“I’m sure he was, but there was more to it than that. We never considered such things at the time, of course, so I’m speaking with the benefit of hindsight, but after Savile, Cosby, Rolf Harris, Cyril Smith and the rest, Danny Caxton was up to the same sort of thing. What you’re looking into now. Something terrible happened, and Tony knew about it.”

“Did he say anything?”

Ursula stared out to sea. The dogs were busy sniffing gorse. “The day before he left,” she said, “he told me all about it, and I wished to God he hadn’t.”

15

WHAT AM I DOING HERE?” PAUL WARNER ASKED Annie and Gerry. “I already told you everything I know the last time we met.”

He seemed more nervous this time, Annie thought, eyes all over the place. Perhaps it was because he was out of his home environment and in a police interview room. They were not places designed to put people at ease. He was dressed in clean jeans and a crisp white shirt. It looked as if it had been pressed, too, she thought, and almost asked him if he did his own ironing.

“Just a few minor points we need to go over, Paul,” said Annie. “As you might have gathered, there’s been developments.”

“Developments. I’d say there are. The whole estate’s going up.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think? The local police have it under control. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“No?”

Annie opened a folder on her desk and lifted a sheet of paper, as if to read from it. “First of all, something’s been puzzling me about you ever since we last talked. Maybe you can help. You seem to be a fairly intelligent lad. What is it with these racist views you seem to be espousing and encouraging? Are you involved with the English Defence League or the British National Party?”

Warner leaned back in his chair and stretched. “No matter what you or the Guardian might think, intelligence isn’t the private property of the left wing. And no,” he went on, with a smile, “I’m not affiliated with either of those organizations. I suppose at first glance they may seem to offer swift and positive solutions to a number of problems, but if you look a bit closer you can see they’ll never progress beyond basic thuggery. There are other, more reasoned and less violent routes likely to lead to success.”

“UKIP?”

“One possibility, if they truly had the courage of their convictions.”

“And what are the problems you see?”