“It’s possible,” Banks said. “In which case, whoever it was meant for will have got the message. We’ll re-interview all the people from Malden Close and Terrace, see if we can find a chink in someone’s armor. Stefan? Do the CSIs have anything for us yet?”

DS Stefan Nowak, Crime Scene Manager, shook his head and spoke for the first time. “We’ve just about finished with the scene. The rain didn’t leave us a lot to go on. No footprints, no tire tracks, nothing like that. Vic Manson worked his magic with the fingerprints on the bin, but they didn’t match any on the databases we have access to. The only prints on the cocaine packet are the boy’s. The coke’s at the lab. We’re analyzing his clothes. They’re pretty generic. The spectrograph might show up something, traces he might have picked up from somewhere.”

“Right,” said Banks. “Basically, we shouldn’t be wasting our time having meetings. We should get out there and get on with the job. There is just one more thing.” Banks had another taste of his coffee, grimaced and went on. “I had a brief and unscheduled meeting with DI Joanna MacDonald from County HQ yesterday evening,” he said. He noticed Annie roll her eyes. “As a matter of fact, she got in touch with me when she heard about the body. It seems that Criminal Intelligence have their eyes on a property developer called Connor Clive Blaydon, head of Unicorn Investments International, one of the companies behind the new Elmet Centre development. Lives down Harrogate way. Apparently, his car was picked up by ANPR on the way out of Eastvale around a quarter past eleven on Sunday night. As of yet, we have no reason to link him with the murder except the timing and proximity, but DI MacDonald seems to think he’s up to no good wherever he goes, that his interests include drugs and that he might have friends on the inside, so let’s keep this to ourselves.

“She also raised the specter of county lines, as did AC Gervaise earlier this morning. It makes a lot of sense when you consider the age of the victim and the drugs link. We’ve known that city dealers have been using kids as young as twelve or thirteen to transport and deal drugs for them in small towns and villages all over the country for some time now, though we haven’t got hold of anyone to confirm it’s happening here yet. Maybe our Mr. Blaydon is a middleman in something like that? Maybe he’s just starting up? It seems he likes to play with the big boys. He’s got some sort of a gangster complex. Gerry, I’d like you to do your thing and put together a dossier on him. DI MacDonald said she’d send over her files this morning. I’ll make sure you get them. Have a word with the drugs squad, too. See if any of this rings any bells with them. But be careful what you let slip.”