Chapter 98
‘How can Kai trust you?’ Greta managed eventually.
‘He can’t,’ Poe said. ‘But he can trust Susan, as she’s one of his.
She’s told him things just now that I didn’t know.
That the investigation into the Red Chamber didn’t know.
Insider secrets. But ultimately, he knows these men.
He knows how much they are driven by greed.
Does he think murdering women for ten million pounds a go would be beyond the pale for them? ’
Greta stayed quiet for almost a minute. Eventually she said, ‘Kai is crying, Mr Poe. He’s asking what he’s done.’
‘It’s not about what he’s done, Greta. It’s about what he can do.’
Poe explained that Océane Blue had escaped before she could star in her own snuff movie.
Before her foot could be skinned. That the NCA, the FBI and a bunch of other three-letter agencies believed she had proof that could take down the whole organisation.
That they were looking for her. That the Red Chamber were looking for her.
And now so was Poe. He told Kai why. That in their mistaken belief that he knew where Océane was, they’d abducted her daughter, Esmerée.
He finished by saying, ‘And we want her back.’
‘But he doesn’t see the women again, Mr Poe. Never. Not once. I don’t understand how he can be of help.’
‘How long does it take him to do one of his tattoos?’
‘About six hours,’ she said after a beat. ‘Some of the girls have more interesting features, which can add time. The shortest he’s done was three hours. The longest was nine.’
‘And he talks to them?’
‘He did. He won’t any more. They are very young when they come to him, Mr Poe. Little more than children. They’re about to begin the adventure of their lives and they’re almost always nervous. Talking to them calms them down. And a calm customer is less likely to flinch.’
‘What did Kai and Océane Blue talk about?’
‘He says she was an interesting woman. And he says “woman” intentionally. Most of them are girls when they sit in his seat, but she was a woman. She wasn’t na?ve.
She was hard-nosed and bitter and knew what she wanted.
She was willing to do whatever it would take to achieve it.
Of all the women he tattooed, Océane Blue was the one he liked the least.’
‘Tell me everything,’ Poe said.