Blood Whispers by John Gordon Sinclair Read Free Book Online

legs, then noticed Sellar gazing at them and crossed them back again.
    ‘Modest, too: I like that. And a looker: always an advantage. I can see why you attract a lot of business.’
    Keira let the ‘looker’ comment pass for the moment. She was soberly dressed in a light-grey shapeless wool suit and not wearing any make-up, but was well aware of Sellar’s reputation for being a lech.
    ‘Do you want something to drink?’
    ‘No thank you.’
    ‘The Albanian girl is an interesting case. What’s your pitch?’
    Now that the pleasantries were out of the way, Sellar was straight into it. Keira responded likewise.
    ‘I want the charges against her dropped before it goes to court.’
    ‘On what grounds?’
    ‘On the grounds that both she and I feel as though she’s being blackmailed into appearing as a witness against Fisnik Abazi.’
    ‘So? If we drop the charges she’s free to go, and if she’s free to go she’ll disappear. If she disappears a major component for the case against a major criminal disappears also.’
    ‘So you are blackmailing her.’
    ‘I wouldn’t put it quite so strongly as that: more like using whatever leverage we have as effectively as possible. You look mildly surprised, but that’s the way it plays.’
    Keira was more than mildly surprised. She had been expecting him to argue the opposite, but he appeared to be confirming what she believed.
    Sellar continued, ‘She was working as a prostitute. There’s CCTV footage of her stealing from a shop. She broke into a house and stole money, a passport and various items of clothing. She was caught red-handed trying to leave the country using said passport, having attacked a man at the bar. He was lucky to survive. Prostitution, assault, theft, burglary, et cetera, et cetera: we didn’t trump up any of these charges, they’re real.’
    ‘Abazi hasn’t even been arrested yet. She could be stuck in jail for months before anything happens on that front; I don’t think prison is where this young woman ought to be.’
    ‘I haven’t met a defence lawyer yet who doesn’t think their client should be walking the streets rather than serving their sentence.’
    ‘She hasn’t been convicted of anything yet; she’s not serving a sentence.’
    Sellar ignored the interruption and kept talking. ‘Abazi is under twenty-four-hour-a-day surveillance. When all the pieces are in place they’ll move in and make an arrest. I’m led to believe that is imminent. The girl is too important to the prosecution’s case to simply let her walk away. It was she who suggested giving evidence against him in the first place. It’s in everyone’s best interest to press on with charging her. There has been talk of deporting her, but if she co-operates with the Abazi case then I’m sure there will be some room for manoeuvre on that front. That’s as much as you could hope for at this point, Keira. But it’s obviously all speculation on my part. These things are not within my powers to gift . . . yet.’ He then added, ‘I’ve been given the nod that I may be prosecuting the Abazi case, but nothing in writing.’
    ‘Kaltrina Dervishi has given me her word that she will appear as a witness, she wants this guy put away just as much as everyone else, but pursuing the case against her is much less likely to make her co-operate. It’ll make her back away from that position at a hundred miles an hour. And threatening her with deportation will only reinforce her unwillingness.’
    ‘Just to correct you on one point,’ replied Sellar. ‘No one is threatening anything. I merely mentioned deportation because there’s been some background chatter on the subject.’
    Sellar thought he was being smart: letting the fact that there may have been a discussion over deporting the girl linger for a moment in an effort to ramp up the pressure.
    Keira was happy to play along.
    ‘If they deport her she will be murdered.’
    Sellar was shaking his head. ‘We have no cause to