Careless Love

16

It wasn’t until after the weekend when Banks was finally allowed back to talk to Mia in Leeds General Infirmary, three days spent on paperwork and catching up with as much rest as possible. According to Dr Elaine Logan, they had carried out various tests on Mia, and though they intended to keep her under observation for a while yet, she was regarded as fit for visitors.

Anthony Randall had spent the weekend in a cell, there being no courts in session to hear a bail application. He had appeared in front of the judge on Monday and been turned down. Though the doctor was apparently of good standing in the community, Banks’s account of Randall’s visit to Mia Carney’s flat and what he and Annie had witnessed there gave the judge pause for thought, and bail was denied.

The forensic evidence against Randall in the Sarah Chen case helped, too. Only that morning had Banks got the results from Ken of the tests on the bloodstained stone they had found in the bothy: Sarah Chen’s blood and a possible match with Anthony Randall’s fingerprints. Far more damning was the DNA match between the skin under Sarah’s fingernails and Randall. So the good doctor was enjoying a little holiday at Her Majesty’s pleasure. And the rest of the forensic evidence was mounting up. Circumstantial, most of it, according to their CPS rep, but shaping up well.

Mia was propped up in her bed when Banks entered with a bunch of grapes and a small bouquet of flowers. She still had the transparent oxygen tube running under her nose, but most of the other tubing was gone, and she was breathing by herself again. The heart monitor still beeped a steady rhythm, and the clock’s second hand still ticked, reminding Banks of the hours he had spent sitting by her bed. She raised her eyebrows and smiled. ‘What a picture.’

He gave her the grapes and arranged the flowers in an empty vase on her bedside table. ‘Brightens the place up a bit,’ he said.

She touched her hair, which was plastered to her skull. Her eyes were sunken and dark circled, her olive skin a little more pallid. ‘I’m sorry. I must look such a mess,’ she said.

‘Don’t worry about it. How are you?’

‘I’m feeling a lot better, thanks. Except for the dreams. I’m having terrible nightmares.’

Banks remembered her eyes opening when she came out of the morphine haze, the fires he saw blazing in there. Was she remembering what she saw on the other side?

‘Anyway, to be honest, I’m a bit bored being stuck here, but they say they want to keep me in for a while to do some more tests. They gave me a room of my own. Was that your doing?’

Banks shook his head. ‘No influence when it comes to the NHS. It’s just easier to isolate you this way, lessen any risk to the other patients.’

‘Charming.’

‘Not that there’s any risk to you. Randall is in custody.’

Mia closed her eyes and breathed deeply. When she opened them again she gave Banks a direct look and said, ‘I understand you kissed me?’

Banks felt himself redden. ‘I gave you mouth-to-mouth, if that’s what you mean.’

‘The kiss of life,’ she whispered, and turned her head away. ‘Thank you.’

Banks shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

‘I suppose you want to know everything?’ Mia went on.

‘It would help. If you can manage it. You really should have told the truth sooner, then we might have avoided all this.’

‘Oh, you sound just like my father.’

At least it’s not her grandfather, Banks thought. ‘Do you mind if I bring my DC in to take notes?’ he asked. Annie was busy with the forensics team so he had brought Gerry Masterson. She deserved a road trip, and besides, in his experience she was one of the most competent note-takers they had.

‘No.’

Banks opened the door and beckoned to Gerry, who was waiting outside. When she came in, Mia looked her up and down and gave an approving smile. ‘Nice hair,’ she said.

‘Don’t even think it,’ Banks said. ‘We pay our DCs very well. They don’t need to moonlight for you, thanks very much.’

‘Spoilsport,’ said Mia.

Gerry made herself as comfortable and unobtrusive as possible in a corner chair and readied her notebook. ‘I don’t know, sir,’ she said. ‘You don’t pay that much.’ She set her phone down to record the conversation. Mia wasn’t under arrest, merely ‘helping with inquiries’ but even so, this would avoid having to go over it all again at the station when she was released from hospital, and it might help with the case against Randall.

‘Could you get me some water first?’ Mia asked. ‘It’s in the cabinet under the flowers.’

Banks took out a bottle of spring water and looked for a glass.

‘It’s all right,’ Mia said, taking the bottle from him and unscrewing the cap. ‘I don’t need a straw.’ And she proceeded to glug down half the bottle. ‘And in case you’re worried, there’s a bedpan in the toilet.’

‘It’s good to see you haven’t lost your sense of humour.’

‘Who said I’m joking? Where do you want me to start?’

‘With the other night,’ said Banks. ‘Randall. What happened?’

‘I heard someone knocking at my door. The front door must have been on the latch. I’ve told the bloke in 1A about it, but he takes no notice. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting anyone, and when I answered it I saw it was Randall. I remembered what you’d said about us being the only ones left, but he pushed his way in.’

‘You didn’t have the chain on?’

Mia shook her head. ‘No. Not since you left.’

‘How did Randall know where you lived?’

‘I’d given him my address ages ago, when he hooked up with Sarah. Just in case of emergencies. It’s all part of the service. Anyway, Randall was in a bit of a state.’

‘What did he do?’

‘At first he was just ranting on about his reputation and how his association with me could ruin it. I told him I didn’t consider him to be associated with me, but that only made him worse. He grabbed my blouse and it tore. Then he grabbed my breast. To tell the truth, I didn’t know whether he wanted to rape me or murder me. I’m not sure he knew, himself.’

‘He wanted you out of the way,’ said Banks. ‘He didn’t know we’d found you, but with you around there was always the risk of the full story coming out. Unless there’s more to it. Unless you were a witness. Were you a witness?’

Mia shook her head. ‘To poor Sarah’s murder? No. But he did it. I know he did it.’

‘Tell us what happened next.’

‘Things get very hazy. I turned away, and he hit me with something. I think I passed out. I felt a sharp pain in my arm, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Then I felt like I was floating. I had the most wonderful sense of well-being until...’ She put her hand to her throat. ‘I suddenly couldn’t breathe, then I couldn’t even move. I was just so limp. Then I suppose you came in. My knight in shining armour. And you kissed me.’

Gerry gave Banks a questioning glance and pulled a face.

‘I gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, DC Masterson,’ said Banks. ‘It’s text book.’

Mia looked at Gerry and laughed. ‘Get him. But he was. Really. Your boss was my knight in shining armour. And Annie, of course. His gallant page.’ She paused and eased herself back into the bed as if the laughter had tired her. ‘After that it’s all vague, just the hospital, machines, tubes down my throat, in my arms, up my whatever, and needles. Elaine — that’s Dr Logan — says it was touch and go.’

‘Anthony Randall injected you with a high dose of morphine, which can cause you to stop breathing, and he tried to tell us that it had happened before he arrived, that you had done it to yourself and he was trying to save your life. Now can you tell us about what really happened on Saturday night two weeks ago?’

Mia drank some more water. ‘It started out as just an ordinary day,’ she said. ‘Like all the rest. But I suppose I already knew it might turn into something different. Nothing like what it did become, but... just... difficult.’

‘How did you know?’

Mia took a deep breath. ‘As you know, I supply all my clients, the girls and the men, with dedicated mobiles. Burners, if you like. So the couples could communicate with one another as they wished, and with me, without anyone else knowing. You wouldn’t believe how many erring husbands, or boyfriends, get caught out by their mobiles.’

‘Both Sarah and Adrienne had left their own mobiles at home,’ said Banks. ‘That seemed odd, an indication there was something wrong.’

Mia nodded. ‘I advised them to take only the burners when they were meeting,’ she said. ‘It’s easy to make mistakes, get mixed up. Better to be safe than sorry.’

‘What happened to those phones?’ Banks asked.

‘I’ll tell you about that later. Another aspect of my role was to reassure the girls that I would always be there for them if they needed me. That they didn’t have to put up with anything they didn’t want. I know that sounds strange, given the nature of their relationships, but some men... well, let’s just say they don’t like to stop at what we might consider natural or normal relations. If the girls had any problems, they knew they could come to me. The men, too, but their problems would be of a different kind, and to be honest, they never had any complaints. I’m not saying I could always help, and looking back I think I let Adrienne down badly.’

‘How?’

‘You have to understand that Adrienne and Sarah were very different personalities. Sarah was outgoing, a bit brazen, up for anything, scared of nothing. Adrienne was shy, more reserved and pretty conservative sexually. They were both incredibly sexy, but for different reasons. There was an innocence about Adrienne and a sort of earthy joie de vivre about Sarah.’ Mia drank more water. ‘As you know, Laurence Hadfield and Anthony Randall were mates. Apparently, they went out for dinner together once with the girls, some swank restaurant in Manchester. Well, Adrienne caught Randall’s eye — he was always a bit of sadist, I thought, and despoiling innocence would probably be right up his street — and Hadfield developed an itch for eastern promise.’

‘Let me get this straight,’ said Banks. ‘Both girls were sleeping with their partners, right? Having sex with them?’

‘Yes. But, as I said, Adrienne had this aura of innocence. As a good deal of sex has to do with fantasy, Randall could imagine himself despoiling her innocence. I’m not saying he was into rape or S&M or anything, except in his fantasies.’

Banks glanced at Gerry to see how she was doing. She gave him a nod, which let him know she was keeping up fine. And no doubt understanding it. ‘Go on,’ he said to Mia.

‘Randall and Hadfield came up with the idea of a sort of girlfriend-swapping scenario. But first they wanted to watch the girls frolic by themselves for a while, just to get their juices going, you might say. Adrienne rang me when Hadfield was putting pressure on her to get involved with this foursome scheme, and it made her nervous.’

‘And your role was?’

Mia looked away. ‘I’m ashamed to say that I talked her into it. I’m not proud of myself, but Adrienne lacked confidence. She was a true natural beauty, but it was a hard job talking her into having a sugar daddy in the first place. It was the money that did it, really. The poor kid was broke and she wanted to finish her studies. She also wanted to go off to Africa or somewhere and see wildlife, help the starving people. Adrienne was a humanitarian. She felt she was sacrificing something, her innocence, whatever, for her ideals. I grasped that when I first tried to persuade her to try the life, and I thought if I had succeeded there, I could succeed with this other thing. All she needed was a gentle nudge in the right direction. After all, what did it amount to? A roll in the hay with Sarah wouldn’t have been so bad, then she just had to fuck Randall. Well, I could think of many better things, like having a root canal, but there you go. And there was a nice bonus in it for everyone. But Adrienne was already feeling bad about what she was doing. You know, being Hadfield’s sugar baby. Just how bad I didn’t quite realise. She just... It wasn’t her... Nobody forced her. She forced herself, and it damaged her.’ Mia shook her head. ‘I should have seen that coming, done something about it. Do you know, I think she died of shame.’

‘Did you have feelings for Adrienne, Mia?’

‘I... I...’

‘Be honest. We’re not here to judge you.’

Mia was silent for a while, chewing on her lower lip. Finally, she nodded. ‘I liked her, yes. Maybe more. But it couldn’t be more. I can’t have feelings for the girls I recruit. Or the men. I’m bi, but Adrienne wasn’t. Looking back, I shouldn’t have tried to persuade her. I should have just told her to forget the whole thing. In fact, I shouldn’t even have convinced her to go with Hadfield in the first place.’

‘Easy to say with twenty-twenty hindsight.’

‘Well, given what happened... I mean... I just told her to take a couple of pills to relax, you know, like when you go to the dentist’s sometimes.’

‘What pills?’

‘I gave her two Valium. I have them on prescription.’

‘From Randall?’

‘God, no. I wouldn’t go to him for an ingrown toenail. Besides, like I said, he’s not a GP.’

‘Just two Valium?’

‘Yes. I honestly don’t do drugs. Nor do my girls, at least not if I can help it. I try to be very careful about that. Sometimes, though, with the kind of thing they were planning, you just need something to take you out of yourself.’

‘What did she do with them?’

‘Took them, I suppose. The next time I saw her she was dead. But it can’t have been because of two Valium.’

‘Back up a bit, Mia.’

Mia sniffled, and Banks passed her a tissue. ‘Look at me,’ she said. ‘Behaving like a silly little girl.’

‘It’s OK. Take your time.’

‘I persuaded her to go through with it. That’s all there is to it. I persuaded her, and she ended up dead. I also gave Sarah Adrienne’s number so they could talk it through and feel more comfortable together. Like I said, Sarah was so much more confident than Adrienne. It was all set to take place at Laurence Hadfield’s house on that Saturday night.’

‘What time?’

‘I don’t know the exact time. Evening.’

‘So what went wrong?’

‘I got a call from Hadfield at about nine. He said something had gone terribly wrong and I had to get over to his place right away. He wouldn’t tell me what it was, not even over the burner. Naturally, I was worried something had happened to Adrienne or Sarah, so I headed out there.’

‘And what did you find?’

‘Randall and Sarah were there with Hadfield. I didn’t see Adrienne. Sarah was in hysterics, saying we had to call the police and an ambulance, and Randall and Hadfield were telling her not to be a fool, it was too late for that. I asked what had happened, and Hadfield told me Adrienne had taken some of his pills from the bathroom cabinet and must have had a bad reaction. Mandrax. He has trouble sleeping and he gets them from a doctor he knows in Cape Town. Adrienne also had a bottle of whisky with her. She never usually drank much. She was probably trying to psych herself up for the show.’

‘Where was she?’

‘Upstairs. In the big bathroom. Apparently, she’d been there a long time, too long, and both Randall and Hadfield were getting impatient, so they sent Sarah up to talk to her. It was Sarah who found her body. Hadfield told me Adrienne had been edgy all evening and had even told him she wasn’t sure she could go through with it.’

‘Are you sure he didn’t offer her the pills and booze to make her comply, the way you offered her Valium?’

‘No, I’m not sure. I wasn’t there earlier. But what does it matter? They’re both dead. All I knew was that she’d taken them.’

‘What happened next?’

‘I tried to calm Sarah down, but I couldn’t. There was no way. She was in a hell of state. In the end, Randall took her out to the car and they drove off. I’m sure her carrying on must have sent him over the edge, and he killed her, but I can’t prove it. I wish I could.’

In all likelihood, Mia was right, Banks thought. When they got to the bothy off the country lane, Randall had had enough of Sarah’s hysterics and threats of calling the police, so he let her out of the car. She ran off, he went after her, then they argued some more and he killed her. Annie had mentioned seeing evidence of his quick temper in her and Gerry’s first interview with him.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ Banks said. ‘We’ll make sure Randall pays for what he did. He’s got more than the Medical Ethics Committee to deal with now. Why didn’t he try to help Adrienne? He is a doctor, after all.’

‘He did,’ Mia said. ‘Before I got there. He said he’d been up and checked, but he was positive she was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.’

‘So what was your role?’

‘Cleaner-upper, basically. Someone had to take charge. They were all in shock. After Randall and Sarah had gone, I got Laurence to sit down with a glass of whisky and went up to the bathroom.’ Her breath seemed to catch in her throat. She put her hand to her chest.

‘All right?’ Banks said. Mia nodded. ‘Take a few deep breaths. Can you go on, or do you want me to fetch the doctor?’

Mia took some deep breaths then nodded again. ‘No. I’m OK. It was just so awful.’

‘Can you tell us what you found in the bathroom?’

‘Adrienne was lying in a bath full of water. It was lukewarm by then. There was a bottle smashed on the floor and a smell of whisky. God, I hate the smell of whisky.’

Banks remembered Keane and the Laphroaig. ‘I can understand that,’ he said.

‘It was clear even to me that Adrienne was dead. Her skin was almost white, her eyes were open. I took a shaving mirror from the washstand and held it to her lips. Nothing. There was a little trickle of vomit from the corner of her mouth, down to her chest.’

‘What did you do next?’

‘I went back down to Laurence and asked him what he wanted to do. He said we had to move her, get her out of his house. He seemed fairly calm about it, but I could tell there was going to be no arguing with him.’

‘So you went along?’

Mia nodded. ‘I got a large bin bag from him and cleaned up the bathroom, all the glass, and washed off the whisky. Then I drained the tub and Laurence helped me get Adrienne out onto a plastic sheet. After that, I washed out the tub and picked up her clothes and stuff where she’d left it on the chair. I dried her off as best I could. We dressed her downstairs. It wasn’t easy, but she hadn’t... you know, her body wasn’t stiff or anything, so we got it done. Put her clothes and her bracelet back on.’

‘It was missing a charm,’ said Banks.

‘Oh. I didn’t notice that. It must have come off when she took it off to get in the bath.’

‘Go on.’

‘I put all her other stuff in the bin bag. And the burners. It was a bit of a nasty night out, fog mostly, but it wasn’t impossible. Laurence said we should bury her somewhere, but I said we should just take her into the country and put her somewhere she’d be found before too long. That it would be cruel to bury her and have no one know where she was or what had happened to her. He was worried there’d be evidence linking him to her death, but I persuaded him that the bath would have washed everything away, and it would look like a suicide anyway, which he said he thought it was, and in the end he agreed we’d leave her somewhere more open.’

Banks nodded. ‘It did look like a suicide, except we figured out pretty quickly that she didn’t die in the car. No sign of the whisky, for a start and, of course, we wondered how she had got there.’

‘I admit we weren’t exactly thinking too clearly. I just wanted her to be found. I mean, I knew you wouldn’t just assume it was her car, that you’d check and find the owner, but I thought you might accept that she’d just taken an overdose and wandered into the wilderness to die.’

‘People don’t really do that in real life, Mia.’

‘Maybe I’ve got too much imagination. Anyway, we were just driving around, and I saw that car on Belderfell with the POLICE AWARE sign. I’d seen them before and I knew it could be a few days before anyone got around to it. I’d like to say I was struck with the irony of it, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t in a mood for irony at all. We got her into the driver’s seat of the car — we were both wearing gloves — then we set off back.’

‘What about Hadfield?’

Mia rubbed her eyes. ‘Laurence was in a really bad state when it was done. I think it just hit him all at once, you know, how real it was. Before that I think he’d been living off nervous energy, but when it was done and the body was gone, he started to get restless. He said he wanted to be sick, and we were near Tetchley Moor, so I pulled into the car park there and he got out. Then he said he needed some air, to think things over, and he headed out onto the moor.’

‘Were you worried that he might decide he needed to get rid of you?

Mia glanced sharply at Banks. ‘No. Never. We were accomplices by then, in whatever we’d done. I couldn’t incriminate him without incriminating myself. We’d agreed to hush everything up. I had the bin bag full of Adrienne’s stuff — her handbag, the burner phone, Hadfield’s too, the towel we’d used to dry her off, the smashed whisky bottle — everything that could be incriminating.’

‘What did you do with it?’

‘I took out the sim cards so I could destroy them, then I put a couple of heavy rocks in the bin bag and dumped it in that reservoir near Laurence’s house. Then I picked up the other burners over the next few days. I’d bought them all at once, you see, and I was paranoid that you might be able to trace them. I know I wasn’t thinking clearly, but I went around everyone and got them new ones, from different shops, a place in Huddersfield, another in Bradford, and so on. Maybe I’ve got too much imagination, but I’ve seen TV programmes where the police work magic with mobile phones, so I wanted to leave no traces of the original batch.’

‘What about Randall’s and Sarah Chen’s phones?’

‘I assume Randall must have got rid of them himself. He may be a bastard, but he’s not stupid. I didn’t see or hear from either him or Sarah again after they left that night. Not until... you know.’

‘We got as far as Argos,’ said Banks, ‘so your imagination probably served you well. What happened to Hadfield?’

‘I waited and waited and I thought I heard something, a cry or something, from the moor, so I got out and went up after him. It was hard to see up there in the mist, and I was worried I’d trip over some roots and twist my ankle or something. But before I’d got far, I saw him. Laurence. He was lying at the bottom of a gully, about twenty feet down. It was a pretty clear view, and I had my phone light with me. I could tell right away that he was dead. His neck was at an odd angle, there was a lot of blood on the ground, and he wasn’t moving. I called his name but got no answer. I couldn’t figure out a way to get down there.’

‘You didn’t think to call an ambulance?’

‘That would have meant questions. Just what we were trying to avoid. It was too late, anyway.’

‘What questions were you trying to avoid? Remember, there was only you left now. You and Randall.’

‘I didn’t know about Sarah. Not then. How could I? I got no answer when I tried to call them to tell them to destroy their phones. I just assume Randall did it, anyway.’

‘When did you find out about Sarah?’

‘Not until the body was found and it was in the papers.’

‘Randall didn’t tell you?’

‘No. Why would he?’

‘He didn’t ask for your help?’

‘Obviously not.’

‘Weren’t you worried about Sarah, though, before her body was found?’

‘Maybe a bit, when I couldn’t get through to her, but I assumed she’d just got rid of her burner phone, as I wanted. It made sense for us to keep apart for a while, till things blew over.’

Banks sighed. ‘Oh, dear. You ought to know that things like that never blow over.’

‘Well, what would you have done?’

‘So you left Laurence Hadfield for dead in the gully. Then what?’

‘He was dead.’ Mia seemed to sulk for moment, then she said. ‘I went back to his house to make sure everything was in order. Wiped any surfaces I thought I’d touched. Checked the bathroom again, checked for anything of Adrienne’s that might still be there, clothes in the wardrobe and so on. Found nothing, so I left. I just dumped the bin bag in the water and went home. I was bloody exhausted by then.’

‘I’ll bet you were. And Adrienne was sitting dead in the broken-down car, Laurence Hadfield was lying at the bottom of the gully with a broken neck, and you’d no idea what had happened to Randall and Sarah?’

‘That’s right. I’m not proud of myself, but I didn’t see what else I could have done at the time.’

Banks shook his head slowly. ‘There were dozens of things you could have done, Mia, should have done, and none of them were what you actually did.’

‘What will happen to me? Will I go to jail?’

‘Honestly? I don’t know. That depends on the Crown Prosecution Service.’

‘But I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t kill anyone. You have to believe me.’ Her voice took on a pleading tone.

‘I know,’ said Banks. Though he didn’t. He didn’t know whether Mia had sneaked up behind Laurence Hadfield on Tetchley Moor and given him a little shove. He would like to think she hadn’t done, but he realised that he might never know for certain. As things stood, both Laurence Hadfield and Adrienne Munro had died by misadventure, and only Sarah Chen had been murdered.

‘Anyway,’ Mia said, turning her head to one side. ‘I’m tired. And I could use that bedpan now.’

Banks would hardly have called the night out at the Queen’s Arms a celebration, but it was tradition to mark the successful conclusion of a case. The whole Eastvale crew was there, such as it was — Annie, Gerry, Winsome, a few of the uniforms, Jazz Singh, Stefan Nowak, Vic Manson and several CSIs — along with Ken Blackstone, DCs Collier and Musgrave and a few other members of his team. Despite the jokes and laughter, such occasions always held a residual sadness for Banks, who couldn’t help but think of, in this case, Adrienne Munro, Sarah Chen and Laurence Hadfield. In a way, the events of that fateful Saturday had been like the perfect storm. Things didn’t need to have happened that way, but they had.

‘Penny for them?’ It was Annie plonking a pint in front of him on the table and sitting down beside him.

‘What? Oh, just the usual, you know.’

Annie nodded and clinked glasses. ‘To the fallen.’

‘To the fallen.’

‘So apart from Randall, nobody killed anybody else?’

‘So it would appear.’

‘What about Mia Carney? Will she do time?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Banks. ‘She’ll have to face some charges, but I’ve talked to Diane from the CPS, and they’ll probably strike some sort of bargain, after everything she’s been through. She might avoid prison. I suppose they could charge her with interfering with a dead body, wasting police time, perverting the course of justice, tampering with evidence, maybe even pimping and Lord knows what else, if they wanted to make an example of her, but...’

‘But what?’

‘Well, she might have suspected that Randall killed Sarah, but wasn’t involved. She’s not an accessory to murder. And she should have called an ambulance for Laurence Hadfield. I know it sounds trite, but I think she’s learned her lesson. Or a lesson.’

‘Ever the optimist.’

Banks laughed. ‘It’s not often I get called that.’

‘Don’t fancy her, do you?’

‘Don’t be daft.’

‘Methinks the man doth protest too much.’

‘I like her spirit, that’s all. There’s something refreshing about her. But I don’t like what she does. Anyway, I think she’s found someone else. The last time I went to visit her I saw Leila heading in while I was on my way out. She was carrying a bunch of flowers.’

‘Lucky Mia.’

‘Especially after the way she treated Leila. Still, it takes all sorts.’

Annie clinked glasses again. ‘Spoken like a true wise man.’

‘You pissed already?’

‘Getting there.’

‘How’s Ray?’

‘Haven’t seen him for a while.’

‘Nothing wrong, is there?’

‘No. I just haven’t seen him.’

Winsome wandered over and started talking to Annie. Banks drifted back to his thoughts. The conversations drowned out most of the music, but he could pick out ‘The Maigret Theme’ among the general hubbub. Cyril’s little joke. Though not, apparently. It had disappointed him slightly to find out from one of the temporary barmaids that it was an Internet radio channel and not hand-crafted sixties playlists that Cyril broadcast in the pub. Even so, the music was as good, wherever it came from. One of the Leeds DCs knocked over a pint and everyone cheered. Except Cyril.

‘Keep it down, lads, keep it down,’ he said. And most of those present took note.

Annie turned back to Banks. ‘What do you think about Zelda’s picture, then? Keane?’ she asked.

‘It’s him, without a doubt.’

‘Yes. But what do we do about it?’

‘Haven’t had time to think yet,’ said Banks. ‘Let’s have lunch next week and talk about it.’

‘Fine with me. The sooner we get the bastard, the better. By the way, have you heard from Zelda?’

‘Not since she sent the picture.’

‘Maybe you should introduce her to Mia?’

‘Now that would be an interesting conversation.’

‘Or not.’

Annie went over to join one of the Leeds detectives she’d had her eye on for a while.

Banks turned to Winsome. ‘Is it true?’ he asked.

‘Is what true, guv?’

‘That you’re going to have a baby.’

‘Who told you that?’

Banks put his finger to the side of his nose. ‘I’m a detective, you know.’

Winsome laughed. ‘Between you and me, yes. I’m so excited. But I don’t want the whole station to know yet. It’s early days.’

‘My lips are sealed. Congratulations.’ Banks raised his glass. ‘Cheers.’

Winsome clinked with her diet tonic. ‘I’ll confess I’m a bit scared, too.’

‘That’s not unreasonable. I was just thinking I’ll be down another officer soon. There’ll only be me, Annie and Gerry left. Some Homicide and Major Crimes Unit.’

‘I’ll be around for a while yet, guv, don’t you worry, and I’m sure HR will do something about finding a replacement for Doug.’

Banks got up and circulated among the crowd, offering congratulations here and there. At the bar, he bought another couple of pints and took one over to Annie, deep in conversation with her Leeds detective, then leaned back against the bar to survey the scene. They had already scared off most of the locals and tourists, so they practically had the place to themselves. Cyril was used to it, so he wasn’t going to complain unless someone broke another glass. Banks looked out of one of the clear panes in the window across from the bar. The Christmas lights twinkled outside in the market square, and there were a few people standing outside around the pubs and restaurants enjoying the festive spirit, despite the drizzle and the winter chill.

He thought of Mia Carney and how foolish she had been. Had she really learned her lesson? Does anyone, ever? Wouldn’t she be back at the same game again as soon as she recovered her health? He had to admit that he didn’t know the answers, only that he didn’t believe jail would do her a great deal of good. She had almost died, after all, and Randall’s assault had left her with permanent, if not fatal, cardiac damage. And he wished her good luck with Leila.

Then he thought of Adrienne Munro, whom he had never known, who was so desperate for money to get through her studies and save the world from famine that she had prostituted herself. He assumed that he would never really know whether she had deliberately taken that overdose of Mandrax or simply tried to sedate herself enough to be able to handle what lay ahead that night, and drastically miscalculated. It was easy to do, according to Dr Glendenning, even if you knew something about drugs, which Adrienne didn’t. There were still so many unknowns in the case, and they were likely to remain unknown. The one certainty was that Sarah Chen had been murdered, and Anthony Randall was going down for it. The skin under Sarah’s fingernails had nailed him, along with the minute traces of her blood the CSIs had found in his drains.

Gene Pitney had just started singing ‘Town Without Pity’ when Banks saw the door swing open. Zelda stood there for a moment, framed in the doorway with a serious expression on her face, wearing her long winter coat and fur hat. She scanned the room, and when her eyes lit on Banks, she started walking towards him.