Discarded M. Hunter (the snowy day read aloud TXT) 📖

room as the men helped their prizes down from their laps and escorted them one by one towards Mr Brown, who complimented them on their choices.

Bill lifted Joanna down and took her hand, walking her towards the front of the room. She searched frantically for Precious but it was so hard to see past the wide girths blocking her view. She didn’t know exactly where they were going or what Bill had planned, but knew deep down it wasn’t something she wanted. Precious was still talking to her client, and couldn’t see Joanna’s pleading eyes.

‘And who have you chosen tonight, Bill?’ Mr Brown’s voice echoed above her head. ‘Oh, I see you’ve picked our latest arrival Kylie. An excellent selection as always. Have fun.’

Bill began to move her past Mr Brown, who had already started speaking to the next client. Joanna tried to pull her hand free of Bill’s grip but he was so strong that all she managed to do was slow them down. She tried digging her heels into the carpet but she wasn’t used to walking in them properly, and went over on her ankle, yelping with pain. The noise caught the attention of all those still in the room, including Precious who rushed to her side.

‘Please don’t let him take me,’ Joanna whispered urgently to her friend. ‘I don’t want to go with him.’

Precious looked up at the hand still clutching Joanna’s wrist, only now realising what was going on. The venom filled her eyes and she leapt up, aiming her glare at Grey who was cowering just behind Mr Brown.

‘What the hell, Grey? We had a deal! Kylie is off limits for tonight.’

The outburst had Mr Brown looking from Precious to Grey who was squirming, his mouth opening and closing but no words emerging.

‘You said me and Kylie didn’t have to go with anyone tonight,’ Precious continued, making no effort to control her anger. ‘She’s only eleven, for heaven’s sake!’

‘What’s going on here, Brown?’ Bill spoke up, still holding onto Joanna’s wrist. ‘I thought you said this was okay?’

Mr Brown’s cheeks reddened. ‘It is okay, Bill. Just a misunderstanding here, I think. Come on, Kylie, on your feet, there’s a good girl. Let’s not disappoint Bill here.’

Precious folded her arms and glared at Mr Brown, finding an inner strength that Joanna could only envy. ‘Over my dead body. We had a deal; she comes here tonight as a taster only. She’s not going anywhere. And neither am I.’

Grey appeared from behind Mr Brown and stooped over to quietly address Precious. ‘Stop playing silly beggars and get her on her feet, yeah? You’re embarrassing Mr Brown in front of his friends.’

‘I don’t give a shit!’ Precious snapped back. ‘We had a deal! She isn’t ready for all this. It was a mistake to bring her tonight.’

Grey looked down at Joanna, and she could see the longing in his eyes – stuck between a rock and a hard place.

‘The deal’s off. If Mr Brown says Kylie’s available, then that’s how it is. She goes with Bill, or there’s going to be trouble for all of us. Listen, I’ll make it up to both of you, okay? Double wage tonight if you stop all this nonsense and just go along with it. What do you say?’

For a moment Joanna thought Precious was actually considering the offer, but then she shook her head firmly. ‘She’s going nowhere with this… this filthy pervert.’

Bill discarded Joanna’s wrist, his face a deep shade of beetroot, and waved a finger of warning in Mr Brown’s face. ‘Just what bloody shambles are you running here, Brown? Either control your girls or you and I are going to have problems with that planning application of yours. Am I clear?’

‘I will handle this, Bill, and I’m sorry for the trouble. Can I suggest you make a different selection for tonight – on the house – and I’ll make sure we don’t have a repeat of this next time? I truly am sorry.’

Bill looked at the unchosen ones at the back of the room, before pointing for two to step forward for closer scrutiny. Joanna watched as he stalked around the two of them, and then back to her, clearly annoyed by the situation.

‘Why don’t you take both?’ Mr Brown said, all smarmy smiles now. ‘On the house. Consider it a gesture of my goodwill to redress the situation.’

Bill chewed hard on his cigar before nodding and clicking his fingers for the two girls – both younger than Precious, judging by their underdeveloped physiques – to follow him to his room.

The man whom Precious had been sat with had also selected an alternative girl, and with the room cleared, Mr Brown closed the doors before turning his attention back to the three of them.

‘Bill’s choices are coming out of your cut,’ he growled at Grey. ‘Never have I been so humiliated. And as for you,’ he said, glowering and turning to face Precious before slapping her hard across the face, ‘it seems someone is going to have to teach you some goddamned manners.’

The sound of the slap echoed off the walls of the room, but she remained on her feet, tears splashing against her cheeks and made no sound of protest.

Grey stooped and lifted Joanna, holding her firmly though she tried to kick and butt her way free. Her efforts were in vain and he carried her out of the room. She screamed for Precious, who nervously watched as Brown unfastened his belt and closed the door to block Joanna’s view.

Chapter Thirty-Eight Now

Uxbridge, London

It feels so weird being back where it all began. Uxbridge Police Station hasn’t changed much in the eight months since Jack and I last worked missing children cases. For all of our best intentions to reunite parents with their lost ones, Jemima Hooper was the only new victim we could tie to the videos found on Arthur Turgood’s hard drive. Her body had been dumped in woods in Tamworth