Free Passion Killers by Linda Regan Page A

said.
    “Not a lot more to tell,” Olivia chimed in, hunching forward in her chair. “Brian Finn needs money. He has pornographic videos of us. Katie and I said we’d pay him for their return.”
    Katie coloured and looked at the carpet. “We didn’t do anything illegal,” she said. “Just – terribly embarrassing. Especially now.”
    “We’re not judging you,” Alison said sharply. “We’re here to investigate Shaheen Hakhti’s murder, that’s all. So if she didn’t turn up for your appointment two weeks ago, when did you last see or speak to her?”
    “When Brian sent the letter, about three weeks ago,” Katie said looking at Olivia for agreement.
    Olivia nodded reluctantly. “There were six of us,” she said. “We worked together in that club, nineteen years ago. The manager made videos of us all.”
    “All except Shaheen.” Katie looked at Olivia again. She picked up her handbag from the floor beside her and took out a letter. “That’s what Brian sent us.” She held it out to Banham but pulled back before he could take it.
    “Everything you tell us is confidential,” he assured her.
    “Unless it becomes evidence in a murder enquiry,” Alison added, as Katie handed over the letter. “Brian Finn was only blackmailing you two? Is that right?”
    “Yes,” Katie and Olivia said almost in unison.
    “So why the involvement of the other women?”
    “We can afford to pay him,” Katie said. “The others can’t. There are tapes of them too.”
    “But not of Shaheen?”
    “No, but...” Katie looked helplessly at Olivia.
    “Shaheen was one of us. We all worked at the club together. We contacted her, but she didn’t want to know. We left it at that – it was up to her. We never thought for a moment...”
    “You’ve all stayed in touch? After a summer job nearly twenty years ago?” Alison sounded incredulous.
    The dark flecks in Alison’s eyes were clearly visible. It was plain to Banham that she didn’t like Katie. Since both women were being very co-operative, he had no idea why.
    “Stripping is a strange job,” Olivia said thoughtfully. “Strippers bond together; it’s you against the world. We all got on, and we stayed friends.”
    Katie’s voice rose a couple of tones. “We were young and stupid and we needed money for college. The manager made it sound as if those videos were a condition of the stripping job. We all regret it now and are deeply embarrassed, but it bonded us and we stayed in touch.”
    “Tell me about the other women,” Banham said.
    “Theresa and I both got pregnant that summer,” Olivia said. “We had our babies within a few weeks of each other. Her little girl was born handicapped, and I had a healthy, clever son. I wanted to help her, especially since the baby’s father was in prison.”
    “Kim got involved with drugs when she was at college,” Katie went on. “She studied dance, and I did drama. I did everything I could to help get her get clean.”
    “I married into money,” Olivia said, “so I helped them both. There were no grants for drama school or ballet, not even back then. And none of us had parents to help.”
    “What about Shaheen Hakhti?” Banham asked.
    Katie looked at him with those big blue eyes. “She went home to her family in Leicester and got married. No one really stayed close to her. Only Christmas cards. But when Brian’s note arrived, we asked her what she thought we should do. She was one of us back then, after all.”
    “She was supposed to come down to stay with Susan,” Olivia said, “but she didn’t turn up. I can’t say any of us were especially bothered.”
    “Including Susan,” Katie added. “We just assumed she didn’t want to bring up the past.”
    “She had nothing to lose,” Olivia said flatly.
    “Except her life,” said Alison quietly.
    This time the women didn’t look at each other.
    “We know the knickers found in her mouth were about twenty years old,” Alison said.
    “We wore scarlet