Fragile Minds

You’re as innocent as Reggie Kray, Silver thought. And a good actress to boot.

‘Looked all right to me,’ was what he actually said.

‘Thanks. God, I’m going to be bruised all over.’ She held her diaphanous skirt aside and pulled down her leggings a little to study her thigh. She was a sexy little thing, sinewy and hard-bodied, and she absolutely knew it. Silver looked away again.

‘Kiko doesn’t half like to hurl me around,’ Lucie bit her lip with neat white teeth, as if Kiko was a very bad man whom Silver should immediately chastise.

‘Look, I don’t want to keep you,’ he said. ‘But is there somewhere quiet we can talk?’

She indicated a small room along the corridor. There was a drinks machine against the wall and a series of old posters of Norma Shearer and Nijinsky on the wall. Silver followed her in.

‘Do you want something?’ she indicated the machine.

‘No, thanks. Can you tell me about Misty?’

‘Have you found her?’ Lucie looked up at him, her voice breaking slightly.

‘No.’ Silver sat at the table. ‘But it would help to know why you think she’s missing.’

‘She hasn’t been home since the start of last week. Even before the bomb went off—’

‘Explosion.’

‘Whatever,’ she shrugged. ‘Terrible, isn’t it? We trained at the Academy, you know.’

‘We’d already put a missing alert out on her by last Friday morning.’ He thought of the girl in the beanie hat on the CCTV footage. But she had been tiny, and from her description, he didn’t think Misty Jones was that small. ‘Is there any reason, incidentally, she might have gone near the Academy that day?’

‘Not really.’ Lucie leant against the table, and unwound the ribbons of her ballet shoe. ‘I don’t see why; we graduated over a year ago. But she’d been hanging out with some strange types recently. We’d—’ She stopped.

‘What?’ He was impatient now.

She peeled the pink satin back from her foot, wincing. Her big toe was bleeding, the blood thickly congealed between nail and skin. Silver felt faintly sickened.

‘No pain, no gain,’ she widened great grey eyes at him, and bit that bottom lip again.

‘You were saying – about Misty.’

‘We had a bad row. Last Tuesday, I think. Then I went away for a few days. But I don’t think it’s relevant.’

‘Why the row?’

‘She was acting like a prat.’ Her face hardened as she spoke the harsh word. ‘I got fed up with her.’

‘In what sense?’ He imagined arguments about make-up and clothes.

‘Let’s just say, she’d got in with the wrong crowd. She was lying to everyone. She even refused to answer to her proper name.’

Silver felt unease settle over him like a fine layer of dust. ‘Misty Jones?’

‘Misty Jones was just a stage name that she used.’ She leant forward slightly, affording him a glimpse of that buoyant cleavage. ‘Since she, you know, got into the clubs.’

‘Clubs?’ Silver needed to cut to the chase.

‘You know. Tits and arse.’ Lucie flashed a lascivious smile at him and he saw the girl behind the mask. ‘What little girls are made of, apparently. There was no telling her though. Just cos she didn’t get the breaks I did.’

But Lucie Duffy didn’t really think she’d got a break, Silver was quite sure. She thought she’d earned her place in the sun. He’d rarely met someone her age so assured of herself.

‘And if Misty isn’t Misty,’ he cleared his throat, ‘what’s her real name?’

‘Sadie. Sadie Malvern. Misty was her stage name.’

Silver felt his stomach roll. Of course. Jaime’s big sister. He cursed his stupidity. How could he have forgotten her? Lana had been half right after all. And yet he was not surprised. Even since he’d seen the face in that photo, he’d known something bad was coming.

‘Why didn’t you give her real name when you reported her missing?’ He remained deadpan.

‘She’d changed it officially. Poor Sadie.’ Her cloying concern was unconvincing.

‘What about her family? Did you contact them?’

‘I never met them. I don’t even know where they live. Just,’ Lucie pulled a funny face, ‘you know. Somewhere up North. She never mentioned them except to say they think she’s on ballet tour; she’s never told them about the club, I don’t think.’

Something about her manner smacked of disingenuousness.

‘If you can think of any other reason she might have not come home, I need to know,’ Silver tried hard to focus. ‘What about boyfriends?’

‘No one in particular, I don’t think,’ she sniffed, pulling a disgusted face. ‘A few no-marks she was dating. Oiks.’

‘I’ll need their details.’

‘OK.’

‘How did she get into the clubs?’

‘Not sure. Quite a few of the girls do it, you know. Easy way to make money.’

If you like taking your clothes off in front of lascivious men for a living, Silver thought dryly. ‘Who introduced her to it though?’ he pressed. ‘You must have an idea.’

‘There was some guy who came to the end of term shows when we finished, I think. Gave her and a few others his card. Promised her fame and fortune, that type of thing. She’s a bit gullible, our Sadie.’ Lucie shrugged lightly; looked at him curiously. ‘Why are you so bothered?’

‘I’m not, kiddo,’ he smiled pleasantly. ‘I’m just doing my job.’

Lucie Duffy stood up and moved nearer him, one hand extended slightly; she was so near he could smell the sweat mixed in with the scent of her deodorant. For a strange moment he thought she was going to place that small hand on his crotch – but she didn’t. She gazed up at him.

‘Something’s troubling you, Mr Policeman,’ she murmured so he almost had to bend to hear. ‘Can’t I help?’

‘I’ll be in touch.’ Silver took a swift step backward. ‘Let me know immediately if you hear from Misty.’

Lucie smiled. ‘Oh I will.’ She seemed to be enjoying this. ‘Let’s just pray Misty is sitting there safe and sound with her chicken chow mein when I get home tonight.’