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‘Where the fuck were you?’
‘I was in bed. Fill me in.’
‘Eloise was one of the performers booked to start work last night. She’s a pornstar, so it’s likely she has fans, but we hadn’t publicised that she’d be here, and neither had she. She signed out at five in the morning and had an Uber booked. It left when she didn’t show. The police are in contact with him, but he seems clear for it.’
‘I thought the club closed at three?’
‘It does, but some performers hung around and celebrated once we shut down. They were on a high. Fuck, I feel terrible. She was a nice girl. Had almost finished her uni course and took on the job to help clear her debts quicker. I should have done more. Had them escorted out.’
‘Listen, Ewen, this isn’t your fault. It’s the asshole who killed her that’s at fault. We’ll put in our own drivers to escort performers home if needs be. First, we need to find out who the hell has wiped our footage.’
Scouring the footage didn’t turn up any results. It jumped from an empty alleyway at four forty-five, to an image of her body laying against the cobbles with a large gash across her throat at five twenty. It was as if the minutes in between had never existed.
I called down my best hackers and had them look into it. We needed the footage in between.
A police officer sidled up to Ewen and me before looking around and lowering his voice. ‘I’m not going to be able to make this disappear. There is too much heat on it. It isn’t the first victim either. We’ve had three in the past few weeks. All killed in the same way, with clothing removed, but no evidence of penetration. It looks sexually motivated, but the attacker isn’t following through with it, from what we can tell. Same wiped CCTV in the other cases too.’
Ewen rubbed at his eyes as he sat down hard on a bar stool.
‘Listen,’ the police officer said, ‘You guys have more means to sort this out quickly than we do. If you find anything, let me know. This sick fucker won’t stop until we catch him.’
He slid a card containing his personal number onto the bar before nodding and walking off.
‘I’m guessing he knows we aren’t just nightclub owners, then?’ I said.
‘Yeah, he’s on the retainer.’
I placed a hand on my brother’s shoulder, squeezing it as he picked up the card and put it in his pocket. ‘We’ll catch him and cut him to pieces for killing one of ours.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
KATIE
Nerves gripped my stomach as I waited for Tommy at the exclusive wine bar. I couldn’t ignore our crumbling, toxic relationship any longer.
I’d left the club after my run in with Mac, and took a taxi back to Macey’s, commiserating with her over what I’d seen, but keeping the details of what I’d done to myself. We’d ordered a late night pizza and eaten our weight in cheese while watching reruns of old American sitcoms. By morning, I’d known what I had to do it.
End it.
Once and for all.
The thin plastic straw indented my fingers as I toyed with it, turning it over and over while trying to take steady breaths. Then Tommy walked in and smiled at me, heading straight for me. Vomit threatened to evict my stomach as he neared.
He’d been the one constant since my father’s death, even if it hadn’t been healthy. I’d needed him. I still needed someone.
‘Hey babe,’ he said, leaning down to kiss me as I turned, so he caught my cheek rather than my mouth.
‘Hey.’
‘Where did you go last night? Couldn’t find you girls anywhere.’
The fact he hadn’t even got in touch to ask was another reason it had to end. ‘I went back to Macey’s.’
‘I went by your house this morning, but you didn’t answer.’
‘When?’ I’d been home by ten a.m.
‘At sixish, I think.’
