Heading into the corridor, Kate caught sight of Hendrix disappearing into the supe’s office. She hurried down the corridor, reaching the door just as it was closing, but forcing her hand in to keep it open. ‘Is this about our girl with the removed tattoo?’

Hendrix pulled at the door, allowing Kate to enter with a look of resignation. Once the three of them were seated, she nodded. ‘I just met with a source who works the streets in St Mary’s and as soon as I asked her if any of the usual girls had recently gone AWOL, her face filled with panic.’

Kate glanced the supe out of the corner of her eye, but he seemed happy for her to take the lead here. ‘Panic?’

‘You’ve got to understand that these women, whilst they’re rivals for the business they operate in, they’re like a family, looking out for each other, recording registration numbers of the cars the others go off in, so that if anything bad happens they can pinpoint who is responsible.’

‘Is that what happened here? Was she able to give you the details of someone who took our girl?’

Hendrix shook her head. ‘That’s just it. She wasn’t taken, at least not that my source knew of.’

Kate’s brow furrowed. ‘Are you saying she just didn’t turn up one night?’

‘Not exactly. My source says her friend Maria wanted out; she wanted to jack it in and try and lead a more normal life. But to do so, she needed to buy herself out of the contract with her pimp. My source said Maria was determined to go clean, kicking the drugs, giving up smoking and drinking in an effort to save every penny to earn what she needed to get free.’

‘And did she manage it?’

‘According to my source, yes. She didn’t know how Maria managed to get her hands on the ten grand needed to buy her freedom, but apparently she did, and was last seen a week ago.’

‘Where does a sex worker get her hands on ten thousand pounds?’

Hendrix just shrugged.

‘Who’s your source? I want to speak to her,’ Kate tried again.

‘No. Impossible.’

Kate fired a look at the supe, looking for support.

‘I’m sorry,’ Hendrix continued, ‘but my source has already put herself in enough danger just talking to me.’

‘Why? She hasn’t told you anything; not really.’

‘Even so, just talking to me could be enough to get her killed by the people she works for. I’m sorry, but she’s off limits.’

‘Sir, if I’m to find out what really happened to this woman, then —’

The supe sat forward. ‘Our primary duty is to determine what happened and ensure justice is served.’

Kate began to smile, but then he continued.

‘That said, we also have a duty of care to DI Hendrix’s Confidential Informant, and if allowing her to speak to DI Matthews puts her life at risk, then it’s an avenue we can’t pursue.’

‘What?’ Kate demanded. ‘But, sir, if—’

‘I’m sorry, Matthews, but we can’t risk the CI’s life too. That’s the end of it.’

Kate fixed Hendrix with a stare. ‘Did your source say if she saw Maria after she’d paid her debt?’ Kate pressed.

‘No. When she last saw her, Maria said she’d managed to secure the money she needed and would deliver it to their pimp that night when he surfaced. My source did say she was surprised Maria had managed to get the cash so quickly, but was just happy that she was going to get a shot at a new life.’

‘Did she not phone Maria after, to find out if she’d been successful?’

‘She said she tried to phone Maria to see if they could meet for a chat last Wednesday, but the phone was off and doesn’t appear to have been switched on since.’

‘Didn’t your source find that odd? Did she report her concerns to anyone?’

‘She figured Maria had dumped the phone, so she could turn her back on the old life; not wanting anyone to remind her of where she’d escaped.’

‘And the pimp? Did he have anything to say about it?’

‘I haven’t spoken to him.’

Kate puffed. ‘Well, I will then.’

‘He won’t talk to you.’

‘He will if I arrest him.’

Hendrix grunted. ‘No, he won’t. He’ll lawyer up, give you “no comment” answers and be out in under an hour. These people are used to fending the police off. Unless you have hard evidence linking him to a specific crime, he won’t utter a word. And he’ll probably take it out on women like my CI, assuming one of them has spoken to us. Organised crime is a different beast to what you’re used to, Matthews. Our suspects don’t crack in the same way as common criminals. These people know the rule books inside and out and know exactly how to avoid detection.’

‘What if Maria went to pay the pimp, he kept the money and then killed her. A body being chopped up before disposal isn’t uncommon in the world you’re describing.’

‘And if you can find evidence directly linking him to something – evidence that will stick – I’ll drive you down there myself so you can arrest him. But until that happens, you need to stay clear of St Mary’s.’

‘At least give me a surname. Let me find out whether this Maria is our vic.’

‘Alexandrou,’ Hendrix huffed. ‘Her name is Maria Alexandrou.’ Hendrix handed Kate a piece of paper with an address on it. ‘My source said Maria rented a room here. The landlady says Maria hasn’t been back there in over a week.’

Kate accepted the piece of paper begrudgingly, and both women began to stand.

‘Matthews, hang back, please,’ the supe said. His neck tie was again pulled down, his sleeves were rolled up, and it didn’t look like he’d shaved in at least two days. She wondered how much of the stress on his shoulders was coming from above, and how much was being driven by the turmoil Tara was kicking up at home.

He waited until the door was closed. ‘Assuming for a moment that this Maria Alexandrou is our vic, it begs the questions, how and why was she at the school?’

‘You’re suggesting one of the staff is responsible.’

‘I can’t think of any other reason the body would have been chopped up there. Who are your suspects?’

‘Nobody obvious jumping out yet, but we’re interested in two. The first – Ismael Vardan – is a form tutor at the school, but our interest in him stemmed from believing the foot may have belonged to Daisy. But now that that line has been closed—’

‘What made you suspect him?’

‘He is Daisy’s form tutor and English teacher. One of the teachers we spoke to last week suggested we could look more closely at their relationship.’

The supe raised his eyebrows. ‘And?’

‘And at his previous school, one of his pupils made allegations of inappropriate advances against Vardan, but despite an extensive investigation, no charges were brought, and the pupil later retracted his statement.’

‘What does Vardan have to say for himself?’

‘We spoke to him about Daisy on Friday morning, but unsurprisingly he denied anything untoward, and accused us of trying to fit him up for her disappearance based on the lies of the previous pupil.’

‘And now?’

‘His whereabouts are unaccounted for three hours on Thursday, which we believe was the day the body was chopped up.’

‘You think he did it?’

‘If I knew he’d already be in custody.’

‘Anybody else?’

‘Chris Jackson, a photocopy engineer. Was apparently seen on camera at the school on Thursday and Friday, but was never signed in on Friday. He is AWOL and I want vehicle recognition and phone signal tracking launched.’

‘Do either this Vardan or Jackson have form?’

Kate shook her head.

‘Anyone else we should be looking at?’

‘Liam Phillips’ company has access to the sports hall, but denies any wrongdoing. I want to look into his background more, because there’s something about him that just didn’t sit right for me.’

‘All right, you’d better get cracking. We need this completed as soon as possible. I’m getting heat from the Chief Super. He’s agreed to the school being closed for the first three days of the week, but on the understanding that we deliver him a suspect in that time.’

Kate scrunched her nose, not wanting to share the news, but knowing she had to. ‘There’s something else you should know. My reason for coming in here originally was to advise that BBC news is reporting the discovery of the foot at the school. Someone has talked to the press.’

‘Someone in your team? Who?’

Kate fixed him with a certain stare. ‘I’m sure it’s not anybody from within my team, sir. I would vouch for all of them.’

‘Your loyalty to your team is one of your strongest character traits, Kate, but don’t allow that to blind you from the truth. You know how lucrative such stories can be. Nip it in the bud. I will speak to the Media Relations team and get some sort of statement released.’ He nodded towards the door; her cue that the meeting was over.