Wait!' she commanded and disappeared through an open doorway.

Katya turned to Daniel. ‘Anghel has taken the key, but she says there is another.'

‘Can we trust her? He could be back any moment.'

‘Yes, I think so.'

Seconds ticked by and Daniel glanced nervously at the stairs. ‘This is crazy – we should go . . .'

Just as he was on the point of moving, Marika reappeared, holding a key, which she pressed into Kat's hand, speaking in English.

‘Go! And don't ever come back. There's nothing you can do for Elena. Forget her.'

Katya's protest was cut short by a thunderous voice from upstairs.

‘Marika!'

She answered him in her own tongue and then, turning to Daniel and Kat, said, ‘Quickly. You must go!'

Katya rushed to the door, fitting the key into the lock with shaking hands, but Daniel hung back.

‘Come with us,' he urged Marika.

‘I can't.' She shook her head vigorously, and under the curtain of her hair, Daniel noticed for the first time the purple line of an old scar running from the corner of her mouth to her cheekbone.

Vivid memories of an almost identical injury flashed across his mind, and the shock made him put out a hand.

‘Did he do that?' he demanded, a cold fury rising.

She evaded his hand, shaking her hair forward again. ‘It was my fault.'

‘It's never
your
fault,' Daniel told her. ‘Come with us now – please.'

‘I can't. Where would I go? I have nothing – no life but here.'

‘But you can't stay here. I'll help you, I promise.'

‘You don't understand. The girls need me. And besides . . .' She shrugged, her mouth trembling as a bittersweet smile flickered across her face. ‘I love him.'

‘Daniel! Come on! Hurry.' Katya had the door open now and they could hear Macek's heavy tread on the stairs.

With a sad shake of his head, Daniel started to turn away from Marika, then gritted his teeth, spun back and hit her.

The blow was hard enough to send her staggering back. She caught the bottom stair with her heel and sat down sharply, her hand flying to her face and her eyes swimming with tears.

Behind him, Katya cried out in shock, but Daniel ignored her. He paused long enough to see that Marika was all right, then turned and ran for the door, pushing a wide-eyed Katya ahead of him.

‘Go, go, go!' he urged, as they burst out of the front door into the icy air.

Katya said little on the way back and Daniel was content to drive in silence, turning the events of the night over in his mind and trying to make sense of them.

Finding Hilary waiting with open arms and sympathy was enough to break Katya's precarious control, however, and she sobbed her disappointment into the front of the older woman's fleecy housecoat, while Hilary gently patted her back.

When the tears abated, Daniel gave Hilary a brief run-down of what had occurred, while she prepared milky cocoa on the Aga. She listened in silence, even though Daniel knew her mind must be buzzing with questions, but as he recounted the final part of the tale and Marika's part in their escape, she swung round to stare.

‘Oh, bless her! What a brave girl.'

‘Daniel hit her,' Katya cut in, her lip all but curling with contempt. ‘He knocked her down after she'd helped us.'

Hilary cast a quick look at Daniel. ‘Did he?' she said. ‘Well, perhaps he knew she'd be in terrible trouble if this Macek character thought she'd helped you of her own free will.'

Daniel blessed her for her insight. ‘I tried to get her to come with us, but she wouldn't,' he said. ‘There wasn't time for her to lock the door again.'

‘Do you think she'll be all right?' Hilary asked, handing the mugs round and sliding into a chair opposite Daniel and next to Kat.

He shrugged, remembering the scar. A man who could do that to a pretty face . . . He'd spared Hilary that detail.

‘I hope so.'

He cupped his cold fingers around his mug, taking a sip of the rich chocolatey liquid. The mug had a smiley frog on it, but it barely registered; he had long since ceased to be surprised by their hostess's somewhat eclectic taste. In the warm haven of the kitchen, with the dog at his feet, he finally began to relax and felt, all at once, bone weary.

He turned to Katya. ‘How many girls are there at the house?'

Kat's eyes dipped and for one exasperated moment, Daniel thought she was going to continue with the lies, but it seemed she realized the futility of it because after a moment she said dully, ‘I don't know. Twenty – maybe thirty. They come and go.'

‘Thirty?' Hilary exclaimed looking from one to the other. ‘What on earth? Oh, no, not a . . . a brothel? Surely not here.'

‘Why not here?' Daniel was amused. ‘Are all Devon men celibate?'

‘Of course not, but I mean . . .' Hilary stopped, confused.

Daniel rescued her. ‘It's a common misconception that prostitution is confined to the big towns and cities. People are absolutely horrified to discover that the house just round the corner on their estate is actually a knocking shop. Half a dozen teenagers in a council house, an adult to take care of the business side of things and Bob's your uncle – or rather, your client.

‘But, having said that, I should think Moorside is a bit too remote. I think we're looking at part of a big organization here. It's probably more of a holding house for the girls before they're shipped on to their final destinations, or perhaps taken for nights out to the cities – working, of course. Am I right?' he asked Katya. ‘Were you brought here as soon as you arrived in the country?'

Kat nodded, not meeting his eyes.

‘But your father . . . ?' Hilary was understandably bewildered.

‘Yes, well, I'm afraid Patrescu is no more Katya's father than I am,' Daniel said dryly. ‘Yousef Patrescu and his mate Macek are traffickers, bringing girls into the country from Eastern Europe for prostitution.'

‘We didn't know!' Katya burst out. ‘He said he could find work for me as a waitress or in a hotel. He said Elena was so pretty she could make lots of money modelling. He said we would be able to send money home to our family – more than we ever dreamed of . . .'

‘Oh, Kat.' Hilary moved closer and put her arm round the girl's shoulders.

Katya looked up at her with tears in her eyes. ‘You think we were stupid, but we all believed him, even my mother. We
had
to believe him. I come from a very big family. We are very poor.'

Daniel wondered how much the girls' mother had really known. Had she been taken in as Katya believed, or had she sacrificed two children for the benefit of the others? It was sadly far from uncommon for parents with large families to support. Had Patrescu in fact
bought
Katya and her sister from their mother? He thought it quite possible but kept it to himself.

‘We don't think you're stupid,' Hilary reassured the girl, throwing a speaking glance Daniel's way.

‘No, it's not your fault. They're pros,' he responded. ‘They'll have done it hundreds of times before.'

‘Patrescu got passports for us, but when we got here, he took them away. He said we owed him money for the journey. He said we had to work for him until we could pay him back. That's when he brought us to the house.'

‘Was it just you and your sister?'

Katya shook her head. ‘No, there were eight of us. They put us in a van. We were very frightened, except for one girl. She told us she used to work for Patrescu in Romania. She told us what she did . . .' She sniffed and Hilary handed her a handkerchief. ‘It was like a bad dream. Elena didn't really understand, but she was scared and couldn't stop crying. Then her breathing got bad. She was . . .' Unable to find the words, Katya put her hand on her chest and went through the actions of someone struggling for air.

‘Wheezing,' Hilary supplied. ‘Poor girl. That must have been terrifying for both of you.'

‘It was,' Kat agreed. ‘And when we got to the house, they told us that if we tried to run away with no papers, the police would put us straight in jail. He told us things about women's jails. Horrible things . . .' She faltered to a stop, looking distressed.

‘He lied,' Daniel said flatly. ‘Girls like you and Elena are the victims in this, and you'd be treated as such if you went to the police. You wouldn't be sent to jail, I can promise you.'