Chapter 10

“Here he comes now,” I heard Jim say as Mel and I approached. She’d be trying her hand behind the camera again this afternoon after impressing with the photoset she’d taken of Emma.

Jim was standing next to an elegantly dressed statuesque blonde and two other pretty but plain girls—the kind you might notice subconsciously as you walked along the street but don’t pay all that much attention to.

I held my hand out to the tall blonde. “Katerina, I assume?”

She smiled and gently shook my proffered hand. “You assume correctly.” Her accent wasn’t as thickly Russian as I’d expected, but it was certainly noticeable. “And you are Mr Jones? Or is it Mr Rodgers?” Her smile widened just slightly and her accent thickened almost comically as she said, “Or is it Mr Dick?”

“You’ve spoken with our mutual friend Mr Alsworth since he left here yesterday?”

“Of course. And now, I expect we’re going to go somewhere private and have a discussion of our own?”

I returned her smile and nodded. Then I turned to Mel and said, “Why don’t you take...” I looked at Katerina and arched an eyebrow.

“Erika and Lucja.”

“ ... Erika and Lucja to see Lynda and get them ready for ... whatever we’re doing this afternoon.” I turned to Jim. “Have you offered Katerina—”

“Kat,” she said. “Just Kat. Katerina sounds so... formal. And we’re all friends here. Aren’t we?”

I nodded. “Have you offered Kat a drink?”

“No. They’ve only just arrived and—”

“In that case... Kat, why don’t you join me in the performer’s lounge. There shouldn’t be anyone there, I can make you a hot drink, or something stronger if you prefer, and we can have that chat.”

“I’d love a coffee,” Kat said with another smile. “Jim, I will see you when the girls are finished so we can review the shots.”

“Of course. I ... I have some paperwork to be getting on with.” As I steered Kat away towards the performer’s lounge, Jim said, “Oh, by the way, Dick. Do you remember that scene that Kitty said she’d done back in the day and we wondered if it was in the archive?”

“The triple thing?”

“That’s the one. We’ve found it. I’m having it digitised this afternoon. I assume you’d like a copy to take home?”

I grinned. “I’ll collect it later.”

Jim left us to return to his office and I walked with Katerina over to the lounge. As well as the entertainment and relaxation area, the lounge also had a small kitchen with a fridge, a microwave oven, a kettle and one of those fancy coffee making machines that made different types of coffee depending on which pod you used.

“An espresso,” she said when I asked her what she wanted. “A double.”

I selected the right pod and popped it the machine and Kat’s espresso was ready by the time I’d made myself a strong, sweet cup of tea.

“So ... it’s true? You really are married to Kitty Rodgers?”

I nodded.

“I missed working with her by about six months. She left the business just before I started.”

“So you’ve been doing this for twenty years?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been involved in the sex business in one way or another for that long, yes. But not in the ... what’s the correct term these days? Adult Entertainment? I’ve modelled, acted and even escorted. These past few years though I’ve been focused on the agency. I assume it’s the agency you want to discuss?”

I nodded. “I have some concerns.”

We took our drinks over to the seating area—three three-seat sofas arranged in a U shape around a rectangular coffee table. The large television screen was mounted on the wall at the open end of the U. It was currently showing one of the rolling news channels with the sound down and the subtitles on.

“I understand. And I’m here to ease those concerns as best I can. Mr ... What should I call you?”

“Let’s stick to Dick, shall we? It’s what you’ll have to call me in front of the girls from your agency, even if you do know my real name.”

“Your legal name. Not your real name. That’s the thing about this business, Dick, truth becomes lies and lies become truth. If you are involved in it for any length of time, it becomes hard to tell the difference—to tell what’s real and what’s not. Trust me, I know from experience. When I first got involved, I was acting. Being on set was a game. A lie. It wasn’t the real me.

“But over the years, the lie became the truth of who I was. The game became my life. Now I’ve long since forgotten the truth of who I was before I became Katerina Yakovich, and it’s the name on my passport and driving licence that’s the lie.

“Look, Dick, you really don’t have anything to worry about. EuroGirlsUK is completely above board and we look after our girls better than most agencies in this business. I make sure of that. That’s my job. I’ve been where many of these girls are now. I know what they are feeling. I know what they are going through. And my job is to make it easier for them. Make it better for them. Do you understand?”

I stared at her, trying to read her. I was a good judge of people, usually. It was one of the advantages I had when I worked in The City and again when I became a financial advisor. Sometimes people might say one thing but they think or feel another. You can say you’re happy to take higher risks for higher returns but deep down ... And being able to read that gut feeling people have but don’t express helps fit them to the right product.

But I was having trouble reading Kat. It wasn’t so much that she was giving me any obvious signs that she was lying or trying to deceive me. She didn’t make me think she was just saying what she thought I wanted to hear. But I knew the type of people she worked for—or rather the type of people that owned the agency she ran—and they didn’t fill me with confidence that they had the agency’s girls’ best interests at heart.

I sipped my tea, then placed it on the coffee table, crossed my legs and sighed. I was sitting at the end of the sofa opposite the television. Kat was sitting at the end of the sofa to my left. She also had her long, slender legs crossed, which pushed her short skirt up so that the lacy tops of her black stockings were just visible. As she waited for me to speak, she bounced her foot gently. I’m not sure she even realised she was doing it, but her pose, her whole demeanour, was quite seductive. She was in her early forties and she was still a very attractive woman. She certainly wouldn’t have any trouble getting acting work if she wanted it.