Ring Around Rosie (11 page)

“Zaydain doesn’t let me out.”

“Is Zaydain your boss then?” probed Rosie.

Griff shook his head. “Brother.”

Of course, thought Rosie, no wonder someone
like Griff was involved. He didn’t have any choice.

Rosie took a deep breath again. “Maybe you
could take
me
out sometime?”

Griff looked at her then and shook his head
vigorously, fear in his eyes.

“Perhaps if I spoke to Zaydain he might let
you take me out for a little while, when I’m better. Perhaps next time they’re
all out and it’s just you and me?”

Griff continued to shake his head.

“Don’t worry, you leave it with me,” said
Rosie, trying to sound decisive. “Don’t tell anyone we had this little chat.
I’ll tell him it was my idea and that it would make you so happy.”

A smile snuck across Griff’s face but it
was quickly gone as he stood to leave.

“I have to go. Zaydain back soon.”

Rosie nodded and stood up to give him a
hug. He was stiff and awkward but when she pulled away he was smiling.

If nothing else, thought Rosie as he left
the room, she’d given him something to hope for, not to mention the hope she’d
given herself. She’d planted a seed in his mind that she hoped would blossom
into the plan she had in hers.

Ted’s face itched beneath the mask and
whatever else Saffron had used to change his face so radically. He longed to
scratch at it but had been forbidden under pain of death, so he could only
contort his face for relief.

It had taken six hours to get him looking
like William Hungerford, and now, as he walked to the nightclub he kept
catching his reflection in windows and freaking himself out. The transformation
really was amazing. Saffron had made a mould of his face and then used the mould
to literally build a mask that he would be able to peel off and put back on
each day. She’d layered up his cheeks to fill them out, built around his eyes
to make them appear sunken. Then all he’d needed was a large pair of
wire-rimmed glasses and a moustache. He had to wear a wig, of course, as
William’s hair was thinner and greyer than Ted’s, but the suit fitted perfectly
with just a little padding needed for his bum and stomach.

Ted’s audience had been just as impressed
with his makeup, not to mention with Blue clapping and twirling her excitement
around the room. Ted had completely fallen in love with her fairy-like
qualities and her total lack of inhibition. Most of the girls he knew were
interested in the same boring things but Blue was unlike any girl he had ever
seen and he found himself resenting Trig for not appearing to appreciate her as
much as Ted knew he would if she were his.

William had cowered in the corner of the
room with Bill holding his face towards the light for Saffron to copy. Ted had
stared at his wobbling mouth with disgust, hating him for everything his sister
was going through. As far as Ted was concerned he represented all the filthy
perverts that inhabited the sewers of society.

They had all asked William questions about
the life he led. He’d refused to say anything until Bill had gently persuaded
him it was in his best interest, and then he’d blubbed like a baby, snot and
spit splattering his pathetic face, the truth spilling out like vomit. How he’d
been ‘engaging’ children from the club for over a year; how sometimes there
were familiar faces, ones he requested again if he’d liked them, but mostly it
was a high turnover and he never knew what he was going to get. The children
would be paraded around in front of him and others like him, and then they
would engage them for however long they wanted to pay for, either then and
there or at another time. He swore initially he had no idea where the children
came from but with a squeeze from Bill he soon confessed that he knew that most
of them were smuggled in from abroad. Ted pushed him for information of any
British children and he’d said there were sometimes more ‘local’ kids, as he
put it, but not that often, mostly because they cost more and the risk involved
in using them was greater.

Ted felt ashamed as he remembered the
moment he lost it on William, how he’d leapt up from the chair, face half done,
and pounded on him. He suddenly had no control of his rage and he wanted to
punish William for all the pain his sister was in, all the desperation he felt,
and for the hell his parents were going through. Trig let it play out for a
while but then had Bill pull Ted off, saying he didn’t want his face
unrecognisable for Saffron to copy.

Ted was so shaken afterwards that they’d
had to have a break as the scowl on his face made it impossible for Saffron to
work on.

Now that Ted was standing at the entrance
to
The Lock
he felt no better than William Hungerford, like he was
wearing his perverseness as well as his face.

The bouncer nodded in recognition and let
him straight in. Once inside Ted followed the directions they’d forced out of
William; going down one flight of stairs and then along behind the balcony to
where a large curtain hung.

As the music kept time to his beating
heart, Ted waited while the bouncers shone a black light on the key around his
neck to illuminate the number. They then looked him up on the computer; nodding
him through when they were satisfied he was William Hungerford.

Ted was whisked to a central table as soon
as he walked through the door, and asked if he’d like his usual. Ted suspected
William’s usual would be as vomit-inducing as him but he nodded. As he gazed at
the sea of girls parading and dancing around the floor, each one seemed to have
Rosie’s face, her delicate body, her innocent smile, and Ted felt anxiety
surging through his chest. How could he do this? How could he pretend to be
William?

Ted saw a man push one of the girls towards
him and he held his breath as she walked over, her eyes on the floor, her hands
clenched at her sides.

“Hello Mister. You remember me?”

Ted opened his mouth to speak but nothing
came out. The girl looked up expectantly and her soft brown eyes were so sad
that Ted had to look away.

“Yes of course. What was your name again?”

“Mai-Li,” the girl replied.

Ted spied the familiar key around her neck.

“You like me today?” she asked.

“I haven’t decided what I feel like today,”
Ted whispered, hardly believing what was coming out of his mouth. “I will call
you over later if I’d like to see you again.”

The girl nodded and went to report back to
the man who had sent her over. She looked so tiny standing next to him.

Ted’s drink arrived and he sipped it
hesitantly. It was as he suspected; sickly sweet and revolting, but he had to
pretend it was what he had been waiting for all day – that, and these tempting
morsels in front of him.

He concentrated on his drink, unsure of
what to do, feeling expectant eyes on him as if waiting for him to make a move.
Everything seemed to pulse in slow motion; lights in his eyes, girls dancing,
music pounding, the room spinning. Suddenly the need to be somewhere else took
over and he stood up and went to the gents.

Shutting the cubicle door behind him he
took several deep breaths.
Get a grip!
he hissed at himself, banging his
head against the door.

He hadn’t thought this through and knew he
was going to blow his cover if he didn’t do something soon. There was no sign
of Rosie, and Ted knew it would be suspicious if he just sat waiting all night.
He thought back to Mai-Li; her timid, frightened eyes, her tiny, innocent body.
Suddenly an idea gripped him; maybe he could help both of them.

He washed his hands and pulled himself
together. This had to work.

Back at the table, Ted signalled to Mai-Li,
asking her very politely if he could engage her that night, if it wasn’t too
much trouble. She nodded slowly, a strange look furrowing her brow.

She led him up some stairs and along a
corridor with many doors.

The room they entered was very basic: one
queen-size bed, one chair, one bedside table with a bowl of condoms on it. Ted
felt himself blush under his mask and for the first time was glad he was
wearing it.

Mai-Li sat on the bed, presumably waiting
for William to say what he desired of her, but Ted merely sat next to her and
held his breath. He hadn’t worked out what he would do once they got to the
room. He could feel Mai-Li glance up at him expectantly. Slowly he saw her hand
reach towards his face. Ted jumped but she left her hand there, pinching his
cheek gently. Then she looked afraid and moved further away.

“It’s a mask,” Ted rushed.

Mai-Li seemed nervous so Ted quickly
continued.

“My name is Ted, I’m trying to find my
little sister. She was kidnapped a while ago and someone tipped me off that she
may be at
The Lock
but she wasn’t there tonight and I didn’t know what
to do so thought I should do what William normally does and engage a girl,
which turned out to be you.”

Ted searched Mai-Li’s face for a sign that
she wasn’t going to run out of the room screaming and blow his cover. Instead
she moved closer again and touched his cheek, pulling harder this time so that
it moulded between her fingers.

“Careful, I need to leave here looking the
same,” said Ted, gently removing her hand. “Please don’t tell; I need to come
back again tomorrow and for the next few days and see if she appears. I was
hoping I could engage you every day, then at least I wouldn’t draw any
unnecessary attention and you would have a few hours just in here with me. You
could sleep or do whatever you want.”

Ted looked anxiously at Mai-Li waiting for
her to respond.

Mai-Li began to smile, and she nodded
enthusiastically.

Relief washed over Ted and he began to
relax.

“There was a white girl at
The Lock
not long ago,” said Mai-Li in a quiet voice.

“Really?” said Ted excitedly. “Did she have
shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes?”

“No, she had brown hair with a fringe, like
this,” Mai-Li indicated a line across her forehead. “She was with two black
girls. She looked new though, like she didn’t know what she was doing, yer
know? It’s easy to spot the new girls.”

“Girl with short brown hair,” Ted repeated
under his breath. “Either there are more white girls involved than the police
had suggested, or it was Rosie in a wig,” he said, more to himself than Mai-Li.
“Of course! I saw her come out of the club. Two black girls you say?” said Ted
enthusiastically. “You think it could be her? Do they ever make you wear a
wig?”

“No, but they’re not trying to hide me from
anyone. No one is looking for me,” Mai-Li replied.

Ted looked at her apologetically; he was
forgetting her in his excitement.

Could it really have been Rosie? Was he
that close to finding her? Did he dare to hope that this nightmare might come
to an end? Ted wanted to jump up and hug Mai-Li, tear off his stupid mask and
do the chicken dance.

But then another thought occurred to him:
if that
had
been Rosie then she had been just a few feet away from him
and he hadn’t even seen her. He had looked right through her as if she were a
ghost. He had to be more vigilant. The traffickers were not leaving anything to
chance, they had created an illusion to entice the punters and deter the
authorities. And they were good at it.

For the next few days Ted returned to
The
Lock
as William Hungerford. Despite the newfound hope he had, Ted wasn’t
going to let his naivety make him miss Rosie again. He scanned every face and
body of every person that entered his sights. He questioned everyone he could
without alerting suspicion. He became the man that his disguise allowed, and
was surprised at the accessibility that permitted him.

But somehow it wasn’t enough. The final day
came and went without a single sighting and Ted felt himself returning to the
young, inexperienced kid that he really was. 

As he stood outside
The Lock
for the
last time, hands on his knees, waiting for the sick feeling to pass, he felt
the threatening tears burn his eyes. He rubbed them away angrily; what right
did he have to cry? He was safe, unharmed, free. It was Rosie who should be
crying, probably was; would be if she only knew what a useless idiot he really
was. And on top of that he’d had to leave Mai-Li there, trapped in the same
terrifying world as Rosie because he couldn’t help her, not yet. He’d promised
Mai-Li that as soon as he found Rosie he would be back to get her, he just
didn’t want to expose the one place that Rosie had been seen and ruin his
chances of picking up her trail again at some point.

“Hard night?” came a voice nearby.

Ted looked up from under his aching brow.

Standing in front of him, one eyebrow
raised, was a girl who couldn’t have been much older than him. Ted’s eyes drank
in her student-like appearance; her long hair tied messily back, her jeans and
corduroy jacket combo. Her expression was that of amusement as she studied him
back.

Ted stuttered over his words, completely
taken off guard.

“I.. umm, I… I don’t know what you mean. I
just felt a bit nauseous if you must know.”

“It is all rather nauseating in there isn’t
it?” she agreed.

Ted looked at her in surprise. How did she
know where he’d been?

“In where?” asked Ted starting to walk
away.

“Oh come on, you don’t belong in a place
like that.”

“I go there all the time, actually” Ted
floundered. “I enjoy it.”

The woman laughed loudly. Ted was beginning
to wonder if she was some spy working for the club that kept an eye out for
phoneys like him. She just kept smiling at him and Ted felt totally exposed,
like she was seeing right through him.

“Who are you?” he asked, irritated.

“My name is Martha Mayhew. I’m a
journalist.”

Ted took a step backwards. He felt like
he’d been busted for something he hadn’t even done, caught red-handed. The
confusion on his face made Martha smile even more and her amusement was really
starting to get on Ted’s nerves. Ted turned and began to walk away. Although he
was curious to hear what she was reporting on, he didn’t want it to jeopardise
what he was trying to do.

“Don’t go Ted, let’s get a coffee and have
a chat,” said Martha from behind him, her heels clicking impatiently on the
pavement as she tried to keep up.