Jack pushed the postcard forward as Amanda bit one of her false nails off, then took it out of her mouth. Jack continued.

  ‘We have evidence that clearly implicates you in meeting these girls and encouraging them to return to the basement flat which you occupied with Rodney Middleton. Can you explain to me, if you had nothing to do with the murders, why you persuaded them to accompany you back to the basement flat?’

  Bukhari interjected.

  ‘You do not have any evidence that my client had any part in meeting these girls, or in encouraging Mr Middleton to take them to his flat.’

  Jack gave him cool glance ‘Amanda, were you forced to make these calls?’

  Jack could see she was cracking. Her ‘no comment’ was almost inaudible.

  ‘“No comment?” Are you really asking me to believe you never heard any screams, any howls of pain? Perhaps what really upset you and made you stay in that back bedroom, was when he was having sex with one or other of these girls. That really got to you. I think that, rather than stop what was happening, you hid out in that back bedroom because you knew when it was over you would be back in the bed beside him.’

  Jack leaned over the table facing her. She wouldn’t look at him and kept on chewing at her nails.

  ‘Look at me, Amanda . . . look at me!’ he said, raising his voice. ‘Time is running out, but you still have an opportunity to tell the truth. If you do so, we will protect you, do you understand? Because your lover will not protect you. He is never going to be released, whether you try and help him or not, so you may as well stop lying and help yourself.’

  Jack sat back and began to put the postcard and mobile phones back into the evidence bags. He then closed the file. He sat calmly, looking at Amanda.

  When she spoke, her voice was tearful and childlike. ‘What do you want me to tell you?’

  Bukhari immediately asked for a break, but his request was refused – not by Jack, but by Amanda herself. Mrs Hardcastle passed Amanda a box of tissues. She plucked one out and blew her nose as Bukhari moved closer to her.

  ‘Amanda, I advise you to adhere to our agreed strategy. I really need a break to talk to you.’

  ‘Shut up,’ she said. ‘I’m not listening to you no more. I don’t want a break. He’s right. I hated it when Rodney took them into our bed, I hated it. Now I want to answer the questions properly because I don’t want to go to prison.’ She looked at Jack. ‘So please tell me what I got to do now.’

  A spontaneous round of applause burst out in the viewing room. It had taken a long time, but at last they had the result that everyone had hoped for.

  Laura went to get a fresh round of tea, coffee and sandwiches. Anik had re-joined them, pale-faced and still not feeling well. He sat down, looking very subdued.

  Two forensic experts had joined them, along with the SOC detectives, but there was a limit to the number of people allowed in the room. Glenda deemed it to be a full house and would not allow any more spectators in. The atmosphere was intense, as everyone waited to hear what Amanda would say.

  The show was about to begin.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The tension in the viewing room had slowly begun to ease as they watched Jack quietly and gently guide Amanda through his questions. She spoke about her first meeting with Rodney Middleton, as a twelve-year-old runaway. She wanted to explain how she had never met anyone like Rodney, someone so kind and caring.

  ‘He offered to help me find someplace to live and I told him I had no money, so he took me back to his flat.’

  ‘Were there any other girls living there at this time?’ Jack asked.

  ‘No, he told me he had split up with his girlfriend. He said the sleeping bag was hers and he said she might come back, so because he had this girlfriend it never worried me about being there with him.’

  Jack nodded. ‘At what point did Rodney Middleton initiate a sexual relationship with you?’

  ‘Oh, not until about six months after we met. He said he was concerned about doing it cos I was underage, and he could be arrested. That’s why he used to keep me at home.’

  ‘Did his girlfriend, the one who owned the sleeping bag, ever return?’

  ‘No, but I was glad. It was like we was a married couple.’

  Amanda explained that he would buy the groceries and do the cooking and cleaning, and would buy DVDs for her to watch, and games to play. She got upset when she recalled the time he started to get a bit nasty with her, locking her in the flat. Then, about eighteen months after she’d moved in, he asked her to go to Euston Station with him.

  ‘I met Jamail, and we got talking. I said she could come back to the flat with us, like he told me to do. She was very young and a bit daft, and he was all over her, sending out for curry and takeaway food that she liked. But I didn’t like it, and she got right on my nerves. Anyway, he moved her into our bedroom and told me I had to sleep in the little back room. I was really upset and told him I was going to leave. He got very angry and said he was going to get rid of her because she had told him she was pregnant. I didn’t believe it cos she was only my age. Anyway, he give me a bottle of cider and a hamburger and told me to stay in the back room. He got a padlock and locked me in.’

  Amanda pointed to Jack.

  ‘You was right; I did hear some screaming . . . well, a lot of screaming. She left about a day or two later, then he let me out. He gave me some money, and I had to go and take a bag of Jamail’s clothes to the charity dumpster. Then he went and did this attack on the local corner shop owner. It was stupid, cos he was arrested, and it left me on my own. But he called me from prison and told me that I was special. Said he wanted me to stay and wait for him, so I did. Then he was sent to some medical clinic, and I was allowed to go and see him.’

  Jack checked through the files. The date Middleton committed his first assault now linked to the murder of Jamail. He’d also underlined the name Heather in connection with the sleeping bag and that they needed to continue to make enquiries about her.

  ‘Did you not worry that perhaps something had happened to Jamail?’

  ‘No, she was a pest, I didn’t like her. What she left behind was rubbish, and Rodney told me she was rubbish too. When he come out from the clinic, we had a very nice time together.’

  Amanda appeared to be enjoying the fact that she was now the centre of attention. She asked for a fresh bottle of water, flicking her hair from her face. Jack led her back to the next meeting at Euston Station, as she had gone off on a tangent and was telling them about which TV programmes she liked best and how Rodney would record some for her. Amanda spoke about a tall blonde girl they had met, but she hadn’t stayed for long because she had tried to steal something. She couldn’t remember her name but thought she was Scottish. Then she described another girl. Neither had come up on the police radar, but Jack knew there was a considerable amount of DNA that had not yet been matched.

  ‘Tell me about Trudie,’ Jack said.

  ‘Well, I told you that we swapped things, like that bracelet, which was not a good deal as the clasp was broken, and I gave her my gold ring. We met her at the station, and she was all over Rodney. I couldn’t believe it; it was like I didn’t exist. It was pretty disgusting because he wanted the three of us to have sex in the same bed, but I refused. He put her into the back room, and she was really nasty, shouting and screaming and telling him she was going to the police. He got very angry and took her out, trying to persuade her to be nice, but she was a real bitch, biting and kicking. The next minute he had her in our bedroom.’

  She drank some bottled water, then shrugged.

  ‘He got rid of her, but he let me out. Gave me money to go and exchange some DVDs and have my hair cut. When I got back, she had gone. He was really angry because she had tried to steal some of the films he had bought. He said I needed to take the bed sheets to the laundromat cos she had stained them. He was washing down the shower and said that he hated the fact that she had used it, cos she had been on her period.’

  ‘Did she leave her clothes behind?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Yeah, they were nasty, dirty. I took them to the charity bins. Rodney got mad when I was going to keep a sweater, and I said to him she had my gold ring, but then we made up the bed again, nice fresh clean sheets, and it was all good.’

  ‘So, didn’t any of the things he asked you to do strike you as suspicious?’

  Amanda was getting tired. She yawned, sipping more water.

  ‘Please answer the question, Amanda.’

  ‘I had helped wash the shower before, cos it was a new one and he said he wanted to keep it clean, but I didn’t think anything about it.’

  ‘When did Nadine come to the flat to stay?’

  Amanda shrugged and said she couldn’t recall when it was. Rodney was helping her use Snapchat and had bought her the DVD of Frozen.

  ‘I loved that film – I really loved it – but then she came back with us to the flat and she kept on playing it and singing that song, you know the one, “Let it Go”. I said to her it was my film and she ignored me. Kept on singing that fucking song over and over again. It was driving me mad. Then it happened again, and this time I was really pissed off. I mean, Rodney and I had been really good together, you know, like man and wife. Then he turfs me out of our bedroom into the back room again and she moves in with him.’

  ‘How long did Nadine stay with you in the flat?’

  Amanda pursed her lips.

  ‘Was it a lengthy period this time, or just a few days?’ Jack asked, trying to keep her on track.

  ‘They was doing drugs, taking some of his medication, and she was singing at the top of her voice. I got my bag and I said I was moving out. Rodney started to get really upset and came and sat with me in the back room, then he got into me sleeping bag with me. He was trying to make it up to me, bringing me hot chocolate, and promised he would send her packing cos he was tired of her and hated her singing, and . . .’

  ‘Go on, Amanda,’ Jack said gently.

  She lowered her head, and her voice was a hoarse whisper. Jack had to ask her to repeat herself.

  ‘The screaming happened, like an animal.’

  ‘Did you think it was Nadine?’

  ‘No, it was the rats. He had to get rid of the rats in the coal hole and some were caught in traps, and then they scream. I never went in there, cos I was scared of them; some were the size of cats. I got hysterical about them. He give me a sedative from his prescriptions, but they gave me terrible nightmares and sometimes I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning cos my legs were so wobbly. Then there was the smell of the chemicals he’d used to get rid of the rats.’

  ‘How did he get rid of the bodies?’

  There was a flash of panic in Amanda’s eyes, then Jack quickly said. ‘Of the rats, I mean?’

  ‘Oh, in the wheelie bins. He wrapped them up in plastic and tied them with string.’

  ‘How big were they?’

  Amanda held out her hands about eighteen inches apart. ‘Like I said, some of them was the size of cats.’

  ‘But you never actually saw one of the rats?’

  ‘No, I never went in there . . . too creepy.’

  ‘So, Nadine left. Did she also leave behind some of her belongings?’

  ‘Yeah, but they weren’t worth keeping.’

  ‘Were you not surprised that she had left without taking her belongings? I mean, there had now been three different occasions when a girl had come to stay, and then when they left, you took their clothes and shoes and put them into the charity bins.’

  ‘No, not all of them I didn’t.’

  ‘We have you on CCTV footage, Amanda, making three trips to the same charity collection bin, but you didn’t find this in anyway suspicious?’

  ‘No, why should I? I took a lot of his clothes as well, you know, for the poor in Africa.’

  ‘But you mainly took the girls’ clothes, and you didn’t ever question why they would up and leave without taking their things with them?’

  ‘Well, I did a bit, but I kept Trudie’s bed socks cos I liked them. The rest I didn’t want, so why not let some poor people have them?’

  ‘What about toothbrushes and hairbrushes and things like that, did they leave those items behind as well?’

  ‘Yes, they left them too . . . I tossed them out eventually, into the bins outside the flat.’

  ‘OK, so you kept Trudie’s socks because you liked them. So how do you explain the fact that they had traces of her blood on the soles?’

  ‘I dunno, it could have been from the shower . . . I told you we got a new shower and Rodney liked it kept immaculate, scrubbing it with bleach. I might have trodden in it before she left cos he told me she had been on her period; the sheets was stained with it too.’

  In the viewing room, Laura sat back in her chair, shaking her head.

  ‘Can you believe this? She may be on the thick side, but my God she is doing a good job implicating herself. She had to have known what was going on. I think she’s got more intelligence than we have given her credit for.’

  Anik agreed, but at least they now had enough to charge Rodney Middleton with three murders.

  ‘When is he being brought in?’ Laura asked.

  ‘Soon, and after this it’s going to be very interesting. I don’t think he has a leg to stand on with all the evidence we have against him, and with Amanda Dunn as a prosecution witness he’ll get three separate life sentences, I reckon.’

  Finally, Jack asked Amanda about the last time she had seen Nadine and what had happened afterwards.

  ‘Well, he did it again. Rodney goes out and attacks the fucking Greek shop owner that knows him. They come round to arrest him, and he walks out with the knife he’d used, telling them he’s guilty and he done it.’

  ‘So, while he was in prison, did you live there alone?’

  ‘Well, not straightaway. I went and dossed down on the streets for a while, hung out a bit at Euston Station. They got good cafés, and it’s warm there.’

  ‘So, during this time did you keep in contact with Rodney?’

  ‘Yeah, every day. He was making calls from the phone at Brixton to keep my spirits up, and he told me that if I needed anything I could call his aunt Joyce.’

  ‘Did you visit Joyce Miller?’

  ‘Yeah, but they wasn’t that friendly. Gave me a few quid and told me to go back to Liverpool. But I was never going back there. It got me really angry, that awful big fat woman telling me to get out, that if I knew what was best for me, I would leave. For a while I sort of thought about catching the train; I mean they had been nice to me at that hostel place and I was really angry at him. That’s when I called you, because I was fed up with him and I had no money, but he called me. I never said I talked to you cos it would have made him go ballistic. He told me that he had spoken to Mrs Delaney, the caretaker. She had a spare key so she could let me into the flat.’

  Jack nodded. ‘I remember, that’s when you told me about the bracelet, and the ring you gave to Trudie.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s right. To be honest, I was still pissed off about being left on the streets, but when you offered to pay for the train ticket . . .’

  ‘Can I just clarify: did you meet me before or after that phone call from Rodney to say that you could collect the spare keys to the flat?’

  ‘Oh, it was before I think, yeah, cos I should never have told you about the bracelet. But I was still mad that when Trudie left, she took my ring. I never told him about telling you about that either.’

  Jack tapped his notebook with the pencil and looked up.

  ‘Can I just take you back to the evening when Rodney was arrested for the first assault?’

  Amanda pulled a face, sighing.

  ‘Yes, they took him away, arrested him.’

  ‘So, how long were you with Rodney after he had committed the assault, and before the arrest?’

  Amanda shifted in her seat, chewing at her bottom lip. Jack repeated the question before she answered.

  ‘Few hours.’

  ‘I see, so in those few hours with Rodney, did he tell you what he had done?’

  ‘Not really, but he had blood on his shirt cuff. He said it was nothing, though.’

  ‘What did he tell you to do?’

  She was becoming anxious, squirming in her seat, crossing her legs and then uncrossing them.

  ‘Amanda, you need to answer the question. Rodney had assaulted a man with a knife, someone he knew, as he was a frequent customer in the shop. We know he’s already committed a similar offence in the past and served time for it, so he had to know that it would only be a short while before he was arrested. What did he tell you to do?’

  Bukhari put up his hand. ‘You’re coercing my client. She has already made it clear that she was concerned that Mr Middleton had blood on his shirt sleeve.’

  ‘I am asking what Mr Middleton asked Miss Dunn to do once he was arrested, because he had to know it would only be a matter of time before the police would be round.’

  ‘I didn’t know what he had done,’ Amanda said firmly.

  ‘I am only interested in exactly what Mr Middleton discussed with you, because shortly after his arrest, if we are to believe what you have told us, you left the flat and were living on the streets.’

  ‘I never had a front door key to get back in. But I was hungry so I went out for some food and then I couldn’t get back in,’ she said.

  ‘So, you left to buy food shortly after Mr Middleton was arrested, taking a holdall with all your belongings? That doesn’t make sense, does it, Amanda?’

  Amanda looked to Bukhari, then back to Jack. In her hands she was twisting the paper tissue she had used, tearing small strips from it, in exactly the same nervous way her mother had done when she was talking with Jack.

  Jack flicked back and forth through his notes, then looked back up at her.