Free Dressed To Kill (A Kate O'Donnell Mystery) by Patricia Hall Page A

him, la. I can check it all out if you like.’
    Sylvia was silent for a moment and then she nodded. ‘Go on then,’ she said.
    Back at the nick, wondering what to tell the DCI about his anxieties, Barnard picked up the phone at the first ring and when Kate explained what Sylvia knew about the dead girl he sounded immediately interested.
    ‘Meet me at the Blue Lagoon,’ he said. ‘Coming to the police station will likely frighten your little friend to death, but she’ll probably have to come in to make a statement in the end. We’ll do a bit of persuading. It strikes me that these people you’re working for are recruiting under-age girls, if nothing worse.’
    ‘Ten minutes,’ Kate said.
    The three of them arrived at almost the same moment and Barnard bought them all frothy coffee in the coffee bar’s trademark glass cups before sitting down with them at a Formica table and offering Sylvia a cigarette and lighting it carefully for her. The girl’s hand shook and he glanced at Kate sharply.
    ‘Is she OK?’ he asked.
    ‘She has some problems,’ Kate said.
    ‘All right,’ Barnard said. ‘We’ll make this as painless as we can.’ He turned to Sylvia. ‘Kate tells me you knew a girl called Jenny Maitland. Is that right?’
    Sylvia nodded, her eyes full of tears. ‘She went to my school, didn’t she?’ she said. ‘She was a year ahead and was one of those who came up west with Ricky Smart. I knew him when he came back again the next year. We all quite fancied being models, didn’t we? If Jean Shrimpton could do it we didn’t see why we shouldn’t.’
    ‘And Jenny was still working for this Russian bloke when you arrived?’
    ‘Yes, she was there on and off. But I don’t think she was very happy. She kept having rows with Ricky. Andrei seemed to quite like her, indulged her, but I expect he was sleeping with her then.’
    ‘That was what generally happened, was it?’ Barnard asked.
    ‘That’s what usually happened, yes.’
    ‘And when they got tired of them? What happened then?’
    ‘They were soon out the door,’ Sylvia said. ‘We never saw them again. We never knew where they went. They just weren’t good enough, according to Andrei. Not up to scratch, though I always thought that it was the prettiest ones who went. Jenny Maitland was lovely looking.’
    Barnard nodded, thinking of the photograph of the girl taken on the mortuary slab. Even in death she had been attractive. But her looks had not been enough to keep her off the streets.
    ‘How about you? Have you had the same sort of treatment?’ Barnard asked.
    Sylvia looked away, flushed and a tear ran down her cheek.
    Barnard’s lips tightened. ‘Right,’ he said.
    ‘She’s pregnant,’ Kate said quietly, and Barnard sighed. ‘Is there a chance you can pay her for her information? She needs the money.’
    ‘Won’t this Andrei do anything?’ Barnard asked.
    ‘He doesn’t know yet, but he won’t. He’ll throw me out on the street. I’m no use to him now, am I? I’ll be looking like a balloon in a couple of months,’ Sylvia mumbled into her coffee cup.
    Barnard flashed a slightly desperate look at Kate. ‘Information received?’ he said quietly. ‘I suppose that’s fair.’ he turned to Sylvia again. ‘What’s the going rate for what you want?’
    ‘Thirty pounds,’ Sylvia whispered.
    Barnard whistled. ‘I’ll be round to see your boss later,’ he said. ‘He’s got some serious questions to answer about Jenny Maitland. I’ll see what I can do about the cash.’ He looked at Kate much more seriously than he usually did. ‘No promises,’ he said. ‘Meet me here about five o’clock. I might have some answers then.’
    ‘Make it half past,’ she said. ‘I’m going to see Ken Fellows at five to see if I can get myself out of Lubin’s clutches. I don’t think I can bear to stay there another two weeks.’

SIX
    R icky Smart put an arm around Kate and stroked her left breast and laughed uproariously when she