Justice for the Damned by Ben Cheetham

your shit.’
    Wayne didn’t flinch from Reece’s words, but as he spoke a tremor in his voice betrayed his nerviness. ‘I’ve totted up what I reckon you owe me for her. I’ll be deducting five hundred quid from my payments each month until you’ve paid off your debt.’
    ‘And what am I supposed to tell Doug?’
    ‘Not my problem.’
    A slow smile spread across Reece’s face. ‘Oh, you’re wrong about that. Because if you don’t give me the rest of what’s due, there’ll be no more tip-offs, no more looking the other way. But best of all, you’ll get no more protection from me. And if that happens, I won’t just take Staci from you, I’ll take everything you’ve got. I’ll fucking destroy you.’ He jabbed a finger at Wayne’s ear, and this time the pimp flinched. ‘Are you hearing me, you rat-faced fuck?’
    ‘You can’t do that,’ retorted Wayne, just barely managing to keep up his defiant air.
    Reece took out an ID card with his name, photo and detective inspector’s rank on it. ‘You see that? That means I can do what the fuck I want. You’ve already got a couple of convictions behind you. Fuck up again and I guarantee you you’ll be eating prison food for the next few years. Is that what you want? Maybe you like to eat shit.’ He put his forehead against Wayne’s and pressed hard. ‘Is that what you like?’
    The pimp shook his head. Reece thrust the cash back into his hand. ‘I’ll be coming to see you again tomorrow, and you’d better have the money.’
    Reece drew away from Wayne, still eyeballing him. The pimp avoided his gaze, pale with impotent anger. ‘There’s something else I want to talk to you about,’ said Reece. ‘One of your girls went AWOL last week.’
    Wayne’s lips drew into a gap-toothed scowl. ‘Someone’s got a big gob. It’s going to get them into trouble one of these days.’
    Reece’s hand shot out and grabbed the pimp’s throat. ‘Don’t you even fucking think about it. Do you hear?’
    ‘Get off!’
    Wayne vainly tried to squirm free. Reece’s hand tightened, choking off his air. ‘Do you fucking hear?’
    Eyes bulging, Wayne nodded. Reece released him. ‘Now tell me about Melinda. Start with her surname.’
    ‘Why the fuck would I know her surname?’ muttered Wayne, rubbing gingerly at his throat.
    ‘I hear you had a special thing for her.’
    ‘Look, policeman, all I need to know about a girl is whether they’re a good fuck. And believe me, Melinda is.’
    Reece gave the pimp a glare of undisguised revulsion. ‘Any idea where she might be?’
    ‘If I knew where she was, she wouldn’t be there. She’d be here working her patch.’
    ‘There’s a rumour that she might have been abducted.’
    ‘Bollocks,’ Wayne retorted in an offended tone. ‘No one round here would dare mess with one of my girls. She’s buggered off, that’s all. Probably gone back to whatever shithole she came from.’
    ‘So she’s taken all her belongings with her, has she?’
    ‘What belongings? She didn’t have much more than the clothes on her back.’
    Reece recalled what Staci had said about Wayne always buying Melinda stuff. ‘Would you mind me coming round to your flat and checking that out for myself?’
    ‘Yeah, I would fucking mind. Unless you’ve got a search warrant.’ The corner of Wayne’s mouth lifted into a crooked smile. ‘But I’m guessing this isn’t an official investigation.’
    Reece resisted the urge to smack the cocky grin off the pimp’s face. ‘If you’ve got nothing to hide, why not just let me take a look around?’
    ‘Cos I don’t like you, that’s why.’
    Reece could have forced Wayne to take him to his flat, but he saw little worth in doing so. He got no sense that Wayne was hiding anything. Like Staci had said, Melinda was – or rather, had been – a valuable asset to him. Sure, he might have slapped her around a little to keep her in line. But kill her, no way. At least not intentionally. ‘I’ll see you