Page 154 of The Killer’s Mark

Esmerée glanced in his direction. Gave him a tiny smile. An even smaller nod. ‘How long have you known?’

‘Just now. It’s the only thing that makes sense.’

‘What the hell are you two talking about?’ Estelle said.

‘Océane raised Esmerée as a fatted calf,’ Poe said. ‘She found out, probably exactly how she said – by interpreting the ramblings of a blackout drunk – that the Red Chamber planned to kill her rather than pay her when her contract ended. But instead of running, which, looking like she does and with no resources, was always going to end in failure, she came up with a solution that allowed her to live. Probably with a big payout. Not the ten million she had been promised, but enough to buy that farm on the South Downs. Live the rest of her life in peace. She convinced Vincent du Buk there was a way for them to both get what they wanted. She would have a child – almost certainly a designer baby girl via a private sperm bank – and raise it to take her place. I’m taking an educated guess here, but I think when her contract was almost up, du Buk was going to help Océane fake her own death. He would then decline a new contract with the Red Chamber, and because they’d used him for some of their financial transactions, they wouldn’t force the issue. And …’

‘… Esmerée would take her mother’s place,’ Estelle finished for him.

‘Saving him a million dollars a year in the process.’

‘And when he tired of her, he would kill her like a Christmas turkey. He’d probably even get his Red Chamber pals to dispose of her body. Spin some tale about a session with a prostitute that got out of hand.’

Estelle stared at Océane, hate in her eyes.

‘What was I supposed to do?!’ Océane cried. ‘They were planning to kill me.’

‘You were supposed to go to the police,’ Poe said.

‘The police,’ she snorted. ‘You’ve seen how far the Red Chamber’s reach is. How could the police have helped me?’

‘Maybe they couldn’t. But if it was a choice between that and the one you made, well, it shouldn’t have been a choice at all. You do not sacrifice children to get yourself out of trouble. Ever.’

‘Fuck you. You have no idea what my life has been like. Don’t you dare judge me.’

‘I’m not judging you,’ Poe said. He gestured towards Esmerée. ‘She is.’

‘There’s something I don’t understand,’ Bradshaw said.

‘What’s up, Tilly?’ Esmerée said, her eyes not leaving her mother for a second.

‘Poe says it might not have been Océane Blue who killed Vincent du Buk. He said it was probably you, Esmerée. I think I would like to know why.’

‘You would, huh?’

‘Yes, Esmerée.’

‘Do you think my whore of a mother told me about her and Vincent’s little arrangement?’

‘Gosh, I wouldn’t think so.’

‘You’re goddam right she didn’t. You can imagine my fucking surprise when he put his hand up my jumper one night. Said I belonged to him and that I should give him an early taste of what he could expect when my mom was no longer around.’

‘He sexually assaulted you?’ Poe said.

‘Tried to. That kinda stopped when I stuck a knife in his neck. Mom came in and found me covered in blood and her meal ticket cold on the floor. She freaked out. Said I’d ruined everything. I told her that Vincent had groped me and we should call the cops. Explain what had happened. You know what she said?’

Bradshaw shook her head.

‘She said that I was his property and I should have just let him do what he wanted. I asked her what the hell she was talking about. I think she must have been panicking by then, as she told me. Not everything, but enough to know I was in deep shit. She then grabbed her stuff and left. I didn’t have the first clue what I was supposed to do. I knew I couldn’t go to the cops, though. Not without my mom backing up what I said. I didn’t even exist. I still don’t exist. As far as the cops were concerned, I’d just be some child prostitute who’d murdered her john.’

‘So you ran too?’

‘I made like a scalded cat. Took some of Vincent’s money and worked my way over to Britain. I assumed my mom had been killed. That the Red Chamber assholes had quickly caught up with her. Spin forward a couple of years and hey presto, there’s the whore doing what she does best. Spreading her legs for money.’

‘Which is where we came in,’ Poe said.

‘Sorry I used you guys,’ Esmerée said. It looked like she meant it.