Standing outside the apartments, I look up to the place that was home for a while. Now when I think about it, it was never home. It was a prison cell that I was able to come and go from under Marcus’s instruction. Not that I realised that at the time, I was too under his spell then. And if it hadn’t been for Amber putting her life at risk to tell me the truth, I still would be.
The rain pours down on me and I huddle under the hood of my coat. The keys weigh heavy in my hand as I look up at Marcus’s apartment. The lights are out. It’s only gone eleven. The dancers don’t normally stop until two and the club doesn’t officially shut to the public until three. If I’m lucky, if he stays there until closing then this might just work because he won’t get home until about four.
I move towards the entrance door and wave the fob over the black plate. The lock releases and I push the door open and head for the lift. As I stand in the small and confined space and the suspension cables lift me to the top of the building, I begin to feel sick at the thought of what I’m doing. But there is no other choice. No other way.
The lift stops and there is a low chime as the doors open. I step out and press my ear against the door. Listen. It’s quiet. Too quiet. If he was here, I’d hear him. His music would be loud or the television would be talking to itself. He’s at the club.
Letting myself into the apartment, I stand in the lounge and look out at the city. There must be so many others like me. So many girls being kept against their will, being force fed drugs and made to have sex with countless men, some of whom have strange and quite frankly terrifying fetishes. These girls’ lives are at risk every single day, not just by the men holding them or the clients paying for them, but by the poison they are forced to put into their body. Like caged animals who are only fed and let out at the discretion of the keeper, I can only imagine what it must feel like. Because I was the lucky one who managed to get out before I was plunged into the deep end.
I move through to the bedroom I once shared with Marcus. I think about all the times we’d slept together, and how towards the end he’d started to come up with excuses as to why he couldn’t. He was tired. He was too busy. I didn’t realise it then, but he had no interest in me in that way. Marcus used sex and intimacy as a way to lure me deeper into his world. He wanted me to fall so hard for him that I wouldn’t be able to climb back out.
I step back into the hall and move through to the lounge again. The place is spotless. Immaculate. It was always like that. Marcus likes things done a specific way and I was never allowed to clean or tidy. He told me the cleaner would do their job the way he’d instructed. I’d never met the cleaner. But I knew their prints would likely be all over this place. The same as Amber’s would and Crystal’s and god knows how many other girls.
That’s what scared me the most about Marcus. Not knowing how many times he’d done this, made girls fall for him and then dragged them into his world without so much as blinking. He was very good at manipulation and control. Coercing girls into doing what he wanted was a skill he’d perfected.
I look around the apartment and decide his office is the best place I’ll find any sort of evidence of what he has been doing. If he’s to be brought to justice then I have to keep digging. I push the door open and move towards his desk. The computer sits proudly on the centre of the desk, but that’s not what I’m looking at. I’m eyeing the folder sitting next to it. It’s thick with papers inside and I lift it open. What I see is astounding. Screeds and screeds of pages that are typed out in the style of a CV. Girl after girl after girl, some of whom I recognise. Some from the club.
I find Amber’s page. Her picture at the top, a photograph that has been taken without her knowledge. Lines of text with dates of when she’d come into contact with Marcus for the first time, the second time and so on.
Have been keeping watch of a girl with fiery red hair and a clear complexion. Perfect for the club.
Met Amber after three weeks of watching her.
Fell for Marcus almost immediately. Easily charmed. Easily fooled.
Close family with opinions. Note* if things don’t improve with their attitude, they’ll need to be dealt with.
After a few dates, Amber opens up about how the family aren’t keen on Marcus. Managed to manipulate her into moving away from them. Easily done. Provided new phone. Easily isolated.
Appeared happy to become a dancer at the club.
Appeared happy to move into sex work with clients.
After a few months, Amber decided to leave.
Marcus moved to next phase of holding on to Amber. Injected heroin.
Amber will become part of Angel House once all plans are finalised.
There are pictures of her posing in underwear, naked images in compromising positions. I turn the pages quickly, trying to keep her dignity from being damaged anymore.
I find a page named Crystal. At the top in red letters is the word ‘deceased’. He’s been logging when they die and I feel sick.
I read through Crystal’s file. She was English. Beautiful from the picture at the top of the page. Blonde, clear complexion and perfect eyebrows. She’d come to Scotland to go to university from what Marcus has recorded. He met her in a pub in Glasgow and bought her a drink, spiked it. He took her home to his apartment, laid her on his bed. Although, he kept his hands to himself – from what I read, he didn’t touch her. The way he’s recorded his meetings with Crystal is like a report, cold language and short sentences. I read:
Met Crystal. Appears to be exact profile that would fit the club.
Easily charmed. Able to spike her drink without her noticing.
Easily led and gullible. Believed she drank too much thanked Marcus for looking after her.
Marcus starts dating Crystal – again easy to lure her in. She fell for Marcus quickly. Said she was in love after just a few weeks.
Didn’t protest at suggestion of working at the club.
Picked up the trade quickly and appeared to want to please.
Refused to move into sex work once it was suggested – tried to leave. Caused trouble.
Threatened to go to police and tell as many as she could about what she’d seen at the club.
Marcus killed Crystal. Death by strangulation.
Body disposed of in suitcase and weighted to the bottom of the Clyde.
Amber was right, Crystal was the girl in the suitcase at Luderston Bay. It says it in black and white in the file. As I glance over the bullet points, I think about Crystal and what she could have become if she’d never met Marcus. My heart breaks at the thought of what he’s done to so many girls. I’ve been the lucky one.