“We most certainly did not,” said Annie. “I don’t know who told you that, but whoever it is, he’s a liar.” She held Carver’s gaze as she spoke. “Mimosa’s family told us that she sometimes hung out on what they called the Strip, a half-mile stretch of Wytherton Town Street between the overpass and the canal bridge. Mimosa’s stepfather told us he didn’t like it because there were too many Asians around, but it’s the nearest place where there’s anything happening at night, and most kids aren’t as bigoted as Lenny Thornton. They like to hang out on the street, especially on warm nights. As Mimosa was from Wytherton Heights and our DNA specialist has informed us that the samples of semen taken from her body were Pakistani in origin, that’s why we went there in the first place after talking to Sinead Moffat.”

“What do you think about that, DC Masterson?” Banks asked, turning to a terrified Gerry.

“It’s true, sir, what DI Cabbot says. We didn’t set out to inflame anyone in the community, and I don’t believe we did. As DI Cabbot said, we were following a perfectly valid lead about the murdered girl.”

“Did you find the place swarming with young girls?”

“No,” said Annie. “But considering that Mimosa Moffat has been dead for almost a week, it’d hardly be business as usual, would it?”

“Even so, it’s a thin lead, or so it seems to me,” said Banks. “I understand that certain accusations were made?”

“No accusations,” Annie replied. “I showed the two men behind the counter in a kebab and pizza takeaway an artist’s impression of the dead girl. They said they didn’t know her.”

“And then?”

“I wasn’t sure I believed them. After all, if she hung out on the Strip and she ate kebab and pizza, there was a good chance she’d been in their takeaway, wouldn’t you say, sir? It’s the kind of place young people hang out, especially if they’re under the legal drinking age. I might have mentioned her stomach contents as I left, just to make them think a bit.”

“There are dozens of such places around,” said Carver.

“Not as close to where Mimosa Moffat lived,” said Annie. “Not in her own neighborhood. And an area she was known to hang out in. And the PM did find—”

Carver waved his hand. “Even so. That was still no reason to strut into my manor and start harassing racial minorities. Wytherton is a balancing act. And the fact that the garbagemen are on strike and we have a heat wave at the moment doesn’t help, either. Tensions are high.”