“Why? It’s not your fault. We can’t let people who do the things Caxton did to you and others go free just because they’re old and frail. I hope you understand that. It’s simply that the politics of the job demands sacrifices.”

“What do the doctors say?”

“They don’t hold out a lot of hope. Apparently he had a second stroke on the way to the hospital and a third when he got there. He’s in his mid-eighties. Even if he does survive, he’ll be bedridden and incapacitated for the rest of his days.”

“I wish I could feel something,” said Linda with a shiver. “Pity. Compassion. I can’t.”

Banks just looked at her. “Save it for someone who deserves it.”

She caught his gaze. “Silly of me, I suppose.”

“Not at all. Most of us try to be good people.”

“What about the other case? The girl who was groomed and raped.”

“A friend of her brother’s has confessed to the murder,” said Banks. “That’s about all I can say right now.”

“You believe him?”

“No reason not to.”

“Why?”

“I wish I could say I understood, but I don’t really. He was infatuated with her, even though she was a few years younger than he is, and he’s somewhat of a racist. The idea of her going with people of a different ethnic origin set his teeth on edge. He’d just heard, or so he says, and he couldn’t get the images out of his mind. He followed their van. When she came walking towards him, it didn’t go as he expected. The things she said, the way she reacted. Partly because she’d been on ketamine and partly because . . . well . . . he just lost it. Saw red. I suppose that’s believable enough. It’ll have to be, at any rate. It’s all we’re likely to get from him.”

“‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe.’”

“Othello,” said Banks.

“My, my, you are a literate copper. Not only Wordsworth, but Shakespeare, too. I suppose you did it at school?”

“Yes. Amazing how you remember quotes like that when you’re a dirty-minded teenager.”

“Iago uses sexual images like that to drive Othello over the edge.”

“Maybe the girl’s brother did that to our suspect,” Banks said. “But it probably wasn’t intentional.”

“What about the men who raped her?”

“They’ll go away for a long time. Rape, conspiracy to rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault. A range of charges. The CPS will throw the book at them. Something’s sure to stick.”

“Good lord. It’s all so sad. This is the sort of thing you deal with day after day, isn’t it?”

Banks sipped some wine. The strings held a long note, then the brass came in and another melody began. “Not every day, no.”