Pop Goes the Weasel | страница 106

‘About us.’

Charlie said nothing in response, unsure where this was going.

‘I want us to be happy, Charlie.’

Tears suddenly filled Charlie’s eyes. They were tears of happiness and tears of relief.

‘So do I.’

‘I want to forget all the stuff that’s happened and be like we were before. To live the life we always wanted to lead.’

‘Me too,’ Charlie said, just about managing to get the words out. She clung to Steve now and he to her.

‘And I want us to try for a baby.’

Charlie’s sobbing subsided slightly, but she said nothing.

‘We always wanted kids. We can’t be ruled by bad things that happened before, we have a life to lead. I want to have a baby with you, Charlie. I want us to start trying again.’

Charlie buried her head in Steve’s chest. The truth was that she desperately wanted a baby too, desperately wanted them to be a happy normal family. But she was also aware that this wasn’t compatible with her career and that Steve had just thrown down the gauntlet.

He would never put it so crudely, but Steve had just told Charlie that it was time to choose.

The eyes. It was all there in the eyes. Set in a slender face and framed by long, black tresses, they demanded your attention, fixing you with an intense piercing gaze. There were other features that should have drawn your attention – the full lips, the strong nose, the slightly pointed chin – but it was those big, beautiful eyes and the intensity of her stare that gripped you.

‘How accurate a likeness is this?’ said Ceri Harwood, looking up from the e-fit that she’d been studying.

‘Very,’ Helen replied. ‘Melissa was up all night with our best artist. I only let her go once we were one hundred per cent sure we’d got it right.’

‘And what do we know about Lyra Campbell?’

‘Not a lot, but we’re working on it. We’ve got uniform out looking for Anton Gardiner and this morning we’re going to sweep his area of operation, talk to every girl who’s ever worked for him, see if anyone can tell us any more about her.’

‘And what’s your working theory?’

‘In some ways it’s not that extraordinary. She falls into prostitution, then makes another bad choice in taking Anton as her pimp. Her brutalizes her. This in combination with the job takes its toll on her psychologically. The drug and alcohol abuse, the stress, the sexual assaults, the diseases and then one day Anton crosses the line. Does something to her that makes her snap. She attacks him, probably kills him. Either way she takes out the years of misery on him and this sets her off. We know from forensics that she talks or shouts at her victims – perhaps she denigrates them, revenges herself upon them…’