Fragile Minds Page 0,66

as?’ Silver looked around; the bar was heaving.

‘I’ve got a room upstairs,’ she moved a little closer. ‘Don’t want no one listening to my secrets. Know what I’m saying?’

Silver thought he knew exactly what she was saying.

‘I’m sure we can talk down here,’ he said pleasantly.

She bit her pink bottom lip with her tiny white teeth. ‘No.’ She looked around quickly. ‘If you want what I know, it’s got to be somewhere walls don’t have ears.’

Her strappy shoes were so high, her voluptuous body was tipped slightly forward, like a ship’s figurehead. Looking down at her, Silver was unable to avoid that freckled creamy cleavage. To his irritation he felt a vague stirring of something.

‘There’s a pub round the corner,’ he said, with purpose. ‘We could go there.’

‘I don’t do pubs, darling.’ Hands on hips, she waited. ‘Not in this clobber. It’s upstairs, or I’m going.’

In the lift, Silver leant against the wall, as far from Paige as he could manage. He watched her; she watched her own reflection, seemingly fascinated, preening herself. She was almost feline, her yellow eyes half closed. Any second now, she’d start cleaning behind an ear with one delicate paw. But she was alert like a cat too.

The room she had booked was minimalist and rather sterile, with no proper window, the air conditioning rendering it icy. Paige shivered slightly and then leant over Silver to reach the bottle of champagne she must have pre-ordered.

‘Drink?’

‘I don’t, thanks.’

‘Don’t be so dull,’ she pouted, dripping the bottle across his lap. ‘Bollocks to all that on-duty stuff.’

‘It’s not to do with duty,’ he shook his head, ‘it’s personal preference.’

‘Come again?’ She stared at him.

‘I just—’ He didn’t have the mental energy to explain. ‘I don’t like the stuff.’

‘Ex-drinker?’

Perceptive. He could like this girl.

‘Suit yourself.’ She poured herself a long glass and pulled the cord for the ceiling fan, turning the air conditioning down on the wall. ‘I love a real fan, don’t you? Sort of – Arabian nights.’

‘So?’ Silver leant against the white lacquer dressing-table. He was starting to feel a little impatient. ‘What did you want to tell me?’

The fan’s breeze ruffled the flimsy material of the girl’s outfit so it became obvious she wore no underwear beneath it. She exuded sex from every pore, but this was work, Silver reminded himself – and he couldn’t help feeling he was being manipulated. He sensed Paige had a will of iron beneath her artificial façade.

Paige perched on the edge of the huge double bed, her silk legs splayed. ‘Sit beside me,’ she patted the bedspread, ‘I’m lonely over here on my own.’

‘Paige,’ Silver ran a hand through his short hair and checked his watch again. ‘I’m working, lass. And I’ve got to get up to Yorkshire tonight on urgent business. Can you please just share whatever it is you know?’

This was not a girl used to being ignored by men; this was a girl used to using her sexuality to her best advantage. ‘What if I don’t want to tell you now?’ Her little face had darkened.

‘I’d be immensely grateful if you would.’ He smiled at her.

‘What’s it worth?’ She narrowed her unusual eyes at him, ever more cat-like. He had a sudden image of her springing towards him, claws extended.

‘Depends what it is,’ he said, gritting his teeth beneath the grin. ‘Do you know where Misty is?’

‘No,’ she sulked. ‘But I might know who she was screwing.’

‘Who?’

‘Apart from half of Spice’s punters, that is.’ She inspected her nails with nonchalance.

Silver raised an eyebrow. ‘Surely sex for money is vetoed by the club?’

‘Are you joking?’ she snapped. ‘They practically fucking pimp us out.’

‘Right,’ no surprises there. ‘So – Misty?’

Paige eyed him like he was her prey. He could sense her deciding whether to help him or not. And he sensed something else. A slight unease. Fear, even. ‘It’s just—’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘She’d gone a bit – weird recently.’

‘Weird?’

‘Like, holier-than-thou.’

‘You mean, religious?’ Silver was confused. A Bible-bashing lap-dancer seemed unlikely.

‘No, not really,’ Paige shook her head. ‘More like, the world needed saving from itself. It was big and greedy and dirty and we were all going to pay the price, that kind of thing. Humanity was suffering, apparently,’ she sniffed. ‘Silly moo. Ideas she hardly seemed to understand.’

‘OK,’ Silver was intrigued now. ‘And when did that start?’

‘Only quite recently, I think,’ Paige shrugged. Her nipples were like bullets in the green top; an unbidden memory of their pale pink hue flashed through his mind. ‘Since I