Henry Scott stared off down Union Street, towards the East End. His voice was barely a whisper, the words hidden in a barrage of raw onion breath. ‘The dark angel. She swoops down from the sky in the death of night and she takes us.’

Sally stared at the sky for a moment, then sighed. ‘Don’t be stupid, Scotty, it’s not angels, it’s the government! The government took him, I saw them in their big black cars with their guns and suits. They took him to do experiments.’

Well, this was going well. They’d only been there two minutes and already they had new suspects: the angel of death, and the government. Welcome to care in the community.

Sally licked her lips again, her other hand stroking the pocket she’d hidden the vodka in.

‘It’s OK, I’m not going to do you for drinking in public. We’re really not here to cause any trouble. Just trying to find out what happened to Roy Forman.’

‘It. . .’ She let go of Henry, fished out her bottle, unscrewed the top, chugged down a mouthful, put the top back on, and rammed it back in her pocket all in the space of three seconds. ‘Fusty was trying to get better. Seeing someone about his problems. Was going to get a job and a family and a dog called Savlon. Maybe they turned him into the government? ’

‘He’s deid, she killed him, he’s deid, he’s deid. . .’

The arm went around Henry again. ‘Shhh, shhh, it’s all right. They can’t hurt him any more.’

‘Guys, it’s important: when did you last see Roy Forman? ’

Trevor hunched his shoulders inside his stained parka jacket, the fur trim all matted. ‘Friday night. Soup kitchen down the Green. That’s where I saw him. . . I didn’t cause no trouble though! Anyone who says I did is a liar!’

Logan pulled out the photo of Agnes Garfield. ‘What about her? Do you recognize her? ’

‘Whatever she says, she’s lying. I never did nothing.’

Logan swapped the plastic carrier-bags from one hand to the other and squeezed out of the baker’s, past a pair of tracksuit slobs at the end of the queue and onto Schoolhill. Overhead, the sky was heading from grey to greyer, taking the granite buildings with it. He nipped across the road, skirting around the back end of an illegally parked taxi.

Then froze on the pavement.