The diminutive Joanne disappeared through an archway, and Charlie took three chairs down off a table with a ‘Here.’

‘We’d like a little help from you and your staff. We’re looking for anyone who can remember this man,’ Jonah told him, handing over a photo. ‘He was here last night.’

Charlie took the photo and studied it, and O’Malley added, ‘He’s a big guy. Six three and quite stacked.’

‘Yeah, he was definitely here,’ Charlie confirmed. ‘I sort of know him. He’s been a few times. He had a friend with him. Also a regular.’

‘Do you remember any incidents involving him?’

The sound of a coffee grinder started up beyond the archway, ridiculously loud in the brick-walled space. Charlie spoke loudly over it. ‘Nothing major. He’s a nice enough guy, I think. He got a bit tetchy with one of the bar staff, but that’s pretty common.’

‘He didn’t do that?’ O’Malley said, nodding towards Charlie’s cheek.

‘Sorry? Oh.’ Charlie put a hand up to the bruise and gave a rueful laugh. ‘No, that was the arsehole who didn’t like being told he’d had enough to drink, and went for one of the guys before I stepped in. Fortunately doesn’t happen too often, and the bouncers were on it pretty quickly.’

‘Did he get kicked out?’ Jonah asked, thinking that an aggressive and aggrieved man hanging around outside the club could well be involved in attacking Alex.

‘Your guys picked him up,’ Charlie said. ‘He wouldn’t stop lashing out, even when a squad car got here, so he ended up getting himself arrested.’

That almost definitely put him out of the picture, Jonah thought, since anyone arrested for assault late on would probably have spent the night at the station. But he made a mental note to check last night’s arrests.

‘And there wasn’t any brawling involving Alex at any time?’ O’Malley asked.

‘No, nothing like that,’ Charlie said, with a laugh. ‘Just some bitching about being ignored in the queue.’ Joanne reappeared from the archway carrying a coffee in a tall glass. ‘Jo, was it you or Mark who had the big guy being a bit of a twat to you?’

Joanne glanced up from her focus on the glass. ‘Mark, I think.’

Charlie turned back to them with a shrug. ‘Like I said, not major.’

‘But he was quite drunk?’ O’Malley pressed.

‘Yeah, fairly.’

‘Did you see him talking to anyone else? Particularly late in the evening?’

Charlie gave an uncertain look. ‘I’m really not sure. I mean … I think he was chatting to a girl for a while, but I’m not …’ He turned towards the bar, where Joanne was back to stacking shelves in the fridge. ‘Do you remember him chatting to someone, Joanne? I feel like it might have been that brunette who was all over the place.’