He couldn’t call: Duke’s phone had got smashed by Collins, Remi’s apartment didn’t have a landline and he didn’t know Remi’s mobile number. But when he’d arrived on Duke’s scooter, they’d entered via a ramp at the side of the building and wheeled the bike to a basement storage cage.

There might be a guard covering that entrance too, but Julius had come all this way and decided to chance it.

The door to the storage lockers had a numeric keypad, and while there was a buzzer, he felt certain the three goons in the lobby would have made friends with the doorman. His only choice was to sit on the kerb and hope someone else buzzed.

It was now lunchtime back at St Gilda’s. Julius was almost defeated and thinking about a taxi back to school, when a contractor pulled up in a battered panel van. He buzzed the lobby and told the doorman he was delivering new bathroom fittings for Mrs Ladipo’s fourth-floor apartment.

Julius generously held the door while the man trolleyed in a toilet, shower tray and washbasin. He let the door close gently so that the lock didn’t click, then gave the delivery man a minute’s start before chasing through. He passed the rusted storage cages, and Julius felt intense fondness when he recognised Duke’s bike.

There was no obvious sign of CCTV, but Julius still feared a black suit in his path to the stairs. He prayed that Duke was home, almost tasting Duke’s mouth as he bounded past the sixth-floor landing. But it was his uncle, Remi, who slid the bolts and answered the door.

‘Young Julius,’ Remi said, surprised and suspicious. The former newsreader wore a pressed shirt and tie, but no trousers. ‘You’d better come in.’

The apartment had been crammed and messy on Julius’s previous visit, but it was clear someone had rifled through. Tossing books, throwing papers, tipping up furniture and ripping the door off the refrigerator.

‘I have your mother to thank for my messy visitors,’ Remi explained.

‘That was nothing to do with me,’ Julius said apologetically. ‘What did they take?’

‘They didn’t steal. Just rifled through and made this mess.’

‘Not even the budget papers?’

Remi smiled knowingly. ‘The originals are in a safe place, and the most important pages are scanned and backed up in the cloud.’

‘I’m glad,’ Julius said as he peered behind the wooden partition. The floor where Duke’s bed had been was a rectangle of dust and dead bugs, the bed tilted up and propped against the wall.

‘He’s still in hospital,’ Remi said.

Julius hadn’t had any news about Duke’s condition and looked shocked. ‘I heard he lost a couple of teeth. I didn’t realise it was hospital bad.’