‘But watching and seeing are not the same thing. These border forces have got their hands full meeting and greeting returning jihadists. So smugglers are getting bumped way down the list of priorities. I have a feeling we are going to have to do our own heavy lifting. What have you got on the Champagne Room, Edie?’

‘The Champagne Room is an alleged lap-dancing club near the junction of the M25 and M11 motorways,’ Edie said. ‘It has been open for ten years and currently has an entertainment licence of only six months – a year’s licence is the norm for this kind of place – because of concerns about what goes on in the club. Over the years our colleagues in Essex police have investigated numerous allegations of prostitution. Nothing has stuck although, around the time that Asuman Ata was shaking her sweet little thong there, the owner was arrested for kicking a customer all the way to hospital. A charge of common assault was later dropped when the victim declined to press charges. And this is the best part of all. The owner of the Champagne Room is one Steve Warboys.’

Warboys was one of those family names that always rang bells.

Back when Reggie and Ronnie Kray ran the East End, and Eddie and Charlie Richardson ruled south of the river, Paul and Danny Warboys were the kings in west London. But that was fifty years ago. Paul Warboys had crossed my path – his brother Danny had died inside when they both went away for murder – but he was an old man now.

‘Is he any relation to Paul?’ I said.

‘Steve Warboys is the grandson of Paul Warboys,’ Edie said. ‘Steve’s father is Barry Warboys – Paul’s son who went straight. There had to be one in the family, right? Privately educated, MBA, runs his own company – Barry Warboys owns that big chain of retirement communities, Golden Years.’

‘That’s Paul’s son? Golden Years?’ I said. ‘They’re everywhere these days.’

‘Elderly care for every pocket,’ Whitestone said, quoting the company slogan. ‘We’re all going to get shipped off to a branch of Golden Years one day.’

Edie said, ‘But Steve Warboys was determined to enter the family business. The problem is – Steve is strictly small-time. Unlike his dear old granddad, Steve Warboys never made it out of the minor leagues. Steve has a criminal record but it’s amateur-hour stuff – a bit of dealing in his youth, receiving stolen goods in young manhood, the assault charge that got binned, and all those allegations about what really goes on at the Champagne Room.’ She leaned closer to her screen. ‘And there was one charge of criminal damage that was dropped. Eleven years back. Second-degree arson.’

Second-degree arson is the torching of an unoccupied building.

‘What did Steve Warboys burn?’ Whitestone said.

‘He was acquitted, ma’am.’

‘Sorry, Edie – what didn’t Steve Warboys burn?’