‘Except if they wanted to keep their relationships secret.’
‘I doubt they’d shout it from the rooftops,’ said Banks, ‘but as far as they were concerned, they didn’t think they were doing anything wrong. But I don’t think it would go down well with Randall’s medical council.’
‘Well, we have a few more glimmers now, don’t we, guv,’ said Winsome.
Banks smiled. ‘We do, indeed.’
‘And while we’re speculating,’ said Annie, ‘there’s something else we might care to consider.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Banks.
‘If we’re right, and if Mia was recruiting or grooming young students for predators like Hadfield and Randall, and maybe even Liversedge, for all we know, then how did Hadfield and Randall get her to do that? Where did they find her? She was a bridge between the two groups, the men who wanted to pay for a young girl’s company, and the girls who needed the money for their education. She was the matchmaker who put student with old codger. What if it was Mia who bought the phones and handed them out? What if she was the one who got rid of them after whatever happened that Saturday? Shut down the network, so to speak. That way all communication between her, the men and the girls would be restricted to burners.’ She gave Banks a sarcastic look. ‘Sorry.’
Banks smiled. ‘And where are the phones now?’
‘If it was Mia who collected them and got rid of them after everything went pear-shaped,’ said Annie, ‘they could be anywhere now. If I were her, I’d put them in a bag full of rocks and chuck them in a river or reservoir.’
‘Good point,’ said Banks. ‘But we can’t drag all the reservoirs and rivers in Yorkshire, even the one near Hadfield’s.’
‘We don’t have to if we find Mia,’ said Gerry.
‘So we’re back to that,’ said Banks. ‘We’re going round in circles here.’
‘No we’re not,’ said Gerry sharply. ‘Sorry, guv. But I just had a thought. If what DS Cabbot says is right about Mia being the one who brought the men and the girls together, then she needed access to both. It was easy enough for her to hang about student pubs and chat with the girls. And when you think about it, second-year students would be feeling the pinch. They’d be a bit more desperate, having found out how tough it was to get through the first year financially. Lord knows, I might not have said no to a sugar daddy myself in my second year.’ She reddened. ‘No. I take that back. But do you see my point?’
‘I do,’ said Banks. ‘And it makes a lot of sense. Mia obviously looked enough like a student to blend in at the student hangouts.’
‘Yes,’ said Gerry. ‘But what about the men? How did she make contact with Hadfield, Randall, maybe Liversedge, and the others? How did she get access to them? What did they have in common? They wouldn’t normally move in the same circles. I’m thinking a posh local pub where she worked behind the bar, perhaps? Or an upmarket shop where they bought their cigars or brandy or whatever? Got chatting, got the measure of them, found out they were lonely and randy, said maybe she could help?’
‘I like your first idea best,’ said Annie. ‘It’d need to be a place where people could be casual, relax, chat, with the barriers down. A posh pub would be ideal.’
‘Or a club,’ said Banks.
It was late, and everyone else had gone home, but Annie went back to the station and sat alone in the dimly lit squad room listening to the sounds from deep in the building. A laugh. A voice raised. The clanking of the heat pipes. A drunk complaining loudly about being arrested. This business about Keane reappearing had got her on edge, no doubt about it. Perhaps Banks was the one he had tried to kill, but she was the one he had deceived, used, humiliated and betrayed. Over the past few years she had often dreamed of revenge until, like everything else, it had ceased to trouble her day-to-day mind to a large extent, though it still occupied her dreams and those moments when, for whatever reason, her guard was lowered.
She sighed and picked up the phone. It was hard to know what would be the best time to phone Poppy Hadfield. Morning was obviously out, as she was definitely a nightbird, but there was no telling how smashed she would be now, at eleven o’clock. Annie decided to risk it anyway.
Poppy answered on the fourth ring. ‘Yeah, this is Poppy Hadfield, honey, what do you want?’
‘It’s DS Cabbot here. Annie.’
‘Annie! I was going to ring you, but I lost... you know... that thing you gave me.’
‘My number?’
‘That’s it.’
She was at least partially out of it. Better move fast. ‘Poppy, do you know anything about Mandrax?’
‘Mandies? Ludes? Not my thing, honey. Now Mad Dog, Mad Dog used to lo-o-o-o-ove his mandies. Crazy bastard would pop a couple and want to fuck all night.’
‘Where did he get them? I thought they’d been discontinued years ago.’
‘Yeah, they were. But this was Mad Dog, honey. He could get whatever kind of drugs he wanted to. God, I do miss the bastard sometimes. Why are you asking me about mandies, anyway?’
‘Remember that girl I was telling you about? Adrienne?’
‘The one who died? Yeah.’
‘Well she died because of an overdose of methaqualone.’
‘Poor chick.’
‘And we don’t know where she got it from.’
‘And you thought I could help?’
Annie heard the sound of a cigarette being lit, smoke breathed in and out. ‘Something like that,’ she said.
‘Cool. That you think I would know, I mean. But it’s not my scene.’
‘You like Valium, don’t you?’
‘Like it? No way? It’s just to take the edge off. Anyway, it’s a different thing entirely.’
‘Edge off what?’
‘You know. Life.’
‘So you know nothing about Mandrax, Quaaludes?’
‘Nah.’
‘You didn’t supply them to your father?’
‘The old man?’ She cackled over the line. ‘Was the old man doing ludes? Well, fuck me.’
‘We don’t know,’ said Annie. ‘I’m asking you.’
‘Nah. Besides, I’m not a dealer. People give me the stuff. That’s how it usually works.’
‘OK,’ said Annie. ‘Just thought I’d check. You doing all right?’
‘So-so,’ said Poppy. ‘I’m just, you know, chilling right now. Ronald called earlier. Wanted me to handle the details of Daddy’s estate. He seemed pissed off you had him go all the way up to Yorkshire.’
‘Yes. He didn’t seem very happy at the time.’
‘He’s a charmer, isn’t he?’
‘Sure is. Why did you want to call me?’
‘Call you?’
‘Yes, you said you wanted to, but you lost my number.’
‘Oh, that. Yeah, I remember. It’s, like, nothing really. Just that you asked me to tell you if I remembered anything odd, and there was this one time I was up at Rivendell for a visit about a month ago, and Daddy’s phone went off, only it wasn’t his phone.’
‘What do you mean, Poppy?’
‘Well, you know all those different sounds they make, right?’
‘Ringtones?’
‘That’s the things. His always sounded like church bells. But this was like a tikitikitiki sound, a cricket or something.’
‘Couldn’t he have changed it?’
‘Why would he do that?’
‘Just for the sake of it. People do. That’s why there are so many different ringtones.’