The bartender said the waitress would deliver their coffees, and when Banks got back to the table he found Annie and Gerry deep in discussion about the traces of blood Stefan Nowak’s team had found in the park.

“Let’s hope it’s useful,” Banks said. “But in the meantime?”

“You said you had a new theory,” Gerry said. “Want to share it?”

“It’s not really new. I’ve just been concentrating a bit more on the actual physical facts we have to work with, rather than the vague relationships, the criminal organizations, the drugs and so on.”

“And what conclusions have you come to?” Annie asked.

“That all we know so far—if we believe Frankie Wallace, which I do—is that Samir was frightened in the house, and when Frankie came in, he bolted. He bolted in the direction of that park over there, and his body ended up in a wheelie bin on the East Side Estate about an hour later. What happened during that hour? We don’t know. What do we think might have happened? The CSIs found blood traces in the park, possibly human, possibly Samir’s. Jazz will be analyzing them. I think there’s a very good chance the blood is Samir’s, which means it was more than likely he was killed in the park he ran toward after Frankie entered the house. Well, if Frankie didn’t run after him, find him and kill him, then who did? Who else from the drug operation was in the neighborhood at the time? Blaydon? Gashi? The Kerrigans?”

Gerry looked puzzled. “Nobody, guv. Not as far as we know. Not in the park.”

“And is there any reason to think that there might have been someone else there we missed?”

“Not really,” Annie said. “I mean, why would there be? How could anyone know Samir would run there?”

“Exactly,” said Banks.

“I still don’t see what you’re getting at, guv,” said Gerry. “Are you suggesting that someone else from Blaydon’s or Gashi’s organization just happened to be loitering in the park at the right time and took the opportunity to kill Samir for some reason?”

“Not at all,” said Banks. “I’m saying the opposite, that it would be most unlikely. My point is that maybe what happened to Samir had nothing whatsoever to do with Blaydon, Gashi and whatever it was they were up to. Nothing to do with the Kerrigans and the Elmet Centre redevelopment. Nothing to do with any of it. That we’ve let ourselves be comprehensively sidetracked.”

“By whom?”