A part of me didn’t want to get involved. Ahead of me were the bright lights and security of the Gray’s Inn Road. I might have been a copper but I was off duty, in my own time, and I could be taking a big risk coming between those two. If it was a domestic she wouldn’t thank me, they never do. I could end up with a knife in my gut or a gun in my ribs, all for being charitable.
But that part of me’s still in a minority, thank God. I pulled the cosh from my pocket, ran into the road, and sprinted towards the car. The girl was now half in and the screaming was getting louder and louder as she realized how close she was to being abducted. Her thin, bare legs flapped wildly as inch by inch they disappeared inside the vehicle, which was now slowly moving forward.
I don’t know if he heard me coming or not. I didn’t make any noise – there’s never any point advertising your presence if you don’t have to – but my footfalls on the concrete were loud enough. As I got there, the car shot forward, but not before I’d grabbed the girl round the legs and pulled. For a moment the driver held on and I had this terrible fear that he was going to drag me along the tarmac. I stumbled and half fell but held on for dear life, somehow managing to keep my feet. That was it for him. The game was over, he wasn’t going to get his prey, so he let go and she flew out the door, landing in a heap on the road. The momentum knocked me over too and all I could do was watch while he made his rapid getaway with a screech of tyres, turning a corner before I could even focus on his number-plate.
I got to my feet, putting the cosh away, then helped her up. ‘Are you all right?’
She looked at me for the first time and I recognized her instantly as Anne Taylor, the girl who’d been outside Coleman House when we’d arrived there the previous day. She looked a lot less full of herself now, though. Her eyes were tear stained and her make-up was running. The shock on her face was clear.
She nodded slowly, checking her skirt and top for any damage. ‘I think so … Yeah, yeah, I’m all right.’
I took her by the arm and moved her onto the pavement. ‘Did you know him?’ I asked.
‘Probably just some pervert,’ she answered, without looking up. ‘I’ve never seen him before.’
‘What did he look like?’
This time she did look up. ‘Look, I’m not interested in pressing charges or nothing like that.’ She shook herself free of my arm.
‘You know, a thanks might not go amiss. I mean, I have just helped you out of a difficult situation. Anything could have happened to you then.’
‘I know how to look after myself.’
‘Yeah, sure.’ I took out my cigarettes and offered her one. She took it and I lit it for her, lighting one for myself at the same time.
‘Look, thanks. It was good of you.’ It was given grudgingly, but I suppose it was better than nothing. What is it with kids these days? The little bastards have never got any manners.
‘Do you want to grab a quick coffee somewhere? Calm yourself down a bit?’
‘No, I’m all right. I’m fine.’
‘Come on. I’m buying.’
I could tell she was thinking that a sit-down and a hot drink might be quite nice. The problem was the company. ‘I don’t want to sit there with you going on at me about this and that, and questioning me. I ain’t got time for that.’
‘Look, just a coffee and a cigarette. I could do with one myself. I’m not used to that sort of exercise.’
She gave me a dismissive look. ‘Yeah, I can tell.’
We found a café on the Gray’s Inn Road not peopled entirely with lowlifes. I bought two coffees and we found a booth at the back.
‘I’m surprised you’re out on the streets so soon after what’s happened.’
‘I thought you weren’t going to go on at me. If you’re going to fucking lecture me, I ain’t interested. I could be out earning money, you know.’
‘Or you could be in the back of that bloke’s car, bound and gagged—’
‘Look, I don’t need this fucking shit…’ She started to get up from her seat.
‘All right, all right, I won’t lecture you. I’m just worried about your safety, that’s all.’ She sat down again. ‘You had a narrow escape out there tonight. Remember that.’
‘Don’t worry about me. I can look after myself.’
‘Yeah, you said that. I expect Miriam Fox thought the same thing.’
‘There’s perverts out there all the time. It’s one of the risks, isn’t it?’
‘I suppose if you put it like that, yes it is. When we spoke yesterday, you said you didn’t know Miriam Fox was a prostitute. That wasn’t true, was it? You knew.’
‘You coppers are all the fucking same, aren’t you? You never stop asking questions.’
I laughed. ‘Look, this is purely off-the-record talk. Anything you say here can never be repeated in a court of law. You ought to know that. All I’m trying to do is find the person who murdered Miriam and take him off the streets. So he can’t do it again.’ I pulled out two more cigarettes, again lighting hers. ‘It’s in your interests, probably more than mine, to make sure that happens.’
She thought about it for a moment, her self-interest clearly wrestling with her innate distrust of the forces of law and order. I took a drag on my cigarette and waited for her. I was in no hurry.
‘Yeah, I knew she was on the game,’ she said eventually. ‘Course I did, but I didn’t have much to do with her.
