“Why would Daniel, a rent boy and drug user or possible dealer, from London, be in Hastings?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “You don’t need me to tell you that Hastings has a drug problem.”
“But it’s not, as far as I know, a centre for distribution. So, what could he possibly have been doing to get himself killed and dumped at sea?”
“Meeting someone? A friend?”
“Then they should have come forward, surely? When he didn’t show up? Or when his picture was all over the local news?”
“Perhaps the friend was the killer.”
Billy didn’t seem that interested, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought that he was right. It made sense. Daniel came down from London to meet someone, or confront them, and that person killed him.
Michelle must have known he was coming down, and that he should have come back, which was why she was going round looking for him.
Or perhaps he often came down here? Had a regular client? Someone he had met in London but also had a place in the town. Or who had moved here. There were lots of people who had moved to Hastings from London and there were a number of derogatory names for them. There was the Down from London (DFL) brigade, often weekenders, putting up house prices but also spending their money in the town. And the FILTH, Failed in London, Try Hastings, as the displaced and disgruntled locals tended to call them. Daniel could have come to see any one of them, but it was in one of those groups that they would find his killer, and Michelle’s killer; of that, Callie was sure. The question was, how could she, or the police narrow it down?
Chapter 30
Mid-morning, as Callie took a quick break to make herself a cup of coffee, she got a phone call from the principal of the academy asking if she would be willing to give some more talks to the pupils.
“You rated very highly in our feedback session,” the principal told her, trying to butter her up. “You and the consultant both did, but we thought you would be a great addition to our regular speakers.”
“Thank you, yes, of course.” Flattered as she was, Callie wasn’t quite able to make herself sound enthusiastic. “Erm, talks on anything in particular?”
“We have regular healthy lifestyle sessions with the younger pupils, and I am sure you would have plenty to say there, but I also thought you might like to talk to the older ones about being a GP. Inspire the girls to think about medicine as a career.”
And so it was that Callie found herself agreeing to give talks two or three times a year, dates to be arranged.
Once she had put the phone down, she found herself instantly regretting the decision, wasn’t her life busy enough? But it was too late to back out now. She took a sip of coffee and gave herself a mini-lecture on learning to say no before calling in the next patient on her list.
At the end of the session, she was surprised to see Miller sitting in the waiting room waiting for her.
“You should have asked them to let me know you were here,” she said as she ushered him into her consulting room. “I would have fitted you in.”
“Your receptionist said you were on your last patient, so I knew you wouldn’t be long,” he explained, as he sat in the patient’s chair.
“How can I help?” she asked him.
He wriggled uncomfortably in his seat for a moment, clearly unsure that he was doing the right thing in confiding in her.
“Come on, out with it. I don’t bite.” She encouraged him with a smile and was pleased to see him reciprocate.
“The Met have found where our two victims lived. It’s a council flat that’s been sublet illegally and is only meant for two people, but actually about eight seem to have been living there. Daniel and Michelle had been friends a long time. Best friends, but not boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“If they were both on the game, a sexual partner might not have been what they were looking for.”
Miller nodded.
“And did they find out anything interesting from the others who lived in the flat?” she asked.
“Not really. To say that the occupants were uncooperative would be an understatement. They did manage to find a number of people who knew them, but most of them could not be said to be on good terms with the police, let’s say.”
“So, they haven’t found out anything useful?” Callie couldn’t hide her disappointment.
“Yes, and no. Most of them had no idea Daniel and Michelle were dead, it seems. There was no TV in the flat and they’re not likely to be newspaper readers.”
“And even if they did see their photos and an appeal for information, they probably would think it was because they were wanted for something, not that they were dead.”
“Exactly, but once they knew both of them were dead, it did change things, for some of them at least, and they were willing to talk. It seems that Daniel had been telling everyone that he was onto a nice little earner. He’d seen a picture of one of his regular clients on the front page of a newspaper.”
“And was planning a spot of blackmail.”
“Well, they said he saw it as a reason to put his prices up.”
“But if the client refused?”
“He might find himself talking to a journalist.”
“That is definitely blackmail in my book.” Callie thought for a moment. “Did they know who this client was?”
“No, unfortunately no one is admitting to being one of the boys that Daniel took with him when he went to meet this particular john.”
“More than one?”
“Yes. It seems the
