Pauline Rowson - Tide of Death

Jane shook her head. 'No. She had a date with him last night.'

'When did she first meet him?'

'About a week ago, I think, soon after…'

'After what?'

But Jane had clammed up. She pressed her lips together, put the tissue to her mouth and glared at him defiantly.

'When did Lucy come back to Portsmouth?' has asked casually, though he felt far from casual.

'Two weeks ago. Why?'

'How did you get into Lucy's flat?'

'I've got a key.'

'And when you went in you found her exactly as she is? You didn't touch anything?'

'No. I called you lot straightaway,' she gulped. He was glad she had. Girls like Lucy and Jane usually didn't. Tears looked set to spill again only she sought refuge in her anger. 'I hope you get the bastard who did this to Lucy and lock him up for good.'

Some hope, Horton thought cynically. Oh, they might get him but he doubted if he'd be locked up for good. Someone knocked lightly on the door, and he saw Kate dealing with it. 'Have you any idea who might have done this to her, Jane?'

'Some weirdo.'

'Inspector Horton, the doctor's just arrived and the DCI's on his way,' Kate Somerfield said.

'Horton! You're Horton?' Jane asked sharply, widening her eyes.

'Yes, why?'

He tried to sound calm but his insides were churning. Clearly Lucy had told Jane about him. He sensed Kate's quickening interest and looked up to see her face impassive but her eyes full of curiosity. With a pointed glance at Kate, Jane pressed her lips together. Horton got the message.

'Leave us for a moment, Somerfield,' he commanded. She went, but he could see it was reluctantly.

The room was stifling hot and the smell was making him feel nauseous. He wanted to throw open the windows but he forced himself to sit beside Jane and look at her with as neutral an expression as possible.

Slowly and evenly he said, 'Jane, this is important. Did Lucy tell you about me?'

She nodded. 'Yes. She said you were nice and very dishy and she was right.'

'What did she say?' Horton ignored the compliment and the leer that went with it. 'That this bloke approached her and asked her if she'd like to earn a few extra bob. All she had to do was get you into a hotel bedroom and say you raped her, or slept with her or something, anything to get you away from there.'

'There?' he asked evenly, though his heart was racing. He wanted to hear her say it. He could hardly breathe. His body was tense in anticipation of her answer. He'd waited eight months for this. Christ! If only Catherine were here now?

'That posh gym. Alpha One.'

And there it was; said so simply that he was almost afraid he hadn't heard correctly. 'When was she told to do this?' Had it been before he'd accidentally met her or whilst he was wining and dining her?

'How should I know?' Jane said surprised.

'Who paid her?'

Jane shrugged her tattooed shoulder. 'Don't know. Honest I don't. She wouldn't tell me; afraid that I might muscle in on her little game.'

Horton looked quizzically at her understanding her meaning but wanting her to say it.

'That's why she came back to Portsmouth,' Jane continued. 'She wanted more money and said she could get it easily.'

'She was blackmailing someone?'

Jane sniffed. 'I don't know as I'd call it that.'

'Then what would you call it?' Horton said scathingly, but it was wasted on her.

'Just a way of earning money.'

'Who was she blackmailing, Jane?' he asked, his heart pumping fast.

'I don't know. She just said he would pay quite a lot for his little secret not to come out.'

'What secret?' He was getting there. At last!

'If I knew that, I might have a chance of earning a bit of extra money on the side,' Jane said tartly.

'I thought you didn't know who her victim was.'

'I don't but I could put two and two together and- '

'End up like Lucy,' snapped Horton.

Jane writhed. 'Yeah, well, I don't know. All I know is he's someone quite high up.'

Horton quickly picked up on this. It was as he had suspected. He hadn't been imagining it. 'In the police force, you mean?'

'She didn't say that, just said someone important like.' But Jane's dark face had flushed betraying her. That ruled out Dennings, Horton thought, but it still left Reine and his ex boss, Underwood.

'Who was he, Jane?' he asked again.

'I don't know, honestly.'

He held her gaze but could see that she was telling the truth. Lucy had guarded her secret and her income well. 'Did Lucy ever say why she was told to lie?'

'No.'

And now she was dead. 'And what about you? Have you ever worked for Alpha One?'

'Me? No.' Her answer didn't quite have the ring of truth about it. She looked away and began shredding her tissue.

'Are you sure, Jane? '

'Of course I'm sure.' She wouldn't look at him.

'It might help us to find Lucy's killer if you were to tell the truth.'

He left a silence and in the end she was forced to say, 'All right then but I didn't work for them, Lucy arranged it.'

'Arranged what?'

'Lucy and me, we were in that tower, the one where the body was found.'

'When?' He felt a rush of adrenaline.

'Friday night, just a week ago.'

The night Thurlow was dumped there. 'Why were you there?'

'It was a party.'

'Arranged through Alpha One?'

'Lucy said it would be all right and we'd get well paid. She'd done this sort of thing before, loads of time.'

'What sort of thing?' He could feel his heart knocking against his rib cage. He knew the answer.

'You know, escorts that kind of thing.'

'Who were you with, Jane?'

'I don't know their names; it was just a couple of blokes. They were into black magic, devil worship, bondage, that sort of stuff, and in that hole,' she shuddered. 'It gave me and Lucy the creeps.'

'How many of them were there?'

'Two.'

'What time did you get there?'

'About midnight. We were only there for about an hour. We were told it was a birthday surprise.' She sniffed and the tears filled her eyes once again as she remembered her friend was dead.

'And you didn't see the body in the tower?'

She widened her eyes at him. 'Are you kidding…!' She suddenly stopped, her face blanched and her hand shook.

'What is it, Jane? You've remembered something?'

She gulped and nodded. 'I'd forgotten. Lucy went back. She'd lost her lighter.' Horton wouldn't mind betting that was the lighter he'd found on his boat. 'We'd got halfway down that track, you know from the tower, when she grabbed my arm and said she had to go back.'

'You didn't go back with her?'

'No way. That place gave me the creeps. I walked to the road and hitched a lift back to Portsmouth. Was lucky to get one, until the pervert who picked me up fancied his chances.'

'What was his name?'

'How the hell do I know, I didn't ask.'

'What was he like? What car did he drive?'

'Flashy BMW. He was about forty, fat, and stunk of booze. It was hardly worth the bother really but he seemed satisfied.'

'And what about Lucy? What happened to her?'

'Not much. She got back all right. I didn't ask how.'

So, he thought, Lucy could have seen the body being dumped after the others had left. The killer, fearing that she had seen him, had silenced her. But it had taken him eleven days to do so. Why wait that long? Perhaps he was Lucy's new boyfriend. So was Jarrett off the hook over Lucy's death? It buggered up his theory of Jarrett silencing Lucy before he could speak with her. His mind was still as full of questions as it was empty of answers.

'Have you any idea who the men in the tower were? It's important Jane.'

After a moment's hesitation she said, 'I know one of them was a dentist. He was joking about his clients. He was into bondage. The other one was a solicitor. He liked being beaten with a cane, sad bastard.'