A Roman Shadow by H L Marsay

Author:H L Marsay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery
ISBN: 9781956387117
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2021-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Down 5.

This structure stopped them all going South or West (5 letters)

“What are you staring at?”

Shadow felt himself blush. He’d been studying Maggie’s hands as she was writing out his receipt. He thought he was being discreet, but it obviously hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“I was just looking at your hands to see if they were—” he struggled to think of the right words “—um, age-appropriate.”

Maggie gave him a withering look.

“Have you never thought of opening a charm school, John?”

“Sorry, it’s only because someone mentioned the missing Chinese girl’s hands,” he tried to explain, although he wasn’t about to admit that he’d become slightly obsessed with looking at people’s hands and feet. From Jacqui’s scars to Le Vel’s pudgy fingers and Glenn’s tiny feet to Ben’s massive ones.

“Well, I’m long overdue a manicure,” said Maggie as she assessed her fingernails with a frown. “The nail bar I normally go to was shut down suddenly.”

“Would this be the same place Stephanie Dunnington visited?”

“That little madam! Heavens she must have been their best customer—she was never out of the place,” replied Maggie. Her lips folded into a line and she raised an eyebrow. Her look told Shadow everything he needed to know about Maggie’s opinion of Stephanie. “Apparently they were employing illegal immigrants there,” she added. “Well I say employing; as it turns out it was more like exploiting them. Not paying the minimum wage, terrible working conditions. I used to go at least once a month. I should have noticed something wasn’t right.”

“Did any of the girls ever say anything to you?”

“No, I don’t think they spoke much English and you know how I like to rattle on.”

Shadow tried not to smile. That may have been the understatement of the year.

“Where were they from?” he asked, wondering if there could be any connection to Jing. Now, it was Maggie’s turn to look embarrassed.

“I’m ashamed to say I don’t for sure. Vietnam I think, but it’s hard to say. They only said the odd word and they all had their long dark hair tied back and wore masks covering their mouths and noses. I should have paid more attention. I felt terrible for them when I heard about what happened. Once when I was there, I tried asking one of the girls where her home was. I’m sure she said Ho Chi Minh City, but the only thing I knew about the place was that it used to be called Saigon. Then all I could think to tell her was how much I liked the musical, you know, Miss Saigon. How flippant of me to witter on about a trip to the West End when she was probably scared and lonely.”

Maggie was clearly cross with herself. The writing on his receipt was becoming more and more erratic. As she spoke, Shadow suddenly remembered the girls working in Le Vel’s chocolatier’s kitchen with their hair covered along with the lower half of their faces. He’d been as guilty as Maggie of not paying them closer attention.

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