“Are you saying that Caxton was involved in Monaghan’s murder and got Crammond to put a lid on the investigation?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“It had better be more than ‘something like’ if Adrian and the press ever get hold of it, let alone if it goes to court.”

“I realize that. But there’s more. Simon Bradley mentioned a witness, a student who was crossing Hyde Park the same night Monaghan was killed. From what Bradley can remember, the lad saw two men carrying a third between them. He appeared drunk, but could have been dead. It could have been Monaghan.”

“Could have been? Did he get a good look? Does Bradley remember the details? Can we locate this student?”

“No. But Bradley does remember the young lad said the men were scary enough that he made sure they didn’t see him. He said he thought they were bruisers of some sort, a couple of burly blokes with no necks and shaved heads.”

“And?”

“And after a bit of digging, Winsome came up with the Stott brothers, a couple of burly blokes with shaved heads and no necks, one of whom was a boxer.”

“And they were?”

“A couple of local Leeds villains, muscle, enforcement, mercenary. Both dead now. One by violence. Winsome’s trying to find out more about them, but the one link we do have is that they were bouncers at a Bradford disco Caxton part-owned around the time of Monaghan’s murder. They also ran a Leeds boxing club he supported. One of his ‘youth’ projects. Apparently the disco was a place Caxton used to like to visit, we think because he liked the young girls it attracted. But as I say, Winsome’s digging deeper. There’s definitely a connection. Caxton knew the Stotts, and he could have hired them to kill Monaghan and make it look like a gay murder. They were known to favor switchblades, as well as their fists.”

“Was Monaghan killed by a switchblade?”

“We don’t know,” said Banks. “All the files have disappeared, including the postmortem report and forensic examinations, if there were any.”

“Pity. It’s still ‘could have,’ Alan. And good luck to DS Jackman. After all this time, she’ll need it. You know we’ll never be able to prove that Caxton hired a couple of deceased thugs fifty years ago, don’t you? You said three developments. What’s the third? I hope it’s a bit better than the last two.”

“Tony Monaghan’s widow. You remember, Winsome said she was following up on that? Well, she discovered that Ursula Monaghan remarried in 1974 and became Ursula Pemberton. She was widowed for the second time in 2009, natural causes this time, and she now lives just up the Northumberland coast.”

“She’s still alive?”