said firmly, ‘is something they had in common, even if their deaths were different.’
‘So, you saw no pattern linking all four of the women, then?’ Solly asked after a moment’s consideration.
‘I wish I had,’ Helen replied. ‘There was something wrong with it all,’ she added with a frown. ‘Carol’s death was a shock to everyone. So brutal, so … ’ She searched for the right words to describe the girl’s murder. ‘So vicious. Look, we all see terrible things in our line of work, but that was the worst any of my team had ever experienced. How she stayed alive for those few hours, only God knows. Then when Miriam was found in the Clyde … well she’d been strangled and dumped, you know that, yes?’
Solly nodded as she continued.
‘Maybe it was because her murder was different, but I felt at the time that it could have been the same person who killed them both. George Parsonage, the Glasgow humane society officer, told me at the time that her body was probably pushed into the Clyde near the city centre. He knows all there is to know about tides, currents and stuff,’ she added.
‘And Jenny Haslet?’ Solly prompted.
‘Aye, wee Jenny. Poor wee lassie. Had been trying to get off the drugs with help from the folk in the Big Blue Bus. You’ve heard of that, I assume?’
‘Yes, I have.’
‘As I said, Jenny and Miriam had both found jobs in a sauna. Same one as it happens. Place called Andie’s. We thought we’d found a link at first.’ Helen shrugged. ‘But nothing came of it. Owner told us later that Jenny had simply failed to turn up for work one day. Seems their girls can be a bit unreliable that way,’ she grimaced.
‘And Jenny Haslet was strangled, like Miriam,’ Solly said slowly.
‘Aye. Not far from where she lived in Govanhill. If any of them was the odd one out then it would’ve been Jenny. Away from the city centre, maybe pulling punters near where she lived. Who knows? Forensics found she’d been choked to death with her own black tights. Someone had raped her first. Some big ugly brute, if the pathologist’s report was right. Hey, hold on,’ she said suddenly. ‘That was Dr Fergusson, wasn’t it? Your … ’
‘My wife,’ Solly said. ‘Yes. That’s right. I do remember Rosie telling me about that particular case. She was so sure that someone would be found and that she would have to give evidence in court.’ He shrugged. ‘But it didn’t happen.’
‘Well perhaps if we put our heads together and find some common strand in all of this then something will come of it,’ Helen James replied, but there was such doubt in her voice tinged with bitterness, that Solly Brightman wondered if the DCI was already resigned to these murders remaining unsolved, at least by her own team of officers.
Andie’s Sauna was located in a side street off Govan Road. It was less than a mile away from the BBC and STV studios and the luxury flats that had sprung up on both sides of the Clyde, but it might have been on a different planet. That, thought Solomon Brightman, was one of the more fascinating aspects of Glasgow, where those who had plenty of life’s riches rubbed shoulders geographically with those who had nothing. At first glance the sauna might have been a launderette, its double-fronted glass windows showing a couple of blonde women sitting with their backs to the street, mugs of something hot clutched in their hands looking for all the world as though they were passing time waiting for their washing to be done. But, crouching a little to peer inside, Solly saw that they were sitting reading magazines, their bare legs crossed, spangly stiletto sandals revealing garishly painted toenails.
‘Looking fur a quick ride, pal?’ A voice behind Solly said with a guffaw, making him straighten up in alarm.
A short man with grizzled grey hair and yellowing teeth leered up at him then nodded towards the door. ‘Awright if ye can afford them sort of prices, eh? Eh?’
Solly opened his mouth to speak then thought better of it as the smell of drink wafted off the old man. ‘On ye go son, dinna mind me,’ the man said, then, giving Solly a swift dig in his side, he staggered off cackling to himself.
As Solly opened the door he noticed the two women looking up at him as soon as they heard the tinkle of the door chime.
‘I’m