Necessary as Blood

start, although it wouldn‘t prove that Naz was in the car the day he died, unless they were found in the boot. And I don‘t see how Alexander could have carried him out of the house and dumped him in the boot here. It wouldn‘t have been quite dark, and the car would have been in full view of all the neighbours. I imagine he walked him out as if he were very drunk, or ill, and put him in the back seat.‘
    ‘Has there been anything in the house so far that links Alexander to Naz or Sandra?‘ Gemma asked.
    ‘Not yet, but the SOCOs are working on it.‘ Cullen sounded as if he took the failure personally, but Gemma hadn‘t really expected more. She was, in fact, astonished by Alexander‘s arrogance in leaving evidence of his trade in children in plain view.
    A woman came out of the house next door and stood on her front step, watching them. She had a towelling dressing gown pulled tightly around her, as if she were cold. Her blonde-streaked hair was pulled up with a band, and her thin face was free of make-up.
    ‘Is this the woman you talked to last night?‘ she asked Cullen and Melody.
    ‘Her name is Anna Swinburne,‘ answered Melody. ‘Nice woman. She seems very distressed by the whole business.‘
    ‘Can‘t say as I blame her. I‘ll just have a word.‘ Gemma walked next door. ‘I‘m DI James,‘ she said, holding out her hand. ‘I just wanted to thank you for talking to our officers last night.‘
    Anna Swinburne‘s fingers were icy. ‘Is this because of me?‘ she asked, nodding towards the patrol cars and tow-truck as Gemma released her hand.
    ‘Well, at least in part. That‘s why—‘
    ‘Will he go to jail?‘
    Gemma looked at her a little more carefully. ‘I don‘t know. That‘s not up to us. It‘s just our job to gather the evidence.‘
    ‘Well, I hope he does,‘ said Anna, vehemently. ‘I don‘t like him. I never felt safe with him next door.‘
    ‘Was there any particular reason?‘
    ‘Oh, I suppose at first there was a bit of hurt vanity.‘ Anna Swinburne smiled, and Gemma decided she was pretty, in an intense sort of way. ‘I‘m divorced. This was a new start, this house, and he was a nice-looking single man. But he made it clear he wasn‘t interested in giving me the time of day, and I was all right with that, even if it was a bit ego-dampening. But the more I saw of him...‘
    ‘Did he say something, or do something?‘ Gemma encouraged.
    Anna shrugged. ‘No. He was just unfriendly, even for a Londoner. And... odd. I‘m a television writer, so I work from home a good bit. He was always popping in and out at different times, sometimes just for a minute or two. I know he‘s a doctor, but I thought they kept more regular hours — that he‘d be in surgeries all day or something.‘
    If he‘d been keeping a girl in the house, Gemma thought it quite likely that he‘d been checking on her. It would have been a good way to keep the child too cowed to go out.
    ‘After you stopped seeing the little girl, did he still pop in like that?‘
    Anna Swinburne frowned and pulled her towelling dressing gown tighter. ‘Now that you mention it, I don‘t think he did.‘
    ‘And you never talked to her, the little girl?‘
    ‘No. Once or twice, when I saw her at the window on nice days, I waved to her. One time, she waved back. But then all the landscapers were in and out, and after that I didn‘t see her again.‘
    ‘Landscapers?‘
    ‘Oh, these houses have quite large gardens at the back. That‘s one reason I bought here, so that my daughter would have a place to play. I don‘t know what he had done in his garden, but it must have been quite a big project.‘
    ‘When was this?‘ Gemma asked, but she had a sinking feeling that she knew. Anna had already told Cullen and Melody that she‘d last seen the little girl in May.
    ‘May-ish, I‘m sure. We had a warm spell, and I remember I could hear them working next door when I was sitting in my garden.‘
    ‘Ms Swinburne — Anna. We may have some photos for you to look at later. We‘d like to see if you can identify this little girl.‘
    The woman paled. ‘But I don‘t want to see... my daughter‘s ten. I don‘t want to think about—‘
    ‘It will be all right. It will just be the girls‘ faces.‘ Gemma thanked her and rejoined Kincaid. Cullen and Melody had gone to speak to the tow-truck driver. ‘I want to go into the house,‘ she said.
    ‘I thought you would.‘ Kincaid handed her the white overall