Ruby stared at Ellie. She was drained of colour and completely still. She already looked like a corpse. Only the faintest of pulses told the nurse consigned to check her every few minutes that her patient was still alive.

‘Oh, yes, I know.’ She dragged her eyes from Ellie. ‘A woman called Aggie did the abortion, but it was the man Ellie lives with who took her to this Aggie and made her go through with it. She didn’t want to but he forced her.’

The gynaecologist nodded. He already had a pretty good idea of the relationship between his patient and this man, having seen it all a hundred times before. Prostitution was rife in the city and had got worse as the slump had continued. The men who controlled these girls were ruthless and only interested in the money they could earn.

He stared at the well-dressed young woman in front of him. He knew from the matron that Miss Morgan was a respectable and intelligent individual and he wondered how she had come to be mixed up with the poor girl in the bed. But that was by the by. It made his blood boil to see what he’d seen this night.

His voice grim, he said, ‘It’s rare that names are named in circumstances like this. Are you prepared to speak out, Miss Morgan? To tell the authorities what you know?’

She nodded. ‘His name’s Daniel Bell and I want him to pay for what he’s done to Ellie.’

‘Is there anyone who can support your accusation?’

‘The couple I came with know what happened.’

‘So you have no objection to the police being informed?’

‘None at all.’ She just hoped Daisy and Howard would be prepared to stand up to Daniel Bell. They had left the hospital shortly after Ellie had been taken to theatre, but Daisy had promised her she would come back to see Ellie in the morning, although it had been obvious the pair of them were terrified at the prospect of facing Daniel after what had happened at the house.