“True enough,” said Banks. “But what else can we do except try to protect the good guys and catch the bad guys? Look on the bright side. Danny Caxton, for example. For years he got away with abusing underage girls, but now we’re coming down on him and people like him.”

“Thanks to Operation Yewtree. But don’t you think even that’s gone a bit over the top? I mean, famous people are getting arrested just for touching someone’s arm or giving them a hug forty years ago, for crying out loud. Teachers are scared to touch children. I know I’m one to speak, given what happened to me and all, but I’ve never usually had much trouble removing an uninvited hand from my knee and telling its owner to bog off.”

“Maybe there’s always some sort of overcompensation for letting things slide for so long,” said Banks. “Like positive discrimination. Some people complain that jobs are given to women or to blacks just because they’re women or black, for example. It’s our nature to try to make amends. And the Jimmy Savile business encouraged a lot of women to come forward and speak out. Don’t forget, either, that many of the victims had come forward before, at the time of the incident, and been ignored. Women like Linda Palmer. That’s down to us. Not you and me specifically, but the force. We’ve made mistakes. That’s why Adrian Moss seems to be wringing his hands most of the time these days. But the point is, it’s happening. Same with grooming gangs. Sure, they got away with it for far too long in Rochdale, Rotherham, Manchester, Oxford, Aylesbury. Now it’s Wytherton. Fair enough, too many people are still ignoring it, including us and the social, but you’re coming down on them.”

“With my hands tied behind my back, it seems.”

Banks smiled at her. “Annie, I have every faith that you can do it, even with your hands tied behind your back.”

“You know,” Annie said, “the more I think about it, the more I’m sure that bastard Carver is bent.”

“He’s probably just trying to do a really difficult job. It can’t be easy, policing a divided community like Wytherton.”

“No, it’s not that. Those two coppers, Bill and Reg. I know I goaded them a bit, but they were ready to beat the shit out of us, Alan. Now, who runs a station where it’s OK for patrol officers to do that for no reason other than someone being mouthy?”

“Zero tolerance,” said Banks.

“Bloody hell, you’ve got an excuse for everything, don’t you?”

“Not an excuse, but maybe a reason. And I’m not saying I agree. I’m just saying that’s probably their philosophy.”