‘Why did she choose Anton?’
‘She wanted drugs, he could get them.’
‘And how did they get on?’ Tony continued. Melissa just smiled and shook her head – no one ‘got on’ with Anton.
‘Where is Lyra now?’ Helen asked.
‘Don’t know. Haven’t seen her in over a month.’
‘Why?’
‘She took off. Had a row with Anton and then…’
‘What about?’
‘About why he was such a sadistic fuck.’
For the first time, Melissa looked up. Her eyes flashed with anger.
‘Go on,’ Helen continued.
‘Do you know what he does to his new girls?’
Helen shook her head. She had to ask, but didn’t really want to know.
‘He gets them to strip, then bend over and hold their ankles. He tells them they have to stay like that the whole day. He leaves you alone for the first few hours. Leaves you until your legs are cramping, your back is in agony and just when you can’t take it any longer, he does you. An hour later, he does you again. Over and over. That’s how he breaks you.’
It was clear that Melissa was talking from personal experience, her voice trembling as she spoke.
‘And if you ever step out of line or don’t bring in enough cash, he does the same again. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone. He just wants the money.’
‘So what did he do when Lyra left?’
‘No idea. Ain’t seen him.’
‘You’ve not seen him since?’ Helen said, suddenly alert.
‘No.’
‘I need you to be clear on this one, Melissa. Did you see Anton during or after his confrontation with Lyra?’
‘No. She told me about it, not him.’
‘Did you look for him?’
‘Not at first. You don’t go looking for someone like that. But after a few days, I asked a few questions. I needed a fix. But he wasn’t at any of his usual places.’
‘Do you know where Lyra might be hiding out?’
‘Probably somewhere near Portswood. She always lived round there. Never told me where she was sleeping.’
‘And when she was working, did she call herself Lyra?’
‘No, that was just between us. When she was on the job, she was always Angel. An Angel sent from heaven, she used to tell the punters. They loved that.’
Helen called time on the interview shortly afterwards. It was very late and Melissa was completely drained. There would be time for more later and, besides, the priority now was to get an e-fit that they could release to the public. She sent Tony and Melissa to a custody suite with a police artist, then returned to her office. She wouldn’t sleep tonight, so there was no point going home.
Had they just made the breakthrough that would bring this awful killing spree to an end? All this time they had been trying to get a handle on what had triggered this explosion of violence. Had Anton been the unwitting trigger? Had he precipitated this savage rage? If so, chances were he was lying dead in a fleapit somewhere. Helen wouldn’t mourn him, but she needed to find him if the pieces of this jigsaw were to fit together.
