Free Impeding Justice by Mel Comley Page B

a public gallery or something, and not used for illegal
activities. My mate thinks that the customers have been assured by
someone who can be believed, that there will never be a raid on the
place.’
    The Chief shook his head in disgust,
‘Anything else, AJ?’
    ‘ Yes there is, Chief. There
was a disturbing incident outside one of these houses only last
week. Apparently, one of the girls at the Knightsbridge house
managed to escape. She didn’t get very far though. A couple of
thugs jumped on her and dragged her back to the house. The
surveillance team radioed in for backup, but was instructed to
leave well alone. After the girl and two guys re-entered the house
they heard a girl screaming for a couple of minutes, then there was
silence. They are assuming she was beaten up, maybe, even killed,
but on that score, nothing has left the building that could be said
to be disguising a body. They have all entrances
covered…’
    He trailed off as he looked in her direction.
Lorne had been hanging on his every word and it must have shown.
She hadn’t meant it to. During her workout in the gym she’d given
herself a severe talking to about the importance of not
overreacting no matter how gruesome she found the details they
uncovered to be. She’d made a promise to Charlie to have a PMA at
all times. It was the only way she could see of making it through
this torrid time. She had failed her first test.
    The Chief nodded reassuringly at her.
    ‘ There’s something mighty
strange and frustrating about this case and the more we delve into
it, the more I detest what we are uncovering.’
    ‘ Corruption comes to mind,
Chief.’
    ‘ We have no evidence of
that, DC Teller, and until we do I’d rather any thoughts like that
remained that way, as thoughts. Am I making myself
clear?’
    They all affirmed, but looking around them,
Lorne realised from their glances at each other that the entire
team were of the same mind. Teller was the only one to have enough
balls to voice his opinion, that’s all.

 
     
    Chapter Nineteen.
     
    Her head felt as if someone had taken a swing
at it with an axe.
    Confused, Charlie looked below her and found
that she was laying on a wafer thin mattress.
    The room spun around her when she sat up. She flopped back
down, and let out a groan. What’s happening to me?
    The edge of the bed squashed down. Someone
had sat on it. Her heart thumped to her stomach. A hand brushed her
leg. Fear catapulted her to the top of the bed where she scrunched
up into a terrified ball against the cold, damp wall.
    ‘ Ssh, it’s okay, I not ’urt
you.’ The voice of a young foreign girl whispered.
    Charlie opened her eyes. The girl sitting
next to her looked no older than herself. She had blonde, messy
hair and vivid make-up plastered over her face.
    ‘ Where am I?’
    ‘ I don’t know. We don’t
know.’
    ‘ We?’
    ‘ Yes, look around you. There
are many ’ere.’ The girl appeared afraid and agitated, looking over
her shoulder after every other word.
    Charlie raised her muzzy head. Her stinging
eyes took a while to grow accustomed to the darkness.
    She saw the room resembled a long, narrow
passageway. The bed she occupied stood at the end and on either
side right up to the door at the other end forty or fifty,
prison-like bunk beds lined the walls. On each bunk, she could just
make out the forms of girls, all of whom looked tiny. At the far
end a single bulb swayed on a wire suspended from the ceiling. It
gave off a dim glow. Further light trickled in from two windows,
which had metal bars across them.
    The rank smell of stale body odour tinged her
nostrils causing her to gag.
    ‘ What’s your
name?’
    ‘ My name is Carma. I am from
Romania. And yours?’
    ‘ It’s Charlie. How long have
you been here, Carma?’ Taking guidance from Carma, she kept her
voice as a whisper. She had so many questions she wanted to ask but
the sentences jumbled up in her muzzy head.
    ‘ I don’t know ’ow long,
maybe two