Echoes of Guilt by Rob Sinclair

Author:Rob Sinclair [Sinclair, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788639019
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Ana said nothing as she stared. Felt nothing, really, which was quite surprising to her. And it wasn’t that she wasn’t shocked. She was numb.

She’d never seen so much blood. In fact she could scarcely believe it possible that a human body could contain so much.

Red splashes streaked the walls, the ceiling, the floor, which also had a large puddle growing beneath the grotty single bed.

The bed. Upon which lay the lifeless crimson-soaked body of Maria.

Even with all of the red that covered her, Ana recognised the young face. The woman – a teenager, really – had arrived in England all of twenty-four hours ago. Ana had been the one who’d basically stolen her freedom from her, and sent her on her way to this place.

Ana couldn’t explain why, but she’d looked through each and every one of the confiscated passports from yesterday. As though knowing the names and birthdays of these young women somehow brought Ana closer to them, somehow gave her more of a justification for the things she was doing. The things she was doing for Victor.

Ana jumped when he stormed back into the room, Alex in tow.

‘I don’t fucking believe this,’ he shouted. ‘One day she’s been here. All of that effort for nothing.’

Ana felt sick at that. She knew exactly what Victor was thinking. Money. He didn’t care one bit about poor Maria, what she’d been through in this room, the life that had been forever torn away from her. He only cared about himself. The hassle he’d had in bringing Maria here, which was now all to waste.

‘Ana, stop staring into space like a damn statue. Clean this place up.’

Ana nodded then picked up the rubber gloves that lay on the edge of the bucket that was filled with frothy water.

As though water and soap was going to make this scene disappear.

‘Who was he?’ Alex asked Victor.

‘A regular. Jim, is all these idiots know. They’ve told me what he looks like, but they know fuck all else.’

‘Somehow we’ll find him.’

Ana had already gleaned a little of what had happened. Jim was apparently a regular user of Victor’s girls. A not at all uncommon type, sadly. The type who couldn’t get a girlfriend through the normal means, basically because he was an obscene and violent drunk. So he resorted to paying for sex. Only he knew, just like everyone else did, that he was an obscene and violent drunk, so he was made to pay more, and was generally happy to do so. And he was made to pay more for good reason, because every now and then the women he used would end up with black eyes, or cut lips or bleeding genitalia, when he took his life’s frustrations out on them.

Extra money. Not for the victims, but for Victor, for the hassle of him having banged-up prostitutes rather than pristine ones.

‘She was only eighteen,’ Ana said, unable to take her eyes off Maria’s body.

‘Forever young,’ Alex said.

That comment got him a glower from Victor.

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