‘Charles Foxley paid her fifteen hundred pounds to keep her mouth shut. If I go through the diary, how many times did one or other of these young girls get physically abused? I have a feeling that a few of them may have been onto the fact that they could make money, and maybe even exaggerate what had happened. I think that this could be where all that unaccounted-for cash went.’

‘My God, he was a sleazebag,’ Spencer said, rubbing his head. ‘Don’t tell me we’re going to have to go through all those girls again?’

Jane drained her coffee and sighed. ‘We can perhaps cut a few corners by bringing in Julia Summers and maybe putting the frighteners on her. She has to know why she was blocking out the information in Foxley’s diary.’ Jane glanced at her watch. It was already 4:30 p.m. ‘I think we both need to go and talk to Tyler.’

Tyler eventually came out of his office at 5:15 p.m., looking tired and in need of a shave. He was accompanied by an irate-looking DI Miller, who glared at Jane as he returned to his corner desk.

Tyler glanced over at Jane. ‘You wanted to see me?’

‘Yes, sir. DS Gibbs and I would really like to have a briefing with you regarding a few things we’ve come up with today.’

He glanced at his watch. ‘Do you want to go into the boardroom? I’m sick of the sight of my office, but I have to be out of here shortly as one of my kids has got an abscess on his tooth. But we could do with some good news after the tests for blood on Justine Harris’s dagger came back negative.’

‘I’ll organize some coffee, sir,’ Jane said.

‘Good idea,’ Tyler sighed, returning to his office.

‘Did you get that, Spencer?’ Jane looked over to Spencer as he was finishing typing his report.

‘Yep. And I’ll have a ham sandwich.’

By the time Jane got back to the boardroom with a tray of coffee and a plate of surprisingly fresh ham sandwiches, Tyler was already glancing through her report. He reached out for a coffee and gave her a grateful smile as she passed him a sandwich.

‘What’s your gut feeling, Tennison, after that interview with the Montgomery family?’

‘I seriously think, sir, we need to find out how many girls were paid off when they complained about the sexual abuse, and how many were actually fully aware of what was expected of them. Max and Ivor Summers must have known what was going on.’

Tyler raised his hand. ‘Just a minute, Jane. To put an already depleted team of detectives onto yet another vast investigation into God knows how many young girls . . . I’m not sure it’s moving this inquiry forward.’

Jane pursed her lips. ‘I hate to disagree with you, sir.’