Page 7 of Mayfair Madame
“No, what’s your first name? You’ve seen my left tit. It’s only right I know your name.”
“Oh, it’s Ellie. Ellie Sharpe.”
“Well, Ellie Sharpe, I’ll not rest until that fucker pays for what he did to me and, no doubt, countless other women. You can tell him that.”
“I will let my boss know.” I didn’t tell her Godfrey had friends in high places. She seemed so determined. “But you should go to the hospital and get checked out.”
Just then, Lady Hartlebury walked in, carrying some clothes.
“My darling Naomi, how are you feeling?” She leant down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“I’m feeling much better, Emmeline. I’m sorry you’ve had to endure this.”
“Don’t you dare apologise. This was all him. When we find Clement, he can corroborate what you said.”
“I should never have taken him on as a client. He was always weak.” She glanced across at me, her eyes wide as if realising her mistake.
“Why is he a client, Naomi?” Did this make her what I thought it did? Was she a prostitute?
“I can see your mind working overtime, Ellie. I run a legitimate online escort business. I don’t sell sex. I sell my time.”
“And Clement hired you to come here tonight.” This would not look good for her.
“Yes, but we did nothing wrong. It was a business transaction. I didn’t have sex with him. He’s a quiet, sensitive man and finds it hard to make conversation with women. With me, he doesn’t have to try. It suits him, and he can afford me.”
“And others can’t?”
“I’ve built a business. A successful one, and no one will take that away from me. Especially someone like Benjamin Godfrey. Are we done here?”
“Naomi, there’s no need to be like that. The detective needs to know everything. They would have found out, eventually. Best to let them know now. It wouldn’t look good to hide the truth.”
“Lady Hartlebury is right, but I’ll wait outside the door while you dress. We’re going to need contact details from you, but once that’s done, you’re free to go. I still think you should go to the hospital. At least then we’d have a record of the bruises. It’s important if you’re going to press charges. Paramedics are here tending to Lord Godfrey.”
Naomi pursed her lips and picked at a loose thread on the robe.
“Could you take the pictures? I don’t want to go to the hospital. They make me nervous.”
It wasn’t ideal, but I pulled out my mobile phone. “You’ll need to drop the gown again.”
My hands trembled, but after a few attempts, I got some decent pictures of the vivid bruises.
“I’m glad they sent a female officer,” Lady Hartlebury said. “I’d hate for men to ogle those pictures.”
“I will need to show my boss, and if the case goes to court, they will be used as evidence.”
“Are you sure, Naomi?” Lady Hartlebury asked.
Her expression went from resignation to determination, her jaw set.
“Let’s make the fucker pay.”
Chapter Three
Naomi
The warmth of the evening did nothing to shift the ice in my veins. The journey home was plagued with flashbacks of a night many years ago. A night that had shaped me. A night that had made me into the formidable woman I was today.
For a moment, I’d retreated into myself, allowing me to be the young woman I once was, but I could no longer let that happen. She’d disappeared long ago, and I’d buried her deep in the recesses of my mind, never to see the light of day.
