CHAPTER 5
The door of her room was unlocked and when he opened it gently and went in, she was sitting on the edge of the bed buffing her nails. She glanced up sharply and Miller closed the door.
“Sergeant Miller,” she said and then her voice faltered.
Miller produced one of the photos and held it up. “Joanna Maria Craig.” He slipped the photo back into his pocket. “Why did you lie to me?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Joanna Craig was a student at the College of Art for the best part of two years. So were you. And don’t try to tell me you never came across her. You were in the same year group. I’ve just checked.”
She stared up at him, her face white, and he took his time over lighting a cigarette. “Another thing. Mrs. Kilroy told me that Joanna had just arrived on the doorstep one day complete with baggage; that there just happened to be a vacancy. Now that isn’t true, is it? She knew there was a vacancy because you told her.”
She shook her head vigorously. “It isn’t true.”
“Isn’t it? Then try this for size. You work for Max Vernon, don’t you?”
And this time he had her. Her eyes widened in horror, and he went on relentlessly, “Joanna was his girl friend — I’ve got proof. Are you going to try to tell me you didn’t know that as well?”
She tried to get to her feet and he flung her back across the bed fiercely. “Come on, damn you! What about the truth for a change?”
She turned her face into the pillow and burst into a flood of tears, her whole body shaking. Miller stood looking down at her, something close to pity in his eyes, and then he moved across the room quickly and went into the small kitchen. He found half a bottle of gin in one of the cupboards, poured a generous measure into a tumbler and went back.
He sat on the edge of the bed and she turned her tear-stained face towards him. “He’ll kill me. I know he will.”
“No one’s going to kill you.” Miller held out the glass. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”
She struggled up against the pillows. “You don’t know what he can be like.”
“Max Vernon?”
She nodded and sipped some of her gin. “He’s a devil — a walking devil. Cruel, arrogant — anything he wants, he takes.”
“And that included Joanna Craig?”
Her eyes widened in amazement. “How did you know that?”
“Just a hunch. But tell me about it — everything that happened.”
“All right.” She swung her legs to the floor, stood up and paced restlessly about the room as she talked. “You were right about the College of Art. I knew Joanna for nearly two years. Not that we were close friends or anything like that. I liked to live it up. Joanna was more interested in her work.”
“What about boy friends?”
“She hardly ever bothered. This may sound crazy to you, but she had something about her. She was sort of untouched by life if you know what I mean.”
“I think I do,” Miller said.
“Not that there was anything weird about her. Everybody liked her. She was the sweetest person I’ve ever known, but they treated her with respect, particularly the men. That’s something for art students, believe me.”
“And yet she changed,” Miller said. “So utterly and completely that she might have been a different person. Why?”
“She met Max Vernon.”
“I wouldn’t have thought he was her type.”
“He wasn’t — that was the whole trouble.” She swallowed the rest of her gin and sat on the edge of the bed. “I answered an advertisement for female croupiers at the Flamingo. As I told you earlier, the money was so good that I dropped out of the college course and started working there. Max was always throwing big parties and he was pretty free and easy about us bringing our friends along.”
“You took Joanna to one?”
“That’s right. About four months ago. I bumped into her one afternoon quite by chance. There was a party that evening and I asked her to come on impulse. I never expected her to say yes, but she did.”
“What happened?”
“Max took a fancy to her. I don’t know what it was — maybe it was just her innocence. She was certainly different from every other girl there.”
“Did she respond?”
“Anything but and he tried everything, believe me. Then she passed out. I thought that maybe she’d had one gin too many or something. Max took charge. He said she could sleep it off there.”
“And you left her?”
“There was nothing I could do.” She got to her feet and crossed to the window. “She ’phoned me here next day and asked me to meet her in town. Poor kid, she was in a hell of a state.”
“I’m not surprised.”
She swung round to face him. “Oh, no, it was worse than that. Much worse. You see someone had given her a fix while she was unconscious.”
The bile rose in Miller’s throat, threatening to choke him. He got to his feet and walked towards the door, fists clenched and when he turned, she recoiled from the terrible anger on his face.
“Max Vernon?”
“I don’t know — I haven’t any proof.”
Miller crossed the room in three quick strides and grabbed her savagely by the shoulders. “Was it Max Vernon?”
“Well who the hell else could it have been?” she cried.
For a long moment he held her and when he turned away, she dropped down on to the bed. “She didn’t know what had happened to her. All she knew was that her body needed something.”
“And only one person was able to supply it,” Miller said bitterly. “She wasn’t only hooked on heroin and cocaine. She was hooked on Max Vernon.”
When Monica Grey continued, her voice was dry and lifeless. “She had a lot of trouble at home and then they asked her to leave at the college. Her whole personality changed. That’s how it affects them. I’ve seen it before.”
“So she came to live here with you?”
“Max thought it was a good idea. It’s a funny thing, but for a while there I thought he was really gone on her. He had her at the club all the time and if any other man even went near her…” She shuddered. “He keeps a couple of heavies around called Carver and Stratton. One night at a party some bloke made a pass at Joanna and they took him out into the alley and half killed him. I heard he lost his right eye. That’s the kind they are.”
“When did the rot set in?”
She looked up at him quickly. “You don’t miss much do you?”
“In my job I can’t afford to.”
“I don’t know what happened, but Max changed towards her just like that about two or three weeks ago.”
“She was pregnant, did you know that?”
She shook her head quickly. “No — no I didn’t. Maybe that would explain it.”
“Did he drop her completely?”
She nodded. “Told her to stay away from the club. She did, too, until last night.”
“What happened then?”
“Max was throwing a private party — just a small affair. Mainly personal friends.”
“You were there?”
