‘What, another container coming in from some port, Nicola?’
‘I have no idea what you mean. If you’re referring to the ordeal you’re putting poor Mr Drake through, I think you’ll find he’ll be free soon enough to explain the error of your ways to your face.’
‘What kind of woman are you?’ Chandler barely managed to whisper. She turned to glance at Troy and the blonde, standing quietly in the corner of the room. ‘What kind of mother?’
But the likes of Parkinson thrived on such hostility. ‘The kind of woman men want to fuck and women want to change places with, love. Don’t sneer down your nose at me, you rabid twunt! I live the life I choose. Nobody forces me to do anything I don’t want to do. I realise you think you’re better than me, DS Chandler, but yours is one sad, lonely tart’s opinion that I couldn’t give a flying fuck about.’
Bliss put himself between the two women, hoping to take the sting out of the situation. ‘You stick to your story, Nicola. You ignore the fact that young girls were and probably still are being trafficked into this country so’s they can have their bodies sold for them on a daily basis by scum like you. If you think that makes you special somehow, I reckon that confirms everything we’ve always thought about you. But now you’ve insulted my partner here, I’ve decided I’m done being nice to you.’
Parkinson rose to her feet and folded her arms slowly and deliberately. ‘Is that right? And what exactly does that mean?’
‘How many girls do you have here at the moment?’
Smirk. ‘No comment.’
‘No problem. I’ll make a call. After which I’ll hang around until some of my fellow police officers arrive in one of those bright yellow and blue motors. They will inspect every inch of this place, and they will interview every person caught inside the building. I’m not sure on what grounds yet, but I’ll think of something before your brief arrives. And when they’re done, they might even spend some time parked up outside. That’ll be your business done for the day, Nicola. Oh, and I’ll order the same thing for tomorrow, and the next day, and the next…’
‘All right, all right. I get the picture. How about I apologise?’
‘Stick your apology,’ Bliss snapped back. ‘Most of the time I can choke down what goes on here, because I don’t even think about you or your sordid little enterprise when I don’t have to. People like you are the shit on my shoe. But every so often I feel the need to wipe that shit off. So now you and I have a problem.’
Parkinson did not appear in the least bit perturbed. ‘Are you sure that’s how you want this to go? Mr Drake might be banged up, but he still has a big reach. He won’t like you coming for him a second time, Inspector.’
‘That sounded like a threat.’ He turned to look at Chandler. ‘Did that sound like a threat to you, Detective Sergeant?’
‘It did,’ she replied quickly.
‘I don’t make threats,’ Parkinson said. ‘All I’m doing is telling you how it is.’
Bliss sniffed. Looked her up and down. He could see how she might attract men looking for MILFs, though she was growing ever closer to being a GILF. To him, however, she was pure poison in subhuman form. ‘I don’t care. Besides, it’s Detective Sergeant Bliss to you these days, Nicola. And the reason I’m a DS at the moment is because I’ve about reached the point where I don’t give a damn any more. My thirty-year detective’s pension is secure enough, so now I’m that man you were always taught to fear: the one who literally has fuck all to lose.’
‘I’ll advise Mr Drake accordingly.’ She brushed back a strand of hair and glared at him, spite leaking from her eyes.
‘Good. And you’re on notice as well, love. If I have a problem with him, I have a problem with you. You and this place. You and the agencies you’re involved with. Pretty soon, things turn around and it’s you who becomes the problem, and therefore the reason for Drake’s problems. I know you’re not scared of me, Nicola. But consider what he might be willing to do to pull a big ugly thorn out of his side.’
Parkinson licked her lips. She could not disguise the shudder that rippled through her body. She swallowed and said, ‘Now who’s the one making threats?’
Bliss’s smile froze in place. ‘Wrong. Because, like you said: I’m only telling you how it is.’
The room fell silent. He glanced over his shoulder. Troy Parkinson’s tight stare was so steely it might have cut him in two. Bliss lifted his head. ‘What, you have nothing to say? You not going to leap in to defend your mummy? Is that because you’re shitting yourself, or because you know everything I said is true?’
‘He doesn’t involve himself in my business,’ Nicola said sharply, striding quickly around the desk. A raised finger pointed directly at Bliss. ‘And he’s learned to say fuck all to the likes of you. He’s just here to witness what’s said and done in this room; that’s it. You leave him out of this.’
Bliss continued his lingering appraisal of her son. ‘That right, Troy? You’re just another pulse in the room? Observing? You proud of her, are you? Proud of the way she exploits young girls? Proud of good old Mum who has sexual slaves on the go night and day?’
‘I said leave him be!’
This time the woman’s voice was a shrill cry. Bliss turned to rest his gaze on her once more. She had taken
