knew who they had meant: the dead girl whose face had been in all the papers. Her shivering became so bad that her teeth began to chatter. A spiteful little wind had begun to lift the debris from where she stood, swirling it into crazy patterns as Lily stared into the cobbled lane. That was where her body had been found, wasn’t it? She wrapped her arms around her chest, wishing she’d remembered to bring a scarf. You look the part, one of them had told her after they’d chosen her outfit and made her twirl before that big mirror in the bedroom three of them shared. The approving glance in her eye had made Lily smile then, basking in the glow that the pills had given her. The clothes had seemed quite glamorous, certainly a lot more expensive than anything she had ever owned before. But that feeling had dissipated as the night had worn on and now she saw herself for what she really was, a fifteenyear-old girl who had run out of options and needed to sell her flesh to survive.
A car had stopped opposite and taken the other girl away so now Lily stood on her own, waiting and wondering. Would he be nice to her? Would he be gentle? Some of them were old enough to be her father, one of the girls had giggled. Her grandfather more like, another had hooted and back there in the flat it had all sounded like a bit of harmless fun. But there was nothing nice about being out here at the mercy of the elements, waiting for a stranger to offer her money for sex.
Only the gritter lorry had passed in the last half an hour and Lily had begun to wonder if it would be safe to return to the flat, telling them she’d not had any custom, when a sleek grey Jaguar turned into the street and began to slow down. Lily stepped forward. Maybe he was a stranger in this city? Perhaps all he was going to do was ask for directions?
A middle-aged man wearing an open-necked shirt smiled at her as though he could see what she was and didn’t mind. Lily could see a thick gold chain around his neck and a heavy gold signet ring on the hand that was beckoning her closer.
She was supposed to ask him if he wanted to do the business, but the cold seemed to have frozen the little speech that she had been rehearsing all night.
‘Get in, girl,’ the man said, looking at her as though she was a girlfriend he’d been expecting to pick up. Some of them had that sort of fantasy, Lily had been told.
‘Car’s nice and warm,’ he added, patting the leather seat next to him.
The door was open and she hesitated for the merest fraction of a second before scrambling in beside him.
‘Fasten your seat belt. Don’t want the cops to catch you,’ he told her with a complicit grin that made her smile back at him. Then, as the car accelerated into the night, Lily knew it was going to be okay after all. Perhaps it would only take a quick half an hour, maybe even in a nice hotel room? She pictured herself stuffing a wad of notes into her handbag. Easy money, the girls had told her, and maybe it was, Lily thought, settling back against the soft leather, glancing at the man who was to be her very first customer.
CHAPTER 23
The day began frosty and cold, ice concealed by the slick of rain that had cleared away the snow. A sliver of crimson peered over blue-black clouds in the east, then tentacles of flame spread across the sky heralding another day, but with the warning of further poor weather to come.
Maggie filled the kettle at the sink as Chancer wound his furry body around her legs, his meows becoming more urgent as he waited for his breakfast. The central heating had been humming nicely for over twenty minutes and the kitchen was warm enough, but as Maggie opened the blinds she saw the morning’s rosy glow and shivered. These ink-black clouds surely held more snow? Well, Muirpark Secondary School was opening its gates once more and she’d just have to get a move on, have breakfast ready for them both and make time to defrost her car.
Since Bill had been at Pitt Street, Maggie had tried to make this hour a time for both of them.