Annie glanced at Gerry, who had turned a bit pale but was still holding her own. When the front of the body was open, exposing the glistening inner organs, the smell got worse, despite the Vicks, and Dr. Glendenning and Karen exchanged serious expressions before going on. Even on a cursory glance, Annie could tell that things were not right inside. Not right at all.

WHEN BANKS and Winsome arrived at the gates of Xanadu, Danny Caxton’s palatial spread on a promontory between Whitby and Redcar, it was the early afternoon of another beautiful summer’s day. Banks had spent most of the morning setting up the mechanics of the investigation, trying to make sure he overlooked nothing. He had also arranged for checks into Caxton’s connection with any hospitals, care homes, schools and charities—anywhere he might have been likely to find vulnerable victims and people with a vested interest in keeping things quiet. The TV companies he had worked with also had to be fully investigated, including everyone who had worked with him on Do Your Own Thing! and as many of the young performers and invited audience members as possible. It wasn’t exactly Top of the Pops but Banks imagined it would have provided plenty of opportunities for indulgence on Caxton’s part. Preliminary checks had shown that he had always stayed at the same hotel in London when he was down there for recording. It was an out-of-the-way place, not especially convenient for the TV studios, and not exactly up to the level of luxury one might have expected for a man as wealthy as Caxton. These were all keys to finding more complainants: places, networks, groups, routes, access.

When witnesses or accusers were found, their testimony had to be validated. Dates, times, places and so on all had to be checked, photographic records uncovered if they existed. At the time, Caxton had been “untouchable” and that feeling could have made him careless, led him to make mistakes. Priorities for Banks after Caxton and his ex-wife were finding the “witness” and trying to discover what had happened to the original investigation, or lack of one. When he got going on all that, he knew, leads would start popping up all over the place, many of them red herrings, all needing to be thoroughly checked out. He could only interview the major players with Winsome; he would have to leave the rest to the team he had been allotted.