“I use to let her come and help sometimes, when I was working with Paul.” He turned away. “Maybe we’d even let her have a lager and lime when we’d done, like, if it was thirsty work. There’s no harm in it, is there?”

“I don’t know,” said Annie. “We hear Mimosa liked a drink.”

“She did and all.”

“But you don’t know where she went in her spare time,” Annie went on, “what she got up to?”

“No. Some people would probably think she was too young to be let loose like that, but you see it a lot these days. Kids as young as twelve, thirteen, fourteen, getting up to whatever they want with no questions asked.”

“Did Mimsy stop out all night?”

“Sometimes, sure.”

“Do you know where?”

“I never asked and she never said.”

“Is there anything you can tell us that might help us find her killer, Albert?”

Albert looked Annie in the eye, then leaned forward and spoke with a ferocity that made her flinch. “Do you think those Pakis did it?”

“Which ones would that be?” Annie asked.

“That lot down on the Strip.”

“What do you know about them?”

“Nothing. ’Cept they’re old, and she shouldn’t have been hanging out with them. You can’t trust them, can you? They’re not like us. They do things different.”

“What did you see?”

“Our Mimsy getting in a taxi outside that minicab place next door to that takeaway. She was with a fat Paki, an older bloke in a suit. All tarted up, she was, too.”

“Did you recognize the man?”

“No. He wasn’t anyone I’d seen in the takeaway or the other shops. I mean, I’ve got nothing against them, really, but what was our Mimsy doing getting in a minicab with one of them?”

“Did you ask her?”

“Last time I saw her. When we were walking down the street.”

“What did she say?”

“Told me it was none of my fucking business what she did, and they were a lot more fun to hang out with than the sad bastards at school.”

“Did you tell your parents, your mother?”

“I didn’t tell anyone, did I? Why should I get her in trouble. I’m no snitch. But I told her she should stay away from them, that they were up to no good.”

“What did she say to that?”

“She just laughed and said what did I know.” He paused. “I’m not a racist, really, but it’s not right, is it? Blokes like that hanging about with young girls like Mimsy. It surprised me, really, when I saw her, like, because I thought she . . . well, I thought we agreed on certain things.”

“On Pakistanis?”

“Yeah. Immigration. Them coming and taking over. That sort of thing.”

“Have you seen any Pakistanis with other young girls?”