Chapter 46

“How is Marianna?” asked Helen, as George handed her the file and tape. Deborah answered for him.

“Better but still sleeping badly. She won’t sleep alone – there’s no room anyway – and she is sleeping with me. I think she’s looking forward to seeing Conrad and Lydia again. They’ll be back soon and that’ll cheer her up, I hope.” George did not notice the searching little glance Helen shot at Deborah.

George and Deborah sat quietly watching while Helen read the dossier of information from Dora, Anita and Eva and listened to Lance’s tape. When she had read everything and listened to everything she read everything and listened to everything again. Then she looked from Deborah to George and back again.

“We’ve… you’ve done it. I think we’ve got pretty nearly all the pieces of the jigsaw. This stuff,” she held up George’s notes, “this stuff fills in a lot of the overseas gaps and the two girls on Lance’s tape give the hard information we need about what happens here. Deborah, we can get the police to close your clip joint and take Mario and his thugs off the streets but what’s more important is that they can break up this trafficking gang and maybe get leads into others. Well done. Now we can do something. I’m going to write this all up. The book can wait but I’ll talk to my editor today. I think we can do a feature on Sunday. Put together with what we already had, this is ‘hold the front page’ stuff. I don’t know how to thank you both, and the other girls but I expect there’ll be a fee and maybe a contribution towards your expenses, George.”

“What about the police, here and abroad? Won’t everyone just vanish as soon as this appears in the paper?”

“Oh, I have to go to the police first. I’ll put together a file and get it to a friend of mine in the Vice Squad. They won’t be delighted that they have to move before Sunday but they’ll manage, I expect. Anyway, that’s their problem. So long as they have been told, my interest is in making all this public. I’m a journalist, remember, not a civil servant.”

“What about me and the others? If the club is going to be raided before the end of the week, we’d better get out.”

“I think you should stay put, Deborah. If you suddenly disappear, someone will smell a rat; sorry, that means to notice something that will make them suspicious. I think the police will say the same. The safest thing for you is if they arrest you with everyone else. Come to that, you have been helping in the fleecing of those poor, sad men haven’t you? Okay. Don’t worry. I doubt the police will press charges seeing as you will be a key witness. They’ll be after Mario and his strong-arm men and all the others they can lead them to. I’ll talk to my contact and get back to you. I think the police will want to talk to you, too, George.”

George’s heart sank. “I hadn’t thought of that but I suppose they will.” He changed the subject. “Well, at least we will have closed down the trafficking of girls to London so I suppose it will have been worth it.”

“Closed down? Sorry, George but I very much doubt it. This route will be closed for a while until things cool down. If the police do their stuff, several very nasty people will be out of circulation for a few months, maybe for years. They may even find out who killed Susanna although I’m afraid they probably won’t. It could even be that the other end, the recruitment end, of this particular chain will be disrupted, even destroyed, especially if the local police move fast but you don’t kill this monster by cutting off some of its tentacles, I’m afraid. Some other gang will take up the slack. We shall have struck a blow, saved some girls from this, made it a bit harder for the gangs but it will pop up again somewhere else.”

George hid his disappointment. “I suppose so. I didn’t really think beyond the immediate problem.” A thought struck him. “What about Natasha?”

“I think she should get out. She can’t add much now and she’s in a dangerous position. If they get wind of this, they’ll whisk her away and then we shan’t know where she is and we’ll have to hope she can contact us. Better to get her out. Can you do that?”

“I think so but I haven’t worked out how yet, but leave it to me; I’ll manage somehow. How difficult can it be, anyway?”

Helen looked at him steadily. “It might be harder than you think. They will see her as their property and won’t just hand her over. Be careful.” She took a breath and smiled. “Anyway, this is looking good now. It’ll be a great story and a good book. Well done both of you and well done Lance.” The smile broadened. “East End boy saves West End girls, eh?”

“Actually, I think Lance comes from Bermondsey.”

Deborah took Helen to the door. When she returned a man was following her.

“Hello, George! I didn’t expect to find you here! How are you?”

“He was on the doorstep, George. About to ring the bell.”

“Nicholas! Bloody hell! What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing but to put your mind at ease I wasn’t looking for you although I must say I’m very glad to see you because I want to ask you something. Actually I came to see how the girls are. You’ll remember that, technically, they’re the bank’s employees and I thought I should at least meet them. As a matter of fact, I want to see when they might take up this training I’ve had to promise to provide.”

“Ah! Yes, well… I’d better explain. You do know what they are doing don’t you? Jill did tell you?”

“Oh sure. In graphic detail but I rather got the impression that it was temporary. I’m not sure that, strictly speaking, they are entitled to special leave for community work. I mean, they’re not exactly long-serving employees, are they? Anyway, as you’ll remember because you drew up the policy, they can only be released for two months, so I thought it was time to make contact, see how things are going and see if I can help in any way.”

“My God, Nicholas. You really have turned into a personnel director. You sound just like me!” An idea was beginning to take shape in George’s mind. “Actually, there is something you might help with but let me bring you up to date first.” George summarised his trip to Cyprus, skipping over his own fears of persecution and pursuit. Marianna, shy and nervous, was brought in to meet Nicholas but would not stay in the room. Irma and Anna were roused by Deborah and, having taken nearly half an hour to prepared themselves, thanked Nicholas effusively for having provided their work permits and allowing them to work at the club. They gave intelligent responses to questions about their backgrounds, families, education and plans. George watched Nicholas closely and recognised a probing but sensitive interview technique. He saw that, despite himself, Nicholas was preening himself slightly in the glow of appreciation from the three girls. He was beginning to mentally cast himself as a knight errant, coming to the aid of distressed damsels. George recognised the role. When Nicholas sat back, apparently satisfied with the impression he had got, George spoke.

“It’s just a thought, only a thought but I wonder if I might borrow the company car and driver for a couple of hours this evening. I need to go on a mission to rescue Natasha and having a car and driver might be very useful for a quick, and anonymous, getaway, a bit better than using the tube or hoping to be able to flag down a taxi at the right moment, if you see what I mean.”

“Well, Sir Alec is away so the car probably is free. What exactly are we going to do?”