Brotherhood of Blades by Linda Regan Read Free Book Online Page B

body began to shake. ‘No.’
    Georgia looked at the girl. Chantelle was exceptionally pretty. She had seen far too many attractive teenagers lose their looks through drug use, then turn to prostitution to pay for the habit. This girl was a new user; the needle marks on her legs were still faint.
    ‘Chantelle, I need you to give me a full written statement,’ Georgia told her. ‘Normally I would let you come to the station in the morning, but as things are, I am going to take you tonight.’
    ‘Don’t take me in,’ Chantelle pleaded. ‘I haven’t done anything.’
    ‘You can’t stay here,’ Georgia said. ‘This is now an official crime scene.’
    Tears tumbled from the girls eyes. ‘I don’t want to go to the police station. Can’t I stay somewhere else?’
    ‘Is there anyone on the estate that you can stay with?’ Georgia asked her. There would be police around the estate for the next few days at least, she thought, and as long as Chantelle didn’t do a runner they would be able to find her. It might be more useful to leave her here.
    ‘Luanne Akhter. She lives on this block. We were going to go out together tonight. She’ll be worried.’
    Chantelle gave them the flat number and Stephanie scribbled it down in her notebook. Hank Peacock was on the walkway; she ripped out the page and gave it to him, with instructions to go and check if Luanne was in her flat.
    ‘Who is Luanne?’ Georgia asked Chantelle.
    ‘She’s my friend. I was on my way out to meet her.’
    ‘You were going out? At this time of night? Where to?’
    Chantelle became flustered. ‘C-clubbing. We were going up the West End.’
    Georgia sighed. ‘Do you have other relatives?’ she asked wearily.
    ‘Luanne’s like a sister to me. She has a real sister too, Alysha. They’re like family to me.’
    Georgia nodded. ‘You said earlier you were going to work.’
    Chantelle hesitated. ‘We were going to a couple of clubs, to try to get work.’
    ‘Do you not have a job?’ Georgia asked.
    Chantelle’s dark cheeks glowed. ‘I’m saving up to go to dance college. I need lots of money for that, and the clubs pay well. Waitressing or table dancing.’
    Stephanie returned. ‘She’s there, ma’am. She said to come up, that Chantelle was welcome to stay there as long as she liked.’
    Chantelle smiled with relief.
    Luanne was black too, much taller than Chantelle but not as pretty and more African looking. She had a long, oval face, with prominent teeth and brown eyes so alert they seem to pierce into you as she spoke. Her mauve nail extensions were longer than the blue denim mini-skirt she wore, and her skimpy cream chiffon bodice advertised more than a few inches of bare brown midriff. The blouse didn’t fully cover the stark purple uplift bra under it, and purple lace spilled over the edge of the blouse, matching the skimpy mauve shrug around her otherwise bare shoulders. Six-inch stiletto-heeled shoes in pearlized lilac adorned her feet, and like Chantelle’s, Luanne’s black patterned hold-up stockings hardly reached the hem of her micro-mini skirt.
    It was now two a.m. Outside the rain was spitting and the wind was harsh and biting. According to the calendar it was early spring, but it didn’t feel that way.
    Luanne greeted Chantelle with a hug and took her through to the living room. Georgia and Stephanie followed.
    ‘I hear you were going out,’ Georgia said.
    Luanne offered them both a seat. ‘We were planning to go to a late party before I heard about this,’ she answered, looking away.
    ‘How did you hear about it?’ Stephanie asked.
    ‘My sister told me. She was out on the estate earlier, and word goes round.’ Luanne fussed around Chantelle, her large hooped imitation gold earrings dangling against her long neck. They jangled against the other three pairs, which hung from different holes further up her ears. Georgia guessed she was around twenty, although her lived-in face looked as if it had seen many more