“Was I?”

“Yes.”

“Well, look,” Candy said, leaning forward in her chair. “First off, you have to grant me that immunization, or whatever. Or I won’t say a word.”

“You mean immunity?”

She flushed. “If that’s what it’s called. I didn’t go to school much.”

“Immunity from what?”

“From prosecution.”

“But why would I want to prosecute you?”

Her eyes were everywhere but on Banks, hands twisting the bag on her bare lap. “Because of what I do,” she said. “You know… with men. I’m a prostitute, a tom.”

“Bloody hell,” said Banks. “You could knock me over with a feather.”

Her eyes turned to him, shimmering with angry tears. “There’s no need to be snarky. I’m not ashamed of what I am. At least I don’t go around locking up innocent people and letting the guilty go free.”

Banks felt like a shit. Sometimes he just didn’t know when to hold his tongue. He had acted no better than the smirking PC when he insulted her with his sarcasm. “I’m sorry, Candy,” he said. “But I’m a very busy man. Can we get to the point? If you’ve got anything to tell me, then say it.”

“You promise?”

“Promise what?”

“You won’t lock me up.”

“I won’t lock you up. Cross my heart. Not unless you’ve come to confess a serious crime.”

She shot to her feet. “I haven’t done nothing!”

“All right. All right. Sit down, then. Take it easy.”

Candy sat slowly, careful with her platforms this time. “I came because you let her go. I wasn’t going to come. I don’t like the police. But you let her go.”

“Who’s this about, Candy?”

“It’s about that couple in the papers, the ones who took them young girls.”

“What about them?”

“Just that they… once… you know, they…”

“They picked you up?”

She looked down. “Yes.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes.”

“How did it happen?”

“I was just, you know, out on the street, and they came by in a car. He did the talking, and when we’d fixed it up they took me to a house.”

“When was this, Candy?”

“Last summer.”

“Do you remember the month?”

“August, I think. Late August. It was warm, anyway.”

Banks tried to work out the timing. The Seacroft rapes had stopped around the time the Paynes moved out of the area, about a year or so before Candy’s experience. That left a period of about sixteen months before Payne abducted Kelly Matthews. Perhaps during that period he had been trying to sublimate his urges, relying on prostitutes? And Lucy’s role?

“Where was the house?”

“The Hill. It’s the same one that’s in all the papers. I’ve been there.”

“Okay. What happened next?”

“Well, first we had a drink and they chatted to me, putting me at ease, like. They seemed a really nice couple.”

“And then?”

“What do you think?”

“I’d still like you to tell me.”

“He said let’s go upstairs.”

“Just the two of you?”

“Yes. That’s what I thought he meant at first.”

“Go on.”

“Well, we went up to the bedroom and I… you know… I got undressed. Well, partly. He wanted me to keep certain things on. Jewelry. My underwear. At first, anyway.”

“What happened next?”

“It was dark in there and you could only make out shadows. He made me lie down on the bed, and the next thing I knew she was there, too.”

“Lucy Payne?”

“Yes.”

“On the bed with you?”

“Yes. Starkers.”

“Was she involved in what went on sexually?”

“Oh, yes. She knew what she was doing, all right. Proper little minx.”

“She never seemed to be coerced, a victim in any way?”

“Never. No way. She was in control. And she liked what was happening. She even came up with suggestions of her own… you know, different things to do. Different positions.”

“Did they hurt you?”

“Not really. I mean, they liked to play games, but they seemed to know how far to go.”

“What sort of games?”

“He asked me if I’d mind him tying me to the bed. He promised they weren’t going to hurt me.”

“You let him do that?”

“They were paying well.”

“And they seemed nice.”

“Yes.”

Banks shook his head in amazement. “Okay. Go on.”

“Don’t judge me,” she said. “You don’t know anything about me or what I have to do, so don’t you dare judge me!”

“Okay,” said Banks. “Go on, Candy. They tied you to the bed.”

“She was doing something with hot candle wax. On my belly. My nipples. It hurt a bit, but it doesn’t really hurt. You know what I mean?”

Banks hadn’t experimented sexually with candle wax but he had spilled some on his hand on more than one occasion and knew the sensation, the brief flash of heat and pain followed by the quick cooling, the setting and drying, the way it pinched and puckered the skin. Not an entirely unpleasant sensation.

“Were you frightened?”

“A bit. Not really, though. I’ve known worse. But they were a team. That’s what I’m telling you. That’s why I came forward. I can’t believe you’ve let her go.”

“We don’t have any evidence against her, any evidence that she had anything to do with killing those girls.”

“But don’t you see?” Candy pleaded. “She’s the same as him. They’re a team. They do things together. Everything together.”

“Candy, I know it probably took you a lot of courage to come here and talk to me, but what you’ve said doesn’t change things. We can’t go and arrest her on-”

“On some tom’s statement, you mean?”

“I wasn’t going to say that. What I was going to say was that we can’t just go and arrest her on the evidence of what you’ve just told me. You consented. You were paid for your services. They didn’t hurt you beyond what you were prepared for. It’s a risky profession you’re in. You know that, Candy.”

“But surely what I’ve said makes a difference?”

“Yes, it makes a difference. To me. But we deal in facts, in evidence. I’m not doubting your word, that it happened, but even if we had it on video, it wouldn’t make her a murderer.”

Candy paused for a moment, then she said, “They did. Have it on video.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I saw the camera. They thought it was hidden behind a screen, but I could hear something, a whirring noise, and once when I got up to go to the toilet I glimpsed a video camera set up behind a screen. The screen had a hole in it.”

“We didn’t find any videos at the house, Candy. And as I said, even if we had, it wouldn’t change anything.” But the fact that Candy had seen a video camera interested Banks. Again, he had to ask himself where was it, and where were the tapes?

“So it’s all for nothing, then? My coming here.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Yes, it is. You’re not going to do anything. She’s just as guilty as him, and you’re going to let her get away with murder.”

“Candy, we’ve got no evidence against her. The fact that she joined in a threesome with her husband and you does not make her a murderer.”

“Then find some evidence.”

Banks sighed. “Why did you come here?” he asked. “Really. You girls never come forward voluntarily and talk to the police.”

“What do you mean, you girls? You’re judging me again, aren’t you?”

“Candy, for crying out loud… You’re a tom. You told me yourself. You sell sex. I’m not judging your profession, but what I am saying is that girls who practice it rarely make themselves helpful to the police. So why are you here?”

She shot him a sly glance so full of humor and intelligence that Banks wanted to get on his soapbox and persuade her to go to university and get a degree. But he didn’t. Then her expression quickly changed to one of sadness. “You’re right about my profession, as you call it,” she said. “It’s full of risks. Risk of getting some sexually transmitted disease. Risk of meeting the wrong kind of customer. The nasty kind. Things like that happen to us all the time. We deal with them. At the time, these two were no better or worse than anyone else. Better than some. At least they paid.” She leaned forward. “But since I’ve read about them in the papers, what you found in the cellar…” She gave a little shudder and hugged her skinny shoulders. “Girls go missing,” she went on. “Girls like me. And nobody cares.”