Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson

Author:Miranda Emmerson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

My Whole Life’s Just a Series of Interviews

Thursday, 11 November

“Come in and sit down, Mr. Weathers. I’m Detective Sergeant Hayes. I’ve spoken with my colleagues in the Vice department and we’ve agreed that if you are willing to supply information to us, as requested, we would be less inclined to charge you with procuring and exploitation. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I understand.”

“Good. I want to start with the disappearance of Iolanthe Green. Can you tell me how you first became aware of Miss Green?”

“She was talked about by a woman in Roaring Twenties who said she was pregnant and asking around about people who could help.”

“Did you meet Miss Green?”

“No. I didn’t even know what she looked like.”

“So, how do you come to be looking for her?”

“Yesterday afternoon, I’d finished meeting with Count Suckle and I was doing the accounts for the Cue Club when I sat down next to Miss Treadway. You were there too. You were talking to Count Suckle.”

“Did I speak to you?”

“No. But Miss Treadway did and then I told her what I’d heard about Miss Green being . . . you know. In trouble. And then she asked me to help her find her way on the bus and then there was a snowstorm and my landlady made her toast and tea and I tried to see her home from south London. When we got into town Miss Treadway asked me if I would go with her to Roaring Twenties because I knew people there. I went and talked to a friend of mine, Derek, who works in the kitchen and he told me that Miss Green had been seeing a man called Mark who drank on Kingly Street and then while we were at the club Miss Treadway met that girl Samira and said we had to walk her home after we went looking for this Mark person. And we were standing on Kingly Street when we were arrested and brought here.”

“And you sustained your fall.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I believe it was very icy underfoot last night.”

“Treacherous, sir.”

“What I don’t understand is what took you from Paddington to south London and then back again. Where were you and Miss Treadway going?”

“We were looking for Iolanthe Green.”

“In south London. In a snowstorm.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Mr. Weathers, if you continue to withhold information from me I will return you to Vice and I will inform them that you have been uncooperative. Do you know what the prison sentence is for procuring and exploitation? You’re looking at two years as an absolute minimum. Young girl, unfriendly judge, you could get five.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What were you doing in south London?”

“We went to see a doctor.”

“A doctor who performs abortions?”

“I think so, yes.”

“And what was this doctor’s name?”

“I couldn’t say, sir.”

“I think you could, Mr. Weathers. I think you remember exactly who it was.”

“I don’t know that this person has broken the law.”

“Then they’ll come to no harm from us, will they, Mr. Weathers?”

“No.”

“I don’t like to talk about race, Mr. Weathers, because I believe we should all be blind to such things.

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