‘No physical ones. Time, place, weather – that’s what I was meaning. Darkness and rain – the lonely street.’

‘And the features in this one that don’t fit?’ Henry Wade said. ‘What about those?’

‘Recent bruising on the throat, another bruise on the right cheek as if someone had first grabbed her angrily around the neck and then struck her a violent blow, probably with his fist. The death blow came afterwards. Now this is a very real departure. In the other cases, there was no sign of violence except in the death blow itself. Quick, sharp, clean, obviously totally unexpected.’

‘And in this case the girl obviously knew what was coming,’ Mallory said.

Henry Wade shook his head. ‘No, I’m afraid that won’t work, sir. If she was attacked by an unknown assailant, she’d have put up some sort of a struggle, even if it was only to get her nails to his face. We didn’t find any signs that would indicate that such a struggle took place.’

‘Which means that she stood there and let someone knock her about,’ Mallory said. ‘Someone she knew.’

‘I don’t see how we can be certain of that, sir.’ Miller couldn’t help pointing out what seemed an obvious flaw. ‘She was on the game after all. Why couldn’t she have been up that alley with a potential customer?’

Again the irritation was noticeable in Mallory’s voice. ‘Would she have stood still while he grabbed her throat, fisted her in the face? Use your intelligence, Sergeant. It’s quite obvious that she took a beating from someone she was perfectly familiar with and she took it because she was used to it.’

‘I think the Superintendent’s got a point, Nick,’ Henry Wade said. ‘We’re all familiar with the sort of relationship a prostitute has with her minder. Beatings are the order of the day, especially when the pimp thinks his girl isn’t coughing up all her earnings and the women take their hidings quietly, too. God knows why. I suppose a psychiatrist would have an answer.’

‘True enough,’ Miller admitted.

‘And there’s one important point you’re forgetting,’ Wade added. ‘In every Rainlover case yet he’s always taken some memento. Either an article of clothing or a personal belonging. That doesn’t seem to have happened here.’

‘Anything else, Miller?’ Mallory enquired.

‘Was there any cash in her handbag, sir?’

‘Two or three pounds in notes and silver.’

‘Faulkner said he gave her a ten-pound note.’

‘Exactly, Sergeant.’ Mallory gave him a slight, ironic smile, ‘Any suggestions as to what happened to it?’

‘No, sir.’ Miller sighed. ‘So we’re back to Harold Phillips?’

‘That’s right and I want him pulled in now. You can take Brady with you.’

‘And Faulkner, sir?’

‘Oh, for God’s sake, Sergeant, don’t you ever take no for an answer?’