Pop Goes the Weasel | страница 89

The first car was on the move now. And the second. Lloyd nodded to Jack to start the engine. It hummed quietly. They waited patiently – Eileen and the twins slipping into the final car – then it was their turn. Pulling away from the kerb, they followed the flotilla of grief towards its final destination – St Stephen’s Baptist church.

He hesitated before typing. How did one begin these things?

Hello Melissa. A mutual friend…

No, that wasn’t right.

Hello Melissa. My name is Paul and I would like to meet you.

That was better. Tony leaned back in his chair, amused by how much effort that had taken. And how nervous he’d been. Satisfied that the thing was now in train, he went to shut his computer down. But as he did so, a response pinged up.

Hello Paul. When would you like to meet?

Tony hesitated, then typed.

Tonight?

What time?

Tony hadn’t expected to be making arrangements so quickly. Still needs must.

Ten?

Pick up me up on the corner of Drayton St and Fenner Lane. I’ll be wearing a green coat. What car you drive?

Vauxhall.

Colour?

Silver.

Looking for company? Or something special?

Company.

How long?

Couple of hours?

£150 for two hours.

Ok.

Cash.

Sure.

See you later, Paul.

See you later, Melissa.

XXX .

End of conversation. Tony caught himself smiling. He was in his own bloody kitchen. Instant-messaging prostitutes. Still it wasn’t the kind of thing you could do in a café, so…

Tony switched off the computer. Nicola’s mum would be here soon and she didn’t need any more ammunition. Best go and get some rest.

Tony had a big night ahead of him.

Charlie was in full flow when Helen entered the incident room. The team had broken from their tasks to hear the latest developments.

‘We’ve had a trawl through Gareth Hill’s hard drive. His computer seems to have been his one and only window on the world – he used it a lot. And one of his favourite sites was the Bitchfest web forum.’

She had everyone’s attention now.

‘This prostitute rating site was also visited by Alan Matthews and Christopher Reid – they used the pseudonyms “BadBoy” and “BigMan”. Gareth Hill’s moniker was “Blade”. They entered into extremely graphic conversations with other men about the girls in Southampton. They were particularly interested in girls up for denigration and rough sex and received various pointers from other users, specifically from “Dangerman”, “HappyGoLucky”, “Hammer”, “PussyKing”, “fillyerboots” and “BlackArrow”. Several girls were discussed but the one who came up time and again was a prostitute who calls herself “Angel”.’