Throwaways (10 page)

“Kim’s been spotted.”

Tommy peered up from his crossword and gave me a so what glance before going back to his paper.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

For four long nights, I’d been out here, freezing my barely covered backside off as I waited for Kim to resurface and now she had Tommy was acting as if it was no big deal. He’d feel differently if he was the one tottering about in high heels, wearing fishnets and a leather miniskirt, with enough make-up plastered on to be in the
Rocky Horror Show
.

“Aye, I heard you, but you know what that girl’s like. It’s as though she’s got a sixth sense about us wanting to talk to her.”

Two nights ago, we’d missed her by about 60 seconds. She’d climbed into a red BMW that sped off. There was no time to get the number plate.

Although Tommy was right about Kim being elusive, this time was different.

“I was talking to Mandy. You know the older girl with the greasy hair, the nose and lip ring and Cleopatra makeup?”

Tommy made uh huh noises. Quite a few of the girls looked like that.

“She says Kim owes her money and she’s meeting her in Takeaway Alley at 11 o’clock.”

Takeaway Alley was the name given to the most rubbish strewn alley in Glasgow. It was always covered in takeaway boxes, polystyrene cups and plates and decaying food. Most people avoided it because of the stench of mouldy takeaway and the fat rats that feasted on the remnants. This made it the ideal place to meet away from prying eyes.

Tommy put his pen down. Finally I’d got his attention. “Good. Hopefully she can help us.”

Kim was the only person we knew of who’d escaped the clutches of the creep who took Sheena and Suzy. She had to know something.

By ten to eleven we were in position. Whilst Tommy parked at one end of the alley, Eric blocked off the other as I stood in a doorway that reeked of urine and stale takeaway waiting for Kim to show. I’d paid Mandy off, telling her I needed to talk to Kim because we’d done a job together and Kim had run off with my share. All it took was 30 quid to get her to let me go in her place.

I’d dialled Tommy’s number and put him on speaker so he could hear everything. The last thing we needed was Kim to spot us and bolt. If she ran we’d probably never see her again.

Two minutes past eleven and Tommy told me a woman was heading my way. Bracing myself, I stepped out of the shadows and came face to face with a living doll.

“Who are you?” The speaker scrunched up her face as she glared at me through blue beads for eyes. Even in her heels, she was a few inches shorter than me and had cropped orange blonde hair. Her accent was Eastern European.

“I’m Nancy,” I said, keeping an even tone despite her icy stare. “Mandy can’t make it, but I have your cash and a wee bit extra. I just want to talk to you. It’ll just take a few minutes of your time.”

I held out a wad of notes.

Kim scowled at me, but before I could say any more, she stuck out a dainty hand and snatched the money. Then she turned on her heels.

“Hey,” I shouted.

That’s when Tommy appeared at her back. He’d been so quiet, I hadn’t heard his approach. She almost walked into him. She yelped and took a few steps to the side as though she thought that’s all it’d take to avoid us.

Realizing she was cornered, she took off one of her heels and wielded it in one hand like a club.

“It’s okay,” I said, gently holding out my hands to show I wasn’t carrying anything. “He’s a friend of mine. We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“We’ll pay you for your time.”

Tommy handed me more cash and I started to count. Her eyes were trained on the cash; her initial trepidation had gone now the greed had kicked in.

Her shoulders slumped. “Okay.”

Despite taking our cash she made it sound like she was doing us a favour.

“Three weeks ago, you did a job. You and another girl called Sheena.” No reaction, so I carried on talking. “She hasn’t been seen since. We want to find out what happened to her. Her and the other missing girls.”

Kim’s features were blank. So, this was how she was going to play it.

Tommy stepped forward with a big grin on his face. “Ditch the accent, Kim. It’s no very good. Where are you fae – Maryhill?”

A faint smile crossed her elfin features. “How did you know?” Her voice was pure Glaswegian; her face tough rather than doll-like.

How had Tommy known?

He could see the question in my eyes. “I’ve been around enough Eastern Europeans to know when I’m being had.”

“Okay, smart arse,” said Kim. “I’ll answer your questions. But only if you do something for me first. I owe this guy money. Not a nice guy. I owe him 200 quid, but if I give it to him myself he’ll beat seven shades of shit out of me.” She paused, and then said, “If I had the cash to give him.”

“Is he your drug dealer?” said Tommy.

Like him, I’d seen the track marks on her hands when she’d grabbed the money.

Kim tapped her nose. “None of your business pal.” She
paused to look at me. “Do this for me and I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“If we do this how do we know you won’t just disappear?” I said. “We’ll be almost 300 quid out of pocket and without the answers we need.”

“We,” she said, her eyes lingering on Tommy. “Lucky bitch. Wouldn’t mind giving the hunk a test drive and I wouldn’t even charge for the privilege.”

She spoke about Tommy like he wasn’t even there.

It was difficult to be certain in the dull light, but I thought I saw Tommy’s face flush.

Kim removed a ring from one of her fingers. “This belonged to my baby sister. She’s all grown up now.” She held the gold band with a little horseshoe engraved in a black stone. Take it. It’s the only thing I have of value left. The only thing that means anything to me. After you pay this guy off come and find me here, tomorrow night at the same place and I’ll answer your questions. All of them.”

Tommy and I exchanged glances. We hadn’t expected this kind of boulder in the road. But there was no way around it. She was the only one who could help us. And she’d be putting her life on the line if she did speak to us. If he found out she’d talked, he might come back to shut her up.

“Okay,” I said, “give us the details.”

Her lips curled into a grin.

Giving her the full focus of my attention, I said, “You better not be messing with us, Kim.”

The name Kim gave us was Francis Colquhoun; a perfectly normal name for a guy who was anything but normal.

Normal folk don’t try to throw you out of a window after trying to strangle you first, and when you managed to cling on to the window ledge by your fingertips, they don’t use a hammer to try and break your fingers so you’ll plummet to your death.

Normal people don’t grind cigarettes into a woman’s face because she owes them money or threaten to burn their house down with their children inside.

Nor do they use drills on people’s skulls to get them to reveal their PIN numbers.

Yes, our Francis was quite the man for creative inducement.

We didn’t need to ask Tommy’s contact for these background details – we got the lowdown on Colquhoun when we entered his name into a search engine and added Glasgow court. Just a hunch. Somebody that scared a tough nut like Kim had to be a complete psycho. Because he’d be expecting a woman I’d have to hand over the cash, but Tommy and Eric would be close by and my trusty taser was in my shoulder bag. I was eager to use it on the weasel.

Francis Colquhoun had a face that could have been moulded out of clay by a five-year-old trying to make a monster; his mouth was twisted in a sneer and he’d bug eyes.

“Okay, doll,” Colquhoun said when I met him in a street near the old Anderston Bus Station telling him that Kim had sent me, “Hand it over.”

He took the cash I held out with a grubby paw then made an elaborate play of counting it. “That’s no enough,” he said, eyeing me with disdain. “Skanky bitch has sent you here short.”

Kim warned us he’d pull that one.

Keeping my voice level and giving him my best fuck you
stare, I said, “No, it’s all there. Every penny she owes.” Then I turned to leave.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Colquhoun curl a greasy paw into a fist and I managed to dodge out the way before he smacked me one. The idiot had telegraphed it.

“If I say we’re no finished, we’re no finished. Get on your knees, now, bitch. We can come to some arrangement. Go on, help your pal out or I’ll give both of you a wee skelp.”

He grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me round. His fingers dug into my arm and it bloody well hurt. He was really starting to piss me off.

Tommy appeared just in time to see me swing my head wildly at Colquhoun. My skull connected with his nose and there was an almighty crack. Blood spurted out, showering the gutter in bloody jam.

“Fuck, fuck. You broke ma nose.”

“Aye,” I hissed, “and I’ll cut it off with a rusty blade and feed it to some dogs if I ever hear you’ve hurt another woman again.”

Even in his disorientated state, he spotted Tommy. He pointed at him with one angry hand whilst he used the other hand to hold his busted nose. The effect was almost comical. “You seen that, you seen that. You’re a witness. Call the cops. She’s a psycho.”

Tommy winked at him. “Quit whingeing. Could have been worse. She could have used her taser on you.”

Tommy was chuckling away as we left Colquhoun in the alleyway muttering away about compensation and headed back to the car. But I knew Eric wouldn’t be happy with me. All that training and I’d still resorted to my signature move that he called “street fighting.” But, screw that. What did it matter how I survived as long as I survived?

I turned to Tommy. “If Kim doesn’t cooperate, I’m sticking the head on her too.”

Tommy laughed. “Mind me not to get on the wrong side of you, Nancy.”

The following afternoon, we turned up for our meeting with Kim. She’d wanted to meet in a public place, so we met in the food court in St. Enoch’s shopping centre. This time she was early and her hair was jet black. Her make-up was more muted and instead of a short skirt and halter top she was wearing a dark blue pullover, jeans and boots. Under the bright strip lighting she looked sickly and painfully thin.

A faint smile crossed her lips when I dropped her ring into the palm of her hand.

“Okay, we did what you asked,” I said. “Time for you to hold up your part of the bargain.”

Kim slurped her milkshake as we sat there waiting for her to speak. When she’d finished, she addressed me.

“How did it go with creepy Colquhoun? Bet he told you I owed him more cash. That guy is as sleekit as they come.”

“He did,” I said, “he wanted payment in kind.”

Kim scrunched up her face. With her intricate facial features she resembled an angry china doll. “Thought he might pull that one. The guy’s a freak.” She paused to eye Tommy greedily. “I take it you took the hunk of muscle along and he dealt with the scumbag?”

“Nah,” I said with a triumphant grin, “I broke the bastard’s nose. He was blubbing away when I left him.”

Kim’s smile brightened up her whole face. “I’d have loved to have seen that. You go girl.”

To my surprise, she gave me a high five.

“Thanks. I enjoyed it.” And I had, especially when I saw the look of incredulity on his chops.

But, I couldn’t help thinking about the women who were too scared to fight him and what he did to them.

Still smiling, Kim said. “How did he look after you did it?”

“As mad as hell. He was going about holding his nose and saying he was gonna sue me. He thought Tommy here would be his witness.”

She clapped her hands and the two women at the next table glared at her. She glared back and they swiftly diverted their gaze. “That’s brilliant. Wish I’d seen it.”

Tommy cut in. “Now, if we’re done with the mutual appreciation club ladies, can we get back to business?”

Kim and I raised our eyebrows. “Hark at him,” I said. “he’s all business.”

“Okay,” said Kim after she’d used her finger to pick out the remnants of her milkshake. I’d noticed that she didn’t order any food: she must be at the stage drug addicts get to where they can only digest liquid food. “You want to know what happened that night? I’ll tell you. But what I say is between us and only us.” She stuck out a finger. “If you go to the cops, I’ll deny I told you anything.”

“We won’t go to the police,” I said. “They’ve hardly done a bang up job of investigating so far. Whatever you tell us stays with us.”

Tommy nodded his agreement.

Kim’s face relaxed. “Fair enough.” She took the ring off her finger and started fiddling about with it; a classic delaying tactic. “He was waiting for me in a car across from George Square. He looked normal, shy even. Sheena was in the front seat. I’d told her to wait for me, but she hadn’t listened. She wasn’t as streetwise as me.” She paused to inspect her fingernails. They were chewed down to the quick.

“She was giggling away and drinking from a glass. She told me it was champagne. That her friend Mike was celebrating his birthday and that I should have some too. He poured out a glass for me.”

In my mind’s eye, I could picture the scene. Sheena bubbly and giggling away because she’d been nervous and the alcohol
relaxed her. No doubt her good mood was heightened by seeing the face of a friend; safety in numbers and all that. Except she wasn’t safe.

“Did you drink from the glass?” I was eager to know whether the booze was drugged. That’d explain how the doctor managed to abduct them. Who’d turn down an innocent glass of bubbly from a man who was going to pay them a lot of money? If you did he might view it as a slight and toss your ass out of his car and there’d go your big payday.

Kim shook her head. “I never drink on a job. Now if he’d offered me some coke that’d be different.”

Tommy and I leaned in closer.

“So, what did you do?” I asked her.

“I pretended to drink, but when he wasn’t looking I emptied the glass out at my feet. We drove out of Glasgow. The weirdo said he had a country pad he wanted to take us to with a Jacuzzi and a heart-shaped swimming pool. He even boasted about having stables and horses we could ride.”

She paused and a brief smile crossed her face. “I used to go riding when I was a kid. So did Sheena. She even has her own pony. That’s why we hit it off.”

She started to shake and at first I thought she was going to start crying until I realised she was jonesing for a fix.

She made a face. “It sounded too good to be true, so I knew it was a load of crap. This job’s not Pretty Woman where some rich hunk puts you up in the Ritz and buys you designer outfits to wear at various social events. We’re street walkers. Occasionally we get a footballer and end up back at his fancy pad where we get sandwiched between him and his obnoxious mates. That’s if we’re lucky.”

“Sheena fell asleep and I knew right away he’d put something in her drink. One minute, she’s all hyper, the next she’s conked out. People don’t drop off like that. Not when they’re working and in a stranger’s car.”

“I knew she’d been drugged so I waited a few minutes and pretended to be zonked out myself. He’d locked the car doors the minute I’d climbed in. The second he unlocked the doors, I was gonna bolt.”

She stopped talking and stared vacantly into the distance as though she was back in that car.

“What happened next?” said Tommy, his voice buzzing with excitement.

“We were on this country road when the car stopped. Except for the light from the headlights, it was dark. These headlights appeared and a van pulled up alongside us and stopped. I could see the blue van in the car mirror. He unlocked the doors and got out. He was talking to someone, I don’t know who; it was a man’s voice. I couldn’t hear everything that they said, but I think he called him brother.”

I didn’t want to interrupt, but I had to be certain. “Are you sure he called him brother? Could you have misheard?”

“No, he definitely called him brother. He said it twice.” There was no doubt in her voice.

“Sorry,” I said, “Go on.”

“He opened the passenger door and together they lifted Sheena into the back of the van. When they were carrying Sheena, I knew that was my only chance to escape, so I quietly opened the door and jumped out and just ran like hell until eventually I was so knackered I had to hide. Nobody came after me and I couldn’t believe it.” She was breathless now. “I had a lucky escape, didn’t I?”

Reaching across the table, I patted her hand. Even in the heated mall, her hand felt deadly cold. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said and I meant it. If anyone knew what it was like to feel helpless, it was me. Kim scowled at me and quickly withdrew her hand.

“What did this Mike look like?” Tommy was straight back to business. “Did he look like this?” He held out the picture we’d
found in a medical journal where Dr. Cassidy had outlined his “unorthodox” clinical methods for dealing with troubled adolescents. Somehow I doubted any of his methods involved abducting and drugging patients and doing god knows what to them including possibly forcing them to eat a human finger.

We eyed Kim with anticipation as she looked at the picture.

“Yes, that’s him if you take away the glasses and the beard.”

Bingo
. We’d got him. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. There were times when I thought we’d never find Sheena.

“Did you see the other man’s face?” said Tommy.

I knew where Tommy was going with this. Maybe Donald Cassidy called his accomplice brother as a term of friendship and not because he was really his brother.

Kim wrinkled her face. “No, how could I see him when I was flat out on the backseat pretending to have passed out? It wasn’t like I could look out the window. I wasn’t on some fucking family holiday.”

There was an edge to her voice and I didn’t blame her. The police had asked me a lot of dumb questions after my parents were murdered. Of course, I knew they had to ask them, but that was beside the point. Talking about events when you were the victim is painful; you don’t want to go back there; you don’t want to go back to a time and place where you were helpless and alone.

“All I remember is he had a Glasgow accent and Mike called him brother.” She stared at Tommy. “He definitely called him brother.”

“Thanks, Kim,” I said. “You’ve been really helpful.”

She nodded. “Just find that weirdo before he takes anyone else.” Her features softened. “Sheena was a nice kid, you know. I liked her. But there was nothing I could do to help her. I had to get away; save myself.”

Although she probably wasn’t that much older than Sheena I didn’t doubt that she saw her as a kid.

“Why didn’t you go to the police?” Tommy said. “They might
have been able to track the car and find Sheena.”

“Yeah, right,” she tutted, eying him wearily. “You don’t get it, do you? When you do what I do to make a crust, nobody cares when shit happens to you. Not the cops, not other people. You’re on your own. If I’d gone to the cops they’d have said I was lying to score drugs.”

Her eyes bored into Tommy’s. “That mister is the reality for people like me, until we’re found dead in an alley with a needle stuck in our arm, then suddenly there’s all this blubbering about drugs being a scourge when the real scourge is folk not giving a shit about people like me. We’re throwaways, disposable. Folk only care when nice girls get killed and we’re not nice girls.”

“Have you any idea where he was taking Sheena?” I asked. “Did they mention somewhere?”

My heart was on stereo as I waited for her to answer.

“No,” she shrugged. “They never said.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I wish I did know. I might have gone to the cops. Saved Sheena.”

Kim stood up, scraping her chair along the floor. “Now, if that’s us done, I’ll be off. Things to do, people to see.”

Tommy took the envelope with the money out of his inside pocket. There was 400 quid inside. We’d decided that if Kim did tell us the truth we’d try and get her to make herself scarce for a while.

“Take this,” he said. “Go away somewhere for a week. Spain’s nice at this time of year.”

She eyed Tommy and the money he was holding dismissively. “You can put that away, brown eyes. I’m doing this for Sheena. I liked the kid. Besides, we had a deal. You did your part, I did mine. Now we’re quits.”

“Please take it,” I said. The last thing I wanted was for her to be found dead in a ditch somewhere, or worse, never found at all.

This time when Tommy held out the cash she grabbed it and shoved it down her top. Then she trotted off without as much as a glance in my direction.

“She’s off to score,” said Tommy.

The depressing thing was he was probably right. But, it was none of our business. What she did was up to her. We’d done our best to keep her safe. Beside, we’d bigger things to worry about. We had to find out where they’d taken Sheena.