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The Rubber Woman [Secure eReader (recommended)/Mobipocket/Microsoft Reader]
eBook by Lindsay Ashford
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eBook Category: Mystery/Crime
eBook Description:  Megan Rhys is a half-Welsh, half-Indian forensic psychologist who is assessing the impact of the government's new legislation on the vice trade in Cardiff. As predicted by critics, the problem hasn't gone away--prostitutes have simply moved into darker, more dangerous areas. Megan is deeply concerned about the risk this poses to the women--especially as a young prostitute was murdered in the area just a few months ago. The story opens with Megan joining Pauline, a former prostitute turned outreach worker who the police called 'the oldest tart on the beat', in the red light district. Pauline is giving out condoms--she is affectionately known to the working girls as 'The Rubber Woman'.
eBook Publisher: Accent/Accent
Fictionwise Release Date: November 2007
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Available eBook Formats [Secure eReader (recommended)/Mobipocket/Microsoft Reader - What's this?]: SECURE MOBIPOCKET FORMAT (144 KB], SECURE MICROSOFT READER FORMAT (189 KB] - Requires Microsoft Reader 2.1.1 for PCs, or Microsoft Reader 2.2.2 on Pocket PC 2002 handheld devices. Some older Pocket PCs can be upgraded. Learn More., SECURE EREADER (RECOMMENDED) FORMAT (57 KB]
All formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
Microsoft Reader ISBN, eReader (recommended) ISBN: 9781905170883
 
Megan Rhys was getting ready for a night in
Cardiff?s red light district. She dressed carefully.
She mustn?t give the wrong signals. Scooping
her long dark hair off her shoulders, she caught
it up in a silver clasp. After a hot day in the city
her eye make-up was smudged. She stared at
her face in the mirror, seeing it as the punters
might see it. Did the kohl eyeliner make her
look too tarty?
There was a tight feeling in her stomach.
She always got it a few minutes before walking
out of the door. Before she?d come to Cardiff,
she?d thought nothing could shock her. She
couldn?t have been more wrong.
Her mobile phone rang out and she
grabbed her handbag from the bed.
?Hello.? The female voice at the other end
was husky. Pauline Barrow had been smoking
two hundred cigarettes a week for the past
thirty years.
?Hi Pauline ? you still okay for tonight??
?Yeah ? is nine o?clock all right?? Her
gravelly voice had a strong South Wales accent. ?Fine,? Megan replied. ?Shall I meet you by
the factory again??
There was a pause before Pauline answered.
?Yes, but be careful where you park. Did you
hear about the stabbing??
Megan had seen the report on the evening
news. A prostitute had been knifed in the
factory car park. She had been thrown out of a
car and left bleeding on the tarmac. If another
woman hadn?t heard her screams she would
have bled to death.
Since the crackdown on the vice trade,
things had become much worse for women
who sold sex. There was an election coming
and the government wanted votes. ?Make Our
Streets Safe? was the slogan on the posters. But
the problem wasn?t going to go away. The red
light district had simply moved to a darker,
more dangerous part of the city.
When Megan next spoke to Pauline, night
was falling over Cardiff. The last rays of the
setting sun were blocked out by the huge
factories on the industrial estate. Long shadows
fell across the car park where they had agreed
to meet. It was deathly silent now that the
factory was closed for the night. Megan
glanced around her. Suddenly she caught sight
of a figure bending over the boot of a car. It was
the shape of the head that told her it was
Pauline. Her hair, which was dyed a wild shade
of red, was gelled and sprayed into a spiky
crown. In daylight she looked quite scary. Now
she looked like a busy insect, the spikes sticking
out from her forehead like antennae.
?Pauline!? Megan called out while she was
still a few yards away. She didn?t want to scare
her by suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
?Hiya, Meg.? Pauline looked up from the
box of condoms she was unpacking. ?I?ve got a
new one tonight ? called ?Virgin?s Prayer?,
would you believe? It?s supposed to taste like
rum and orange!? She gave a throaty chuckle
and Megan smiled.
Despite her scary look, Pauline?s laugh was
never far away. She gave out condoms to girls
on the streets, and their assorted flavours and
designs were always good for a giggle. Megan
had learned that this was how she broke the
ice. It was a way of getting the girls to open up
and talk about their lives.
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