‘I was at the dentist. Someone had left some English newspapers. I don’t usually bother with them: out of sight, out of mind. Said you got another Ripper on the loose.’
‘Yes, the media have inferred?’
‘“The media have inferred”,’ he mimicked.
‘If you do have information, I would be most grateful if we could discuss it.’ She sat upright as he leaned forward to address her.
‘You telling me there isn’t a reward? With seven victims? I dare say there isn’t one for the old drippers, but this last little girl was lovely.’
‘There is no reward.’
‘Haven’t her family put one up?’
Anna put her glass down carefully. ‘No. As I said, I need to be back at the airport by three, so there really isn’t much time. Please, if you have information …’
From outside the window there came a screech of laughter and the sound of voices and loud music. Southwood manoeuvred his chair round quickly and headed back to the window.
Sighing with frustration, Anna rose and followed him. She looked outside and was so shocked that she froze, her mouth open.
A cameraman was filming a blonde girl, stripped naked, lying across a sun lounger, her legs spread open. A naked man’s head was buried in her crotch, another naked man masturbated by her face and a third kissed and sucked her breasts. The hunk stood to one side, yelling directions.
As Southwood protested, Anna slammed shut the window and dragged the curtain across. ‘I have not come here to waste my time. If you have any information, then you’d better tell me what it is.’
Southwood whizzed his chair away.
‘I can tell by looking at you, you’ve never had a decent fuck. Tight-arsed little bitch.’
‘And I can tell by looking at you that you’re not long for this world.’
Southwood’s mouth dropped open. ‘What?’
Anna was red-faced with anger. She approached and leaned both hands on the sides of his wheelchair. ‘Take a look at yourself,’ she said scornfully. ‘You were a bent officer. And now? You go one better. Ex-Vice cop renting out his crumbling wreck for porno flicks. I’ll wager that girl is under age. I could have you picked up by Spain’s Vice Squad, you sick bastard.’
Southwood pushed her away from him. ‘You don’t even know the law, penpusher. Spanish Vice Squad? That’s a fucking joke! You want to lay anything on me, you’d better go back to training school.’
The sweat was dripping down his face as he buzzed his chair to the front door.
‘Get the fuck out of my house,’ he yelled with fury.
Moments later, Anna stood outside his villa. She knew she had blown it. Explaining why to Langton would be difficult and if Southwood did have vital information, they were unlikely to get it now.
‘That was quick,’ Ron said, grinning at her. ‘Where next?’
‘Back to the airport,’ she snapped.
She was sweating as much as Southwood. Moira had suggested she wear something buttoned to the neck and she had foolishly chosen a cream sweater. It was damp now and clinging to her like a limpet.
At the airport she had plenty of time on her hands. She sat in the departure lounge, figuring out what she would say to Langton. Maybe she shouldn’t admit to losing her temper; perhaps just say that the cop was a drunkard and had no information.
At half past six, an announcement came over the tannoy. Due to an electrical fault, the last plane to Luton would be delayed. Twenty minutes later, passengers were informed that the flight was cancelled; the next available plane to Luton would leave first thing next morning.
Langton was in a foul mood when Moira tapped and entered his office.
‘Travis won’t be back until the morning.’
‘What?’
‘Just had a text from her. The flight was cancelled. Says she’s got nothing from Southwood.’
Langton shook his head. ‘Bloody knew it’d be a waste of time. Does this mean we’ll have to pay for an overnight stay? The ticket cost over a hundred pounds.’
‘They’ll sort that out. It’s the airline’s responsibility.’ Moira was eager to get home.
‘Tell Lewis I want to see him,’ Langton muttered before she closed the door.
The commander had called asking for an update. They had no DNA from the swabs and although they had the teeth impressions from the lab, even these were of no use without a suspect. Time was against them. Over four weeks had passed since Melissa’s body had been discovered. Her case was getting colder by the day and the longer the enquiry limped on, the less information they could expect to come in.
Mike Lewis entered, looking glum. ‘No more phone calls. We’ve still got the lads out. We’ve finished questioning Melissa’s friends and family and none of them have a Merc. It’s drying up, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah,’ Langton said, equally depressed. He passed over the lab photographs of the dental impression. ‘This is all we’ve got. Bastard bit the end of her tongue off.’
Lewis glanced at the photographs with distaste.
Langton tapped one of them. ‘Henson said the sicko was probably biting down on her tongue when he raped her to stop her from crying out.’
‘Bastard,’ Lewis said. ‘Did Anna get any information?’
‘Travis? She’s drinking sangria in a seafront bar, for all I know. Her plane’s delayed. She’s staying overnight.’
‘Shit,’ Lewis said. ‘Wish I’d volunteered.’
Anna decided that she would return to Southwood’s villa. She couldn’t walk away without at least trying one more time to see what he might have. She went outside the terminal to be confronted by Ron.
‘I just heard yer flight was delayed. Thought you might come out. I can take you to a nice B and B. Very cheap; pal of mine runs it.’
‘No. Take me back to the villa, please.’ She sat back in his smelly taxi. She hadn’t a hope in hell of getting another cab, as all the delayed passengers were lined up waiting.
‘Yer know that bloke you went to see? Does he own that place?’
‘Yes.’
‘He’s an ex-cop.’
‘Yes, I know.’
‘I spoke to a pal of mine.’
‘Did you?’
‘They make porno flicks at his place. That Corniche belongs to a right ponce of a bloke. He directs them. You with the Vice Squad, are you?’
She closed her eyes, leaning back. ‘No.’
‘What you doin’ here, then?’
She sighed. Ron looked at her via his driving mirror.
‘I am part of a murder team,’ she said flatly.
‘No kiddin’? You look too young.’
‘Well, that’s as maybe.’ She was trying to fathom out what she was going to do when she returned to Southwood’s villa. She wondered what her father would have done in her position.
Ron persisted. ‘What you want to see him for, then?’
Anna opened her eyes, her jaw tight. ‘We are hunting down a serial killer. He says he has information, but he won’t give me anything unless there’s a reward.’
‘Well, you was in and out of there like a blue-arsed fly,’ Ron said.
‘He threw me out!’
‘And now you’re going back?’
‘Yes, that’s right, Ron. I am going back.’
‘What you gonna do?’
‘I don’t know.’
Ron did his ‘hands off the steering wheel act’ and turned to face her. ‘You know what I’d do?’
