Marcel walked Banks through the empty restaurant to the front door. “Look, Superintendent,” he said. “You seem like a fellow who enjoys his creature comforts. Why don’t you dine with us here one evening? Bring the wife or a lady friend.”

“Thanks for the invitation, Mr. McGuigan,” said Banks, “but I’d have to mortgage my cottage to do something like that.”

“On the house. My treat. Be my guest. I’ll even cook for you. Give me a chance to show off. You’d love it, I guarantee.”

“I’m sure I would,” said Banks, “but it wouldn’t look too good to the chief constable, would it? Fine dining for free.”

“She need never know. As a matter of fact, she’s not averse to dining here herself on occasion. She pays her own bill, though.”

“She can afford to.”

Marcel laughed. “I suppose you’ve got a point. Shame. But if you change your mind . . .” He handed Banks his card.

“You’ll be the first to know. Thanks, Mr. McGuigan, and goodbye.”

ON SEVERAL occasions during February and March, Zelda had sat by the same window of the same pub, from which she could watch the restaurant where Hawkins had met Keane and his girlfriend just before Christmas, but to no avail. She had thought they might be regulars and that was why Hawkins had met them there, but she hadn’t seen either the woman or Keane since.

While she had watched, she had puzzled over the extent of the woman’s involvement. In Zelda’s experience, very few women were involved in the criminal enterprise of sex trafficking—there were some, she knew, but not many—so what was her role? She had been with Keane, a forger, and they had gone window-shopping on Oxford Street together afterward—so if Hawkins had met him to warn him of Zelda’s interest, then the woman would most likely have been party to that warning. Or would she? Would it have even meant anything to her? Did they just pass it off as “business” and say no more about it, or wait to discuss it until she visited the ladies? And if Keane and the woman were still together, might they turn up at that same restaurant again?

This time, Zelda decided to be a little bolder and go into the restaurant rather than watch it through a pub window over the street. After all, neither Keane nor his girl had the slightest idea who she was, unless Hawkins had shown them a photograph of her.