“When did you miss your driving license, Ruth?”
“My license? How did you know about that? It was ages ago.”
“How long?”
“Five, six months?”
“While Emily was here?”
“Yes, just after, but… you don’t mean…? Emily?”
“When the report came to me over the phone, the first officer on the scene told me the victim was Ruth Walker. He’d read the name off her driving license.”
“Bloody hell. So that’s what happened. I just thought I’d lost it. I do lose things. Especially bits of paper.”
“What did you do?”
“Applied for a new one. The new kind with the photo on it. But what possible use could the old one be to Emily?”
“I think she used it to help her get one of those proof-of-age cards the clubs give out. She wouldn’t have had much difficulty from what I’ve heard. They practically give them to pretty young girls, whether they’ve got any proof in the first place or not. The card has her photo on it, but your name and, I assume, your date of birth. Twenty-third of February, 1977.”
“Bloody hell.” Ruth shook her head. “I knew nothing about it.”
“And maybe she also wanted to drive a car.”
“She was too young to learn.”
“That doesn’t always stop people.”
“I suppose not.”
“Some of the most skilled car thieves I’ve met have been between ten and thirteen.”
“You’d know about that.”
“What did she say about Barry Clough?”
“Just that she thought she’d pissed him off big-time when she left without saying good-bye, and he wasn’t the kind of man just to let it go by.”
“Did she sound scared?”
“Not really scared. Bit nervous, maybe, in a giggly sort of way. She could put a brave face on things, could Louisa. Emily.”
“When did she tell you her real name?”
“Shortly after she came to stay with me. She asked me not to tell anyone, that she wanted to be called Louisa, so I respected her wishes.”
“Did you tell Clough what her real name was?”
Ruth jerked forward. “Give me a break! Why would I do something like that?”
“Only asking. So you didn’t?”
“No fucking way.”
“Has he been in touch with you at all, asking about her?”
“No. I haven’t seen anything of him at all.”
“What about Craig? Did you tell him?”
“No, but he might have known. She might have told him herself.”
“But you didn’t?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. I can keep a secret.”
Banks lit a cigarette and leaned back in the armchair. “How have you been, Ruth?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Just a simple question. Healthy? Happy?”
“I’m doing all right. As well as can be expected. Why do you want to know?”
“How’s work?”
“Fine.”
“What exactly is it that you do?”
“Computers. It’s pretty boring stuff.”
“But steady? Well-paid?”
“It’s steady. That’s about the best you can say.”
“Do you own a car?”
Ruth got up and Banks followed her to the window. “There,” she said pointing, “that clapped-out cream Fiesta down there.”
Banks smiled. “I had one like that a few years back,” he said. “Cortina, actually. Nobody believed I could possibly be driving such a thing. They’d stopped making them years ago. But it was a good car, while it lasted.”
“Well,” said Ruth, folding her arms at the window. “It’ll have to last me a few years longer, that’s for sure.”
They sat down again. “Been on any trips lately?” Banks asked.
“Nope.”
“Seeing anyone?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Just being friendly.”
“Well, you don’t have to be. Remember, you’re a copper and I’m a suspect.”
“Suspect? What makes you think that?”
A nasty smile twisted Ruth’s features. “Because I know you coppers. You wouldn’t be here otherwise, asking all sorts of questions. No matter. I didn’t do it. You can’t blame me.”
“I’m not trying to. How do you know coppers, Ruth? Ever been arrested?”
“No. I read the papers, though, watch the news. I know what racist, sexist bastards you are.”
Banks laughed. “You must be thinking of Dirty Dick.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Seeing as how you think you’re a suspect, though, you might as well tell me where you were on Thursday.”
“I was here. At home.”
“Not at work?”
“I had a cold. Still have. I was off Thursday and Friday. Does that mean I’ve got no alibi?”
“You haven’t been on any trips recently?”
“No. I told you. I haven’t been anywhere. And for your information, no, I’m not screwing anyone, either. You’ve got to be careful these days. It’s a lot different from when you were young, you know. We’ve got AIDS to think about. The worst you had to worry about was crabs or a dose of clap. Either way, it wasn’t going to kill you.”
Banks smiled. “I suppose you’re right. Did you ever go up to visit Emily in Yorkshire over the past month?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Too busy at work. Besides, she never asked me.” Ruth snorted. “I can see why now.”
“Why?”
“It said in the paper that her father’s a chief constable and her mother’s a solicitor. They don’t sound exactly the sort of people she’d want to introduce someone like me to.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Banks. “You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself.”
Ruth flushed. “I know what I am.”
“Do you know Emily’s mother at all? Rosalind?”
“No. Why should I?”
“Just wondering.”
“Like I said, she’d hardly take me home to meet her mum and dad.”
“I suppose not. So you never spoke with her?”
“She answered the phone a couple of times when I called.”
“So the two of you have spoken?”
“Only to say hello, like, and ask for Emily.”
“Rosalind didn’t ask you any questions?”
“No. Just my name, that’s all.”
“And you told her?”
“Why wouldn’t I? What is this? Are you trying to make out her mother killed her now?”
“I hardly think so. Just trying to get things clear, that’s all. Have you seen anything of Craig?”
Ruth made herself more comfortable in the armchair, sitting with her legs curled under. “As a matter of fact, he phoned me after he heard about Emily on the news yesterday morning. We had lunch together. He had to come into town.”
“What for? To pay a call at GlamourPuss?”
“How would I know? He didn’t say.”
“How did he seem?”
“Fine, I guess. I mean, we were both upset. Emily breezed in and out of both our lives. But if you’ve met her, then you’d know she certainly leaves an impression. The thought of somebody doing that to her… it’s too much to bear. You are certain it wasn’t just an accident, aren’t you? An overdose?”
“We’re certain.”
“Like I said, we were… you know, we couldn’t believe it. What about her father?”
“What about him?”
“Do you think he might have done it? I mean, she used to go on about how horrible he was, and if anyone can get hold of drugs and poisons, it’s the police.”
“Remember, he’s the one who wanted her back.”
“Yes,” said Ruth, leaning forward and lowering her voice to a whisper. “You told me that. But why did he want her back? Have you ever thought about that?”
Though it was Saturday, there was no time off for Eastvale CID that weekend. It would cost a fortune in overtime, but ACC McLaughlin and Superintendent Gristhorpe would hardly hesitate to approve the budget; there would be no stinting on this case. If Annie hadn’t seen the body for herself, she might have felt a little uncomfortable about the favoritism of it all, but having seen it, she knew that even if the victim had been a pox-ridden whore she would have been working on the case today, and working for nothing if she had to.