“I do,” said Banks. “And I also think it’s fishy that Caxton was photographed handing a check over to Crammond just over two weeks after Monaghan’s murder, only days after the investigation stopped. But just at the moment I can’t come up with a good reason as to how all these are linked. Was Monaghan simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Did he pick up someone who, for whatever reason, stabbed him to death? What was he doing in Leeds, for a start? If we knew even that, it would be something.”

“He was on business, wasn’t he?” Gervaise said.

“That’s what it said in the paper. He was in advertising.”

“What about his old firm?”

“Philby, Leyland and Associates? No longer in business,” Banks said. “Winsome checked. She’s still trying to track down other ex-employees.”

“Advertising must have been an exciting occupation back then,” Gervaise said, “if it was anything like Mad Men.”

“I think it attracted its fair share of hip young creative types, that’s for sure,” Banks agreed.

“A lilac shirt,” said Moss.

Banks looked at him. He was wearing a dazzling white shirt, old school tie and pinstripe suit. “Indeed,” he said. “Your point, Adrian?”

“Oh, nothing really. I mean, maybe back then, in the dark ages, so to speak, a police detective might well have taken such an article of clothing as a sign of . . . well . . .”

“Gayness?”

“Yes. And when you add the fact that Monaghan worked in advertising, a flamboyant and creative business, and the place his body was found, then . . . well, it’s hardly surprising, is it?”

“No force would put a great deal of its resources into an investigation of that sort back then,” said Banks. “No more than they would into the murder of a prostitute, as we discovered from the Yorkshire Ripper case. But even so, there should have been something, if only for form’s sake.”

“Was there any information as to whether he was actually murdered in the toilet itself, or whether his body was brought from elsewhere?” AC Gervaise asked.

“No,” said Banks. “So far it seems everyone assumed that he was killed where he was found, but any forensic information and exhibits, if there were any, have disappeared.”

“No forensics?”

“Nothing. I should imagine there was a lot of blood, though, given that he was stabbed.”

“So he goes in the cubicle with whoever he picked up,” Gervaise said. “The other bloke’s standing behind him. They get ready to do whatever they’re about to do, and the other bloke takes out a knife and stabs him, then slips his hand in his inside pocket for his wallet.”

At that moment there came a light tap on the door and Winsome entered, carrying a folder with her.

“I hope you’ve got something for us,” Banks said, “because we’re getting so desperate for leads here, AC Gervaise has taken to crime fiction.”