Annemarie was a Leith legend. She’d run a project supporting working girls for as long as anyone could remember, and had managed to tread a fine line between supporting her clients, and working, occasionally co-operatively, with the police. If Alessandra Barr had been plying her trade on Salamander Street, Annemarie would know about it. Bernard had never met her, but Maitland had spent half an hour regaling him with stories about her robust attitude to working with law enforcement, and consequently his stomach was churning as his hand hovered over the buzzer.
‘Are you sure she’ll be happy to talk to us?’
Mona reached past him and gave the buzzer a good long press. ‘Only one way to find out.’
After a couple of seconds, a small, stout woman with greying short back and sides appeared. She opened the door a crack, and surveyed them. She looked at Mona. ‘I know you, don’t I?’
‘I was CID, now in the Health Enforcement Team.’ She held her ID aloft. ‘Can we come in?’
‘You can, he can’t.’ She pointed at him, and he jumped. ‘No offence, son, but it’s a women-only space.’
‘Oh, OK, no problem.’
‘Tell you what, I’ll come out there. Just let me grab my fags.’
Mona whispered to him. ‘Do not say anything to her about the dangers of smoking.’
‘I wasn’t going to,’ he lied.
Annemarie reappeared with her cigarettes and a large set of keys.
‘Quite some security setup you’ve got here, Annemarie.’
‘I know, hen. I’ve worked here for thirty years, and when I started the women could just walk in off the street. Then someone’s pimp tried to stab one of the girls on the premises so we got the intercom. Then you lot came along and we had to get a Green Card machine.’ She laughed, which turned into a cough. Bernard wondered if he should have a quiet word about smoking cessation after all, then caught Mona’s eye. He smiled, guiltily.
Annemarie was breathing again. ‘It’s a wonder any lassies come in at all. Anyway, what can I do for you?’
‘We’re looking for a woman who has missed her Health Check. We think she’s possibly working as a prostitute, and we wondered if you’d seen her.’
‘She got a name?’
‘Alessandra Barr.’
Annemarie let out a long puff. ‘Don’t know her.’
Bernard tried not to wave the smoke away. ‘She might be using a different name?’
‘No, I’d know her real name. They used to be able to call themselves anything and we were happy with that, but these days you lot would close us down if we didn’t know the names and health status of everyone that comes in here. Doesn’t make it easy to help vulnerable people, but what can you do?’
Mona unfolded a photocopy. ‘Would you look at her picture?’
Annemarie peered at it. ‘Two black eyes? Poor cow.’
‘You don’t remember anyone coming in with two black eyes?’ asked Bernard.
The two women exchanged an amused glance, and Bernard kicked himself for his naivety.
‘That photo could be half of the lassies we have in here on a bad day. You tried looking in one of the refuges for her?’ Two women appeared round the corner of the building, one tall and one short, both with cigarette packets in their hands. ‘Here – ask a couple of the lassies.’
‘Ladies.’ Mona nodded to them. ‘Can I ask if you recognise this woman?’
They huddled in to look at the picture.
‘Look at the state of her.’ The smaller girl shook her head. ‘Can’t say I know her.’
Bernard watched the other girl. She’d glanced at the picture then stepped away.
‘What about you, miss? Do you know her?’
The tall girl shook her head.
‘OK,’ said Mona. ‘Thanks for your time, everyone. We’ll check out the refuges as you suggested.’ She held out a card to Annemarie. ‘You’ll get in touch if you hear anything?’
She nodded, and put the card into her pocket without looking at it.
As they left Bernard looked back over his shoulder. The tall girl was busy texting on her phone. She looked up and saw him watching her, and swiftly turned her back on him. He wondered if the text was related to their visit. Was she texting Alessandra to warn her they were looking for her? Or was she warning someone else?