“It’s as thin as the Caxton investigation as far as evidence goes,” Banks said, after pushing the file aside. “There’s hardly any forensics, nothing to say whether he had been sexually active, sexually assaulted or what. Nothing to indicate that he was even gay. One of the papers speculated that it might have been a mugging, with Monaghan a stranger to the city and all, maybe not knowing the reputation of those toilets. But muggers rarely kill. There’s also some speculation that whoever he picked up was psychologically confused about his sexuality and became violent when Monaghan made a pass. It’s also possible he was a ‘queer’ hater or someone who saw himself on a crusade against indecency. Don’t forget the law had just been passed. It was controversial and it must have set off any number of nutters.”

“What’s the link with Caxton?” asked AC Gervaise.

“We don’t have one yet,” Banks said. “Apart from Linda Palmer. Winsome’s still digging.”

“Was nothing else mentioned in the press or the police investigation?”

“No. Nobody dug deeply enough.”

“Is Ms. Palmer sure this is our man?”

“Certain,” Banks said. “She was shaken up by the whole thing. She got no impression that he was gay, of course, but she admitted she wouldn’t have known much about such things back then.”

“But he did rape her?”

“Yes. She said she remembered he hesitated, seemed nervous. But there could be many reasons for that. And just because a man rapes a woman, it doesn’t mean he’s not gay.”

“Point taken.”

“Where do you want to go with this?” Adrian Moss interjected.

Banks glanced at Gervaise. “Nowhere yet,” he said. “Not until we’ve actually got somewhere to go.”

“You want to keep it under wraps?”

“For now, yes. As much as we can.”

Moss made a note. “OK. Good.”

“We don’t know what we’ve got,” Banks went on. “We don’t know if it’s a lead or a red herring. If Linda Palmer says she’s sure it’s the man who raped her with Caxton, I, for one, believe her, but even so, it gets us no further. I mean, it’s not as if he’s still alive to identify Caxton, and we’re not here to investigate his murder. It’s bad enough having to investigate a fifty-year-old rape, but add a murder in the mix and it’d be damn nigh impossible.”

“You might be surprised, Alan,” said Gervaise. “The one might actually illuminate the other.”

“There’s that, I suppose.” Banks scratched his cheek. “I must admit, I was hoping it would turn out to be someone who might still be alive, but that was probably reaching a bit.”

“Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence that this Monaghan was murdered such a short time after assaulting Ms. Palmer?” asked Gervaise.