pregnant with me put a stop to her nocturnal career and made her do some serious reality checking. It was so serious she turned her back on the dozen-men-a-night habit to embrace celibacy and a totally different sort of habit. I should be grateful.
I think.
Anyway, Sister Immaculata now reluctantly agreed we could use her office. Fox and I followed her stumpy, penguin-like figure. I was conscious of a hundred envious eyes as Fox and I walked side by side, both in our tight jeans and creaking leather. Eat your hearts out, Stepford Wives.
`Well, Fox, this better be good,' I said, acting tough as the disapproving nun closed the door on us.
A slight smile hovered around his lips, lips that were now free of lipstick and still extremely kissable. His eyes held traces of mascara, which I confess I found deliciously attractive, especially when they crinkled at the corners.
`You've had a long day, guv. I thought you could do with an early night,' Fox said. He didn't bat one angelic eyelid. He was acting cool to freezing. And I was goose-bumping everywhere to prove it.
But his baby blues were hot.
The smell of tikka, cigar smoke and leather clung about us. I decided on a rapid assessment.
`What sort of car do you drive, Fox?'
`Spitfire.'
That swung it. I love fast cars.
And leather.
And hot, hot, HOT baby blues.
`Give me half an hour,' I said. `And we'll shoot through.'
`But you can't go yet,' wailed Chastity. `You've only just got here. It's because of that cute guy, isn't it?'
`He's a police officer and I have work to do.' I tried not to focus on the statue of Our Lady just behind Chastity's head. I was already feeling guilty as hell. I didn't need anything else to prick my shaky conscience.
`I don't believe you.'
`Chastity!'
`And you haven't even seen my room.'
`Let's do it now, but make it quick.'
We jogged down the corridors, my sneakers squeaking on the highly-polished tiles while her neat low heels clickety-clacked.
Her room was tidy. No surprise there. Chastity was always tidy. I sometimes wondered if I'd picked up the wrong baby at the hospital. If it weren't for our replica mops of red hair, I'd go for a DNA match.
Chastity tries to tame hers into a civilised style. I let mine corkscrew to kingdom come. We also have similar wide, brown eyes. Not a lot you can do with those, except mine are sometimes a little bloodshot after a bender and hers sparkle all the time. She puts it down to the huge quantities of water she drinks. That wouldn't suit my system in a fit. I need the roughage of red wine and tobacco to bolster me for the job.
Chastity's walls were a jarring note in the clutter-less room. They were covered in a multitude of slogans. Some were about healthy living, such as giving up smoking and drinking and saying no to drugs. Others stated the body was a temple of Christ and to treat it accordingly. There was a lot about celibacy and the like.
Okay, I was proud of my little girl and wished I could be as morally highbrow. But not yet. Not with a leather-clad Fox in a Spitfire. Some things were just too, too tempting.
`Are the other girls into all this?' I asked, waving at the notices. Some had a red and gold double `V' emblem stamped on them.
`Pretty much. We thought we would launch a crusade to encourage other girls to think twice before using drink and drugs,' said Chastity, her eyes glazing with fanatical fervour as she beheld a vision of her own making. I recognised that look. I got it too, but for other, more earthy reasons.
`What do the two V's stand for?'
`You don't want to know.' She giggled, blushed and then hustled me out. `You'd better go before that yummy young cop comes searching.'
`Hey, not so fast. When did you go in for black sequins?' I held up a little black, sparkly dress that'd been hanging on the back of the door next to Chastity's chaste pink fluffy dressing gown.
`It belongs to my room-mate.' She held my eyes, daring me to call her bluff. As if I would. I trusted my daughter. Most of the time.
`I'm surprised Sister Immaculata allows outfits like these. She didn't in my day.'
`It's just for dressing up,' said Chastity. `No big deal.'
I should've known better. My daughter doesn't deign to undertake anything that's not important. But my sensors didn't pick up the discordant note. Blame the hormones. They were focusing on something completely different.
And that something was waiting outside…
Chapter Two
`Another woman was taken last night,' said Sodbury at the next day's morning briefing. His small, close-set eyes were doing their agitated flicking routine.
`How come we've a missing person report after only a few hours?' I asked. `She might just have gone off with someone for the night.'
Sodbury shuffled the papers on the desk and zeroed in on the relevant page. `She was with another girl. They'd been having a drink at the bar and then she went to the toilet. When she didn't return, her friend went to look for her. She couldn't find her, so raised the alarm.'
`You were watching the club the whole time?'
`Yeah, Rock, all the damn time.' He sounded belligerent, as if I was accusing him of incompetence. I wasn't. I just wanted facts.
`And you didn't see anyone being forced into a car or looking drugged?'
`No. Nothing suspicious happened at all. Just a usual night out on the town.' Sodbury frowned savagely, as if the world was ganging up against him. `I can't understand why we didn't see anything. We had both exits covered.'
I ignored his burst of anger.
`What do we know about this girl?'
`Roberta Fellows, known as Bobbie. She's eighteen and apparently very attractive. She's at uni studying to be a teacher, lives in student digs and her parents are well off.'
`Like the others,' murmured Fox.
`What?' said Sodbury.
`Just thinking aloud,' said Fox.
`Who was her friend?' I asked Sodbury. `I'll go and see her. You never know, I might turn up something.'
Sodbury furnished me with details. I glanced at the name: Maria Dellaporte. I'd seen that name somewhere recently but couldn't for the minute recall.
Burton and Ely went back on surveillance duty while Fox and I drove out to see Maria at her family's home in one of Perth's upwardly-mobile western suburbs. We talked for a while, but Maria gave us little to go on. But as we were leaving I suddenly remembered where I'd seen the Dellaporte name
