"Nothing to worry about," Kate lied, feeling a tiny part of her die as she did so. "Just vitamins and stuff. Something to give you a boost. You've had a long trip in that lorry."
The woman was suspicious but there had been that faint air of resignation to her question which betrayed her powerlessness. Kate gave each of the trafficked women a shot.
While she did this James got each woman to stand up as he examined them, scanned a list of outstanding requirements on the clipboard, and decided which of the various distribution points they would be transferred to. The skinny one with the blonde hair was pretty enough for the high rollers, so she'd go to London. The three chubby ones were disposable but functional, they could go to Manchester. There was a special request for a young girl for extraordinary duties. James picked out the redhead, who couldn't have been more than sixteen, for this role.
Kate felt sick as she watched him do this.
James tried to present a cheery front as he consigned these women to their various fates. He knew what he was doing; choosing which ones would be raped, which would be murdered, which would vanish into the cellars, and which in the penthouses. But he didn't want them to know what was going on, so he smiled and joked, even though he knew most of them didn't understand what he was saying.
When the allocation was complete, and the injections had all been administered, James told them it was time for sleep because they would be collected early in the morning. He turned off the light as he left them to snuggle together for warmth on the floor, sunder ragged duvets.
Kate and he went back downstairs, handed the clipboard to the giant, and waited as he studied it. Eventually, he nodded.
"Good," he said. Then he allocated each of them four men a girl or two to transport. James was also given an assignment, driving to Manchester. Kate was dismissed.
The men left and went up the stairs to collect their by now unconscious cargo. James hung back, drinking coffee with the giant.
"I thought you were driving one of them?" she asked.
James stared at his feet, unable to meet her gaze.
"I am," he said. "But they'll… they'll be a while."
The giant laughed. "This is not real man. Not like girls." He laughed again, as if this was the funniest thing in the whole wide world.
Kate wanted to grind broken glass into his face.
"Can I go?" she asked.
The giant nodded. "Get more medicine. More girls next week," he said, and he waved her aside, dismissing her.
Kate stepped out into the night and walked steadily and carefully until she turned a corner and was out of sight. Then she placed her hands on her knees, bent double, and vomited until there was nothing left to come up.
She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, stood upright, and walked out of the yard in search of a taxi.
"You really shouldn't have gone to all this trouble," said Cooper, with his mouth full. Kate laughed.
"If my Gran knew I was playing host to a Detective Inspector and not feeding him, she'd have a heart attack. She feeds everyone who ever knocks on her door. Doctor, postman, Jehovah's Witness, she doesn't care. Even if I call her and say I'm stopping by after dinner at a fancy restaurant she opens the door and says 'ooh love, you're looking a little peaky, I've done your favourite, corned beef pie!' And she'll sit there and watch me eat it, no matter how full of Sunday lunch or curry I am."
"And you've inherited her compulsion?"
"It what we do oop North, DI Cooper. Just because you Southerners think hospitality begins and ends with a twist of lime in a G and T, doesn't mean we're so stingy."
"Well this pasta is great, thank you. I'm not sure what my boss would say. He might accuse me of taking bribes."
"It's not that good."
"I'm a copper, Miss Booker…"
"Kate, please."
"I live on pies, chips and coffee, Kate. You may not believe me, but I used to be lean and toned. It's only since I joined the force that I've got so flabby."
Kate didn't think he was flabby. Fancies himself, she thought again, but not unkindly. Fishing for compliments.
"What did you do before?"
"I was in the army."
"Really? I wouldn't have pegged you as the soldier type. What were you, admin or engineer?"
Cooper hesitated. "Not exactly."
"Man of mystery, huh."
"Something like that."
He finished his bowl of pasta and swilled it down with a gulp of lager. Kate collected their crockery and put the kettle on. Cooper browsed her bookcases while she made coffee. Once he'd taken it, he sat down, the informal air almost, but not entirely, banished. She sat opposite him.
"You gave the girls the injections?" he asked.
Kate nodded.
"How many?"
"Eight. Three for Manchester, two each for London and Birmingham, one for Cardiff."
"Good. We'll track them to their destinations."
"And then do nothing because you're waiting for authorisation." The bitterness in her voice was hard to disguise.
"It won't be long now, I promise." He paused and Kate could tell he was considering whether to tell her something. He put down his cutlery and leaned forward across the table intently. "We're tracking a lorry full of girls at the moment. The Ukrainians, for once, actually tipped us off when it left. So far we've managed to keep track of it all the way to Dusseldorf. If we don't lose it before it gets here, we should have the whole trail mapped out clearly. Then we can wrap it all up in one fell swoop."
"That's brilliant!" Said Kate. Cooper looked down at the table.
"But?" she asked, dreading his answer.
"They've decided the south coast ports are getting too dangerous. We think they're coming in via Grimsby and straight to Manchester."
"And that's a problem, why?"
"We don't have anyone on the inside in Manchester." He looked up at her and took a deep breath. "We don't think they have a pet doctor up there yet, though."
"Right," said Kate, not quite following his logic.
"And in the next few days he's got a massive shipment of girls arriving there, the first to go direct, bypassing London."
"Which would mean they'd send for me to help process the girls."
"We hope so, yes."
"And you'd follow me so I could lead you straight to them?"
"That's the general idea."
Kate considered this for a moment. "I'd still be in there when you stormed the place, right?"
Cooper held her gaze firmly. "It's the only way. You'll be away from home so they'll let you sleep the night there, I guess, before driving you back."
"Oh great. That's just what I want, a night stuck in a portacabin with those bastards."
"Which is why we'll take them as soon as you lead us there."
"And how exactly will I do that?"
"You'll need to carry some kind of tracking device."
Kate shook her head firmly. "They frisked me last time. They'd find something like that."
"This will be well disguised. Trust me, they'll have no idea it's there."
"Wait a minute. You'll take them as soon as I get there? You mean I'm going to be in the middle of a police raid?"
"Don't worry. I'll be there and I'll make it my first priority to get you to safety."
Kate did not feel reassured.
"So I should expect to get a phone call in the next couple of days," she said.
"Yeah."
Cooper considered her, biting his lip. "I've still not told my boss about you, you know. I'm keeping you completely off the books. With the operation nearing completion, the risk of a leak from within the Met is too great. I still don't know who Spider's got on the inside and until I do, I'm playing my cards very close to my chest."
"But surely the operation you're proposing is going to require a lot of manpower."
"Yeah. I'm bending the rules a bit there." Kate waited for him to elaborate, but "it's not exactly ethical" is all he said.