‘Sorry about that.’
‘I’m only kidding. I was just waiting for a call at my end. We’re all eyes out on the Shapiro case, anyway. Nobody’s having any time off.’
‘I guess not.’
‘So you can buy Dan a beer when you see him.’
‘If I can get hold of him I will. He’s not answering his phone.’
‘I know – I tried him first. Probably out of network coverage or his phone’s run down.’
Kirsty nodded.
‘So, my Jane Doe. What’s her name?’
‘Adriana Kisslinger. She was twenty-seven.’
‘What was her offence?’
‘Prostitution. She was offering executive bed baths in the hospital she was working at, apparently. The ward sister didn’t approve.’
‘And it’s illegal in Romania?’
‘Prostitution is, yes. Ironic, isn’t it? Romania is listed as one of the biggest sources of human trafficking in the world.’
‘I know. Thanks again for this, Wendy.’
‘Like I said—’
‘Yeah, yeah. I know,’ Kirsty interrupted. ‘I will when I speak with him.’
Chapter 74
HANNAH SHAPIRO LOOKED up, surprised, as I walked towards her.
She was standing, holding on to one of the poles in the doors section of the carriage. Surrounded by more excited women but, whereas their faces were bright with anticipation, hers was crumpled, her haunted eyes still free of make-up. They welled with tears as I quietly said her name. She spun round and walked straight into my enfolding arms.
I hugged her tight to me. She was wearing an oversized white raincoat and not much beneath it.
Which was good news. She might have just had her underwear on but at least she wasn’t strapped around with explosives. After a moment she stepped back a little and I was glad that she did. Like I said, Hannah had grown quite a bit since I had last seen her.
‘What happened?’ I asked her.
‘They took my dad, Mister Carter. They’ve taken him.’
‘How?’
‘When the train stopped in the tunnel. There was someone outside, waiting. They went through those.’ She pointed at the connecting doors.
They had got off the train the same way I had got on. But it didn’t make any sense – they could hardly have walked back through the tunnel. Not with the trains running.
‘Did you recognise any of the men who took you?’ I asked as daylight filled the train once more as it pulled into Baker Street station.
Hannah shook her head. ‘They were wearing masks when they jumped on us in the street. And I never saw their faces in the house they kept me in. I was in the dark the whole time.’
‘And today?’
‘This morning they were all painted black. They painted me, too.’