Peter Robinson - When the Music's Over

‘There’s no evidence of that so far,’ Stefan said. ‘You can see the sort of swerve those skid marks indicate. Someone stopped or slowed rather quickly and lost control of the steering for a second or two. It happens.’

‘Could they have got out and run after her? Or could someone have been with her?’

‘I suppose so,’ said Stefan, ‘but there’s no evidence of anyone else in the vicinity, and there’s only one set of footprints. We’ll check, of course. We’re doing a complete workup on what tyre tracks we’ve got. I wouldn’t hold out a lot of hope because they’re just faint blurs, and you can’t get decent tyre impressions from skids, but there’s always a chance we might get enough to check against the manufacturers’ databases. For now, I’d say there were two cars.’

‘Two cars?’

‘Yes. Even from such small samples and skid marks we can see how the tracks differ. There was the van here, the one she was likely dumped from, travelling south. Then there was another van that stopped to give a naked girl a lift quarter of a mile up the road in the middle of the night. It was also travelling south, but it didn’t get as far here.’

‘Van? You said van.’

‘Judging by the track width, both were commercial vehicles of some kind.’

‘You say this second van was travelling in the same direction as the one that had dumped her?’

‘Yes. Again, if you look closely, you can see the way the grass is flattened a short distance south from where her trail ends.’

‘So the van would have been coming towards her, and she’d have had to turn to run back to it when it stopped. That would explain why her tracks continue on north past the spot where she’s lying back there. Bloody hell,’ said Annie. ‘What a mess. She ran back to the van when it stopped, and then the driver killed her. Or could the van have hit her? Could this have been a hit and run, despite what Dr Burns said?’

‘I really can’t speculate on that, but you’ve seen her body, same as I have. You’ll have to talk to Dr Glendenning when he’s done the post-mortem. No doubt the good doctor will be checking her skin for any signs of paint or any traces that might have transferred from a van. But you also have to remember that if she was hit by a van, it could have been an accident.’

‘She’d have been like a deer in the headlights.’

‘Probably.’

‘Was the other van following the first one?’

Stefan thought for a moment. ‘I’d say not. She had time to walk some distance from where she was dumped from the first vehicle before it came along. That would probably have taken her ten or fifteen minutes, the shape she was in.’

Gerry walked over and stood beside them. ‘Did you catch that?’ Annie said. ‘A naked girl gets tossed in a ditch from a moving vehicle. She gets out, makes her way back up the road, maybe hoping for a Good Samaritan or at least a working telephone box, then someone else comes along and either runs her down or kicks the living daylights out of her.’

‘That’s about the way I see it,’ Stefan said. ‘And judging from the skid marks and pattern on the verge up there, I’d say that when he’d finished with her, he turned around and headed back the way he came.’

‘You’re saying “he”, Stefan. Is it just a figure of speech or do you really think it was a man?’

‘Sorry,’ said Stefan. ‘It’s mostly just a habit. Easier than saying “he or she”. But now that you mention it, I find it harder to see a woman than a man doing what was done to her.’

‘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?’

‘That’s just the problem, isn’t it?’ Stefan said. ‘Probably close to zero.’

‘Did anything happen in the car?’ Banks asked.

‘No. Caxton went on being the perfect gentleman, chatting, solicitous of my comfort, anxious to help me with my dreams. Giving advice about how to behave onstage, how to deal with stage fright. Stuff like that. He even gave me a cigarette and a glass of champagne. It was the first time I’d ever tasted it.’

‘In the car? Was there a driver?’

‘Oh, yes.’

‘And was the other man with you?’

‘Yes, but he was in the front with the driver. He didn’t say anything the whole way.’

‘Were either of them ever questioned?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t think anyone was.’

‘And the hotel staff saw you when you arrived?’

‘No. We went into a sort of underground car park at the back and got straight in a lift. I don’t remember going through reception or anything, or seeing anyone else. Not then. I suppose maybe because he was a celebrity he had a discreet way in. To be honest, I didn’t really notice. I was on cloud nine. I was with Danny Caxton and he was going to help me get into show business. I could already see my name in lights.’

‘Did the driver and the other man go in with you?’

‘Not the driver. Just the other man... he... yes.’

‘OK. Then what happened?’

‘We went up in a tiny lift to the fourth floor, a big suite of rooms, all wood panelling and old world elegance. Gilt-framed pictures on the walls. Constable prints, Turner, stuff like that. I remember one of a horse standing by a tree. A Stubbs, maybe. It was a sad horse.’

‘What happened?’

‘We drank more champagne. I had never really drunk alcohol before, except a sip of my dad’s beer once when he was out, and it went straight to my head. I suppose I was giggly, a bit silly. I think I even sang him a song or something.’

‘What did Caxton do next?’

‘He changed. Just like that. I asked him what I should do next, you know, to get started in the business, and he led me towards the bedroom and said something about passing the audition, that people have to pay for what they get, and they should be grateful. I don’t remember it all exactly. I was feeling a bit dizzy. He said the first thing was to take some photos.’

‘With your clothes off?’

‘No. There was still no suggestion of funny business. He said they were to show agents and whatever. A portfolio. Anyway, the other man, the assistant, took some. He had a Polaroid camera and it was the first time I’d seen one. It was like magic the way the photos came out. I think he took some more later, too, you know, while... I thought I could hear the sound of the camera.’

‘How were you feeling by the time he took the photos?’

‘I was feeling nervous. Danny Caxton was scaring me a bit, saying things, and the way he looked at me. I felt my heart beating fast. I didn’t know what he meant. And the smile had gone. I suppose I was a bit tipsy, too. Like I said, I wasn’t used to drinking. I asked him where Helen Shapiro was, and he laughed and said he didn’t know. I think he said something rude about her, but I didn’t really understand it. Then he sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him. I sat down. I think I told him I wanted to go home.’

Banks could tell that despite Linda’s calm veneer she was getting upset the more she spoke. It was hardly surprising, given what was to come. ‘You don’t have to tell us all the details right now,’ he said, ‘but did Danny Caxton rape you?’

Linda looked Banks in the eye first, then Winsome. ‘Yes, he did.’

‘And did you struggle?’

‘As best I could. I didn’t know what was happening, what he was doing. It might be hard for people to believe this today, but I was a virgin, and I was ignorant of the realities of sex. Oh, we talked about it at school, but that was all a load of nonsense, like rubbing willies and so on. It wasn’t anything like... Yes, I struggled because I was scared. But he was far stronger than me. And it hurt.’