‘Please stay son…just for a cup of tea.’ She stroked his head, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the leader of the Dark Angels had waltzed into her home with a gun–getting him to be sociable wasn’t the option I would have thought she’d go for. Her next words made it all much clearer. ‘Your Auntie Mary’s making it, Moses lad; she’ll be through in a minute.’

Moses pulled away from her. ‘You had your chance when I was seven; I wasn’t good enough then so I’m not good enough now. Granny.’ He hissed the final word and ran out of the door. Ma Boyle pressed a photograph into my hand, clearly deciding that I was real after all. I turned it over to see a young man in a tank top and bell-bottoms.

‘That’s my Jimmy. He died in Barlinnie six years ago.’

Ma Boyle did not need to tell me it was Moses’s father. The features were the same. Moses had been taken into care when he was seven. The Boyles must have refused to care for him, and if Ma Boyle had taken him then, he would not have endured years of abuse at the hands of my father. I left, my departing gift to the old woman a look of pure disgust.

‘Don’t say a fuckin’ word,’ Moses warned as I climbed into the back seat. I handed him the photograph and he tore it into little pieces, throwing it out of the open window where it scattered behind us like confetti. ‘Try Joe’s mobile again,’ he said, but we both knew in our hearts that there would be no answer. ‘Let’s go back to Cumberland Street; he might be waiting there.’ Moses put his head down. He wasn’t going to speak unless it was necessary. I knew that he would have already put an order out for the Dark Angels to scour Edinburgh looking for Joe; he would have also phoned Kailash, who would put out her own feelers.

The house was cold and dark when we arrived. I wandered into the kitchen to put on a pot of espresso; it was going to be another long night. The sink was full of breakfast dishes and it was soothing to turn on the hot water and plunge my hands into the soapsuds. Joe had left the porridge pot soaking. My breath caught in my throat as I thought of him making sure I had a good start to the day When it was left to me I grabbed a chocolate bar on the way into the office. The hot brown coffee spurted out of the coffee maker; I grabbed a towel, placed it on the handle and poured out two cups. Moses wandered into the kitchen carrying the morning mail; he laid it on the table.