Lorraine ducked and sidestepped Nula as an officer grabbed her. ‘Then talk, Nula. At least they can segregate you. Tell us the truth about Holly.’
‘Shut up, you schmuck.’
‘Tell the truth, Nula. It was an accident, wasn’t it? You never meant to kill Didi, did you? She was your best friend — I know that, ‘I’ve seen you two together.’ Lorraine saw the change sweep over Nula in her body language; she lost all the fight.
‘Yes, she was,’ Nula said softly, and then averted her face. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Best friend I ever had.’
The room fell silent as if everyone knew it was coming. Nula looked up at the ceiling, her eyes brimming with tears, and Lorraine moved silently back to her own seat. Nula blew her nose on a tissue and then began plucking at it. ‘Oh, all right, there’s no point, is there? You’ll find out, I suppose. She fell and hit her head on the side of the glass coffee table. Craig started to panic because we couldn’t find her pulse. We thought she was dead and what with—’
‘The blackmail? You were worried about that, were you?’ Lorraine asked softly.
‘It was all getting out of hand, right? We suspected Janklow was doing these killings because he was a real crazy fucker. He always paid up like it was a joke, like he got off on it. He never argued or nothing but paid up once a month regular as clockwork. But Art began to get greedy, kept on pushing him for more and what was so sick, we were blackmailing him because of all his drag pictures but he still wanted more of them. We all kinda knew he was going to crack someday. That was maybe why Art kept asking him for more money, more jewellery, like he knew he was gonna break.’
‘But why did you think it was him murdering these women?’
Nula was tired; she supported herself on her elbow. ‘Art put it all together, don’t ask me how. He always was an intuitive shit but instead of backing off, he asked for more. We were against it but he wouldn’t listen to us. I mean, we were doing okay, we had dough and then he opened that gallery. There was no need to be so greedy, we even had the other business, the photo sessions. We’d all never had it so good—’
‘How did you collect the money?’
‘We’d just go to his garage, one or other of us, pretend we were looking for cars. Art used to drive an old Bentley. He’d bought it from S and A, so he was able to go in and out of Janklow’s place. We’d not go in dragged up, anything like that. We were pretty cool, changed into straight gear.’
‘How did Hastings fit into it?’ Lorraine asked.
‘Well, Art and Didi saw him at the garage. Didi recognized Hastings, because she’d been doing his wigs and make-up at Craig’s studio. Well, this panicked Art for a while, then he discovered that Craig’s at it, like he’s picked up our tricks and he’s only doing Norman Hastings himself. Craig’s such an oaf, he couldn’t even pick a guy with dough. Art was furious — it could’ve all come out — and what got him worried was that Janklow and Hastings knew each other, and could put two and two together, cause trouble.’
‘But Janklow must have known who you were?’ Lorraine said.
Nula shrugged. ‘Maybe, but if he did he never contacted the cops. Like I said, he seemed to get off on it, like it was punishment. Anyway, we thought we should just back off — besides Art had plenty more, not with as much dough as Janklow, but he did all right...’
‘So did Hastings talk to Janklow about the blackmail?’
Nula sighed. ‘I dunno, but when he was found dead, we freaked. Then fucking Janklow appeared and said he needed Art to cover for him, like say he was someplace when he wasn’t. He’d done something.’
Lorraine asked if Nula remembered the date. She thought for a moment and then said it was the fifteenth, she wasn’t too sure. But it was the same date Lorraine had been attacked. Nula cried for a few moments and then sniffed, wiping her check with her hand. ‘He said he’d pay well for Art to cover for him. He couldn’t get cash so he handed over a box of jewellery, said it was all he had left.’
‘Did you sell it?’
Nula blew her nose. ‘In the past when we’d got a few things we’d used Curtis to fence it for us. We didn’t say where we got it and he wasn’t going to ask.’ Nula sighed. Everyone hung on her every word. ‘Curtis gave one of the pieces we were selling off — a ring — to Holly and she used to wear it, showed it to everyone. He’d said it was like an engagement ring. It was the big topaz, with diamonds round it. Anyway, she gets picked up by a john who takes her back to his place and he says where did she get the ring as his mother had one like it but—’
‘Who was it?’
‘Janklow’s brother. Anyway, Holly puts two and two together and comes up with sixteen. She asks us about the stuff we fenced to Curtis and then tells us about this john, Brad Thorburn. We tell Art and he’s going fucking ape-shit because he knows it’s bloody Janklow’s brother, and that Curtis, if he smells a good racket, would want in on it, and Curtis would cause trouble.’
Lorraine lit two cigarettes and passed one to Nula. She puffed for a while and then bowed her head. ‘We had to do something about the ring — we could have all been implicated, know what I mean? She showed it off to everyone — not that Curtis would have ever married her. He’s got a wife and kids anyway.’ She sucked at the cigarette. ‘We knew we had to get rid of Holly. We figured she hadn’t said anything to Curtis — he never came on to us. Art was working the night we decided to do it at the gallery. After we left, we went back to the apartment and Didi got into men’s gear. We nabbed a car and parked it not far away from the apartment. Didi left, then I left. I went on my patch, waited for Holly to arrive.’
She sobbed and was given a clean tissue. She took the cigarette from the ashtray and smoked. ‘Holly, well, she was always jumping into johns’ cars. We knew if she saw a decent car she’d duck and dive to it. Didi drew up across the road and sort of waved towards Holly and, sure enough, she shot across the road so fast I had a tough time following her. Course, soon as she got into the car she knew something was up but by that time I’d gone over, got the back door open and got in; then Didi drove off. We wanted just to get the bloody ring off her, warn her, but she was like a wildcat. We didn’t even drive far — we couldn’t, she was screaming and shouting so much. I think Didi hit her first, then me, but we never meant... We didn’t mean to hurt her. She was suddenly just like a rag doll, it was awful, so we stuffed her into the trunk. Didi was supposed to dump it, leave her in it and get back to work, meet up with me. I went back on the streets, to sort of give us an alibi, you know, saying Didi had got a john and I was to talk to Curtis.’
‘So where did Art come into all this?’
Nula stubbed out the cigarette. ‘That stupid bitch Didi, she didn’t turn up. We’d agreed to meet in the Bar Q but she never showed because she went back to the gallery. She was hysterical because as she was driving around, Holly must have come round. She started banging on the trunk, screaming again.’ Nula rested her head in her hands. ‘Art was mad as hell that she’d gone to the gallery with Holly in the car and Didi’s face was scratched and bruised. Holly was a tough kid — she’d put up a fight. If she hadn’t we’d never have hurt her.’
‘So what happened at the gallery?’
Nula licked her lips. ‘I’m not sure but Art said he’d check on Holly, and he went out. Then he came back in and got a hammer. Didi knew what he was gonna do and tried to stop him and it fell on her foot. Anyway, Art did it and came back and told Didi to dump the car. He gave her the ring — he’d taken it off Holly.’