“The other girls. Me and Mimsy would just tell them what a fantastic time we were having and about all the treats and stuff. She could pick out the ones who’d be interested. The ones like me. The ones who were looking for something different. I don’t know how, but it was just like she had a nose for it. She wasn’t ever wrong. The men called her the Honey Monster because she lured other girls in for them. I think they paid her, and maybe it meant she didn’t have to . . . you know . . . do it so much, But it didn’t mean she was working for them, like, and happy with it. She didn’t have no choice by then. None of us did.”

“It’s OK, Jade. I understand.”

“It’s just that it sounds bad. I don’t want you blaming her or anything, even though she is dead.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“So she brought new girls in. I’d help sometimes. It’s not as if there’s anything else to do around here except hang out at the shopping mall and get chatted up by schoolboys, or by older married blokes who ought to know better. One night Sunny said they were going to chill at his, and we could bring some of our friends if we wanted. Well, they weren’t close friends, or anything like that, just girls we knew at school or from the mall, girls like us, girls who didn’t really feel like they fitted in, that didn’t belong to any gang or clique. Mostly they were bullied and friendless and grateful to us just for talking to them.”

Lonely, vulnerable, Gerry thought. “I’ll need their names,” she said.

“There was Kirsty, Becca, Mel, Sue and Kath.”

“Their real names?”

“Yes. Only Becca’s short for Rebecca, and so on.”

“Surnames?”

“No idea. You can find out from school, though. Or the social. They’re all in care, or in foster homes. Will you take care of them? Will you make sure they’re all right? They’re all scared, too.”

“We’ll do our best, Jade.” Gerry was grateful for the recorder app on her mobile. Even thinking about what she was doing made her realize what an idiot she was. She could be jeopardizing her career. They should be in an interview room at Eastvale, with DI Cabbot and Detective Superintendent Banks present. But would Jade say what she was saying now, here in the dark, in a brightly lit room with two intimidating adults throwing questions at her? Gerry doubted it. Sometimes you had to bend the rules a little to get a result. “What happened?”