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Authors: Magdalen Nabb
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aroma of the freshly made coffee filled the sunny little room. ‘You’re sure . . . ?’
‘No, no . . . I had mine before I came out.’
‘I thought it might be Ferrini who’d be coming. He’s all right, is Ferrini, even if he is a carabiniere—no offence meant, only we don’t get treated as human beings by cops as a rule, or by anybody else, either, if it comes to that—Mishi! Mishi, come to me!’ A glossy little black cat with very bright eyes had crept silently into the room.
‘She was fast asleep on my bed,’ Carla said. ‘She never budges from my side if I’m ill or depressed. Up you come!’
The little cat jumped and settled down with a yawn in the lap of the flowered silk dressing-gown, looking brightly across at the Marshal. It seemed to have a perfectly round head as though it had no ears. Carla held the glossy head gently in large, slender hands.
‘He’s never seen a cat like you before, has he, Mishi? Look.’ Carla lifted up the black ears with careful fingers. ‘She belongs to a special breed. Her ears are folded over so you can’t see them. She cost me a fortune and she keeps me on the hop. She’d like to go out, poor thing, but this road’s too dangerous. I have to shut her in my bedroom before I open the front door or she’d be out like a shot and it would only need somebody to be going in or out of the street door and she’d be under a car in no time. She once made it as far as the bottom of the stairs and I just got down and caught her in time. Nearly broke my neck doing it, too, didn’t I, Mishi? You have to stay at home where it’s safe. Poor little prisoner. See how she’s staring at you? She’s jealous. Sometimes when I bring a client home she makes such a scene scratching at the bedroom door!’
‘You bring all your clients home?’
‘Always. You won’t catch me getting in anybody else’s car. You get some real nut-cases at times, you know, on this job.’
‘No trouble with your landlord?’
‘I don’t have a landlord. This house is mine. I have one neighbour who’s a constant pain in the neck—she even came here complaining one day that Mishi made too much noise! Can you imagine? A tiny creature like this, you can barely hear her when you’re in the room with her! I could understand it if I went in and out at night slamming the door, but Mishi, I ask you! But that’s the way people are with us. I’m lucky that it’s only that one old bag. The others are all right. What harm am I doing to anybody, when it comes down to it?’
‘Perhaps,’ the Marshal suggested, ‘it’s your clients they’re afraid of underneath. You say you get some nut-cases . . . You’ve heard about the murder?’
‘My friend told me on the phone. Is it true the body was chopped up?’
‘Yes.’
‘Christ! It sends shivers down your spine. And you don’t know who she is, the victim?’
The Marshal was about to say it was a he but thought better of it. ‘No, we don’t know. That’s why I’m here. Is there anybody missing from the scene, that you know of?’
‘No. But then, I haven’t been out for a few days. I’ve seen all my own friends because they’ve been round in the afternoons to see how I am and pick up my medicine for me, but that’s not much to go by.’
‘No . . . With a group of over two hundred . . .’
‘It’s more complicated than that. They’re not a group, do you understand? There are a lot of little groups and they don’t mix, they hate each other. I’ve been in this game ten years or more and I can tell you it’s complicated. Look, I’m the way I am and always have been, do you understand? I don’t even need the hormones I occasionally take. It’s just a sort of beauty treatment when I want an extra bit of plumpness. But there are people who get this way on purpose, just for the money that’s in it, if you follow me. Well, I for one don’t have anything to do with people like that—and then there are the transvestites, people who
‘No, no . . . I had mine before I came out.’
‘I thought it might be Ferrini who’d be coming. He’s all right, is Ferrini, even if he is a carabiniere—no offence meant, only we don’t get treated as human beings by cops as a rule, or by anybody else, either, if it comes to that—Mishi! Mishi, come to me!’ A glossy little black cat with very bright eyes had crept silently into the room.
‘She was fast asleep on my bed,’ Carla said. ‘She never budges from my side if I’m ill or depressed. Up you come!’
The little cat jumped and settled down with a yawn in the lap of the flowered silk dressing-gown, looking brightly across at the Marshal. It seemed to have a perfectly round head as though it had no ears. Carla held the glossy head gently in large, slender hands.
‘He’s never seen a cat like you before, has he, Mishi? Look.’ Carla lifted up the black ears with careful fingers. ‘She belongs to a special breed. Her ears are folded over so you can’t see them. She cost me a fortune and she keeps me on the hop. She’d like to go out, poor thing, but this road’s too dangerous. I have to shut her in my bedroom before I open the front door or she’d be out like a shot and it would only need somebody to be going in or out of the street door and she’d be under a car in no time. She once made it as far as the bottom of the stairs and I just got down and caught her in time. Nearly broke my neck doing it, too, didn’t I, Mishi? You have to stay at home where it’s safe. Poor little prisoner. See how she’s staring at you? She’s jealous. Sometimes when I bring a client home she makes such a scene scratching at the bedroom door!’
‘You bring all your clients home?’
‘Always. You won’t catch me getting in anybody else’s car. You get some real nut-cases at times, you know, on this job.’
‘No trouble with your landlord?’
‘I don’t have a landlord. This house is mine. I have one neighbour who’s a constant pain in the neck—she even came here complaining one day that Mishi made too much noise! Can you imagine? A tiny creature like this, you can barely hear her when you’re in the room with her! I could understand it if I went in and out at night slamming the door, but Mishi, I ask you! But that’s the way people are with us. I’m lucky that it’s only that one old bag. The others are all right. What harm am I doing to anybody, when it comes down to it?’
‘Perhaps,’ the Marshal suggested, ‘it’s your clients they’re afraid of underneath. You say you get some nut-cases . . . You’ve heard about the murder?’
‘My friend told me on the phone. Is it true the body was chopped up?’
‘Yes.’
‘Christ! It sends shivers down your spine. And you don’t know who she is, the victim?’
The Marshal was about to say it was a he but thought better of it. ‘No, we don’t know. That’s why I’m here. Is there anybody missing from the scene, that you know of?’
‘No. But then, I haven’t been out for a few days. I’ve seen all my own friends because they’ve been round in the afternoons to see how I am and pick up my medicine for me, but that’s not much to go by.’
‘No . . . With a group of over two hundred . . .’
‘It’s more complicated than that. They’re not a group, do you understand? There are a lot of little groups and they don’t mix, they hate each other. I’ve been in this game ten years or more and I can tell you it’s complicated. Look, I’m the way I am and always have been, do you understand? I don’t even need the hormones I occasionally take. It’s just a sort of beauty treatment when I want an extra bit of plumpness. But there are people who get this way on purpose, just for the money that’s in it, if you follow me. Well, I for one don’t have anything to do with people like that—and then there are the transvestites, people who
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