The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 by David Carter (best finance books of all time .txt) 📕

After he’d gone she went to work on the tape. She had an active tongue. Slowly, she made inroads into the area where it was least stuck fast. Gradually it came loose, and she began blowing and sucking and that helped too, and finally the left side of the tape came free and she was able to suck the loose part into her mouth, clamped her teeth on it, dragged the remaining piece off her cheek and into her mouth. She chewed it into a ball and spat it onto the desk.

A small victory, maybe, but a victory nonetheless, and now at least she had the capability of shouting out, of calling for help, though she understood she would only get one shot at that, and when and if it came she mustn’t muck it up.

THE PEOPLE CARRIER arrived outside half an hour later. Man One yanked on the handbrake. Man Two jumped out and opened the side door and grabbed the rope and tugged the units from the vehicle. ‘Come along, Ladies, we’ve arrived.’

Into the building, past the old guy at reception studying page three, Man Two gazed at him and said, ‘I know, I know, in the stationery room,’ and he yanked the units down the corridor and pushed them into the room and stood guard at the open door.

The old guy arrived, puffing and panting, carrying a box containing three bottles of water and three packets of cheese and onion crisps. He went inside and set the box on the table. Turned and looked at the girls who were all staring back.

‘Chow!’ he said. ‘Yum Yum!’ and he made silly circular eating movements, bringing his hands to his mouth.

The girls glared at him as if he were mental.

‘Thick as pig-shit!’ he said, and turned about and pushed past Man Two and headed back to his newspaper.

Man Two smiled at the girls, they looked marginally better under the striplight, though by God, they could do with a bath. He nodded at the box and Fenfang and Shu smiled back and helped themselves and opened and swigged the water, and popped opened the bags and began eating the crisps. It was the first thing they had eaten, other than rice, for five weeks.

Brinton came to the door and stared past Man Two and glanced at the girls. Lily Sang was eating and drinking and she clocked Brinton watching her, and Brinton didn’t like the look on her face, and made a mental note to get her out of the place as fast as he could.

‘Are you going to check them over now?’ asked Man Two.

‘Nope! Mr Pryce can do that in the morning.’

‘They’re better than last time.’

‘So you say, not sure I can see it,’ and he glanced into the room again, and still that middle one was staring back.

‘Okay, that’s it! Lock them in, I wanna get home.’

Brinton was the last one out of the building, leaving the old guy to lock the front doors behind him, and they wouldn’t be opened again before Brinton returned at 8.30am.

THE GIRLS REMOVED THE rope and threw it on the table and checked out their new quarters. At least the place had running water, a toilet and a sink, and it was way more spacious. Things were looking up.

They settled down on the floor for a chat.

Fenfang said, ‘What is this place?’

‘Minstrel Electronics,’ said Lily. ‘Maybe some kind of electronics assembly company.’

‘I can’t do that,’ said Shu.

‘It’s easy,’ said Fenfang. ‘You’d soon learn.’

‘I don’t want to learn.’

‘It’s one way to earn your keep,’ said Fenfang.

‘Could be worse,’ said Lily.

‘Better than working on your back all day,’ said Fenfang.

She’d said it half jokingly, but Shu was aghast. For a second the others thought she might burst into tears. ‘I was joking!’ clarified Fenfang, but the vile thing was that each of the girls realised that that was still a distinct possibility.

Lily yawned. It had been an eventful day and she was tired. She settled down on the floor, Fenfang and Shu did too, and they cuddled up together, for it was beginning to get cold at nights. They closed their eyes and thought of home, as Lily Sang switched off and tried to sleep. Jun Woo did not switch off. She was busy processing data, committing to memory, faces, places, times, sentences, actions, words, looks and stares. Nothing would be missed or forgotten, especially that hard-looking man who had stared right through her as if she were a dead girl.

Fifty-Four

All Walter’s team were in early, as he’d suggested. The monster was on; the power light flashing hungrily, there was a fresh picture of the late Yet Kwai Dang on the screen. It had come in overnight from China.

‘Listen up,’ said Walter. ‘Yet Kwai Dang, that’s her on the screen, was almost certainly brought to this country against her will by human traffickers. If you think this is a piddling little business that doesn’t affect us in this area, think again. The human trafficking business has been estimated to be worth, in Europe alone, in excess of £22 billion per year.’

Hector whistled through his teeth.

Walter resumed. ‘That’s a great deal of human misery. She could have been involved in prostitution, though I think not; the post-mortem does not support that theory. She could have been involved in forced labour in the fields, though I think not...’

Darren Gibbons finished his sentence for him, ‘the post-mortem does not support that theory.’

Walter grinned coldly and said, ‘Thank you, Gibbons. She could have been involved with cockle picking, but...’ and they all picked up the theme and said in unison, ‘the post-mortem does not support that theory.’

‘Well done! She could have been involved in fast food and catering, but... wait for it... Jan and Jenny have been round all the local restaurants and deli’s and Oriental catering and wholesale businesses and found no one who knew the late Yet Kwai Dang, isn’t that right?’ And everyone checked out