‘I’d like to speak to the manager,’ Charlie said, presenting her warrant card to underline her request.
‘He’s not here. May I be of assistance?’
Still the same forced smile. Irritated, Charlie walked round the desk and down the corridor that led to more rooms at the back.
‘You can’t go down there -’
But Charlie carried on. It was pleasant enough – a series of treatment rooms and off them a communal kitchen. A young mixed-race boy was sitting at the table playing with a train. He looked up, saw Charlie and grinned a huge grin. Charlie couldn’t help smiling back.
‘The manager will be back tomorrow. Perhaps you can come back then?’ Edina had caught up with Charlie.
‘Maybe. In the meantime, I’d like to ask you some questions about an employee. A woman by the name of Agneska Suriav.’
Edina looked blank, so Charlie handed her a photocopy of Agneska’s payslip.
‘Yes, yes. Agneska is one of our therapists. She is on holiday at the moment.’
‘Actually she’s dead. She was murdered two days ago.’
For the first time, Charlie saw a genuine reaction – shock. There was a long pause as Edina processed this, then she muttered:
‘How did she die?’
‘She was strangled, then mutilated.’
Charlie waited for that to land, before continuing:
‘When did you last see her?’
‘Three or four days ago.’
‘Friend of yours?’
Edina shrugged, clearly not wanting to commit either way.
‘What did she do here?’
‘She was a dietitian.’
‘Popular?’
‘Yes,’ Edina replied, though she looked bemused by the question.
‘How much did she charge?’
‘We have a price list here. I can show -’
‘Did she give the full service or did she specialize in certain areas?’
‘I don’t understand what you mean.’
‘I’ve checked out Agneska and I don’t see too many diplomas in dietary science. Her real name was Alexia Louszko and she was a prostitute – a good one by all accounts. She was also Polish. Like you.’
Edina said nothing, clearly not liking where this was going.
‘Let’s start again, shall we?’ Charlie resumed. ‘Why don’t you tell me what Alexia did here?’
There was a long, long silence. Then finally Edina said:
‘Like I said, the manager will be back tomorrow.’
Charlie laughed.
‘You’re good, Edina, I’ll give you that.’
Her eyes flitted to the corridor of treatment rooms.
‘What would happen if I walked into one of those treatment rooms right now? Room 3 is in use. If I were to kick it open right now, what would I find? Shall we go and see?’
‘Be my guest. If you have a warrant.’
