‘Last night, I spoke to a friend of hers, Tarryn. She’s Australian, they met working at The Spot in town. I’d been trying and trying to get hold of her, and after we heard about Shannon Harris, I was worried. I went to The Spot to see if she was there. When I told Tarryn I’d been worried because of Shannon, she was confused. “But she was a prostitute,” she said.’

Samir looked over. ‘But that hasn’t been publicly released.’

‘I prodded her and she told me that another friend of hers, a girl who’d been working at The Spot when she started – who’d got her the job there, in fact – had rung her in a panic yesterday. This girl knew Shannon and she’d heard Daniel Staverton threaten to kill her. Shannon had been going out with him until she dumped him but he’d been her pimp as well.’

‘What do you know about him? Staverton.’

‘Heard his name for the first time this morning. Tarryn told me a bit yesterday.’

‘He’s vicious. I saw some interviews he did last year for something else – wasn’t him in the end, that one, but he’s nasty. His usual thing’s protection rackets, though; collection. I hadn’t heard he’d diversified.’

Robin took a moment to get it straight in her own mind, to give herself a fighting chance of communicating it. ‘I think he killed Corinna, too.’

Samir’s head whipped round. ‘Daniel Staverton?’ He looked back at the road as an articulated lorry curved round them on a bend, sides so high they momentarily lost their view. ‘What?’

‘Tarryn’s friend said he’d threatened them both, Shannon and Corinna.’

He gave her a look of complete bewilderment – had she been drinking? Or had she finally lost her sanity? ‘No. Robin, I told you – the post mortem. I mean, come on, how would Staverton even have known her? That’s—’

‘Shannon was working for her.’

‘For …? Doing what?’

‘Working as a prostitute. At a massage parlour.’ Massage parlour, brothel, knocking shop – however she said it, she knew how insane it sounded. It was why she hadn’t even hinted at this part on the phone. ‘Staverton said he’d kill her for pimping out his woman.’

He dipped his forehead towards the wheel. ‘You’re doing my head in.’

‘Samir,’ she said, ‘I showed the girl a photograph of them. Josh and Corinna. I thought maybe Josh … he’d taken out loans, maybe he’d come into contact with Staverton that way, maybe that was how he’d paid them off … but Tarryn’s friend identified Corinna. She knew her as Holly but it was definitely her, she was positive.’

‘Why did you even show this girl a photograph?’