This is a crime thriller with some romantic sex, and a smidgeon of violent non consensual sex and interesting by-play between various characters whom I hope you'll enjoy.
Ten chapters long it tells the story of an investigation, with many characters weaving in and out the story.
Definition of a Sociopath – someone unconcerned about the adverse consequences for others of one's actions and with a total lack of moral compass.
*
Under the Arches near the Embankment a handful of people started to settle down for the night. Cardboard boxes found thrown out by local shops, and newspapers laid down on the concrete and cobbled ground helped to make more comfortable and warmer beds to lay upon. A girl of about twenty with greasy straight black hair, pierced eyebrows and thick opaque tights on long spindly legs pulled the blanket over her as she leaned back into the shadows of the recess. Hugging her arms around herself she asked the young lad with a shaved head and tattooed neck, "Have you seen Janice?"
"Not since yesterday over in front of Holborn station. She was trying to raise some cash for a bed over at the hostel."
Watching as he lifted the can of extra strong cider up to his mouth she asked him, "Got any for me?"
Passing the can across to her he told her, "Janice is finding it hard to keep warm. I told her to get over to St Mungo's and they'll give her a place for the night if they have space."
"Maybe that's where she is then." And handing back the half empty can she watched as the office workers made their weary way down to the nearest underground station and the journey home. She had been on the street since she had left Local Authority Care with whom she had been looked after since she was three years old, her mother unable to cope with her five kids due to drink. Coming down from Leeds to the Capital City to find a more exciting life she had ended up living on the street, turning the odd trick for a handful of coins, begging and spending them on drink to wipe out the stress of being homeless.
Settling down further into the thin blanket, the absence of her friend Janice floating towards the back recesses of her mind she muttered, "Maybe I'll catch up with her tomorrow."
*
Janice lay in her hospital bed, head wounds stitched, arm in a cast and drips in her other arm feeding her nutrients. Her hair spread across the white cotton of the pillow below her head and her small frame hardly made a dent in the sheet and blanket covering her. Kelly watched her as she moaned and moved a little, her hands grabbing at the material covering her as she rose up into consciousness.
Shouting out in her distress the patient moved fitfully, "No.......stop, please stop......help."
Moving to the side of the bed Kelly leaned down and told the waking girl, "It's ok. You're safe now. You're in the hospital."
Eyes flew open and stared up at the female Police Detective standing next to her.
"Oh God, help me...."
"It's alright, you're safe, I'm a Policewoman. No one is going to hurt you."
"Where is he?"
"Who?"
Glancing around the scared girl seemed to be searching out for someone. "Charlie.......he said his name was Charlie.......he took me to that place and then he.....he.....I couldn't stop him....he hurt me...."
In a calming voice Kelly asked the sobbing girl, "What's your name?"
"Janice."
"Well Janice can you tell me what happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Ok. But who is Charlie, can you tell me who he is?"
"I saw him a few times around, over the last couple of days. I was so cold. He told me he knew a place where we could sleep that was warm. A building that was closed up and other squatters lived. He took me there."
