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    When the Music's Over: An Inspector Banks Novel
    When the Music's Over: An Inspector Banks Novel
    When the Music's Over: An Inspector Banks Novel
    Ebook611 pages10 hours

    When the Music's Over: An Inspector Banks Novel

    By Peter Robinson

    4/5

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    • Police Investigation

    • Friendship

    • Police Procedure

    • Power Dynamics

    • Crime Investigation

    • Whodunit

    • Femme Fatale

    • Coming of Age

    • Loyal Friend

    • Haunted Protagonist

    • Murder Mystery

    • Ticking Clock

    • Hard-Boiled Detective

    • Red Herring

    • Corrupt Cop

    • Murder Investigation

    • Drug Addiction

    • Family Dynamics

    • Memory & Trauma

    • Corruption

    About this ebook

    A baffling murder on a remote country lane puts Alan Banks and his team to the test in the detective’s most intense and gripping case yet – from an author hailed by Louise Penny as “a writer at the top of his game.”

    With Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot investigating the young woman’s death, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Banks finds himself taking on the coldest of cases: a fifty-year-old assault allegedly perpetrated by beloved celebrity Danny Caxton. Now Caxton stands accused at the center of a media storm, and it’s Banks’ job to discover the shocking truth.

    As more women step forward with accounts of Caxton’s manipulation, Banks must piece together decades-old evidence – as the investigation leads him down the darkest of paths…

    Suspenseful, powerful, and surprising, When the Music’s Over is the finest novel to date from one of the foremost suspense writers at work today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateAug 9, 2016
    ISBN9780062395061
    Author

    Peter Robinson

    One of the world’s most popular and acclaimed writers, Peter Robinson was the bestselling, award-winning author of the DCI Banks series. He also wrote two short-story collections and three stand-alone novels, which combined have sold more than ten million copies around the world. Among his many honors and prizes were the Edgar Award, the CWA (UK) Dagger in the Library Award, and the Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy Martin Beck Award.

    Read more from Peter Robinson

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    Reviews for When the Music's Over

    4/5

    157 ratings21 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This novel by Peter Robinson surprised me, as the story captured my interest immediately. The story deals with teen-age girls and the problems these girls encounter. These young girls are solicited by older men and groomed for the illegal sex market. The girls are controlled by drugs and presents until they are doomed to a cloudy existence. Peter Robinson casually shows the mentality of these girls in a world devoid of love and caring as they plummet into a hellhole. I find myself amazed at the lack of parental supervision, where have Ozzie and Harriet gone? Are parents too wrapped in their own private misery to observe their children and guide these children to a deserving life? The novel also explores the cold case of a sexual assault. I remember someone telling me that everyone woman has been a victim of assault during her life. What a sad commentary on human nature.
    • 5/5
      This was the most enjoyable Banks book I have read in a while, the series is definitely back at it's best! The ratings for the book do reflect this. This is most definitely a book of our times, including the theme of grooming and sexual abuse by tv personalities of the past. This book certainly felt as though it had more depth than in recent books. Whilst not great themes to read about Peter Robinson does an excellent job of it and I was hooked throughout the book.
    • 4/5
      Robinson skillfully weaves together two investigations: one the current murder of a teenage girl, the other the case of a beloved entertainer accused of many years of abusing young female fans in the 1960s and 70s. The team of Annie Cabot and Gerry Masterson play an integral role in this book, and it was interesting to learn more about Gerry than we have in past outings.
    • 3/5
      Not one of the best. There's a particularly annoying, and very slow passage, in which Annie and her partner discuss their joint case. How much better to see the detectives actually solving the crime. A little banter is fine, but four or five pages of exposition is a killer.There's a problem with Bank's case as well. Again, a woman who has complained of a childhood rape by a famous tv star, creates a memoir to try to free up her memories. This victim and Banks are only periodically in contact, so you have the police seeking information and the victim at home writing. There's very little human interaction. This whole work seems to be a few inches off target. It never gains momentum and both investigations are unsatisfying. There is one promising lead which might show up in a new work: the prejudice and Islamophia of many police, and the hopelessness, alienation, and bad decision making among Islamic communities.
    • 5/5
      A very contemporary plot building on operation Yewtree, the revelations about Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and others, as well as the disturbing stories of the grooming of young girls in places like Rochdale. Banks, recently promoted to Superintendent, is given a political hot potato as his first case and at the same time is overseeing Annie Cabbot who has the brutal murder of a young girl to investigate. As always strong plotting and characterisation elevate this novel.
    • 4/5
      Standard Peter Robinson, neither better nor worse than he usually is (and he's unusually consistent!) If you haven't read him yet, start at the beginning, it's worth it. If you have, and you like him, you'll like it.

      (Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
    • 5/5
      This is my favorite Inspector Banks book. I loved the music and poetry references. Enjoyed learning about Brighton Beach and all the concerts from the late 60's. The book focused mainly on two separate cases involving young women who were raped. One from the past (1967) and one from the present. I found the book well-written and researched. The characters were well-developed and the storyline was riveting. There were many plot twists which kept the pages turning. One thing I like about Peter Robinson's books is that he does not disappoint. His books are always very interesting and intriguing. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series and hope for many more in the future.
    • 4/5
      I enjoy all Inspector Banks novels and I enjoyed this one. Extreme political correctness does exist in the UK. I did skim a lot of the diary written by one of the characters. However, the actual story was good and I love the characters of banks and Annie.
    • 3/5
      I have never read this author before, despite his having written a number of novels in this series, so perhaps that is coloring my judgment. In this novel Banks, who just received a promotion, is involved in two major cases as the same time. He is directly responsible for the rape cases involving a famous celebrity, much like the Cosby case, as well as overseeing one involving the murder of a young girl who was groomed and involved in forced prostitution. The author is obviously a great music fan as there are a number of references to a variety of composers and artists, as well as a fan of good wine. While the writing is compelling and the descriptions of police work insightful, the ending left much to be desired. Both case endings were anti-climatic that were too easily anticipated by the reader, including Banks and the victim walking off into the sunset together – to listen to music by a mutual friend of both!
    • 4/5
      Good as always .Getting near the end of all his books. Going to be hard to replace.

    • 4/5
      As this is number 23 in the series, it shows that I have made an effort to read my way through this series. I think I have about 3 or 4 books left to go. I really enjoy this series. A lot of the books are stellar, especially later in the series. This one, though good, didn't grab me as much as a lot of others have. In it we see Banks with his new title - Detective Superintendent. His first duty as a DS is to investigate what is known as an historical sexual assault case. Someone has come forward accusing an aging popular singer and entertainer of rape which happened when the woman was 14 years of age. It's fifty years later, and she has decided to come forward with this accusation that she has buried deep inside her for decades. At the same time, DI Annie Cabbot is investigating the rape and murder of a fifteen year old girl. The girl has been found lying in a roadside ditch naked and beaten to death. Both cases are not connected other than being similar crimes committed fifty years apart. Really not much has changed in all that time both Annie and Banks determine. Banks' investigation runs into many roadblocks as all of the evidence from the decades old rape has been expunged or it has simply disappeared. Police corruption is the culprit in this one, and most of the key police officers have died by the time Banks gets onto their crimes. But the complainant and the accused are still both very much alive, and Banks and Winsome Jackson troll through historical records and old witnesses that have come forward in order to build their case. In Annie's case, the crime they're investigating, though much more recent, could start a racial altercation in one of Eastvale's notorious tenements. Both Annie and Banks are walking political minefields that could end up derailing their careers. Where this book fell down for me a bit was that I figured out the perpetrator in Annie's case early on, and Banks' case really could have only ended in only one way, and that is how it did indeed end. Except, Banks' case didn't really have a satisfactory ending, and a lot was left up in the air. Regardless, I am looking forward to reading the next in this series. I love Alan Banks and his entire crime-fighting crew.
    • 4/5
      Inspector Alan Banks is promoted and assigned to solve cold case mysteries, specifically, previously, 50-years ago, a past celebrity Danny Caxton, is now in his 80's. Previously he was quite the popular tv host. With an ego as high as the sky, he believed his popularity allowed him to rape and assult young girls that he sets sights on.

      Inspector Banks assistant Annie Cabot is working with him, but also trying to solve a different case. Her case entails a young 14 year old girl who was violently picked up, raped by multiple men and then thrown out of the vehicle. But, her terrible night did not end there. She was picked up by another man who beat her to death.

      Both cases are gritty and the writing is very detailed. This is my first book in this series. Because I liked the writing, I will seek other books in the series. The book has twists and turns that kept me interested.

      I liked the way the two characters worked together to help each other.
    • 5/5
      A DCI Banks based upon the operation Yewtree investigations was never going to be a fun outing for our hero and the team: add to this a grooming case for Annie and the laughs are guaranteed to be missing. The book is, however, well written and a good read.

      Peter Robinson allows us to see these horrible crimes in the round. Punches aren't pulled, but equally, no group is vilified. This must have been the most tricky story ever to be attempted by a fictional crime writer and it is an amazing accomplishment that Mr Robinson pulls this off.
    • 5/5
      Two cases over a 50-year period, both involving the rape of teenage girls, occupy Inspector Alan Banks’s team in “When the Music’s Over,” the 2016 entry in Peter Robinson’s outstanding series of mysteries. Interestingly, both cases justify the book’s title.

      In the older case, Banks, newly promoted, investigates an accusation by a prominent British poet that Danny Caxton, a popular entertainer back in the Sixties, raped her when she was 14. A complaint had been filed at the time, but nothing came of it. Caxton had been a friend to top police officials in those days, as well as a generous contributor to police charities. Could that be why most of the records from the case have disappeared? Now Caxton is an obnoxious 85-year-old more confident than ever that the law cannot touch him.

      The newer, more interesting case involves another 14-year-old girl found dead on a country road. Evidence suggests she has been raped by multiple men, dumped naked along the road, then beaten to death by someone else. Although Banks is technically in charge of this case, the actual investigation is headed by Annie Cabbot, a member of his team and a woman who herself was a rare victim.

      Robinson doesn’t rely on chases, shootouts or even obscure clues and brilliant deductions. Rather this novel, like others in the series, focuses on solid, usually routine police work. Yet it is riveting from first page to last.
    • 4/5
      I have been a fan of Peter Robinson's writing, and by inference, a fan of Inspector Alan Banks. The plotting is straight forward and the story telling excellent.

      The main attractions are the locale, I spent a bit of time in Yorkshire so the people and the locale are quite familiar to me. Peter Robinson is quite adept at making the reader feel a part of the characters lives as well as gently dropping us into the Yorkshire cities and countryside.

      I have been following Banks and Annie Cabbot for so long that yes, I do feel like I know them very well.

      This book, however, veers a bit from the familiar and the comfortable. it delves in the newer dark underside of the modern UK and it is the uncomfortable kind. In this book, Banks has been promoted and Annie had not, and it clearly rankles. Annie is starting to show some of the irreverence and maverick bravado that was so much a part of Banks.

      There are two crimes, as always. One is hostprical and one is present day. Robinson is excellent at this and he is once again telling the story with verve and aplomb.

      The stories involve two very contemporary issues plaguing the western world: child molestation and racial unrest. In the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile scandal, it is no wonder that the author decided to use this motif as a centerpiece. He then adroitly mixed is with the second story involving child sex crimes mixed in with the racial issues that is popping up in the UK. While the UK does not have the historical dysfunction that the US has suffered through for the entire history, their dealings with the problem serves as a reminder of just how emotionally explosive this issue can be, especially with the roles of the aggressor and victim reversed.

      You can tell that the author is struggling with trying to tell the story well, as he does, without really getting mired down by the emotional baggage that always rears its head when it comes to dealing with both issues. They are both complex and emotional. I am not sure that the author was completely successful in treating the issues in a clear eyed way, but he did have a good go. I don't think that there is A good way to address the issues in a work of fiction that is not directly a story that confronts the issue. I think that the author did well enough, given the parameters that he had set for himself .

      Regardless of the amount of effort that he put into it, I was still left a bit disappointed by the ending of the story. It felt like there was another shoe that needed to drop, that the story was ended prematurely. This is why I only gave it a four star.

      BUT, it was a jolly good read, the main characters were evolving as characters and the peripheral characters were also evolving nicely as well.
    • 4/5
      When the Music’s Over, the 23rd entry in the DCI Banks series, interweaves two separate but similar investigations separated by decades. Alan Banks, in his first case since his promotion to Detective Superintendent, is working on an old case involving a celebrity, Danny Caxton. The now elderly Caxton is accused of raping several women in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

      At the same time, Annie Cabot and Gerry Masterson are working on a recent rape/murder case. A fifteen-year-old girl was raped by several men who threw her out of their moving van after they finished with her. She was still alive at the time she was tossed out but, as she walked away, she was attacked by another assailant who beat her savagely and left her to die alone on the deserted road.

      Peter Robinson is one of those rare authors that you can always depend on to give a well-written, well-plotted, intelligent, and completely compelling story and When the Music’s Over is no exception. As always, there are plenty of references to music and food as well as to recent real UK cases. For anyone who enjoys police procedurals with interesting and complex characters and cases, When the Music’s Over is not to be missed.
    • 3/5
      This is the 23rd book in the DCI Banks series. That's it....no more books until Peter Robinson's latest novel comes out in July. Naturally I am already on the list at the library for this publication - so excited!

      This book has two investigations going on which has been par for the course in previous books. Alan Banks has gotten a promotion and he is working on what is described as a historical rape case. Danny Caxton is a celebrity accused of raping young women back in the 1960's and 70's when he was very famous. The women, some now in their late 50's and older, are coming forward and banks must investigate the now 85-year old Caxton.

      Annie Cabbot and Gerry Masterson are also working on a rape case. A young woman raped and dumped in the Yorkshire countryside. She was alive when she was thrown out of a van but someone else came along and murdered her later.

      This is NOT a cozy mystery.

      What I liked about this book:

      I love a good forensic mystery novel.
      Alan Banks and Annie Cabbot are some of my favorite police characters.
      Now they are introducing some new detectives and I like them as well.
      Food and wine! There is always mention of pub meals or something at Banks' home. He is enjoying his journey learning about wine.

      What I didn't care for:

      If we have two investigations going on at the same time, do they both have to be rape cases? I was thankful it wasn't graphic. I would have liked one case to be a plain old homicide.

      Food and drink items mentions are Black Pudding and Smoked Bacon Scotch Egg,, a Prawn and Rose Marie sandwich, chilled California blush wine, Sam Smith's ale, gin and orange, white wine spritzers, cheese and chutney sandwiches, veggie lasagna and Caesar salad.

      It was the shrimp and wine that called to me with this book. A Greek Scampi with Chickpea, Feta, Tomato Salad and a lovely cool glass of Leese-Fitch Chardonnay.

      Recipes may be found at Squirrel Head Manor .
    • 5/5
      You’ll probably not find a bigger Peter Robinson fan than me so this review may be a tad biased. If that doesn’t bother you, then read on.

      Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series never fails to please and When the Music’s Over is no exception. Like most (all?) books in the series, it tackles both a current case and a cold or older case. In this particular instance, Robinson also tackles the ethnic hatred that currently seems to be running rampant throughout our ‘civilized’ world.

      Mimsy (Mimosa) Moffat, wearing nothing but her birthday suit, was thrown out of the van that barely stopped into a roadside ditch. She was able to gather herself up and begin limping toward help. When another van appears, Mimsy thinks it’s her savior. Little did she know.

      Fifty years after the fact, noted poet Linda Palmer accuses famous entertainer Danny Caxton of rape.This comes on the heels of several other prominent and newsworthy cases of ‘historical abuse’ that have been litigated. (Does Bill Cosby ring a bell?) Of course Caxton denies it, saying that he had enough girls who voluntarily bedded down with him that he didn’t need to rape anyone, especially an under-age girl. Over the decades, his conceit hasn’t abated.

      While Detectives Annie Cabbot and Gerry Masterson investigate the former case, Banks and Winsome Jackman investigate the latter. Along the way, Cabbot et al encounter the tension between the Pakistanis who have emigrated to their locale and the local ‘indigenous’ inhabitants who hate the Pakis, as they are called. Banks and Cabbot have their hands full, clues to neither case abounding. As you know, however, these two detectives and their crackerjack teams will solve the case.

      After having read my first Inspector Banks mystery, my vision of DCI Banks was not at all like the actor portraying him, Stephen Tompkinson. (I pictured him short and stocky.) However, after years of watching the BBC program (according to IMDB there is a 2016 series–hopefully it will air soon), he has become the epitome of Banks as has Andrea Lowe come to personalize Annie Cabbot. So, of course, I had to include their photos. (SPOILER: For those of you hoping to see these two get together like I do, it doesn’t happen in When the Music’s Over.)

      The DCI Banks series has the perfect set of characters, plots, action, romance, etc. It would be an unsolvable mystery how any mystery fan could have not read any of these books.
    • 5/5
      One of my absolute, all time favourite series, that never, ever disappoints, is Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks novels. The 23rd book in the series, When The Music's Over, releases early next month.

      Robinson opens When the Music's Over with a gut wrenching prologue. The reader knows that there is someone and something very, very dark out there......

      Banks has just been promoted to Detective Superintendent. And along with his promotion, comes a high profile case. A beloved public performer, now in his eighties, may not be the man the British public has believed him to be. More than one woman has come forward with accounts of 'historical sexual abuse'. It's up to Alan and his team to see if they can prove a case that's over fifty years old.

      I wondered how Banks would go about investigating the historical case. After so many years, what clues would be left to follow? As Banks says...."I mean...nearly fifty years ago...It's about as cold as case as you can get."

      Running parallel and just as challenging is Detective Inspector Annie Cabot's case. The body of a young girl has been found by the side of the road, horribly beaten. Racial tension, political correctness and public relations tip-toeing are muddying the waters in Annie's investigation.

      "And what are the odds of some stranger just happening along this road, seeing a naked woman walking and turning out to be a passing psychopath, deciding to beat her to death."

      This latest mystery from Robinson is both topical and current. Both cases draw upon actual cases for inspiration - that of Rotherham and Jimmy Savile. Although there are two separate cases, they have common (and disturbing) starting point. The plotting is excellent, well thought out, well paced and absolutely believable.

      Well loved supporting characters return, including one of my perennial faves, Winsome Jackman. We get to know young newcomer Detective Constable Gerry Masterson a bit better. She provides a different outlook from the seasoned detectives and I look forward to seeing more of her. And I never grow tired of Annie and her strong opinions.

      I have always enjoyed Banks' musical tastes, often seeking out some of what he's listening to. In this latest book, poetry is a new passion of Banks. Robinson has grown his characters as the series has progressed. Alan's personal life is always of interest. His last relationship has ended and as the book progressed I wondered if he might follow through with his attraction to one of the witnesses in his historical case.

      I always like finding the reference to the title when reading. In this case, it's from a conversation...

      "You know what they say. When the music's over, it's time to have fun."
      "Never heard that one, said Banks. I thought it was turn out the lights."
      "Don't you turn out the lights when you want to have fun, Superintendent?"

      Well, leave the lights on and immerse yourself in this latest wonderful read from Robinson. While I don't know about fun, I do know it's another fantastic read from Robinson. Five stars for this reader.
    • 5/5
      On the front of the hard cover edition to Peter Robinson's excellent novel "When the Music's over" there is a comment by the author Jeffrey Deaver...."Top-notch police procedure" This is an unassuming but very apt comment about a novel and a story that I found totally engrossing from the first to last page. Deaver's comment almost has the effect of implying that this is a work of some drudgery and reading it is somewhat akin to a work of labour and toil. The truth could not be more different for this is a story that takes you right into the heart of a police investigation (in fact two investigations) an almost fly on the wall drama, you watch and read with fascination and excitement as the facts reveal themselves and our two heroes DS Banks and DI Annie Cabbot unravel a story of mistrust, evil and deceit in an attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice.

      Detective Superintendant Alan Banks is investigating an historical case of sexual abuse against one time television and stage performer Danny Caxton. Linda Palmer was barely a teenager at the time when it is alleged Caxton charmed and allured her to a hotel room in Blackpool where the rape and assault took place. In the meantime Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot is hot on the trail of the brutal rape and murder of a vulnerable 14 year old Mimsy Moffat. Banks as part of his new promotion is actively involved in one case and overseeing the other and as always it is wonderful to see the interplay between Banks and Cabbot given their past "romantic" history.

      The magic with Peter Robinson's writing is that you the reader almost feel a part of the investigation. His research as always is impeccable and the storyline very of the moment if we consider the recent events that occurred in Rotherham and Rochdale and the celebrity trials of such notables as Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall, and Max Clifford. Adding to this the deplorable actions and breach of trust by Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith MP then we have the basis for an informative and well researched story. I love the author's descriptive style of writing very easy to read yet visual and exciting in its delivery...."His hairy belly dropped over his belt, little squares of fat pushing through the net of his string vest, and his man-breasts wobbled when he moved. He could also do with a shave and a haircut, and probably a wash , too. A tin of Carlsberg Special Brew rested on one arm of his armchair and an ashtray on the other."........"For the rest, there are drugs, drink, violence, crime or just simply apathy broken up by the distraction of video games, sex, and mobile phones. Life is something to be got through. Days are hurdles, weeks are rivers to cross, months lakes and years oceans."

      This is wonderful writing of the highest order; a brilliantly researched and presented story with a very suitable and proper conclusion. The 23rd Alan Banks novel and although it might be preferable to read the series in order! When the Music's Over can be read as a standalone. Highly Recommended.
    • 3/5
      In this 23rd installment of the Inspector Banks series, Alan Banks has recently been promoted to Detective Superintendent, and has been handed a sticky case involving accusations of historical sexual abuse against a famous celebrity. The accused, Danny Caxton, is now 85, with most of the complaints stemming from the 1960’s. Banks is tasked with investigating one of the complainants, Linda Palmer, who was 14 at the time of the alleged assault.

      Meanwhile, in alternate chapters, Detective Inspector Annie Cabot and Detective Constable Gerry Masterson are engaged in an investigation into a murder of a young girl found naked and beaten on a country road. Eventually they identify her, and suspect she may have been subject to “grooming” by Pakistanis in her underprivileged neighborhood.

      ["Grooming" is the practice of luring in minors for sexual abuse and prostitution. The problem was deemed sufficiently menacing in the U.K. that The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre was formed in 2006. In this story, the characters make frequent reference to the Rotherham case, in which widespread child sexual abuse took place in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England beginning in 1997. In 2010, five men of Pakistani heritage were found guilty of a series of sexual offenses against girls as young as twelve. An independent inquiry in 2013 estimated that some 1400 children had been sexually abused, predominantly by gangs of British-Pakistani men. The Home Affairs Select Committee criticized the South Yorkshire Police force for their inept handling of the abuse. Long-term ill effects, such as the increase in prejudice and blanket xenophobia, ensued.

      The story discusses in great detail the importance of public relations to the police in dealing with sensitive issues. In the case Banks is looking into, there was evidence of bribery at high levels of enforcement to shut down investigations. There was also the whole he-said-she-said dilemma, as is especially salient in cases without witnesses. Inevitably some of the police and press were suspicious that any accusers of celebrities were just after money.

      In the case taken on by Cabot and Masterson, there are also a number of issues with contemporary relevance that come into play. One is the lack of options for children growing up in areas where parents are unemployed and/or absentee and/or abusive, and the failure of social services to help this at-risk population. Another is the tension between the white and non-white British population. The police don’t want to be identified as “racist,” especially since perpetrators of color are quick to invoke “the race card.” As Annie observes: “Coppers and social workers [are] so frightened of offending any ethnic or cultural group that they can’t do their jobs properly. Victims [especially girls from bad areas, are] so convinced they won’t be believed that they don’t even bother to report crimes.”

      Discussion: There are things I really liked about this book. Robinson certainly can’t be accused of not presenting all sides of controversial issues, and he doesn’t do it with a lot of judgment. Thus it seems "balanced," even though I didn’t agree with the stances taken by many of the characters. I also liked that he presented even the *non-bent* higher-ups in law enforcement in a rather negative light, having them defend each other’s authority rather than taking up what was for me a justified defense of the behavior and dialogue of the lower echelons in the force (such as Annie and Gerry). It seemed more realistic that way.

      The reviews I have seen for this book have been very positive, but I wasn't so enamored of the book. I got kind of tired of all the music references, and not just because I didn’t know who most of the groups were. I concede that a bit of that contributes toward establishing who Alan Banks is, but after a while, it just bored me, as did his forays into poetry. Clearly he is a man who prides himself on having educated himself, and continuing to educate himself, in ways other than what his background might have suggested. But for me there was too much of that, and it got tedious. I also was bored by the memoir written by the accuser of sexual harassment that she wrote at Banks’s request and which was interspersed throughout the text. I understand it was in part to evoke a time period, and to set the mood of permissiveness of the Sixties helping to explain the attitudes of police and the public, but again, to me there was a bit too much of it, and the character's recollections were only tangentially central to the story.

      In sum, for me there was a lot appealing in this book, but much I found myself skimming over. Nevertheless, Robinson is quite skilled at taking us through the permutations of police procedure and thinking, and the issues he explores are certainly timely.

    Book preview

    When the Music's Over - Peter Robinson

    CONTENTS

    Prologue

    Chapter 1

    Chapter 2

    Chapter 3

    Chapter 4

    Chapter 5

    Chapter 6

    Chapter 7

    Chapter 8

    Chapter 9

    Chapter 10

    Chapter 11

    Chapter 12

    Chapter 13

    Chapter 14

    Chapter 15

    Chapter 16

    Epilogue

    Acknowledgments

    Excerpt from MANY RIVERS TO CROSS

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    About the Author

    Also by Peter Robinson

    Credits

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    Prologue

    THEY THREW THE NAKED GIRL OUT OF THE VAN ON THE darkest stretch of road. First she felt the wind whip as one of them slid open the door, then she was in free fall, tumbling through space. Her hip bounced on the hard road surface and she felt something crack. Then she hit damp grass and rolled into a ditch full of stagnant water. She could hear their laughter and whooping over the loud music, but soon even the music had faded into the distance and there was nothing left but silence.

    She lay in the ditch, winded, her hip hurting, head spinning, and tried to take stock of her situation. She had no idea where she was. Somewhere in the countryside, obviously, miles from civilization. She struggled to push herself up out of the foul, muddy water. As soon as she moved, she gasped at the pain, which shot first through her hip, then seemed to diffuse through every atom of her body, as if someone were pushing red-hot needles into her flesh. The stuff they’d given her back in the van was wearing off, the last couple of hours fading like a dream as she awoke into pain, but even as it faded it rushed through her when she least expected it, distorting her senses. There was a whooshing sound in her ears, like big waves crashing, and her vision was blurry.

    She had also cut her shoulder on something, a broken bottle in the ditch, perhaps, and she became aware of other cuts and bruises as the pain started to focus on more specific parts of her body. She tried to clean the mud and blood off her skin as best she could with water from the ditch, but it was too dirty, and she only succeeded in spreading the filth all over herself. She felt that she resembled some primeval creature crawling out of the slime.

    She limped into the darkness and stumbled in the direction from which the van had traveled. There was nothing she could do about her nakedness except hope someone decent came along, someone who would wrap her in a blanket and take her to a hospital. Being naked and muddy were the least of her problems. Her brain wasn’t working properly, for a start. The road surface seemed to be undulating beneath her, and the overhanging trees were assuming threatening shapes. She shook her head to try to make it all go away but that only made things worse. She felt dizzy and had to support herself against a tree trunk for a moment. The bark was pulsing under her fingers like the dry scaly skin of a reptile. Her hip hurt so much that she was certain it was broken. And she felt terribly torn up inside. She was certain she was bleeding internally. She needed a doctor. He would give her painkillers, maybe even morphine. Then her pain would disappear and she would drift on warm soft pillows without a care in the world. But they would want to take swabs and samples. They’d call the police and then she would really be in trouble. The police wouldn’t believe her. They never believed people like her. Besides, in her experience, such kindness was unlikely. No Good Samaritan would come along and give a lift to a naked girl covered in mud. That wasn’t what the sort of people she knew did with naked girls. It wasn’t the kind of thing that happened in her life.

    It was late July, but a long week of rain had just ended. The night was muggy, and a gauzy mist hung over the dark landscape. No streetlamps, only the hazy light of a haloed half moon. Somewhere in the field beyond the drystone wall a sheep bleated, and she thought she could see a lone light shining in a farmhouse upper window. Should she head for that? Would they help her? There was the ditch and a stone wall topped with barbed wire in her way, but there might be an entrance farther ahead. If she found a gate, she decided, or a gap in the wall, that’s what she would do. Head over the field toward the light.

    How late was it? Or how early? She had no phone or watch. She couldn’t remember how long she had been in the van. Surely dawn couldn’t be far off. The sun rose early these days. But everything was still dark, and the trees and walls were silhouettes of scarecrows and demons closing in on her. The road was narrow, and there was no sidewalk, so she walked on the hard surface. Stones dug into the soles of her feet with almost every step. If a car came she would have plenty of warning. She would hear it and see its headlights from far away. If a car came . . .

    She hadn’t been walking for more than ten or fifteen minutes when she thought she heard the distant drone of an engine and saw lights playing between the shadows and trees ahead, refracted in the mist down the winding road. A car! It was traveling in the opposite direction she was walking, the same direction the van had been heading, but that didn’t matter. As the car came closer, she at least had enough sense to stand back, near the edge of the ditch, so it wouldn’t hit her by accident. She threw away her dignity and waved her arms in the air. The headlights dazzled her, and the small van shot straight past. She watched it in despair, then she saw it stop with a screeching of rubber about a hundred yards ahead. She couldn’t make out what sort of van it was. The engine purred and the red brake lights glowed like a demon’s eyes in the mist. Shaking off the feeling of apprehension that came over her, she started hobbling toward the van as quickly as she could.

    1

    DETECTIVE SUPERINTENDENT ALAN BANKS STOOD IN front of the mirror in the gents and studied his reflection. Not bad, he thought, tightening his mauve-and-gold-striped tie so that it didn’t look as if the top button of his shirt was undone, which it always was. He couldn’t stand that claustrophobic feeling he got when both button and tie pressed on his Adam’s apple. There was no dandruff on the collar or shoulders of his suit jacket, and his dark hair was neatly cropped, showing a hint of gray, like a scattering of ash, around the temples. He had no shaving cuts, no shred of tissue hanging off his chin, and he wore just a faint hint of classic Old Spice aftershave. He straightened his shoulders and spine, noting that there were no bulges in his jacket pockets to spoil the line of his new suit. His wallet and warrant card were all he carried, and both were slim. He fastened the middle button, so the jacket hung just right, and decided he was ready to face the world.

    He glanced at his watch. The meeting was due to begin at nine sharp, and it was about three minutes to. He left the gents and took the stairs two at a time up to the conference room on the top floor of the old mock-Tudor building. Timing was an issue. Banks didn’t want to be the first to arrive, but he didn’t want to be the last, either. As it happened, he ended up somewhere in the middle. Detective Chief Superintendent Gervaise and Assistant Chief Constable McLaughlin stood outside the room, chatting as they waited. Banks could see through the open door that some people were already seated.

    Alan, said McLaughlin. New duties not proving too much of a burden, I hope?

    Banks’s promotion to detective superintendent had come through a short while ago—a bloody miracle in this day and age, or so he had been told—and he had spent the last few weeks learning the ropes. Not at all, sir, he said. I had no idea how much I was getting away with before.

    Gervaise and McLaughlin laughed. Welcome to the real world, said the latter. Shall we go in?

    McLaughlin went ahead. Banks turned to Gervaise and whispered, Any idea what this is about?

    She gave a quick shake of her head. Very hush-hush, she said. Rumor has it that the chief constable himself is going to be here.

    Not crime stats or more budget cuts, then?

    Gervaise smiled. Somehow I doubt it.

    The conference room was sparsely furnished, nothing but an oval table, tubular chairs and institutional cream walls. They took their seats around the table, and a few minutes later Chief Constable Frank Sampson—soon, it was whispered, to be Sir Frank Sampson—did indeed arrive. When he was followed shortly by the new police and crime commissioner, Margaret Bingham, Banks knew that something important must be brewing.

    But the last person to arrive, a minute or so after everyone else, was the biggest surprise of all.

    Dirty Dick Burgess was now some sort of deputy director or special agent at the National Crime Agency. More commonly known as the British FBI, the NCA dealt mostly with organized crime and border security, but it also worked against cyber crime and the sexual exploitation and abuse of children and young people. Burgess flipped Banks a wink before sitting down. Even he was wearing a suit and a crisp white shirt instead of his trademark scuffed leather jacket, though he could have done with a shave and a haircut, and he had forgone the tie completely. Clearly the British FBI didn’t bother dressing up for a visit to the provinces.

    There were eight people seated around the table when the chief constable opened proceedings by introducing them all to one another. One of the people Banks didn’t know, by either name or sight, was the lawyer from the Crown Prosecution Service. Her name was Janine Francis, and she was not one of the CPS lawyers that he usually dealt with. The eighth person, still only vaguely familiar to Banks, was the county force’s new media liaison officer, Adrian Moss, an ex–advertising agency up-and-comer and political spin doctor with a flowered tie, fresh-scrubbed youthful appearance and a breezy, confident manner. A motley crew, indeed, Banks thought, as he tried to imagine why they might all have been brought together under one roof. It had to be something big.

    I know some of you must be wondering what all this is about, said the chief constable, so I’ll make it simple and get straight to the point. I assume you’re all familiar with Operation Yewtree and its investigations into sexual abuse, predominantly against children and primarily by media personalities? In the wake of the Jimmy Savile business and the successful convictions of Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Dave Lee Travis and Max Clifford, among others, I’m sure you can imagine that a lot of past victims have been encouraged to come into the open over the matter of historical sexual abuse.

    Historical abuse. The words brought about an immediate sinking feeling in Banks’s gut. A function of the political correctness of the times, historical abuse investigations were intended to right the wrongs of the past and to send the message that no matter how many years had gone by, if enough people cried foul, someone would be sent off. They were also a way of appeasing the victims of such crimes, of giving them a voice some of them had been seeking for years, and perhaps even closure, that much overused word, both of which Banks approved in principle. In practice, however, it often turned out to be a different matter, a witch hunt where victims were often disappointed and the reputations of innocent people sometimes went down in tatters. No detective in his right mind wanted to be part of a historical abuse investigation. Banks checked the faces of the others. Their expressions gave away nothing. Was he the only one who thought this way? Did it show?

    I’d like to think we’ve all learned a thing or two from the way these incidents have been handled over the past couple of years, the CC went on, and one of the things we should have learned by now is to keep things close to our chests. I ask you all not to speak of what’s said in here to anyone outside this office. Not even to your colleagues. Adrian.

    Moss glanced from face to face. Yes, he said. No doubt you all know there’s no way we can keep this from the media forever. They’ll get hold of it eventually, if they haven’t already. It’s my job to make sure that nothing gets said to them by anyone involved unless it goes through me first. Am I clear?

    He was obviously enjoying his temporary power over such an eminent gathering, Banks could tell from the triumphant expression on his face and the undertones of evangelistic delivery in his speech. And Banks didn’t even know what this was yet.

    Mistakes have been made in the past, Moss went on. That business with the BBC cameras in position to film the raid on Cliff Richard’s home before Sir Cliff knew about the search himself, for example—and we don’t want any of that sort of behavior dogging our footsteps. As you know, the investigation into Sir Cliff was dropped, and Paul Gambaccini had some harsh words to say about the way he was treated by the police. We’ve ended up with egg on our faces often enough, and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen this time. When the media do come knocking, as they will, we want everything calm and by the book. Nothing they can get between their teeth and run with. Naturally, celebrities are of interest to them, and celebrity misdeeds are manna for them. We not only have to prosecute this, we need to be seen to prosecute it. It won’t take them long to get their nibs sharpened. I can tell you now, there’s a media shitstorm due in the near future. My job, ladies and gentlemen, is to manage the flow of information, and to do that I will need the cooperation of all of you. Everything goes through the press office. Is that clear? He had a sheen of sweat on his forehead as he scanned the room. Most of those present beamed back at him. Moss was one of the chief constable’s and the police commissioner’s golden boys. Now that the brass seemed far more concerned with publicity and image, people like him were more important to them than detectives, Banks thought. Burgess was the only one to appear unimpressed, the beginnings of that characteristic cynical, seen-it-all smile appearing in the twist of his lips.

    Thank you, Adrian, said the chief constable. Now we all know where we stand, let’s get down to brass tacks. You are here because from now on you’re going to be working together in one capacity or another on the same case. Assistant Chief Constable McLaughlin will enlighten you.

    Red Ron cleared his throat and shuffled his papers. You’re here because we’re going to be conducting an investigation into Danny Caxton, he said, pausing for a moment to let the name sink in.

    Danny Caxton, thought Banks. Shit. Celebrity, personality, presenter before presenters had even been invented. Household name. The Man with the Big Smile. Caxton had started his career in the late fifties with a few pop hits. He wasn’t a rock and roller, more of a crooner, a part of the Jim Reeves, Val Doonican and Matt Monro crowd. Perhaps the girls didn’t scream at him the same way they did for Elvis or the Beatles, but plenty drooled over him as their parents had drooled over Johnnie Ray or Frank Sinatra. From what Banks could remember, Caxton obviously had good business sense and he must have realized early on that a career in pop balladry doesn’t last forever. In the early sixties, he started to diversify. He had always had good comic timing and a knack for impersonating famous people, in addition to having the personality of an affable host. He compered variety shows, both live around the country and on television, cut the tapes at supermarket openings, judged beauty contests and quickly became the regular host of a popular talent-spotting program called Do Your Own Thing!, which lasted well into the late eighties. That was his catchphrase, too: Do your own thing. Spoken with a tongue-in-cheek knowingness that tipped a wink toward its hippie origins. Even during the sixties and seventies he had the occasional novelty hit record, and he made a couple of dreadful swinging sixties films when he was already too old and square for such roles. He would have known Jimmy Savile, Banks realized. They were of the same generation. Caxton went from strength to strength: summer seasons, Christmas pantomimes, a successful West End musical comedy. He had married a pop singer at some point, Banks remembered, and there had been an acrimonious and public divorce not long after. His career had slowed down in the early nineties, but he still appeared occasionally as a guest on chat shows and had even hosted the odd Christmas variety special in the noughties.

    I’m surprised to hear he’s still alive, said Banks.

    Very much so, said McLaughlin. At eighty-five years of age.

    And what does the CPS think? Banks asked, glancing at the lawyer. He knew there had been some confusion in the Savile business as to whether the CPS hadn’t gone ahead with a prosecution because he was too old and infirm or because they thought the police had insufficient evidence. Banks knew the CPS had already been criticized for not acting sooner over Sir Cyril Smith, the Rochdale MP, who had been abusing young boys for years until his death in 2010. Now, no doubt, they were eager to show the public they were taking the lead on child sexual abuse and exploitation.

    He’s fair game as far as we’re concerned, Janine Francis answered.

    And when did the offense take place, sir? Banks asked Red Ron.

    Summer 1967.

    Danny Caxton was almost at the height of his success by 1967, Banks remembered. Everyone knew who he was. He was still a handsome devil, too, or so hundreds of mums thought. Christ, even Banks’s own mother had sat fixated in front of the screen drooling over him while his father snorted and Banks disappeared upstairs to listen to his Rolling Stones and Who records.

    I’ll give you a brief outline, McLaughlin went on. There’s a useful bio and a summary of events so far in the folder before you. Take it away and study it later. He certainly had an eventful sort of early life. Overcame a lot of adversity. He was born in Warsaw in 1930. His parents saw the writing on the wall and got Danny and his brothers and sisters out in 1933. They got split up, and he grew up with distant relatives in Heckmondwike.

    That could have a serious effect on a person’s mental health, said Banks. I mean, just trying to pronounce it.

    There was a brief ripple of laughter, then DCS Gervaise said, Be careful, Alan. My dad came from Heckmondwike. Anyway, it wouldn’t be too hard. Just omit the vowels and it’d be perfect in Polish.

    McLaughlin waited for the laughter to die down, then went on. For the moment, I want you to consider the following. The complainant in this case is a woman called Linda Palmer. She was fourteen years old at the time of the alleged assault.

    Banks had heard of Linda Palmer. She was a poet, lived locally, had been written up in the paper once or twice. Been on BBC2 and Radio 4. Won awards. The poet? he said.

    One and the same. She first called Childline, and they told her to get in touch with us.

    And why do we believe her? asked Gervaise.

    Same reason we believe any claim of historical abuse, said McLaughlin. Her story’s convincing, and we hope it will be even more so after you have all finished your tasks. He glanced toward Janine Francis. The CPS has given a green light to continue with this, even on what little we have so far. That’s why what Mr. Moss said about managing the media is so important. We don’t want to draw flack the way some other county forces have done. On the other hand, we don’t want to appear to be operating in secret. And we know how difficult it is to keep a low profile in a case of this magnitude. You’ll just have to do your best for as long as you can.

    What are the facts? Banks asked. Briefly.

    That’s what we want you to find out, Alan. You’ll be conducting the initial interview with Linda Palmer. You’ll also be interviewing Danny Caxton. Mr. Burgess here will be monitoring the case nationwide.

    Surely it would be protocol to send a female officer to interview Linda Palmer? said Banks.

    Not necessarily, said McLaughlin. The detective she talked to when she first called in is a female, a DI MacDonald, and she asked the same question, but Ms. Palmer said she didn’t care as long as it was someone who would believe her. She doesn’t want any special treatment. That having been said, you have three extremely competent female officers on your team.

    What did Linda Palmer accuse Caxton of doing, exactly? Banks asked.

    According to Ms. Palmer, Danny Caxton raped her.

    And she’s just come out with this story?

    McLaughlin sighed and glanced at the police and crime commissioner.

    That’s irrelevant, Margaret Bingham said. The reasons women have for coming forward so many years after a traumatic event are complex. It’s not, at the moment, your job to question these motives, merely to ascertain their veracity.

    And how do we do that? Banks asked.

    The way you usually do it, McLaughlin answered. "Use your detective skills. We also have trained child protection officers who specialize in knowing the sort of details true victims are likely to remember, and whether they are telling the truth. If you have any doubts after you’ve talked to her, you’re welcome to go over her statement with one of them, if you wish. And if it makes you feel any better, Ms. Palmer did report the incident shortly after it occurred in 1967."

    And what happened to that investigation? Banks asked.

    That will be another aspect of the case for you to determine, said McLaughlin. Clearly it was derailed at some point, for some reason, as Mr. Caxton wasn’t brought to justice at the time, and he’s never been charged with raping Linda Palmer or anything else since.

    Don’t you think that might be because he never did anything? said Banks. I mean . . . nearly fifty years ago . . . It’s about as cold a case as you can get.

    I know, said McLaughlin, and I sympathize, Alan. But some of Jimmy Savile’s crimes went back further than that. We’ve got historical abuse going back to the early sixties and before.

    I get that you don’t like it, Margaret Bingham interrupted. "But you’d better get used to it. All of you. We might have dropped the ball in the past, but not again. Not on my watch. There’s going to be more and more cases of historical abuse coming up over the next few years. People who think they’ve gotten away with something forever. Men who think they’ve gotten away with something forever because of their fame or their wealth or their power. Or just because they’re men. This was the brutal rape of an underage girl by a man of thirty-seven, and I expect you to go about investigating it as you would if it had happened yesterday."

    That’s not possible, said Banks.

    "Oh? And why not, Superintendent Banks?"

    No physical evidence. Dodgy memories. Missing statements. With all due respect, ma’am, Banks went on, "you’re a civilian. So is Mr. Moss. Most of the people you’re talking to here are veterans of many investigations, and the fact of the matter is that you simply can’t investigate a crime that happened almost fifty years ago in the same manner as you can investigate one that happened yesterday. All you have to go on is the accuser’s statement. I understand all about cold cases solved by new DNA evidence. They’re the ones that make the news, and I’ve seen New Tricks, but those are the exceptions. Do we even have any DNA in this case, for example?"

    I have no idea, said Margaret Bingham, clearly irritated by Banks’s objections. That’s for you to determine. And I may be a civilian, as you say, but I am the police and crime commissioner, and I have every right to ask my officers for their best efforts. That’s what I’m asking. You put as much time, effort, intelligence and investigative skills into this as you would into a sexual assault that happened yesterday. Believe me, you’ll have all the resources you need at your disposal.

    That was a good opening move on his part, Banks thought. Piss off the bosses and the crime commissioner at the first big meeting of the new job. But he’d never had much time for Margaret Bingham and her agendas. She and Adrian Moss would make a fine team. Yes, ma’am, he muttered.

    McLaughlin cleared his throat again. Though the Met is technically in charge of Operation Yewtree, Mr. Burgess here from the NCA will be bringing his expertise of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection command to bear on the case.

    Burgess tipped his hand in a mock salute. At your service, he said.

    What will your role be? Banks asked.

    Co-coordinating between you and the Met, mostly, said Burgess. "I’ll be trying to make sure that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. The case is unwieldy enough already. Linda Palmer was living with her parents in Leeds in 1967, but the assault took place in Blackpool. She now lives near Eastvale, a village called Minton-on-Swain, and Danny Caxton lives out on the coast, as you probably know already, though he lived in West Yorkshire for some years. In Otley. If we involved all the local forces—not to mention the rest that will soon come into play as the complaints add up—you can imagine what a mess we’d have on our hands. That’s why we decided on one SIO for Linda Palmer, one team manager, and that’s you. It’s your job to keep a firm hand on the rudder. I’m available to provide updates and background intelligence from other sources wherever possible. Believe me, in this investigation, the different county forces involved will be talking to one another, and complete records will be kept of every interview, every allegation, every scrap of evidence. We have several complaints about Caxton from around the country already. The one thing you can be certain of is that there will be more complainants coming forward once the news gets out, and there’s strength in numbers as far as we’re concerned. How many depends very much on the access and opportunity Caxton had to satisfy his needs. It’s my feeling, given his long and wide-ranging career, that he had plenty. They’ll all have to be traced and investigated. Possible witnesses tracked down. Locations probed. I’ll be searching for similarities in the complainant accounts."

    Just how wide is this investigation? asked Gervaise.

    Burgess looked at Chief Constable Sampson, who put on a suitably grim expression and said, So far, according to the NCA, we have seven independent complaints about Danny Caxton spanning the years between 1961 and 1989. All from females between the ages of fourteen and sixteen at the time. The county forces involved have done as much background checking and taken as many preliminary statements as necessary so far, but we, and the CPS, feel it’s time to move quickly now. The CPS also happen to feel that ours is one of the crucial cases, that it has a better than most chance of netting a positive result.

    Why is that? asked Banks. From what I’ve heard so far it’s no different from any other such case. One person’s word against another’s. What gives us a better chance of making a charge that sticks?

    Simply this, said Chief Constable Sampson. Linda Palmer has informed us that, in her case, there was someone else present. There was a witness.

    WHEN DI Annie Cabbot and DC Geraldine Masterson arrived on the scene around half past nine that Wednesday morning, the whole eight miles of Bradham Lane were already sealed off from where it began at a T junction two miles west of Eastvale to where it ended beside a bridge over the River Ure.

    It would be bloody miles from nowhere, said Annie. We’ll have to get a mobile unit out here and find the bodies to man it. And we’ll have to run the Major Incident Room from HQ. There’s not enough facilities out here.

    The uniformed constable standing by the police tape bent to talk to them. There’s an officer and a patrol car down by the bridge at the far end, and two officers at the scene, she said, then pointed. The crime scene is three miles down there.

    Thanks, said Annie. As long as we don’t have to walk.

    It’s a hard road surface, ma’am, said the officer. And a rough one at that. Not much chance of tire tracks, but you never know what the CSIs might find. I’d go carefully.

    We will. I know those CSIs.

    The patrol officer untied the tape at one end, and Gerry drove slowly along the narrow road.

    Annie was intrigued by the shapes of the trees. Some seemed dead and stunted, standing there like men doing handstands, or the twisted and darkened shapes of burned bodies in a pugilistic stance. Others made a dazzling symphony of green in the breeze after last week’s rains, leaves glistening and dancing in the morning sun. The road meandered, and on a couple of occasions, there were narrow unsurfaced lanes leading off, signposted to villages or farms Annie had never heard of. It would be easy to get lost if you took a wrong turn, she thought. Here and there was a passing place in case you met someone coming the other way.

    The first sign that they were close to their destination was a patrol car blocking the road ahead and a cyclist in bright purple Lycra leaning against the hood, head in his hands. A female PC stood next to him, notebook in her hand. A male officer, also making notes, sat in the car. The sleek bicycle leaned against the drystone wall. Annie bet it weighed about two ounces, cost a fortune and went like the clappers. So many cyclists had been inspired by the Tour de France’s Grand Départ in Yorkshire that you could hardly move for them on the roads these days. Some of them looked quite fit in their Lycra, too, Annie thought, though not this one. He needed a few more thousand miles on his speedometer to get up to snuff.

    This is Mr. Roger Stanford, said the PC. Then she gestured toward the misshapen bundle lying in a cordoned-off area several yards farther along the road. He found the . . . er . . . her.

    Thanks, said Annie. And you are?

    PC Mellors, ma’am. Stephanie Mellors. Most people just call me Steph.

    Annie gestured for PC Mellors to follow her a short distance from Roger Stanford. Tell me, Steph, she said, what do you think? First impressions?

    You mean did he do it?

    Well, if that’s where you want to start.

    Steph shook her head. He’s gutted, ma’am. A blubbering wreck. You can tell. I don’t think he’s faking it.

    You look a bit peaky, yourself.

    You haven’t seen her yet, ma’am. It’s never easy, something like this.

    Too true. What do you think happened?

    From my limited experience, I’d say she was either hit by a car or beaten to death.

    Have you any idea who she is?

    No. There’s no ID, and as far as I can tell from . . . you know . . . I’ve never seen her before in my life. It’s such a strange thing. She’s not wearing a stitch of clothing.

    OK. Let’s have a word with Mr. Stanford.

    Roger Stanford was still leaning on the hood of the patrol car with his head in his hands. He wasn’t crying, Annie noticed, just propping up his head as if it were too heavy with images of violent death to hold itself up. He would need to be investigated, being the person who had found the body, but he didn’t need to be treated like a suspect. Mr. Stanford, she said, touching his arm. He raised his head, a blank expression on his face, as if he had been startled out of a deep sleep. Annie introduced herself. Gerry stood beside her, notebook at the ready. What time did you find the body? Annie asked.

    It would have been about a quarter to nine.

    Is this journey part of a routine, or are you on holiday?

    Daily routine. I live in Bradham and I work in Eastvale. Clinton Estate Agents. I usually pass here about a quarter to nine. That’s how I know. I keep track of my times.

    There are quicker ways.

    No nicer ones, though. I always make sure I have plenty of time.

    Annie looked him up and down. You go to work dressed like that?

    Oh, no. He pointed to the little bundle strapped to the back of his saddle. I change at the office. We have a shower there, too.

    Very civilized. Annie made a mental note to take in the bundle of work clothes for forensic analysis. Maybe he didn’t do it, but she couldn’t go around letting things like that slip by. So you make this same journey every morning?

    And evening. More or less. Every weekday.

    Do you ever notice anyone else using the road?

    No. I mean, once or twice I’ve seen a tractor out early, pulling a few bales of hay or something from one field to another, and once there was a farmer shifting some cows over the road, blocking the way. Maybe the occasional car, but they’re few and far between, thank the lord. Cars are . . . well, let’s just say they’re not always sympathetic towards cyclists. Usually the lane is deserted. That’s why I like it. Nice and quiet.

    Yeah, thought Annie, and cyclists are a pain in the arse as far as motorists and pedestrians are concerned. They don’t stop at red lights, they go the wrong way up one-way streets, they ride on the sidewalks when it suits them, and the list went on. But she said nothing. Let’s go back to this morning. Anything unusual at all?

    No, said Stanford. I set off the same time I always do, around a quarter past eight, and I got here as I said, about a quarter to nine. It’s only about six miles, but there’s a tough uphill stretch, and I wasn’t really pushing my speed.

    Did any cars pass you?

    No.

    See anyone on foot?

    No one. It was a perfectly ordinary morning—until I got here. He put his head in his hands again. The first thing I saw was the crows. That poor, poor girl . . .

    I’m sorry I have to ask these questions, Mr. Stanford, but the sooner I’m done, the sooner you can go home.

    Home? But I haven’t . . . I have to . . .

    I’d go home if I were you, Mr. Stanford. Phone your work. They’ll understand. Delayed shock and all that. We’ll have someone come around and take a statement from you this afternoon. Who knows, you may have remembered something else by then.

    He’s already given his address, said Steph.

    Annie nodded. You’re free to go, Mr. Stanford. If I have any more questions, I’ll be in touch. But I’d like to take the clothes you’re carrying to our lab. We’ll let you have them back good as new. Is that a problem?

    My clothes? But . . . ? Oh, I see. But surely you can’t think I did it?

    Just for purposes of elimination, Mr. Stanford.

    Of course. Stanford walked over to his bike, still stunned, unbuckled the bag and handed it over. Then he got on the bike and rode back, rather wobbly, down the lane.

    Where are the nearest houses? Annie asked PC Mellors.

    She pointed. Nearest farmhouse is over there, at the other side of that field.

    Annie could see the house in the distance. Unlikely they’ll have witnessed anything, she said, though it’s not so far away. Someone might have heard a car, for example, especially as the lane is little used by traffic. No houses lined its sides, she noticed, only trees and fields of grazing sheep beyond the ditch and the drystone walls. That said, it was certainly a scenic route if you weren’t in a hurry. But it’s hard to see pretty landscapes at night. On the other hand, she realized, if you wanted to avoid the Automated Number Plate Recognition cameras, the speed cameras and all the rest of the Big Brother paraphernalia that makes any road trip practically a public event these days, then Bradham Lane was your route of choice.

    Annie glanced over at the body by the roadside and took a deep breath. No sense putting it off any longer. Come on, Gerry, she said. Let’s go have a butcher’s at what we’ve got.

    The girl lay curled up in the fetal position, half in the long grass that edged a ditch, hands covering her face, as if to protect it. She was naked, and her body was streaked with mud, dirty water and blood. The soles of her feet were crusted with dried blood, and small stones from the road were embedded in the skin. There were no obvious bullet holes or stab wounds, and her throat seemed unscathed. Not so the rest of her. She could have been hit by a car, Annie supposed, but it would be up to the medical professionals to determine that. It was hard to see her features because of the position of her hands, but Annie noticed between the fingers that one eye was swollen shut, her lips were split and bloody, with a tooth protruding through the lower one, and her nose was crooked. Squatting to examine the rest of the body again, Annie noticed signs of bruising around the ribs, stomach and right hip. There were also signs of a scuffle in the earth around the body and, not so far away, the only obvious skid marks on the road surface, too faint and blurred to give a decent tire impression. In the absence of a medical and CSI opinion, Annie was convinced that this girl had been beaten to death, kicked, perhaps even jumped on. And girl she was. Despite the injuries, Annie could see that the victim was hardly any older than fifteen or sixteen. She sensed Gerry’s presence beside her and stood up.

    My god, said Gerry, hand to her mouth.

    Annie put a friendly hand on her shoulder. I don’t think God had much to do with it, do you? And I’d like to say you get used to it, but you don’t. Not so used to it, Annie thought, that you become indifferent to it, that you don’t feel that tightening in your gut and that surge of anger that someone has done this to a fellow human being, or don’t feel you’re going to put your all into catching the bastard who did it.

    But she’s so young. She’s just a girl.

    I know. Gently directing a pale and trembling Gerry away with an arm around her shoulder, Annie headed back toward the uniformed officers. Come on, she said. It’s time to call in the heavy brigade.

    WELL, BANKSY, what a turnup for the book. You and me working together again. Just like old times. Congratulations, by the way. The promotion. Long overdue.

    They were basking in the sunshine at one of the tables outside at the Queen’s Arms, eating lunch: monster fish and chips and mushy peas, with a pint of Timothy Taylor’s for Banks and a cheap lager for Burgess. Cyril, the landlord, had taken on a new barmaid to deal with the summer rush, an attractive blond Australian called Pat, to whom Burgess had already taken a shine. Luckily, Cyril wasn’t around, as he and Burgess had history.

    So what’s your official title these days? Banks asked. What do I call you?

    I always fancied Special Agent. It has a ring to it. But in actual fact I’m a nonexecutive director. Sounds like a dull second-rate businessman. Mostly I go by plain Mr. Burgess these days.

    Like a surgeon.

    Exactly. It’s got class, don’t you think?

    The cobbled market square was buzzing with shoppers and tourists, and clogged with parked cars. Young girls in vests and tight denim cutoffs over black tights hung out around Greggs eating pasties, then disappeared into the amusement arcade next door. A gaggle of serious ramblers, with walking sticks like ski poles, expensive boots, baggy shorts and maps in plastic bags around their necks gathered by the market cross. A few people sat on the plinth around the market cross waiting for a local bus. Not far from Banks and Burgess sat a group of bloke-ish tourists in garish shorts and even more garish shirts, their faces flushed and eyes glazed from sunburn and beer. They were talking and laughing loudly enough that nothing Banks and Burgess spoke of could be overheard.

    Have you done this sort of thing before? Banks asked.

    Once or twice. Burgess sat back and sipped his drink, studying Banks over the rim of his glass. I was peripherally involved in Operation Yewtree when I was back at the Yard, so I know the way things go. Look, Banksy, you probably thought the same as I did when all this stuff started coming out. You thought it was some sort of witch hunt, wondering who’d be the next celebrity to be accused of groping a young publicist fifty years ago. Different times, you’d say, and you’d be right. He leaned forward and tapped Banks on the chest. You probably even thought, what’s so wrong with pinching the office girl’s bum, maybe suggesting a hotel room after work for a bit of hanky-panky? Right? I might even have a go with young Pat here, given half the chance. After all, I’m only human, and if you don’t ask . . . But that’s not what this is about. We’re not talking about a bit of how’s your father in a dark corner at the office Christmas party. A hand casually resting on a knee in a restaurant. A surreptitious brushing up against a nice pair of tits. We’ve all done that, all had a kiss and cuddle in the broom cupboard and a bit of slap and tickle under the stairwell with that secretary we fancied all year.

    Speak for yourself, said Banks. But he remembered. It was just such an indulgence in a dark corner under the mistletoe at an office Christmas party that had led to the only affair of his married life. He didn’t much care to be reminded of it now, though at the time it had seemed exciting and dangerous; it had made him feel alive at a time when he had felt the world and his marriage were falling apart around him. Looking back, it just made him feel guilty. Maybe it was some kind of poetic justice that his ex-wife Sandra had finally left him for another man.

    But this is something else, Burgess went on. It’s not even a matter of someone sticking his tongue down a girl’s throat or squeezing a breast. Believe me, I’ve had enough access to statements that I can say what we’re talking about here is the deliberate, arrogant and systemic abuse of innocent young girls—underage girls—by people who believe they’re above the law. People so blessed and so famous that in the general run of things they probably get more free pussy than they can shake a stick at. And what do they do? They pick on vulnerable thirteen-, fourteen-, fifteen-year-olds, and they assault them and rape them, force them to do vile stuff, and then tell them they ought to be jolly grateful for getting raped by Danny Caxton or whoever. These girls end up so terrified, so fucked up, that often the rest of their lives are blighted. They see themselves as natural victims and that’s what they become. All their lives, people abuse them just the way Caxton or whoever did all those years ago, and they can’t stop it. They can’t even figure out why. But even that’s not the point. The point is that these bastards, and I mean bastards like Danny Caxton, have been getting away with it for years and making us look like the fucking Keystone Cops. They’ve abused these girls and boys, just like those Pakistani grooming gangs in Rochdale and Rotherham, and nobody did a fucking thing about it. Not the parents. Not the social workers. Not us. Well, times have changed, mate, because here comes the cavalry, with a vengeance.

    I never did think that, said Banks.

    Think what?

    That this business is insignificant, that what we’ve been asked to do doesn’t matter. And I’d certainly agree that some very influential people have got away with a lot of serious crimes over the years. Nothing new about that. It’s just so bloody difficult to put a good case together after so long, like I said at the meeting. That’s all. Memories change; evidence gets lost. People become convinced that something happened when it didn’t, or that things happened differently. It’s damn near impossible to sort out who’s right in most cases. All you end up with is a shifting sandstorm of accusations, lies, half-truths, minor transgressions and full-blown felonies. Nobody knows what the truth is, in the end.

    Burgess ran his hand over his unruly hair. Too true. Too true. But we’re getting better. The CPS are building stronger cases, they’re more willing to prosecute, getting more convictions.

    So we ride their wave of success?

    Why not? Isn’t it better than riding a wave of failure? Besides, since when have you not risen to a challenge? This time they think we’re in with a chance. They rate this Linda Palmer as a credible complainant. According to them, she’s definitely not some fucked-up alcoholic with a chip on her shoulder.

    That’s good to know, said Banks. Does Caxton know we’re on to him?

    Probably. He shouldn’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s still got friends in high places. I want you to go and talk to him tomorrow. After that, we’ll get a team in to search his premises before he gets a chance to destroy any evidence there might be in his papers and on his computer. You can talk to Linda Palmer today. I trust your instincts enough to know that you won’t need a child protection expert to figure out whether she’s telling the truth. I know you, Banksy. I think once you get the bit between your teeth, you’ll take to it like a duck to water, if you’ll forgive the mixed metaphor, and you’ll be only too glad to bring down the wrath of God on arrogant bastards like Danny Caxton.

    I will?

    I think so. Burgess finished his pint. Another? I wouldn’t mind having another word with that buxom Australian barmaid. I like the way she pulls a pint.

    You need real cask ale to get a full show of flexed muscle, not that piss you drink. All she has to do is flick the lever.

    "She can flick my lever any time. Why do you think I’m offering to

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