When the Music's Over (38 page)

“How do you know it happened that way?”

“I don't. Not for sure. I only . . . I mean, I went in the van once with some blokes when Faisal asked me to. It was probably the same as with Mimsy.”

Gerry's heart seemed to shrivel in her chest. She almost didn't want to ask any more questions, but she had to push herself on. “What happened?”

“Not a lot, really. I didn't want to go, but Faisal got really nasty about it. He grabbed my shirt by the neck and shook me and said after all they'd done for us. He didn't hit me, but he said things would get nasty if I didn't do what I was told. Said it was very important. So I went in the van. There was a mattress in the back. A bit old and dirty, but it did the trick.”

“So you had sex with the three men?”

“I don't know if it was the same three Mimsy was with. I stopped in Dewsbury that night and the next day one of them gave me the money to get a train home.”

“So what went wrong with Mimsy's trip?”

“One of them must have given her the K, like you said. It can make you crazy, that stuff. I only tried it once and I'd never touch it again. Maybe she did something to piss them off. She was beautiful and all, but she could be really gobby, could Mimsy, and they didn't like that. She was getting worse and all. She was struggling. She said she wouldn't bring in any more girls. We used to talk about leaving, me and Mimsy. She wanted out, like me, wanted to move on, but she was trapped, just like the rest of us. It was almost like she'd found something else, somewhere else to go, something to do . . . I don't know, but she was different.”

“Did she say anything about this to Sunny?”

“Maybe. Like I said, she had a mouth on her, did Mimsy. She might have told him she wanted out.”

“Could he have told the men in the van to punish her? Teach her a lesson?”

“Maybe. It'd be just like him to get someone else to do it.”

“Jade, what might the men in the van have done that set Mimsy off?”

“They might've . . . they liked it, you know, from behind.”

Gerry remembered from the postmortem that Dr. Glendenning had found semen in all Mimsy's orifices. “You mean anal sex?”

“Mimsy didn't like that. I mean, nobody likes it, do they, but she
really
didn't. Even worse than blow jobs. She told me. She said Sunny tried it once and it hurt like hell. It was one thing she'd never do again.”

“And these men liked to do that?”

“The ones I was with did. But like I said, I don't know if it was the same ones.”

“Do you know their names?”

“No. I can't remember. And I mean I
really
can't remember. I don't even remember if I ever knew.”

Gerry paused. She didn't want to give away too much information but felt that if she gave a little she might get more out of Jade. “As far as we can gather,” she said, “Mimsy was alive when they threw her out of the van on Bradham Lane. Now, maybe it's as you say and she started acting up, causing trouble when they wanted to do something she didn't like, and they got angry with her and chucked her out naked on the roadside. But she was still alive after that. She walked back up the road. Not very far, but she walked for about ten or fifteen minutes. She was hurt, but she was alive. Then someone else came from the same direction and . . . Well, that was where we found her body. Not where they chucked her out of the van, but where the second vehicle stopped. Who do you think was in that vehicle, Jade?”

“I don't know!” said Jade. “It could've been Sunny, I suppose, if she'd told him she was leaving. Or one of the others. Faisal. Hassan. Ismail. One of the young lads, even. I mean, Ismail's got all those minicabs. Maybe Sunny told the cousins just to kick her out of the van on a quiet lane when they'd done with her.”

That was a point, Gerry realized. The minicabs. Go over the
CCTV footage again—limited as it was to major roads some distance from Bradham Lane—and see if one of Ismail's minicabs had been cruising there at the right time. They hadn't spotted one yet, but it was worth another look. “But why?” she asked. “Why kill Mimsy? After all, Sunny was the one who sent her in the van to start with.” Which also meant, Gerry realized, that Sunny knew where she was, who she was with and where she was going.

“If they thought she was going to talk, maybe,” Jade said. “Like I said, she'd been bitchy a lot lately, mouthy, rebellious, talking back, like she didn't have to do what they said and they should give her a bit more respect. Sunny didn't like that. He was always clocking her one.”

“But you said they didn't care if you talked, that they thought nobody would believe you, that the police or the social would just think you asked for it.”

“They cared if we talked because it would put an end to what they had going. That's all. They weren't worried about getting arrested or going to jail or anything. They told us all that just so we'd know it wouldn't do
us
any good. But it would do
them
some harm. Spoil their nice little party. And it has.”

“Did the police know what was going on? Do you think they helped Sunny and the others, or turned a blind eye?”

“The polis? No way. They hate the Pakis. They're just scared of being called racists.”

“So you never had anything to do with policemen on the Strip?”

“No way.”

“Nobody ever asked you to have sex with them, or anything?”

“Like, yuk, no.”

“OK. So you think Sunny or his mates followed their cousins towards Dewsbury and when Mimsy got kicked out, they killed her?”

“It must've been like that.”

“Maybe,” said Gerry. “But how did they know the men were going to throw Mimsy out of the van? How did they know she was going to give them so much aggro they'd want to do that?”

“I don't know,” said Jade. “Maybe they'd arranged it all in advance with Sunny? The route, throwing Mimsy out. I don't know. I've told you what I know. You're the copper, you work it out.”

“Jade, will you come back to Eastvale with me and tell my boss what you've just told me?”

But Gerry could sense Jade stiffening and withdrawing into herself. “No way,” she said. “No. It's not safe.”

“But surely it's safer than staying around here? We can help you.”

“As long as they don't know about this I'll be fine. Like I said, they've shut down shop for now, and I know how to keep my head down. I told you, I'm leaving Wytherton for good. Don't worry. It might not seem like it, but I can take care of myself.”

“Where will you go?”

“I've been thinking. I've got a brother fostered out down in Leicester. I don't hardly know him, but it's flesh and blood, isn't it?”

“Yes,” Gerry said. “You're right about that. It's flesh and blood.”

“Look,” said Jade, “I'm sorry to ask and all, but I'm in a jam and I don't have any money. Do you think you could let us have a few quid, like for food and the train and stuff?”

Gerry didn't have much, but she examined the contents of her purse with the light from her phone and pulled out three twenty-pound notes. “Will that do? Is that OK?” She turned off the light again.

“Thanks,” said Jade, and shoved the notes in her jeans pocket. “You've got to go now.”

“Aren't you coming out with me?”

“I can't risk being seen with you. I'll wait here till you're gone and leave through one of the other houses. I'll be fine. Now go.”

“You've got my number?”

Gerry's eyes had adjusted enough to see Jade nod in the dark, her eyes big and shining in the pale child's face. She hated to leave her like this, but what Jade had said made sense. Jade was too scared to go public with what she knew, but with what she had told Gerry tonight, what Gerry had recorded on her mobile, they could start to take Sunny and his grooming network down first thing in the morning, or perhaps as soon as she got to her car and phoned DI Cabbot. She knew she had broken protocol and the recording might be useless in court, if it ever came to that, but it was enough to get them started, to show them where to look and who to question. Someone would break. It
had to be better than nothing. They could have a go at Sunny and Faisal and the others first. Find the other victims, Becca and the rest. Then they could bring the Dewsbury police in on the action. She gave Jade a friendly pat on the shoulder, then got to her feet and made her way down the creaking stairs.

GERRY FELT
uneasy about leaving Jade alone in the condemned house, even though the girl had far more street smarts than she did. She moved the board aside and slipped through into the deserted road. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked, and she could hear the sound of a television set a bit closer to hand, no doubt blaring through an open window. Not far away, glass smashed, and Gerry realized it was most likely kids playing around in the derelict factory. Fences and barbed wire wouldn't stop them finding a way in for very long. Her car was about a hundred yards away, around the corner past the broken playground. She found herself walking fast, head down, holding on to the strap of her shoulder bag tightly, even though there seemed to be nobody around. It was that kind of street. If she'd been wearing high heels, her footsteps would have clicked on the pavement and echoed, but she was wearing trainers, so she moved silently.

When she turned into the street where her car was parked, she didn't see them at first, but as she approached her little Corsa, four figures—or so she thought—seemed to detach themselves from the shadows into the light and move toward her. Her first thought was to stand and face them down. Surely her warrant card would be protection enough? Then she remembered what had happened to Mimosa, and the things Jade had just told her. Gerry wasn't much of a fighter, but she was a hell of a runner.

So she turned and ran.

She became immediately aware that they were coming after, and heard one of them yell out, “Hey, Ginger! Stop, bitch. Tariq, you get the car.” Then she felt a sudden sharp blow high on her shoulder. It almost felled her, and she stumbled and cried out in agony as the pain spread throughout her upper body. She had not thought they were close enough to get her, but one of them had hit her with an iron bar
or a baseball bat or some such thing. For a moment, she lost her footing and staggered this way and that, like a newborn lamb, trying desperately to remain on her feet, to keep moving, her center of balance wavering. If they caught her now she knew she'd be dead.

Somehow, she managed to keep going, get upright and find her footing, her rhythm, again. Now all she had to do was speed up and keep running through the pain that was clouding her vision.

She crossed a main road and still heard them behind her, though she thought they were receding into the distance. She had no idea how many of them were following her. She put on speed again and narrowly dodged a car, felt the draft of it whizzing by. She wasn't sure if it was them or not. Then she zigzagged through back alleys and narrow streets of grim terraces until she couldn't hear anyone behind her anymore. Her shoulder throbbed like hell and her breath came in rasping gasps, but she kept going, around a corner, through a ginnel, even jumping a fence at one point. Her old hurdles coach would have been proud of her, she thought. She was almost certain there was no one behind her now, that she'd lost them, but she wouldn't slow down just yet. She had an idea of where she was, could see another main road ahead at the end of the narrow street she was running on, some shops, cars rushing by. She knew where she wanted to be.

Finally, Gerry crashed through the front doors of Wytherton Police Station and immediately saw three or four officers come to the counter to see what the hell was going on. There was no way she could go any farther without the inner door code, but the chase was over. Her pursuers had long since given up. She rested her palms on the counter and took a deep breath. She was aware of the door opening beside her, and just before she fell to the floor, of strong hands grasping her, voices shouting out, and a pain sharp as a knife cutting through her shoulder.

SUPERINTENDENT CARVER
arrived about an hour after Gerry, who was wrapped in a blanket drinking her second cup of tea by then. The painkillers from the station's first aid kit had already kicked in. The police doctor had examined her and said her shoulder blade was most likely cracked, but he didn't think it was seriously fractured. He
improvised a brace and sling, as Gerry insisted she needed to stay and talk to her boss, then made her promise to go to A & E and get X-rayed as soon as she had done so. She knew he was bending the rules by allowing her a little time, and she was grateful. The police bureaucracy could be touchy about insurance and work injury issues. She had also convinced the duty sergeant to send a patrol car to the old house to try to find Jade, though Gerry felt certain she would be long gone by now.

Superintendent Carver was followed after another half hour or so by Banks and DI Cabbot. Gerry had never been so glad to see anyone before. Friendly faces at last. Well, almost. Carver looked as if he'd just swallowed a dog turd, and even Annie's face seemed hard and unsmiling, but the first thing Banks did was bend over her and ask if she was all right. Gerry could have kissed him. Not that she fancied him, or anything, but she was just so relieved that someone cared. Whatever kind of idiot he thought she'd behaved like—and she was fast coming to believe that she had been foolish—he was first of all concerned about her welfare.

Carver ushered them into his office, which was a lot messier than Banks's, piled high with reports and bulging file folders, coffee cup rings all over, an array of framed family photographs on the shelf above the filing cabinets. Gerry was amazed to see that the two children pictured, about six and seven, were almost identical to their father. “So what the bloody hell have you lot been up to on my patch now?” Carver began. He spoke with the pent-up wrath of a man who's been reining himself in for too long already, not to mention been dragged out of his bed, and he was clearly upset that Gerry had refused to talk to him until her SIO arrived.