Cath Staincliffe - Hit and Run

‘Konrad Sulikov?’

No one answered. They sat unmoving except for Petra who was swinging one foot to and fro, the sandal dangling and slapping against her sole.

‘Marta?’ Janine said.

Marta gave a reluctant, almost imperceptible dip of the head.

There was a noise outside and Richard drew back the corner of the net curtains. ‘Transport’s here,’ he said. ‘And scene of crime are on their way.’

Marta frowned and looked at Janine.

‘We’re still trying to establish where Rosa was killed,’ Janine explained.

‘But she went out. She never came back here.’

‘We have to make sure. Marta, did Rosa have a boyfriend?’

‘Only Mr Harper.’

Harper! Janine felt a rush of shock.

‘What?’ Richard exclaimed.

‘Harper?’ Janine said, struggling to absorb it. ‘Rosa and Harper?’

‘Yeah,’ Marta looked a little disconcerted at their reactions. ‘He takes care of this place.’

‘Harper!’ Janine looked at Richard, shaking her head with incredulity, her skin tingling. ‘I bloody knew there was something. I knew it.’

Once the minibus had left to take the girls to the police station, Janine, Richard and Shap clustered in the hallway.

‘He’s not just being economical with the truth – his story’s got more holes than a string vest,’ Janine said. ‘He was sleeping with her for God’s sake. He knew she was living at the brothel, he’s running the place. The woman’s dead and he doesn’t say a word.’

‘The pair of them kept it bloody quiet,’ said Shap. ‘No one at the club knew.’

‘You sure about that? Not just keeping their mouths shut?’ Janine asked.

‘Andrea rang in,’ Richard pointed out. ‘If she’d known Harper was seeing Rosa, I think she would have told us.’

‘She didn’t tell us about this place, not till she absolutely had to.’ She took in the striped wallpaper, the cheap nylon carpet, the tasselled shade on the ceiling lamp.

‘Not the same though,’ said Shap. ‘She knew this place was off the books, maybe even knew that Harper was running it. But if Andrea had known Harper was going with Rosa and then seen him deny it when she’d been killed, she would have shopped him.’

Janine thought he was right. ‘OK, so Rosa and Harper kept their affair under wraps at the club but, more to the point, why did he keep quiet about his relationship with Rosa when he spoke to us?’

‘’Cos she was illegal and he was up to his neck in it, managing the brothel, sex slaves near enough,’ Shap pointed out.

Richard raised an eyebrow.

‘They were hardly at liberty,’ Janine agreed.

‘Or he kept quiet because he killed her,’ Richard said simply.

Shap looked from one to another, the question plain on his face.

‘I don’t know,’ Janine answered. ‘That’s for us to find out, isn’t it? No harm in giving him the impression we favour him for it. He’s been mucking us about for long enough. Let’s shake him up.’

Richard looked at her with interest.

‘We’ll arrest him for her murder. That should loosen his tongue. And while we’re about it, you,’ she said to Shap, ‘can have another of your little chats with Andrea.’

There was quite a crowd at the club when they got there; Friday afternoon and men starting the weekend off early. Groups of office workers or sales reps, be-suited but already dishevelled, their jackets discarded and ties loosened or removed. The crowd looked particularly young, early twenties Janine guessed, and half-drunk. Probably not stop boozing till Sunday night. Weekends spent smashed in an attempt to escape the stress of the working week. Could be a stag night, she thought.

Andrea was dancing, though her eyes flew to them as soon as she realised they’d come in. Harper was seated at a table, playing host to a couple of customers. He made an apology to his companions and stood up to meet Janine and Richard.

‘Not again,’ he thrust his hands in his pockets.

Janine smiled; there was no warmth in it. ‘James Harper,’ she said, ‘I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Rosa Milicz.’ A wave of disquiet travelled round the club as people sensed the change in atmosphere. Andrea stopped dancing. ‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Is there anything you would like to say?’

‘You’ve got it all wrong.’ Harper was pallid with shock. Tremors worked in the muscles round his jaw line. He spread his arms out, palms up; look no tricks. ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ He turned to the tables behind him as if recruiting them to his side, ‘This is complete lunacy.’

Shap followed Andrea through to the changing room. She looked shaken. Understandable. Not a nice thought that your boss might be a murderer.

‘We’ve been to the brothel,’ he said. ‘You know much about it?’

‘Nothing,’ she said flatly.

‘They’re all illegals – girls from Poland.’

She bit at her lip, looking anxious.

Shap slid his backside onto the corner of one of the tables. ‘Andrea, you told us Rosa didn’t have a boyfriend.’

‘She didn’t.’ She looked confused. ‘Not that she told me about anyway.’

‘What if I told you Harper and Rosa had a thing going on.,

She gave a sharp laugh, humourless. ‘They didn’t.’

Shap nodded slowly. He saw the disbelief alter Andrea’s face. She blinked a couple of times, laughed again. ‘Honestly? You really think he…’

‘We don’t know yet but we have our suspicions.’

‘The bastard,’ she whispered. ‘How could he do that?’

‘Allegedly,’ Shap said. He offered her a cigarette, lit one himself.

She sighed.

‘That surprise you?’

‘I thought he was an OK bloke, you know? Fair. Turns out…’

‘… he’s just like the rest of us?’

She glared at him, her eyes fierce.

‘We’re not all the same,’ he said. He studied her for a moment, took a pull on his cigarette. ‘What about you?’ he tried to sound casual. ‘You seeing anyone?’ He smiled.

‘Only my husband,’ she retorted.

Shap’s face fell. He liked Andrea, young and pretty, with a bit of a gob on her – but husbands he could do without.

Shelley bustled into the room, peeling off a tight, white leather jacket. ‘What’s going on?’

‘They’ve arrested Jimmy.’

‘What for?’

‘Rosa.’

‘’Kin ‘ell.’ Shelley stared at Shap. ‘That right?’

He nodded.

‘God!’ she exclaimed. ‘That is really creepy. That’s horrible, that is. What about this place? What’ll happen?’

‘We haven’t charged him,’ Shap told her.

‘But you’ve taken him in,’ Andrea said.

‘Just think, could have been any of us,’ Shelley said dramatically to Andrea. ‘Working with him, day in day out. Turns my stomach. That poor girl.’

‘Don’t hang your boots up just yet,’ Shap said crossing over to the door. ‘Innocent until proven guilty.’

The looks they gave him, full on and cynical, said it all.

‘Yeah,’ Andrea folded her arms, ‘you’re just saying that in case you can’t pin it on him.’

‘You wouldn’t arrest him if you hadn’t something on him,’ Shelley added.

Shap held up a hand. ‘Happens all the time. He lied to us, we don’t like that.’

‘And he was sleeping with her,’ Andrea told Shelley.

‘He never was.’

Andrea nodded.

‘They’re always prime suspects,’ Shelley said knowingly.

‘The bastard,’ Andrea said quietly and a silence settled between them.