‘Wow! You really took note of what he was wearing,’ I joke. ‘Are you a secret fashionista?’

‘I was gonna rob him,’ comes his very honest reply.

‘Well, well done for making the right choice.’ I say with a wry smile. ‘And why didn’t you rob him?’

‘All things considered, I felt bad for him. I thought if he has these swanky threads on, he was probably new to the streets and I didn’t want to be an arsehole to him, you know?’

‘And what happened after he left? Did you see him again?’

‘Naw, he disappeared up the street and I settled down in Charlie’s house. He appeared shortly after with some cigarettes and we got an eyeful for a few hours.’

With that, he begins to describe what some of the girls going into the club were wearing, and I zone out. So this guy from the video might not even be homeless. But why would he be preparing to spend the night on the street? Was he waiting for Anna to leave the bar? Is it purely a coincidence and this poor man is newly homeless?

I take out my notepad and make a note, in capitals, to find the identity of this man as a priority.

As I am putting the notebook back in the bag, I glance out the window and nearly fall off my chair in shock. Emerging from a small hardware store on the opposite side of the street is none other than Rory Knox, Anna’s fiancé.

9

‘What happened?’ asks Liam, as I re-enter the café twenty minutes later. Zed is no longer at the table and Liam has his hands wrapped around a filter coffee. I slump into my seat and ask the barista for a cappuccino before regaling Liam with my tale.

‘I followed Rory at a distance through the high street and into the shopping arcade. He walked straight through it, without as much as a sideways glance, back to his car. From what I could see, he didn’t have any other bags with him so I assume he only visited the town centre for the hardware store. Once he got to the car park, he unlocked his vehicle, a black Porsche, and drove off. I noted down his car registration and I’ve already sent it off to see what ANPR can tell us. I’m going to phone him and find out what he’s up to.’

I take out my phone and find Rory’s number. Liam nods and takes a sip from his coffee cup as the phone starts to ring.

‘Hello,’ Rory’s familiar voice answers.

‘Hi Rory, this is DI Erika Piper, how are you?’

‘So-so.’ He sounds angry, the fuzzy background noise and the echoic voices tells me I must be on loudspeaker.

‘I was just ringing to find out if a Family Liaison Officer had been in touch yet.’ Liam smiles at my sneakiness.

‘Not yet,’ he replies, curtly.

‘OK, well I’ll make a note to chase that up for you. Have I caught you at a bad time?’