London Noir: A gripping crime suspense thriller (Kal Medi Book 2) Read online

  And, with me, it’s the eyes that are captivating. The windows of the soul – unable to lie in the final moments.

  Chapter Four

  When Marty awoke, it seemed as if moments before she’d been fighting for her life down a stinking London alley. She remembered being alone, and, at the end, how scared she’d been. With four highly-trained assailants against her, the odds were stacked the wrong way. They’d overwhelmed her, despite her kung fu skills and her strength and agility which made her so good in the combat room. In the end they beat her down until nothing remained but her will to live, and even that had poured out, along with her blood and guts, into the gutter. It was a miracle she’d survived and she’d take that miracle any day. Thanks too, to the man walking his dog who’d raised the alarm. So, it was a surprise to wake up and stare at a white ceiling and listen to the calm voices of strangers.

  Part of Marty recalled her mother’s prayers drifting through from far away, and the presence of her mother and of Kal at her bedside all these long months, although she wondered if that was a dream, taken from her childhood and fashioned into the here and now. Anyway, it wasn’t long after she awoke that her mother arrived. Of course, her mother cried. Even her hard-nosed brother, Vince, cried. Marty lay there loving them and loving life and talking a few words and above all, after the nurses asked them to leave, she prevented herself from falling into an exhausted sleep, waiting for the arrival of Kal.

  This meeting would be tricky. Marty knew if she played it wrong she might lose Kal forever. They’d been best friends since primary school and it was their friendship which had kept both of them going, kept both of them focusing ahead and on what they could achieve away from the difficulties of their childhoods. Away from their fathers, both twisted and abusive in their own ways. Though Kal never saw it like that, because Kal’s father had tutored his daughter and taught her everything he knew and crafted her to be like him. Yes, this first meeting would be complicated. Kal would’ve been brought to her knees by guilt and remorse. She would’ve fixed on things she should have done differently. Torturing herself rather than focusing on what she’d done right and who she’d saved and that’s where Marty came in, exactly as she’d done through their teenage years. She must find a way of putting Kal back on track.

  So Marty lay there and saved her strength. Until the nurse announced Marty’s final visitor of the day, a Ms Kal Medi.

  When Kal knocked twice on the door, Marty’s stomach began to ache. This might be worse than she anticipated – the Kal Marty knew would’ve barged straight in.

  ‘Hey, long time no see. You’re looking good, Marty.’

  ‘Like hell I am.’

  Kal laughed and Marty heard the same small choking sound she’d heard at the back of her brother’s throat.

  ‘For pity’s sake, don’t tell me I’m knocked out for a few days and the iron maiden starts melting. Give me a break.’

  ‘It was months, Marty. They smashed you up so bad the doctors hardly saved you and we didn’t know if you’d ever revive and if you did…’

  ‘…if I did, whether I’d be a vegetable? No news on that one, ha,ha, though they’ve scheduled an array of tests that’ll keep me busy for the next few weeks. And what the hell happened to you? You took a shower with your clothes on?’

  ‘I ran into a bit of trouble on the way here,’ Kal said. ‘I’ll tell you about it another time.’

  Marty tried not to cough and failed. Even to her own ears, it was a weak, horrible cough. The kind you’d expected from a sickly, old person and Marty had already experienced the horror on her mother’s face in response to that sound. Now she watched as Kal clenched her jaw.

  ‘For goodness sake, Kal, just break down, will you? Of course, Mum did, and even my hard-nosed brother did, so you might as well get it over with.’

  ‘I’m sorry and god, that sounds so inadequate I feel like punching myself in the head. I’ve been over and over what I wanted to say a million times and none of it ever sounded right. It was my fault. It was my fault you were in that alley. I wish it had been me and not you.’

  ‘It’s okay, I’m back now, and listen Kal, I’m sorry about your mother. Mum told me what happened.’

  ‘You’re not the one who should be sorry.’

  Marty half-closed her eyes and listened to the steady beeping of a monitoring machine. Yup, she’d been right, Kal had dug herself into one deep hole.

  ‘I thought you’d be mad at me,’ Kal said.

  Marty took a deep breath. ‘I am mad at you, for being such an idiot to think you decide what I do. Only I decide on that and I made my decision to stick with you to the end. I knew the risks and I wanted to do it, so you can forget any guilt tripping. When I say forget, bet your life I mean it – forget it, bury it a hundred miles down and never look at it again.’ Marty felt her strength draining away. ‘You nailed him, didn’t you? That sick bastard.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Kal in a low voice, ‘yes, I did.’

  ‘That’s what matters. And it’s all that matters. You’re the only one who could’ve done it, remember that. Me being in that alley meant you were left free. I don’t regret a thing.’

  The machines bleeped and Marty rested back on the pillow, short of breath. ‘You wouldn’t believe the fatigue – they say it’s muscle wastage. I can hardly lift my own damn head.’

  ‘Oh, Marty.’

  The choking sound in Kal’s throat was much louder.

  Marty kept her eyes closed. She felt herself phasing out. Then remembered there was something else she wanted to say. ‘Yeah, and without me around to kick your butt into line, who’s there to do it?’

  There was a small pause and then Kal started sobbing. Job done, Marty thought, and she let the tiredness wash over her.

  Marty was brought back to the surface by a smart rap at the door. She heard Kal grabbing at the tissues and she opened her eyes as the nurse came in.

  ‘I said you could have a couple of minutes today maximum. Ms King needs her rest.’

  When Kal gave Marty a kiss on the cheek, Marty tasted the salty tears.

  ‘I missed you,’ Kal said.

  And when her friend closed the door, Marty smiled.

  Chapter Five

  Kal tossed the ball of tissues in the bin. On her way past, she said goodbye to two nurses at the desk. One of the women smiled back and the other gave Kal an odd look. Gosh, thought Kal, she must have been doing a lot of scowling at them these last few months. What had they been calling her behind her back? Introverted? Anti-social? Or simply, strange? Kal had been called plenty of names in her time and she supposed if she’d had a normal childhood she wouldn’t come across so badly. She shrugged the thought off. Nothing would spoil today – today was Marty’s celebration.

  Outside in the fresh air, it was as if part of her had been on hold all this time. She felt suddenly light and energised, with her head so much clearer, and the more Kal thought about it, the more she knew she’d made a big mistake dropping Sophie in Montgomery Road. She kept thinking of Sophie’s pale face as she disappeared behind the red door.

  When Kal drove back to number thirty-three, dusk was settling in. Montgomery Road lay quiet, except for a posse of girls loitering near the end of the street. Luckily for the prostitutes, the dark clouds had cleared. London didn’t get many August storms and this one left the pavements smelling newly-washed clean. The accumulated debris had been swept down the drains and the long line of parked cars glistened, freed from their summer dust coats.

  Kal walked over to the group. There were eight women in all and they were talking to a man. Or rather, a man was talking to them.

  ‘Please pass it around and I’ll give a reward to anyone who has information,’ he said.

  Kal made sure to approach out of their line of sight. This was possible with everyone except the man. She was an expert at blending in and she hung at the margin of the group, keeping her head down and her shoulders hunched. With their interest focused on the well-dressed ma
n, none of the women paid Kal any attention. She kept still, careful not to ruffle any feathers. Kal glanced at the paper the man held out. Her senses jumped to alert, her concentration suddenly razor sharp. Though the blonde hair of the girl in the picture blew in the breeze, and the sun shone in the background, there was no mistaking – it was Sophie.

  Kal focused her attention on the man. Time for a detailed assessment of him. Her father had been an expert coach, and under his tutoring, she’d learned how to unpick other people’s psychology and read them like a book. Kal kept her posture relaxed, remaining blended into the background, as her mind catalogued the interaction playing out around her. What was Sophie’s picture doing on this man’s flyer? Who was he? What was going on here? She must find out quickly and pick up all the nuances and the subtext and everything that was said and what was left unsaid.

  With sandy hair and hazel eyes, the man was tall and not bad looking. He had an awkwardness about him which showed in his shoulders and the way he held himself, as if he felt permanently ill-at-ease. He wore an expensive suit, with the jacket unbuttoned to show a equally expensive shirt. Kal wondered if he invested in his appearance to try to compensate, or divert from, his discomfort. Smooth skin, good complexion, well groomed – Kal saw no trace of Sophie in his features.

  The women were a closed-mouth crew. It would be part of their survival tactics – never give any details to punters, don’t talk about the other prostitutes, don’t let slip any personal information, keep the ring tight. Nobody broke the code because it kept them all safe.

  ‘Has anyone seen her? It’s important.’

  One of the women placed a painted nail on Sophie’s face. ‘She’s pretty. Did she run out on you? What a shame.’

  They were teasing him.

  ‘Are you mad at her, honey?’ asked another woman, her voice dripping with mockery.

  Kal saw the man struggling. The power was with the women and they were making the most of it because the man presented an easy target. Obviously not a cop, and out of place in his classy jacket and smart shoes. Kal watched his attention flicking from one face to the other as he tried to find a way through the barriers.

  ‘No, dammit, she’s my sister.’

  ‘That’s what they all say!’

  His eyes were showing his frustration.

  ‘I know she’s been here before. Please take a look at the photograph – she’s changed a lot in the last couple of years. Have you seen her recently?’

  He thrust the flyer towards the women but none of them would take it. Unconsciously, they had encircled him, completing the scenario of a gaggle of witches ringing their victim.

  The man kept trying. ‘It’s the truth, she’s vulnerable and she needs to be in care. Sophie needs help.’

  His use of the word ‘help’ snagged the attention of one of them – a brunette with a purple streak in her hair. Kal watched the brunette shift from one foot to the other, now unable to stop her eyes gravitating to Sophie’s picture. The woman with the purple streak must feel an affinity with a girl in need of help. Kal wondered what circumstances had left this woman in need of help herself, and whether she’d ever received it.

  ‘That sounds kinda serious,’ said the woman with the purple streak.

  ‘She’s a danger to herself because she… she’s going through a difficult time. Please, have you seen her?’

  Purple-streak hesitated and stretched out her hand to take a flyer. The group quickly gained control. One of them elbowed her out of the way.

  ‘The only thing we’re interested in is your money, though you’ll get a fair exchange, if you know what I mean.’ The woman who said this gave him a wink. ‘There’s no trade here for information because we’ve never seen her before.’

  They’d won. He’d get nowhere with them, not unless he decided to try sex as a route in. If he chose the woman with the purple streak he might have a chance. Kal knew he didn’t look the type. The man seemed desperate but not enough to push him over a line drawn in his own head that carved out the right side of decent. Kal saw that he wouldn’t cross it for this girl he called his sister, and that self-imposed limit would mean he’d fail. He confronted their wall of silence for a few moments more and then turned away. Frustration and annoyance bowed the top of his back and Kal felt certain he would turn this failure in on himself.

  ‘Come back any time you like, honey. You’ll always get a warm welcome,’ one of the girls called out. Several of the women laughed.

  Kal watched the man walk to his car. It was the same one Kal had watched cruise across the junction a few hours before. As he folded his tall frame into the driving seat, Kal thought of Sophie’s frailty. Why was this man tailing Sophie? What was he doing here digging for information? Together with her protectiveness towards Sophie, suspicion and anger started mixing in, aimed at this man with the shiny, black shoes.

  ‘He doesn’t look like a punter,’ said purple-streak.

  ‘Doesn’t act like one either and he’s not a cop, I can smell cops.’

  ‘You wait and see, in a few weeks he’ll be back here for a real trade. That’s his way of scouting out the territory.’

  ‘You think? You’ve been watching too many movies, Candice.’

  The women laughed, this time in good humour.

  ‘Gosh it’s quiet tonight, where are all our usuals? Hey, who the hell are you!’

  Kal kept her hands stuffed in her pockets. She could walk away. She could follow the man. Or she could take up the challenge and coax and fashion a way into the middle of this bunch without them even knowing she’d tried. Kal didn’t like this man’s interest in Sophie and she didn’t like that Sophie had disappeared inside a house on this street. Time to get to work.

  Kal knew how to tuck her persona away and study the details of the person in front of her so well, she could feed them back exactly what they wanted to hear. Yes, to get to Sophie, she’d need to get to the hub of the set-up on Montgomery and get to it as fast as possible.

  Saying she was a friend of Sophie’s was likely to get her thrown onto her backside, literally, because the man had muddied the waters. What she needed was a chance of getting to number thirty-three as an insider. These women must see her as no threat. Needy. An exploitable commodity and a sister to take under their wing. Kal licked her lips. It would be a challenge to pull it off. She’d have to play it just right, but then again, she liked challenges.

  ‘Er, thing is,’

  ‘Speak up, we can’t hear you.’

  The women laughed and one of them deliberately bumped against Kal’s shoulder. Oh yes, Kal thought, I know that game. This could turn into a real bullying session. This was a gang. Tightly knit. With a hierarchy. She rubbed her shoulder and pouted. ‘What’s eating you, sister?’

  ‘I ain’t your sister.’

  ‘And I’m not some pussy to be shoved around.’

  ‘Cut her some slack,’ Candice said. ‘Now what the hell are you doing, nosing around our patch?’

  Kal was glad she was wearing a short, Indian print skirt. It had mostly dried out at the hospital, and it clung to her legs, showing plenty of thigh. She’d hitched it up a few inches when she approached the women and that had been a good call. The silk debadeur top wasn’t her most alluring – it was a cheap, skimpy, summer number she’d picked up at Camden market and it would have to do. She lifted her chin and gave Candice a level gaze, careful to keep her expression neutral. ‘I need the money.’

  ‘You need money?’ One of the women said. ‘What the fuck are you talking about? We all need money and we sure as hell haven’t got any cash for you. Now piss off.’

  ‘She’s not looking for cash,’ said Candice. ‘If you walk down this street you only do it for one reason – she wants work, don’t you hun?’

  Candice wore stiletto-heeled boots, with black leather reaching up to her mid-thighs. Kal rather liked the look of them.

  ‘You’re sure as hell not a virgin and you’ve no experience on the job,’ Candice sai
d. ‘The only work we can offer you is cleaning the toilets.’

  A vicious cackle ran around the group.

  Keeping her stance relaxed, Kal stood her ground. ‘Like I said, I need the money.’

  ‘Then go and get a job as a waitress and maybe you’ll get lucky and shag the owner. Ain’t nothing for you here, gal.’

  Kal shrugged. ‘Fucking the owner is what gave me the problem.’

  A couple of the women laughed at the joke, though they kept it subdued.

  ‘You’re a funny one, aren’t you?’ Candice said. She flicked a strand of Kal’s jet-black hair, then used her finger to tilt Kal’s head to one side, then the other. Kal didn’t resist, keeping her muscles co-operative. Now wasn’t the time for confrontation.

  ‘Where’re you from? India? Sri Lanka?’

  ‘My parents are from India.’ Kal couldn’t bring herself to say ‘were’ yet. ‘I was born in London and grew up here.’

  ‘Lots of men like dark skin like yours and you’ve a decent body on you but Sugar G doesn’t take on newbies, he’ll only take a recommendation. Sorry, you’d better run on back home to mummy.’

  ‘My mother’s dead. This is my last resort. I need the cash and I need it quickly.’

  ‘Fucking hell, you’re annoying, aren’t you?’ Candice came in closer and gave a cold smile. It looked like most of the light had gone out of Candice’s eyes a long time ago and Kal stared into the maw of disappointment. She made certain to erase any trace of challenge because she knew, if there was any space for her with these women, it would be at the bottom of the ladder.

  Kal already pegged Candice as the ring leader. Only a person with no home could abandon themselves to this life. More importantly, only a homeless soul could latch onto Candice as a leader and become part of her tribe. Candice poked her finger hard into Kal’s chest. It was a move designed to make Kal take a step back. She didn’t.

  ‘There’s more spirit kicking around in that head of yours than I thought. What really brought you here?’ Candice asked.