“I’ve already told you we have no evidence of such things going on. Do you? And as for the local police, I’ve told you how much use they are. You must know that yourself, from what you’ve said. You can report your concerns to them until you’re blue in the face, but it’ll go nowhere. As far as they’re concerned these girls are the dregs from the council estates. These girls are making their own lifestyle choices. They decide who they want to go out with, who they want to sleep with. If they choose to be sluts, so it goes. They get no better than they deserve.”

“Written off at thirteen? Sexually assaulted by her psychological counselor. A man who was supposed to heal her. Did Mimsy deserve to be raped and murdered?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course she didn’t. I’m speaking generally. They grow up quickly around these parts, in case you didn’t know.”

“So you do have concerns, then?”

“I always have concerns in my job. All I’m saying is that as far as I know, so far, they don’t involve grooming.”

“So everyone ignores the problem, turns their backs and thinks it will just go away?”

“If you think you can cure all the world’s social ills, then go ahead. I used to think that when I first took this job.”

“And now you’re a dyed-in-the-wool cynic at what, twenty-eight? I’m just surprised to find it still going on after the revelations of the last year or so.”

“It was going on long before Rotherham or Rochdale, and it’ll be going on long after. Whether it’s reached Wytherton or not.”

“Don’t sound so pleased about it.”

O’Byrne started walking again, hands deep in the pockets of his jeans. “I’m not. That wasn’t fair. You don’t have to be so snarky.”

“Maybe I do,” said Gerry after a while. “Let me just ask you this, Mr. O’Byrne. Did you have any idea what was going on? Did you ever see young white girls hanging around with older Asians just around the corner from here, maybe when you went out for lunch? Didn’t it seem in the least bit suspicious after what you’ve read in the papers or seen on the news? Oh, sorry, I forgot, you don’t pay any attention to the news because it’s too depressing, and you leave this neighborhood the minute the buzzer goes.”

“I do my job, as I told you, but it’s not my life. And I didn’t see any such thing. Whatever was going on, they obviously kept a low profile, and I should imagine it was mostly done after dark, not at lunchtime.”

“They’d hardly need to worry about daylight with social workers like you around.”

“That’s insulting.”