THE WAKEFIELD office of the West Yorkshire Archive Service was unfortunately not a modern air-conditioned building, being instead housed in the old Registry of Deeds office, a 1930s building on Newstead Road. Ken Blackstone handed over the form he had filled out, and after he and Banks had shown their warrant cards, Ms. Brindley made a quick search to locate the occurrence book. She soon came back with the volume they wanted and placed it on the table in front of them.

“It would have been the end of August or beginning of September, 1967,” Banks said. “I don’t know the exact date, but it was before school started again.”

It didn’t take long to locate the brief, neatly written entry for the thirtieth of August 1967, at 2:35 p.m. Reading the unadorned entry, Banks could only imagine what that day had been like for Linda Palmer and her mother, perhaps agonizing over whether to go, frightened, embarrassed, sitting on the bus to town not knowing what to expect. As it was only an occurrence book, not a statement, there was very little detail. The complainant was identified as “Linda Palmer” and her mother’s presence was also noted. They had come with a “crime complaint,” which was further described as “indecent and unlawful.” There was no mention of rape, and Danny Caxton was not named. Detective Inspector Stanley Chadwick had talked to the complainant, but when it came to further action and result, there was nothing. Blackstone flipped forward a few pages to see if he could find anything else, but all the entries were similarly brief. They would need the case files or individual notebooks to find out any more, and they were gone, if there had, indeed, ever been any. Destroyed years ago, most likely.

Disappointed, Banks asked Ms. Brindley if she would make a copy of the entry in question. It wasn’t much, but every little bit helped at this point.

“As you can see,” she said, “the occurrence book is rather large and heavy. It’s very awkward to fit in the photocopier. I’d suggest you use your mobile and take a digital photo, if that’s acceptable?”

“Of course.” Banks took out his mobile, positioned it carefully and took three photos, just to make certain. “Is there any way of finding out if anything came of this?” he asked when he had finished.

“Not without the records, no, and I’m afraid we don’t have those.”

“I know,” said Banks. “Is there anything else?”

“Well, let me see. We do have the court registers, so if the case went to court it would be listed in there.”

“As far as we know, it didn’t,” said Banks. “But thanks, anyway.”

“No problem.” Ms. Brindley smiled and asked them if there was something else they required.

“No, thanks,” said Blackstone. “You’ve been a great help. Thanks very much.”

Ms. Brindley inclined her head briefly, then drifted away. Banks and Blackstone made their way outside again, where it was marginally cooler than inside.