The Lipstick Killers

said St Cyr, his eyes wild.
    ‘Peter,’ said Margaret. ‘This is not going to work unless you tell us the truth. We’re Monty’s sisters-in-law. I’m a copper. We know that you’re an errand boy for John Haywood. Monty’s dead, so is his secretary, and my sister killed herself a few days ago. All because someone at your office threatened her and her children. Now don’t fuck us about. Tell us the whole sorry story or you’ll be bloody sorry.’
    Saint Cyr looked at Roxie. ‘Bitch,’ he said, looking at her with hate.
    Margaret swung the asp again and landed a blow on his upper arm. He squealed in pain. ‘And less of that sort of talk. Roxie, keep him covered.’ She put the gun and the asp down. ‘Put your hands in front of you,’ she ordered Saint Cyr.
    He did as he was told, and Margaret cuffed his wrists. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘Looks like we’re in for a long night.’
    She sat, and picked up the pistol again. ‘Come on now, Peter,’ she said. ‘Spill the beans.’
    ‘You’re police?’ he said. ‘I don’t believe you.’
    ‘Where do you think I got the asp and the cuffs?’ she asked. ‘Army surplus?’
    ‘And what’s she?’ He nodded in the direction of Roxie. ‘Tess, or Roxie, or whatever her bloody name is.’
    ‘What I said,’ said Roxie. ‘Beauty consultant. Well, ex-beauty consultant to be exact.’
    ‘Who carries a gun?’
    ‘Some of the ladies can get vicious,’ said Roxie. ‘But this isn’t getting us anywhere.’
    ‘So how long do you intend to keep me here?’
    ‘As long as necessary,’ Roxie said, shortly.
    ‘I’ll be missed.’
    ‘Not tonight. You live alone, remember?’ said Margaret.
    ‘So what makes you think I know more about this Smith person than I told you on our last meeting?’
    ‘You made a mistake,’ said Roxie, shortly. ‘You used your mobile to call the man who called my sister, and threatened her.’
    ‘No I didn’t,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t me, it was…’ he stopped.
    ‘Gotcha,’ said Margaret.

73
     
     
     
    ‘Listen,’ said Saint Cyr, his voice beginning to whine as he finally realised the seriousness of his situation. ‘I didn’t want any part of it.’
    ‘Threatening innocent women? Women with young children?’
    ‘Exactly.’
    ‘And what about killing Monty and his secretary?’
    ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen. Not killing him. It was meant as a frightener. The brakes were supposed to fail immediately. Not somewhere down the road at speed.’
    ‘And Joyce Smart? Sliced like a Christmas turkey – are you saying that wasn’t supposed to happen? I found her you know.’
    ‘Not me again.’
    ‘Then who?’Margaret picked up her gun and screwed the barrel into Saint Cyr’s cheek. ‘I’ll kill you,’ she said, her voice as cold as ice. ‘I swear. Tell me the truth or I’ll do it.’
    ‘It was Trent. A young buck in the organisation, looking for points from Haywood. I’m head of security – killing women isn’t in my job description.’
    ‘But why Monty at all? What did he do?’
    ‘He stole money. Lots of money.’ Saint Cyr almost seemed relieved to start talking.
    ‘What kind of money?’
    ‘Dirty money of course.’
    ‘From?’
    ‘VAT fraud. Gold and diamonds from South Africa. Import, export, but cut out the revenue. Simple. But how do you know about any of that?’
    ‘I’m a bloody copper,’ said Margaret. ‘It’s my job to know things like that.’
    ‘But not the copper you pretended to be.’
    ‘I had my reasons.’
    ‘So why Monty?’ pressed Roxie.
    ‘I met him at a school reunion. He was younger than me of course. We got talking, and when I told him who I worked for he asked if there was any work for him. Old school, you know what that means. I introduced him to Haywood, and it turned out he was an accounting genius. Christ knows what he was doing in Guildford doing the accounts for the local shopkeepers. We gave him more and more responsibility for the VAT. But then he got greedy and started ripping us off. We didn’t mind a little. Comes with the territory. But he obviously didn’t know who he was dealing with, because he just didn’t stop.’
    ‘So you killed him.’
    ‘I told you, it wasn’t supposed to happen. Then Trent’s thugs got over eager and killed his secretary.’
    ‘And threatened my sister.’
    ‘Another stupid mistake. We should have just forgotten about the money, Christ. We thought it was all over when Smith’s wife went off the deep end. We were