Jane leaned forward. ‘Tanya, you have been very helpful. I just need you to tell me a little bit more about Mr. Foxley having a quiet word with each of you – what were those quiet words?’

Tanya shrugged. ‘He just said that we should realize we weren’t there to pass out the hors d’oeuvres. We were there to enjoy ourselves and make sure that the stars, producers and whoever was important were also enjoying themselves. He said if any of them got over-familiar and we didn’t like it, we were to politely reject their advances. On the other hand, he insinuated that if we didn’t reject their advances, we would be very well looked after.’

‘So, in these instances, when you say you were well looked after . . . ’

Tanya ran her fingers through her hair. ‘If we gave a blow job or allowed one of these so-called movie moguls to take us up to their hotel rooms, we knew there would be a big fat envelope waiting for us.’ She giggled and said that she knew that a few of the girls often embroidered their activities, and in those cases Mr. Foxley was very generous.

‘Do you know if Yasmin was paid money after that night she left early?’

Tanya rolled her eyes. ‘She was very naive, and to be honest I don’t think she had the slightest notion. I think she was a Muslim, wasn’t she? But if anything did happen, she would have been paid a bundle.’

‘When you say “paid a bundle”, what kind of money are you talking about?’

‘Well, it all depends what they had to do. Some of them might have done a blow job, some might have even had full sex . . . It could be anywhere between a hundred to a few thousand quid.’

Jane stood up. ‘Thank you very much, Tanya, I appreciate your time. Julia, I do hope your father will be lenient with regards to Mr. Montgomery’s visit.’

Julia didn’t get up to see Jane out but Tanya went ahead to open the front door. She leaned towards Jane, keeping her voice to a whisper.

‘She’s a bit thick, but she’s quite harmless. I hope to God her daddy doesn’t cut her allowance because I can’t afford the rent here.’

*

Spencer had checked that Michael was at the care home, but first he wanted to speak with the care home’s maintenance and main care worker, Alistair Jones. He was a very affable, middle-aged ex-army officer who had suffered a severe leg injury in the Korean war. He lived on the premises in a small room at the top of the house and it was his job to do all the repairs, check plumbing and electrics, and supervise anyone using the kitchen. He had thinning hair, which he had oiled back and which ended in a little duck’s tail at the back of his head.