The Labyrinth of Drowning Read Online Free PDF Page B

I walked out. I asked Lynette if I could see one of the other girls instead. It just wasn’t fun.’
    ‘Who’s Lynette?’ Grace said.
    ‘The receptionist. She said I could swap if I wanted to. I didn’t have to pay again.’
    ‘Was there any other reason you thought Coco might have been illegal?’
    ‘Her English wasn’t very good. I thought if you were here legally, you’d have to have some English. And she was new. She started just a couple of months ago.’
    ‘Why did you keep seeing her?’ Grace prodded gently.
    ‘No one’s going to know?’
    ‘No,’ she said. ‘Passing on this information would be a criminal offence.’
    The reassurance seemed to help. He held his hands together on the table, looking ahead. His face went red.
    ‘You didn’t have to wear a condom,’ he said.
    ‘I don’t think you told the police that,’ Grace said quietly.
    ‘I didn’t trust them to keep their mouths shut.’
    Orion had given him a paper-thin sense of safety where he could reveal himself. His sense of guilt must have weighed on him every night before he went to sleep.
    ‘Were there any other workers you didn’t have to wear a condom for?’ Grace asked.
    ‘No. Not that I knew about anyway.’
    ‘You weren’t worried about your health? Or your wife’s?’
    ‘Marie said Coco had regular health checks. Me and my wife don’t have sex that often. She doesn’t seem to like it much.’ His voice was flat.
    ‘Who’s Marie?’
    ‘ Miss Marie Li. The manageress.’ He drew quotation marks in the air. ‘She hasn’t been there that long. She’s mainly decorative. Lynette’s the one who makes things happen.’
    ‘Except in this case,’ Grace said.
    ‘Lynette said Coco wasn’t anything to do with her. I should always talk to Marie about her.’
    ‘How did you hear about Coco in the first place?’
    His face was still red. ‘It was on the net. They’ve got a website. Ask Marie for something special . I thought I’d see what it was.’
    ‘How often do you visit?’
    ‘Once a fortnight. I build up my flexitime at work and go before I come home.’
    ‘How do you pay?’
    ‘Cash.’
    Doesn’t your wife notice the money? She must know .
    ‘What sort of an establishment is it?’
    ‘Well run. It’s got a lot of girls, a spa. It’s private.’
    ‘Private?’
    ‘You don’t have to walk in off the street. You’d know what I mean if you went there.’
    ‘Were there any other workers there from overseas?’
    ‘Oh yeah. I’ll tell you what, they’re beautiful girls. I know men who go there just for them. There’s an African girl—she’s out of this world. But you have to pay extra, a lot extra. Coco and the other girls, you didn’t.’ He looked away, his heavy body seeming to be weighed down. ‘Is that it? I should get back to work.’
    ‘One last question. Did Coco ever wear any jewellery when you saw her?’
    ‘She didn’t wear anything.’
    ‘No rings?’
    ‘Nope.’
    She glanced at his left hand. He was wearing his wedding ring. Did he take it off before he visited? Not a question to ask.
    ‘Thank you, Doug. That’s all. You will have to wait until the transcript’s printed out because you have to read and sign it as an accurate record. But that won’t take very long.’
    ‘My family’s not going to hear about this?’
    Grace shook her head. ‘No. That’s a promise. Shall I get Carol outside to get you a coffee?’
    ‘Yeah. White, one sugar.’
    ‘It’s on its way.’
    Grace left quickly. She had another meeting, in a room much deeper into the centre of the building, where Clive was waiting for her. She’d already sent him a brief summary of her morning’s work.
    In contrast to the noise outside—the aircraft flying overhead and the daily clamour of the city’s traffic—this room had a quietness that ate sound. Again there were no windows but this time the lights were muted. Grace sat down without speaking a greeting. The table was often bare; its function was to serve