Passion Killers Read online

  Shaheen started to cry again. “But I do. I need to stand on my own two feet, I really do.”

  “If you needed it like we do, you’d have agreed to Ahmed’s terms and humiliated yourself like we’ve all had to,” said Olivia with a touch of acid.

  “To get enough money to make something of our lives,” Katie added.

  “Or even just to pay our way out of poverty,” Theresa added quietly.

  Shaheen looked at the floor. Her eye hurt even more as tears flowed out of it.

  “Don’t let’s argue,” Kim pleaded. “Susan’s right, we’ve earned it, and we’re six against one. Let’s stick together and go and get it. I want to go home.”

  “Is all the washing in?” Susan asked in her motherly tone. “Check you’ve initialled your g-strings, then we know we won’t get anyone else’s.”

  “I wash my own,” Shaheen said. “At least then I know they’re clean.”

  “And he hasn’t been sniffing them,” said Theresa with a snort of laughter.

  They walked two by two along the narrow corridor, Shaheen behind the other girls. She still felt dreadful; this was all her fault.

  “I’m glad you’re OK about me and Brian,” she heard Theresa say over Olivia’s shoulder.

  “Oh, that was just a fling,” Olivia answered. “He always fancied you, but you used to dash off to look after your mum. And Ken’s more my type.”

  “Sports car, and rich parents,” Theresa giggled.

  “And he’s already at law school, so we’ve got lots in common.”

  “You’ve a good future after going through all this shit,” Theresa said. “Enjoy it, and don’t settle down until you’re really ready.”

  “I’ll be ready,” Olivia answered with a little laugh. “If he’s rich enough.”

  “You won’t need to marry,” Katie chipped in. “You’ll make it for yourself. The richest lawyers are the ones with no scruples.”

  “Suits me,” Olivia laughed.

  “She’ll be a great lawyer,” Kim said. “She’s got it all – brains and beauty.”

  “I haven’t got anything,” Katie said. “That’s why I want to be an actress – so I can pretend to be somebody else.”

  “What?” exclaimed Kim. “You have the face of an angel and a beautiful figure. Every man who comes to the club is in love with you.”

  “And every woman,” Olivia teased.

  Listening to their banter, Shaheen longed to be one of the crowd. Whatever their backgrounds, they cared for and supported each other. All she had done was make their tough lives tougher. There was only one thing she could do: offer to give Ahmed what he wanted. She opened her mouth to speak, but Susan put a finger to her lips to quieten them all. They were outside Ahmed’s office door.

  Susan flung it open and marched inside. “We’ve come to get our money,” she said.

  The other girls followed her in and stood in a line behind her. Ahmed was sitting in his black leather chair, counting a pile of grubby notes on the desk in front of him. He swiftly put the notes away in the top drawer, locked the drawer and pocketed the key, then lifted a glass of brandy and took a large sip. His dark eyes swept along the line of girls, coming to rest on Shaheen.

  “Tell her to fulfil her contract and I’ll pay you,” he said, waving the glass in her direction.

  Susan took a deep breath. “You gave her the job ’cause you needed a brown-skinned stripper…”

  “I did.” He lifted the glass again. “But I taste all the girls.”

  “We’re strippers, not whores,” Kim said sourly.

  “Same thing. Call it manager’s perks. Those are my rules. Either she gives out or no one gets paid. Choice is hers.”

  Tears stung Shaheen’s eyes again. This was all her fault. She felt Kim’s arm slide around her.

  “Why do you stroke her?” Ahmed’s voice was silky. “Ah, is it because she is also a lesbian?”

  “She’s upset, Ahmed.” Susan’s tone was placating.

  “So she should be. She’s let you all down.”

  “No!” Olivia shouted. “It’s you – you’ve let us all down.”

  His ugly mouth twisted with amusement; he was obviously enjoying the power he had over them.

  “Yes,” Katie butted in. “You said…”

  “I’ll do it with you.” Shaheen was acutely aware of the tremble in her voice, but she braved it out. “As long as you promise to pay them. Theresa needs it to pay the gas bill and…”

  But Ahmed wasn’t listening. He stood up, moved swiftly round the desk and grabbed her. She gagged as his mouth bruised hers, then shrieked as he lowered his head to her cleavage and bit her. He reached up behind him and pressed a switch; a video recorder mounted on the wall clicked on. Then he was unbuckling his belt and pulling his zip down. “Come on then,” he invited. “Anyone want to join in?”

  Olivia looked at Katie in horror. “That’s a camera. He videoed us all. When we did it with him. When we performed for him. Didn’t you? Didn’t you!” she yelled at Ahmed.

  “Of course.” He slid his hand up and down his swollen dick. “Hey, let’s have a party.”

  Shaheen tried to back away but he grabbed her by both arms. She clenched her teeth, too terrified to scream.

  Kim forced her way between them. “Leave her alone,” she shouted.

  Olivia pushed her aside and backed Ahmed towards the wall. “Where are they?” she snarled. “I want those tapes. We’ll have a life after this – I’m not having mine wrecked by some sleazy pervert.”

  Shaheen was sobbing hysterically. Ahmed pushed Olivia and sent her flying, then seized Shaheen and pulled her towards him. “Never mind her, darling.” He put her hand on his swollen dick. “Here, feel. That’s just for you.”

  Shaheen let out a loud shriek, and Kim intervened again. She was taller than Ahmed, slim and muscular, and in good shape from her dance training. She elbowed him in the ribs and pushed him sideways, winding him a little. “Leave her alone!” she yelled again. “That’s rape!”

  “That cupboard,” Susan shouted to Katie and Olivia. “All ’is private stuff’s in there.”

  Ahmed was forcing Shaheen back against the wall. Susan waded in to help Kim pull him off; he flailed at them and pulled her towards him, but was distracted as Olivia and Katie opened the cupboard and began to fling its contents on the floor. “Oy, you two! Pack it in!” he shouted.

  Shaheen slumped against the wall as Susan followed Ahmed across the room.

  “There’s whips and handcuffs and God knows what in here,” she exclaimed.

  “And videos!” That was Olivia. “They’ve got our names on them. The bastard’s even labelled them.”

  Something fell to the floor with a loud clatter, then Shaheen watched in horror as Ahmed reached over the girls’ heads and grabbed a whip from a high shelf. She held her breath – but he only cracked it against the floor to get their attention.

  He cracked it again, and this time it landed on Kim’s back. Kim gasped with shock, then grabbed the glass from his desk and waved it close to his greasy face. “Come on then, big man,” she goaded. “You gonna take me on?”

  He grabbed her wrist and twisted it viciously. The glass dropped and smashed on the floor. At the same moment his trousers slipped and fell below his knees, exposing shabby blue Y-fronts. Shaheen felt her sobs turn to hysterical laughter, and the other girls joined in.

  He dropped the whip, turned back to Shaheen and pushed her against the wall again. She froze rigid as he pressed himself against her and reached down into his underpants. “You’ll like this,” he said with a leer. “You and I will have some fun and all the nice girlies will get their money. Everyone goes home happy.”

  She felt him fumble with her waistband, then her skirt slipped down her legs to the floor. Only the red g-string remained; one tug on the leather ribbon and it fell to the floor too, leaving her exposed for whatever vileness he had in mind. “What a lovely pussy,” he said pawing at her.

  Shaheen s
tarted yelling. It seemed to arouse him even more, and he pushed his erection against her.

  “Kick him, Shaheen,” Olivia shouted.

  Susan was on the desk, reaching for the video recorder. “Quick,” she called to Olivia and Katie, who were scrabbling on the floor. “Find your tapes, quick as you can, or he’ll bloody do it to her.”

  Shaheen struggled as Ahmed rubbed his body lasciviously against hers. Why didn’t they come to her aid instead of messing with those tapes?

  Then Kim lunged at him. “Stop it. You’re an animal.”

  Ahmed pulled back from Shaheen and reached down for the whip, but Kim was quicker. She kicked at his hand, and suddenly Katie was there, handcuffs dangling from her hand.

  As she clicked one cuff around his wrist, he pulled his hand away to avoid the second. Then, quick as a flash, he pushed his head down Shaheen’s bodice, biting her spitefully on the nipple and holding it between his teeth. She screamed, and Kim tugged at his hair, shouting, “Let go of her!”

  He lifted his head and spat in Kim’s face. Shaheen seized the moment, bringing her knee up sharply into his balls. He reeled and staggered into the wall, mouth open, sucking in air. Kim grabbed the opportunity to click the second handcuff on him, and he slumped, crippled with pain but muttering a stream of abuse.

  “Oh, gag him,” Olivia shouted from the floor by the cupboard, where she and Katie were still desperately searching through the video tapes.

  “What with?” Shaheen’s brief burst of confidence had drained away; she looked around helplessly.

  “Your g-string.” Katie waved a hand at the discarded red scrap lying on the floor. “Then find the key to his desk and let’s get our wages.”

  Susan picked up the scarlet knickers and held them out in front of her. “For Chrissake get a move on,” she urged, advancing on Ahmed with bared teeth.

  His head whipped from side to side as she tried to tie the gag. Shaheen grabbed his hair and Kim and Theresa held his legs down, but he resisted and fought like a caged animal. He jerked his head, banging it over and over against the wall, and as he sucked in air to relieve the pain, he sucked the g-string in too. Suddenly his eyes bulged and his limbs thrashed as the flimsy fabric lodged in his throat. The girls all released their grip on him, and then the only sound in the room was the cracking of Ahmed’s knees as he slipped into a heap, trousers round his ankles and his penis shrunken like an old mushroom.

  The girls all stared in horror.

  Olivia stepped away from the pile of videos. “Fucking hell,” she whispered. “He’s not dead, is he?”

  “It might be a wind-up,” Susan said, putting a hand out to stop the girls going any nearer.

  Kim knelt beside Ahmed and felt his pulse, then put her ear to his chest. With a grimace she prised his mouth open; the end of the leather ribbon lay on his tongue.

  “He’s all but swallowed the g-string, and he doesn’t seem to be breathing,” she said tentatively. “Theresa, go and get Brian.”

  “For sure.” Theresa scrambled towards the door.

  The tape in Olivia’s hand clattered to the floor. “I’ll come with you.”

  The other girls looked at each other, and without a word Kim picked up Shaheen’s skirt and handed it to her.

  Theresa and Olivia were back in minutes with Brian. He stared at Ahmed’s inert body on the floor.

  “Is he dead?” Katie asked in a shaky voice.

  But Brian’s gaze had moved to the bleeding teeth marks on Shaheen’s cleavage. “If he’s not I’ll finish the job off meself.”

  He knelt beside Ahmed and held his mouth open, exposing the end of the ribbon. He pulled on it and the g-string, dark with slime, dangled from his fingers.

  “He’s dead all right,” Brian said. “He could have choked, or he may have hit his head. There’s a mark here on his temple. That’s the most vulnerable bit to bash – it can kill you instantly. That’s what people aim for when they shoot you.”

  No one said a word.

  Brian stood up. He was a big bloke, well over six feet and exceptionally broad. He had earned his reputation as the best club bouncer in London; no man ever picked a fight with Brian Finn. But he treated women as gently as a newborn baby. He understood and cared for these girls, and felt a responsibility toward them; they came from poor backgrounds or broken homes and like himself, they had to be survivors. At twenty-seven he was ten years older than most of them, but streetwise beyond his years. He knew what a crook Ahmed was, and how he took advantage of young and needy girls.

  “Should we call an ambulance? Or the police?” Theresa asked faintly.

  Brian thought for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Neither,” he said decisively. “I’m going to dump the body.”

  The girls looked at each other nervously. “He deserved everything he got,” Brian went on. “I’m not gonna let you lot get into trouble. You could be done for manslaughter.”

  The girls were shocked into silence. Finally Olivia spoke. “Is he definitely dead? Are you really sure? Could he just be unconscious?”

  “Sweetheart, he’s dead,” Brian said gently. “We’ve got to get rid of him.”

  This time it was Susan who broke the silence. “He’s right,” she said dully.

  “Just go home and act as if nothing happened,” Brian told them. He picked up one of the videos, frowning when he saw Kim’s name on the label. “What the hell are these?”

  Susan explained.

  “It gets better,” said Brian bitterly. “Look, don’t worry you about those neither – I’ll bury them with him.” He began to gather up the scattered tapes, and Theresa handed him a plastic supermarket carrier she pulled from her shoulder bag.

  “Have you got wages outstanding?” Brian asked when the tapes were dealt with.

  “That’s what we came for,” Susan said. “Five hundred pounds each. The takings are locked in the drawer and the key’s in his trouser pocket.”

  “He owes…” Kim stopped and corrected herself. “He owed Shaheen for three weeks. That’s fifteen hundred pounds.”

  “Bastard,” Brian spat. “Grasping toe-rag. He ain’t paid you for three weeks?” He groped around Ahmed’s feet where his trousers were bunched, shaking his head as he dug in his pocket for the key to the drawer. There was a thick wad of notes; he counted out the right amount to each of the girls, then put the remainder back in the drawer and locked it, leaving the key in it.

  “Go home,” he said.

  “Where will you dump him?” Olivia asked nervously.

  “Don’t you worry about that. I’ve got an idea. You know that new office block they’re building a down at the docks?” The girls looked at each other, nodding dubiously. “They’ll be concreting the foundations in the next couple of days; I’ll drop him in one of the trenches, and by Tuesday he’ll be under ten feet of concrete. Then all this will be history.”

  “But… you’re really sticking your neck out for us,” Kim said. “How can we ever thank you?”

  Brian shrugged, and slipped an arm round Theresa’s shoulders. “It’s an easy one. He was an evil tosser. You’re lovely girls, and you don’t deserve trouble. Just go off home before the bar manager sees you and wonders why you’re so late leaving. Go on. I’ll sort it.”

  Five minutes later they were outside in the cold night air, walking along the pavement, arms linked. Theresa and Shaheen both walked in the road, but only the occasional car or night bus passed them.

  It was Olivia who broke the silence. “He must really love you, Theresa. That’s one hell of a risk he’s taken for us.”

  “He hates Ahmed as much as we do,” Susan said. “Hates the way he took advantage of you and then wouldn’t give you what he owed you.”

  “We’ve got it now,” Kim said. “I just hope that’s the end of it.”

  “I still think it’s wonderful of Brian to stick his neck out,” Olivia said again. “You’ve got a good one there, Theresa. To think I dumped him for fat Kenneth.”

  �
��That’s how he is,” Susan said. “He believes women should be looked after.”

  They came to a ragged halt as Shaheen buckled at the knees and started to cry. “God, what have we done?” she sobbed.

  “Nothing!” Olivia and Susan said in unison.

  “We’ve done nothing,” Susan repeated.

  “We’ve killed someone,” Shaheen howled.

  “It was an accident,” Theresa said firmly, taking hold of Shaheen’s elbow and giving her a little shake.

  “It was self defence,” Kim insisted.

  Susan stepped to the front of the group and grasped Shaheen’s shoulders. “It doesn’t matter what it was! Get a grip, Shaheen. It never happened, OK?”

  Shaheen struggled to control her sobs and reluctantly nodded her head. The girls huddled round her, hugging each other for comfort.

  Susan took a deep breath. “We must never talk about this again. Not ever, not to no one. Agreed?”

  Kim, Theresa, Katie and Olivia nodded. After a moment Shaheen followed suit.

  “We carry on as if it never happened,” Susan said. “If we’re questioned, we have to tell the same story. He was alive when we left the club. That’s all we have to say. He paid us, and we left.”

  “Questioned? Who by?” Shaheen sounded wary.

  “The police, maybe. We have to come back on Monday night as if nothing has happened. With luck we’ll just find the club closed, but in case…”

  “Let’s agree the story, then.” This was Katie. “We did our last stripping spot at the usual time, got paid by Ahmed in our dressing room then all left the club together. He was alive when we left.”

  “We stick to that story no matter what happens to us in the future,” Susan said firmly. “Agreed?”

  “Agreed.” They piled hands in a gesture of solidarity.

  “Susan’s right, Shaheen.” Theresa squeezed her arm, and the other girls nodded their agreement. “What happened tonight must never be mentioned. Even amongst ourselves. You never know who might overhear.”