The Ladykiller Read online

  ‘You never said anything to me.’

  ‘Or me.’ Evelyn’s voice was low.

  ‘Well, it’s been arranged absolutely ages and Joanie is coming round for me at seven thirty. I really must go, Mum.’

  Kate and Evelyn exchanged glances.

  ‘Well, I don’t remember you telling us anything about it. Where is this party?’

  ‘It’s near Joanie’s house, in the next street. I don’t know the number.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Oh, Mum, don’t say it like that. I must go! I want to go.’ Lizzy’s voice was high and near to tears.

  ‘No one has said you can’t go . . . yet.’

  Dan walked into the kitchen in his dressing gown. ‘What’s all this racket then?’

  Lizzy ran to him and he put his arm around her.

  ‘I want to go to a party and Mum won’t let me. Everyone will be there.’

  ‘Your mother never said you can’t go, Lizzy. That’s not fair.’

  ‘Oh, Gran, I want to go so much. And between you, you’ll talk me out of it!’

  ‘We will not! All your mother wants to know is where it is and who’ll be there!’

  ‘I’ll take her and pick her up, how’s that?’

  Everyone looked at Dan. Lizzy kissed him on the cheek.

  ‘That’s settled then, I’ll go and get ready. Blimey, Mum, sometimes your job really goes to your head. I’m not a suspect, you know!’

  Her voice was happy once more and Kate watched her run from the room.

  ‘Thanks, Dan. Thanks a bundle.’

  He opened his arms wide. ‘What have I done? All I said was I’d take her and pick her up. There’s no harm in that, Kate.’ He counted off on his fingers. ‘First, we’ll know where it is. And secondly, we’ll be able to sort out a reasonable time for getting her home. Third, I’ll have a quick look at who’s there. I can’t see there’s any problem.’

  He walked from the room and Kate felt an urge to jump on his back and tear his hair out. Not five minutes in the house and he was already countermanding her. Lizzy would be allowed to get away with blue murder while her father was around, it was always the same, then when he swanned off again, it would be left to Kate to pick up the pieces and get back some kind of equilibrium.

  She sighed heavily.

  ‘He’s right, you know, Kate. She’s not a child any more.’

  ‘Oh, Mum, don’t you jump on the bandwagon. She’s so grown up that she shouted herself hoarse through a bloody pantomime not two hours ago. I saw a girl not much older than her battered and dying in a hospital bed, not twenty-four hours since. There’s a bloody maniac on the loose and you tell me that she’s grown up!’

  Evelyn put her hand on her daughter’s arm. ‘That’s not all that’s bothering you, is it? Now is it? It’s Dan taking the reins from your hands that’s brought all this on. Well, listen to me and listen good. It won’t last - it never does. But you can’t stop that child from living a normal life. She’ll be with Joanie and her other friends, Dan’s picking her up. So swallow your pride and don’t make an enemy of your own child.’

  ‘I’ll be glad when he goes. And first thing in the New Year he will be going. That, Mum, is a promise!’

  ‘He only wants to see the child enjoy herself with her friends.’

  Kate sighed noisily.

  ‘Don’t you start taking his side, Mum. It’s bad enough Lizzy thinks the sun shines out of his . . .’

  ‘Kate!’ Evelyn stopped her flow of words. ‘You should listen to yourself, young lady.’

  She sat at the breakfast bar and lit herself a cigarette. It wasn’t the time to remind her mother that she was forty. Her lovely afternoon had been spoiled. She would have let Lizzy go to the party eventually, she rarely denied the girl anything. But to have the decision taken out of her hands like that was irritating and downright unfair.

  But Kate knew when enough was enough so she kept her peace.

  Dan dropped Joanie and Lizzy off at a respectable-looking semi-detached house and after a quick kiss on his daughter’s cheek drove away, pleased with the way he had handled everything. It would do Kate good to realise that he could be responsible too.

  Lizzy went into the party with Joanie and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of boys. She was wearing a short black skirt and a tiny scrap of a top that emphasised her heavy breasts. Joanie stood by her side as she laughed and chatted with the guys. She was a different girl to the one her mother and grandmother knew.

  ‘So come on then, has anyone got any puff?’

  A tall thin boy with straggly hair passed her a joint and Lizzy took it from him, inhaling the fragrant mixture deeply.

  ‘Mmm, smells like Sensimelle!’ She took a large draw and held the smoke in her lungs for about ten seconds before letting it out.

  Her breasts quivered and gathered the attention of every male in the vicinity.

  ‘I have been dying for a toke all day. Where’s Angela and Marianne?’

  ‘They won’t be here till later. They’re trying to score a few Es over in Grays.’

  Lizzy’s eyes lit up. ‘Oh, great. I have to be home for half-past one! There’s plenty of time for fun yet.’

  Everyone burst out laughing and Joanie smiled uneasily. Since they had got in with this crowd, she had not felt very happy. They were too forward for her, but Lizzy loved them. She thrived on all the attention and excitement. Joanie tagged along with her, as she always had done.

  An hour later Lizzy was against the wall in the back garden with an eighteen-year-old boy named Joey Meeson. He had pulled the band of material that passed for a skirt up around her waist and was tugging at the top of her tights.

  ‘Not here!’ Her voice was scandalised.

  Joey looked down at her and grinned.

  ‘You really must learn to get into the swing of things, Lizzy.’

  She pulled her skirt down and blinked rapidly. The cannabis and the vodka she had consumed were making her feel light-headed.

  ‘Is it true that your mum’s a Filth?’

  Lizzy giggled. ‘You could call her that. She’s a Detective Inspector.’

  ‘Really? That’s wild.’

  ‘Actually, she’s all right.’

  ‘What would she say if she knew what we’d been doing tonight?’ His voice was genuinely interested.

  ‘Probably go ape shit.’

  They both laughed and then Joey kissed her again. Softer this time. ‘Talking of shit, how about I skin up again? This time in the bedroom?’ His voice was low and husky and Lizzy was lost. He was the best-looking boy she had ever seen in her life.

  ‘That would be fine.’

  ‘Come on then.’ He pulled her by the hand through the crowded kitchen and hall and over the bodies on the stairs.

  Inside the bedroom, Lizzy found out what Joey’s idea of a good time was.

  And Joey found out that Lizzy, the daughter of a policewoman, was not as innocent as he had first thought.

  Chapter Ten

  New Year’s Eve

  ‘Are you sure you’re going to be all right on your own, George?’ Elaine’s voice was concerned but deep inside she hoped he would not decide to go to the party. The last few days he had been getting on her nerves. George fit and well could get you down, but George ill was a nightmare.

  ‘You go to the party, dear, and give everyone my best. I’m really much too ill to go tonight.’

  She breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘Well, if you’re sure?’

  George smiled wanly. ‘You go and have a good time. I’ve got a good book, a flask of soup and my tablets.’

  She kissed him on the cheek.

  ‘See you then. I might be late.’ She giggled.

  George nodded. In her new dress, a fitted emerald green sparkly affair with huge padded shoulders, George thought she looked like a cross between a Christmas tree and an American footballer. ‘You look lovely, Elaine. You’ll have all the men wanting to dance with you.’

&nb
sp; ‘Oh, George. You old silly!’ Elaine giggled again, a schoolgirl going on her first date. She dropped her clutch bag and George frowned as she strained to pick it up. Not an American footballer - a sumo wrestler. God, she was bad enough in her shell suits.

  A taxi hooted outside and Elaine rushed from the room, leaving a scent of Estée Lauder and face powder.

  ‘’Bye, George.’

  He listened to the thud of her feet on the stairs and the satisfying slam of the front door as it crashed behind her.

  She was gone.

  He was alone.

  Hallelujah!

  George lay with bated breath until he heard the taxi turn at the end of the street, then jumped from the bed.

  ‘Look, Mr Kelly, it’s New Year’s Eve. We always get lots of punters in on New Year’s Eve. She’s a good kid . . .’

  Kelly stared hard at the woman in front of him. Violet Mapping had been running this massage parlour for five years. She was one of the hardest Toms he had ever met in his life, and he had met a few, but she had one vice: she was a dyke and liked the young girls. But this young girl was not working in his massage parlour until she was qualified.

  ‘Listen, Vi, get the girl a certificate and she can work here till the cows come home. Till then, no way.’

  ‘Oh, Mr Kelly, you know and I know that that piece of paper is a bloody con.’

  ‘I don’t care what you know, Violet. Once she’s done a course in massage and has her certificate she can work here. Until then, no.’

  Violet saw the man’s face harden and decided it was better to give way on this occasion. Everyone knew about Mandy, it was common knowledge on the streets. It was best not to annoy him now.

  She sighed.

  ‘If you say so, Mr Kelly.’

  ‘Good girl, Vi, you know it makes sense. Now then, if you get any weird ones in I want you to cop the names and addresses - the lot. Then I want you to pass them on to me.’

  Violet snorted with laughter.

  ‘They’re all fucking weird, that’s why they come here!’ Kelly shook his head in annoyance.

  ‘You know what I mean. If one wants something a bit outlandish like, or gets violent with the girls, I want to know. OK? You’re one of the best “lifters” in the game, Vi. You can lift a wallet better than anyone I’ve ever known. Only after you’ve lifted it, Violet, you put it back, comprenez?’

  She narrowed her hard blue eyes.

  ‘I give up lifting years ago, Mr Kelly, you should know that.’

  The two eyed each other for a few seconds.

  ‘Just make sure the wallet goes back into the pocket, Vi, or there’ll be hell to pay. Now get back on reception. By the way, before I forget, how old is that little black bird out there?’

  Violet pulled her mouth down at the corners and shrugged her skinny shoulders.

  ‘I dunno.’

  Patrick Kelly stood up.

  ‘You don’t know? Well, judging by the looks of her I’d put her at about fifteen, Vi, so get rid of her. Fuck me, I pay you to run this gaff. I might as well run the bastard place meself!’

  ‘All right, all right, no need to get your knickers in a twist. I’ll sort it, OK?’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘I’m sorry about your Mandy, Pat, heart sorry. We all are.’ Her voice was soft now. She had been working for, and fighting with, Patrick Kelly for years. He was a good boss. Fair but hard. His daughter had been his life. Everyone knew that.

  He dropped his eyes.

  ‘Thanks, Vi.’

  ‘Right then, face ache, I’d better go and give my little friend the bad news.’ Her voice was once more loud and aggressive.

  ‘You do that, girl, and once she’s got her certificate, she can work her little arse off.’

  ‘I’ll get her a bent one off Vinny Marcenello.’

  ‘You get it where you like, love, but she don’t work till she’s got it. I mean that, Vi.’

  ‘I know that, don’t I!’ Her voice was shrill again. She walked from the office.

  Kelly carried on looking over the books but his heart wasn’t in it. Finally he got up from his desk and walked out into the foyer of the massage parlour. All around the walls were plushly upholstered seats. Girls and women of every colour, creed, shape and size were sprawled all over them. They all sat up straight as Patrick walked among them.

  He nodded at them absentmindedly. Then turning to the left he walked through a door to the back of the parlour. That was where the cubicles were. He walked silently along the thickly carpeted floor until he came to the last cubicle. He listened.

  A childish voice wafted from behind the thin curtain.

  ‘Do you require any extras, sir?’

  ‘How much will it rush me?’

  ‘Well, hand relief is fifteen quid, a blow job’s twenty, and the full bifta is forty-five quid.’

  Patrick heard the man laugh.

  ‘Gis the full bifta, girl.’

  Patrick shook his head and turned to walk back to the foyer. For some reason the childish voice had upset him. He knew the girl. She was only seventeen and looked about twelve. She was blonde, like his Mandy, except unlike Mandy she had never had a chance in life. He walked out of the tiny corridor, through the foyer and out to his car.

  Don’t start getting soft now, boy, he told himself. Tomming is the oldest profession in the world. If they didn’t work for you they’d only work for someone else.

  He climbed into the back of his Rolls and tapped on the window. Willy’s voice came over the intercom.

  ‘Where to, Pat?’

  ‘Forest Gate this time. I want to see how Juliet’s getting on.’

  The car purred away and Kelly relaxed in his seat.

  Yet the childish voice was still repeating in his head.

  ‘Stop the car!’

  ‘Do what?’ The car screeched to a halt in the middle of the road. Patrick Kelly jumped out and ran back into the massage parlour.

  ‘Oi, Vi. In the office quick sharp.’

  Violet followed him in.

  ‘Yeah? What?’ Her voice was belligerent once more.

  ‘That little blonde bird, what’s her name?’

  ‘Marlene?’

  ‘Yeah, Marlene. Well, she’s giving the punter the full bifta.’

  ‘So what?’

  ‘Well, I want it stopped. From now on there’s no full sex in here, right. The Old Bill can’t touch us if the girls don’t cock their legs over.’

  Violet looked at Patrick as if he had gone mad.

  ‘You feeling all the bleeding ticket? We won’t get any girls working here if we do something like that. Gordon Bennett, if you had the choice between a mouthful of spunk or a pratfull, what would you rather have?’

  Kelly’s face screwed up. ‘Don’t be so disgusting, Vi!’

  She opened her arms wide.

  ‘I’m only stating facts, mate. We won’t get a Tom in here with them rules, and you know it. Our clientele will go down quicker than free beer on a beano!’

  Kelly felt sick.

  ‘Why don’t you go home and have a nice rest, Pat? It’s all the worry you’ve had, it’s turned your head.’

  He felt a fool.

  ‘Maybe you’re right, Vi.’

  ‘Listen.’ Violet’s voice was soft. ‘We ain’t social workers, mate, we’re in business. Them girls out there are gonna flash their clout no matter what anyone does. It’s the only thing they know how to do. So leave them to it.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know, Vi, there’s some fucking nonces about. Look what happened to my Mandy.’

  ‘Well, let me tell you something. Them perverts, they pick on the nice innocent girls. They don’t want no Tom. They like a struggle. Same as them posh blokes what come here - they all want to be caned. I’m telling you, Pat, we go out the back, into the garden and cut a swish from that bleeding forsythia bush, then come back in and beat the buggers’ arses black and blue. Now if they didn’t pay us they’d only pay the Paki down the road.’

/>   Kelly nodded at her. He was very tired all of a sudden. ‘Maybe you’re right, Vi.’

  As he walked back out into the foyer, the girls automatically straightened again as he passed them. Out on the pavement, an elderly woman with a small sausage dog gave him a filthy look. He sighed again.

  That put the tin lid on it as far as Patrick Kelly was concerned. The old bird thought he was a nonce. The Rolls was parked outside once more and he climbed in.

  ‘Forest Gate, guv?’

  ‘No. Home, I think, Willy.’

  ‘Okey doke.’

  Kelly watched the people in the cold grey streets. It was New Year’s Eve and he had arranged to spend it with Kate.

  He settled into the seat once more. Sod the Toms. He had enough on his mind.

  ‘Oh, Mum! Why must I always have you and Dad on my back? All the girls in my class are going. I’ll be the only one who doesn’t! I’ll never live it down!’

  Louise Butler stamped her foot.

  Her mother Doreen grinned. She had a mind of her own did Louise. She glanced at her husband.

  ‘What do you think, Ron, shall we let her go?’

  Louise breathed a sigh of relief. If her mum was asking her dad then she was going. Mum had more or less said yes. Before her father answered she had thrown herself into her mother’s arms.

  ‘Thanks, Mum. Oh, thanks.’

  ‘Hurry up and get changed then. I’ll run you over there.’ Ron’s voice was jovial.

  Louise looked at him with a mock stern expression.

  ‘I am ready, if you don’t mind!’

  They all laughed. In her designer tracksuit of vivid mauve and gold, her Reebok bumpers and man’s leather flying jacket, she looked the complete opposite of her parents’ idea of dressed up. But she was a hardcore acid fan, from her backcombed sixties hairstyle to the sovereign earrings in her ears.

  ‘Well, I’ve been reading about these waves.’

  ‘It’s raves, Dad. Raves.’

  ‘Waves, raves . . . whatever. You be careful. Don’t take no drugs or anything now, will you?’

  Louise rolled her violet eyes.

  ‘As if I would. I’m not stupid, you know.’

  ‘We worry about you, love, that’s all.’