He shook her violently by the shoulder. 'OK, Fanny, we stop playing games now.'
She shrugged off his hand. 'I've nothing to say. Now get out!'
'Do you know a girl called Mary Adams?'
She stiffened. 'We used to work here together… so what?'
'Your friend who sent the flowers. We think he called on Mary last night.'
'Oh?' She feigned indifference.
'He won't be sending her any flowers though… the poor cow couldn't smell them if he did. She's dead!'
The eyes widened. 'Dead? Mary dead?'
'He strangled her, the same bloke who beat you up, so you are now going to tell me who he is.'
'I want my clothes. I'm getting out of here.' She struggled to get up, but Frost pushed her down.
'You're not going anywhere, love, you're a key witness. And to help you not go anywhere, we'll have a nice policeman sitting by your bed, twenty-four hours a day.' That'll bring the pains on with Mullett, he thought.
She lay back, eyes fluttering. 'He said he'd kill me if I went to the police.'
'He won't be able to kill you if we've got him locked up. Tell me about you and Mary Adams.'
'We used to work here in the canteen… long bleeding hours, starvation wages. They tried to make out we were nicking from the till and we got the push. Mary didn't want to let her boyfriend know — they were saving up for a house. She told me she was going on the game, said it would be easy money. So we both had a go. I used to share a place with her in Clayton Street where we could take the punters, but we weren't earning enough to pay the rent, so Mary said we should go to Demon Row and get the kerb-crawlers. The other girls didn't like it and we started getting threatening phone calls. I stayed away for a couple of weeks, but I wasn't earning, so I went back. And this…' a bandaged hand indicated her bandaged face, '… was what happened. He said I was to leave Denton and if I went to the police I'd end up in the bottom of the canal with conger eels for customers.'
'And who was it who beat you up?'
'One of Harry Grafton's bully boys. I don't know his name.'
'Describe him.'
'Big… heavy build… wonky nose… looked as if it had been broken.'
Frost's eyes gleamed. He turned to Liz. 'I know him. Mickey Harris, one of Harry's pit bulls… used to be a wrestler.' He stood up, sliding the chair back against the wall.
'You won't tell him I grassed?' the girl pleaded.
'You won't come into it, love,' smiled Frost. 'Beating you up is small beer… We're after him for murder.'
6
They went to pick up Mickey Harris' without Liz Maud who had a pile of paperwork to clear before her trip to London. Morgan's lustful eyes watched her as she pushed through the swing doors. 'For a detective inspector, she's got a nice little bottom on her, guv,' he commented as they drove off.
'Can't you get your mind on higher things?' grunted Frost, who was thinking exactly the same. 'Turn left here…'
Mickey Harris's house was in darkness and the space outside where his car should have been parked was empty. Frost pounded and kicked at the front door and the noise echoed in a house that was obviously unoccupied. He climbed back in the car. 'We'll pick him up first thing in the morning.' He yawned. 'Back to the station, Taff.'
They never made it to the station. As they turned into the Market Square the radio called him. It was Bill Wells. 'Just had a call from a motorist, Inspector. Reckons he's found a woman's body.'
'Bum-holes!' moaned Frost. 'I could have done without this. Where?'
'In the undergrowth by the old Denton Road, near the Denton turn-off.'
'That's near the old service station where we were looking for the kid. What was he doing there?'
'He stopped off for a pee — said he nearly wee'd all over her. He sounded shattered… said she was naked with blood all over her.'
'I was all eager when you reached the naked bit,' grunted Frost. 'I've gone off her now. Is the motorist waiting for us?'
'No. He said he didn't want to get involved. He reported it, then rang off. Jordan and Simms are at the location waiting for you. Oh, and Wonder Woman's on her way over there as well.'
'The more the merrier,' said Frost. 'We're on our way.' He turned to Morgan. 'A chance to see your favourite bum again, Taffy. Turn right at the top here…'
The metal sign in front of the deserted petrol station was still clanging madly as the night wind sawed across the forecourt. Jordan and Simms climbed out of the area car and waited, coat collars turned up against the bitter cold, as Frost and Morgan pulled up.
Frost shivered and wound his scarf tighter as he surveyed the desolate area of scrubland dotted with skeletal bushes which were bending in the wind. 'The quicker we find her, the quicker we can get a nice marquee erected and keep warm.' He looked up and down the length of the old road. A lot of ground to be covered, but there were short cuts. 'If the bloke who found her stopped for a pee, we can assume he didn't want to walk far with a full bladder. He'd pick the nearest bushes to the road. Jordan, Simms, you take that side of the road, the Welsh Rarebit and me will take this. And mind where you tread; it's not only widdles that motorists do behind bushes.'
The wind was cutting through him like a rusty saw and he wished he was wearing something more substantial than his paper-thin mac. He cupped his hands round the glowing tip of his cigarette to steal some warmth. 'You take that end,' he told Morgan. I'll start from the old petrol station.'
He trudged through the long, wet grass which soon made his trouser legs sodden. In the distance was the glow of sodium lamps and constant throb of traffic from the new road. There were no lights along this section of the old road and they had to use torches. Frost's torch kept flickering and promising to die on him. He should have replaced the battery long ago. He swore bitterly as hidden bramble thorns scratched blood from his icy cold hands as he searched under bushes. He had the awful feeling this whole thing was someone's idea of a joke — give the fuzz something to do instead of handing out parking tickets to blameless motorists.
'Over here, Inspector!' Jordan was calling urgently from across the road, the beam from his torch soaring skywards like a searchlight, homing them over. Frost squelched across the road, Morgan hard on his heels.
Jordan's torch flashed down on the body, which was silvery white in the moonlight. Behind a clump of bushes, half hidden in the long, wet grass, lay a girl in her early twenties, sightless eyes staring up into the night sky, the mascara on her lashes running down her cheeks. She was naked. There were angry red and charred burn marks on her stomach.
Simms stared at the face. 'I know her, Inspector. I don't know her name, but she's one of the toms who hang out around the Tenwood area.'
Frost reached out a hand and steered Jordan's torch beam on to the girl's arms and legs. There were deep blooded grooves etched into her wrists and ankles where she had been tied down and where she had strained to get free. He touched the flesh. Stone cold and hard. She had been dead for some time. As he was radioing through for a full forensic team and a pathologist, another car pulled up and Liz Maud dashed over to them.
'Can I see her?'
Frost stepped back. Liz knelt by the body and studied the burn marks on the stomach, comparing them with the photograph of the earlier victim, Linda Roberts. 'Identical,' she muttered.
Frost nodded. He didn't need a photograph to tell him that.
'There's no dispute about it now,' insisted Liz. 'The same killer as Linda Roberts. This is my case.' She stared at him, her eyes hungry and pleading.
'You can have it with pleasure,' Frost told her, 'but you'd better clear it with Mullett first. Have a word with him in the morning.'
'I'll phone him now.' She hurried back to her car and dialled the Divisional Commander on her mobile. Mullett wouldn't be pleased being woken up at three in the morning, but this case was important to her. A successful murder investigation would clinch her promotion to inspector. She'd cancel her appointment at the clinic, even if it meant losing the hefty deposit. 'Come on, come on,' she muttered impatiently as the ringing tone droned on and on in her ear.
