‘But you knew she was working as a prostitute?’
‘Yeah, just not for him.’
‘So who did you think she was working for?’
‘Kenny D.’
‘Kenny D? That fucking nig-nog we had in here over Marie Watts, you’re taking piss?’
‘No.’
‘Jesus Christ, Fraser. You thought your girlfriend was working for him?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why?’
‘What she said. What he said.’
Noble pauses, swallows, and says, ‘So if you thought she was working for Kenny D, why did you think she kept phoning DI Hall?’
‘To get money out of him.’
‘How?’
‘Selling stuff she’d heard.’
‘Did she try and sell you stuff?’
‘No. She wasn’t that well connected round here.’
‘Did she get money off him?’
‘I don’t know. Ask him.’
Noble is staring at me, eyes locked again. ‘So you’re saying your relationship with this woman, Janice Ryan, it was purely for sex?’
I look up at the ceiling, the earth tilting.
I stare back at Noble and I shrug my shoulders and I tell him how it was: ‘Yes,’ I say.
‘Did you pay for it?’
Eyes locked, I tell him how it is: ‘Looks that way,’ I say ‘Fucking looks that way now.’
Silence.
Prentice comes back in and the three of them go into a huddle.
I wonder what time it is, unable even to guess what fucking day it is.
They return to their places and Noble says, ‘OK, who else knew about this relationship?’
‘Me and Janice?’
‘Yes.’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t tell folk, but did you know? Did you Jim? Did you Dick?’
They don’t smile, they just keep it shut.
‘OK,’ says Noble again. ‘But by the start of this month you say your relationship with Ryan had deteriorated?’
‘Yeah.’
‘In what way?’
‘I hadn’t been able to see so much of her, what with Ripper and everything, and I wanted her to stop working.’
‘Why was that?’
‘I didn’t want her fucking dead, did I?’
‘Why was that?’
‘Fuck off.’
‘But you didn’t mind her fucking other blokes?’
‘Course I fucking did.’
‘So why didn’t you do owt about it?’
But I catch myself, just in time:
And I smile, ‘I couldn’t say so bloody much could I?’
‘Why was that?’
‘I’m married, aren’t I?’
‘But you were arguing a lot, you and Ryan?’
‘On and off, yeah.’
‘OK, so tell us about that last Saturday, the 4th.’
‘I’ve told you a million times.’
‘Well it won’t hurt to tell us one last time then, will it Bob?’
‘I went round on Friday and she wasn’t in. I was knackered, put my head down for a bit at her place, and waited.’
‘So you had a key?’
‘You know I did. You fucking took it, didn’t you?’
‘OK, go on.’
‘About 7, maybe 8, she came home…’
‘In the morning?’
‘Yeah, in the morning. She was in a bad way, she’d been tied up, whipped, bitten. There were marks across her breasts, her stomach, her backside. She said she’d been over to Bradford, Manningham, to meet Eric Hall. Said she got picked up by Vice, or that’s what she thought. There were four of them; they raped her, took photos.’
‘And did they, these men, they know anything about you or DI Hall?’
‘Apparently’
‘Apparently?’
‘She said they called Eric Hall, tried to call me. Whatever Eric said, it didn’t stop them.’
‘And she told you all this on the Saturday morning at her flat?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then?’
‘Then DI Rudkin and DC Ellis came and picked me up, because of the attack on Linda Clark, and they brought me here.’
‘They picked you up at her place?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Right, so how come they knew where to find you?’
‘I don’t know. I presume because they knew about me and Janice.’
‘But you’d never told them?’
‘No.’
‘And that was the last time you saw Ryan?’
‘Yes.’
‘But you went back to the flat?’
‘Yeah, a couple of times.’
‘On the Saturday?’
‘Yeah, I went back to the flat straight after the briefing.’
‘And?’
‘And she’d gone.’
‘Gone for good?’
‘Mmm.’
‘How did you know?’
‘She’d taken most of her gear.’
‘She leave a note?’
‘No,’ I lie.
‘And what time was that?’
‘About five on the Saturday afternoon.’
