“Well, they’re certainly a part of it,” Annie countered. “We know from what Greg Janson told you that Samir worked the Malton county line for Lenny G, and it’s probably safe to assume he was on his first Eastvale run for Gashi. We also know that Blaydon is connected with the Albanians through the Elmet Centre redevelopment, as well as possibly through drugs and girls, as well as personal history. Samir was seen walking from Eastvale bus station with a backpack the night he was killed, he had been inside Howard Stokes’s house, and Howard Stokes was being cuckooed, a vulnerable drug addict persuaded to let them use his house—rent-free from the Kerrigans—as a distribution center in exchange for heroin. I don’t see what the problem is, using those facts as our starting point.”

“That’s all they are, though,” said Banks. “A starting point. And they don’t lead anywhere.”

“What does?”

“Have you ever really wondered why anyone might have killed Samir? Gashi or his mob, for example? Or Blaydon? Or Frankie? What motive they might have?”

“We’ve been over all that,” Annie said. “Because he stole some coke or threatened to talk, and they wanted to use him as an example.”

“Or because he wanted out?” Gerry suggested. “And he knew too much?”

“But what could he possibly know?” Banks said. “Yes, he delivered and sold drugs for the Albanians. Maybe he stole a little—though Greg Janson doesn’t think so—but not enough to bring about his murder. Maybe he knew Gashi’s name. But so do we. It’s no secret. What good does that do us? And Gashi knows that, too. It doesn’t matter to him. Besides, the Albanians don’t just stab people, they gut them. Remember Lenny G? No, I can’t really see Samir being a threat to the county line. Remember, he also needed the gig to make money to bring his family over from Syria. The family he didn’t know were all dead.”

“And maybe pay off the Birmingham gang who helped smuggle him in, too,” Annie added.

“OK,” said Banks. “We don’t know much about them, it’s true. Is that another possible direction to look? His smugglers?”

“Well, I’d ask the same question that you just asked,” Annie said. “And that’s why?”

“Same answer. He knew too much? He ran away from them? He owed them a lot of money and refused to pay? These people have long memories and a long reach, you know.”

“But killing him would hardly get them their money back, would it?” said Gerry. “And how would they find him?”