Chapter One
It was Raquel who discovered Steve McBain’s dead body downstairs in the Fantasy Room. I wasn’t in the building at the time – which is an unusual occurrence in itself - as I’m nearly always at my parlour when the girls are working. But my sister is sick and I had to take her to the hospital. I didn’t think taking a few hours off would be a big deal, if I’m honest. What could go wrong, Esme? I said to myself. What could possibly happen in such a short space of time? It’s only one morning away from the place... Turns out a whole frigging lot can go wrong if you turn your back on your business for one bloody second. I didn’t find out about the murder until Raquel called me as me and Pam were walking back to the hospital car park just after midday. We were going slow as my sister’s not doing well at the moment, what with the chemo and that. As soon as I answered, Raquel started screaming down the fucking phone at me – I thought I was going to go deaf - telling me to get my arse back to The Elliott right that instant because Steve was dead and the police wanted to talk to me. The police? Shit; that’s not good news, I thought. What the fuck’s gone and happened now?
