“His business. Unicorn Investments International. It’s in trouble. I’m sure you know as well as I do that the property business in general has been undergoing a bit of a depression for some time—house prices down, market poor, that sort of thing. Brexit hasn’t helped much. Perhaps the only thing it has done is re-energize the trafficking business. They’re seeking out new ways, new routes, new documentation, new tricks for dodging inspections. Anyway, if the slump in the housing and property markets is bad news for Blaydon and his ilk, the big downturn in retail is even worse. Retail property values are down. Nobody wants shopping centers anymore. They want online mail order. Just look at all the big department stores closing or in trouble lately—House of Fraser, Poundland, HMV, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer. And half the shops in the big shopping centers are empty. That affects retail income streams, and in some cases Unicorn Investments are taking in less in rent than they’re paying out in maintenance and general running costs.”

“Blaydon’s losing money?”

“Big time.”

“And the proposed Elmet Centre?”

“Not hotly tipped to be a huge success.”

“The Albanians won’t like it if they lose their stake.”

“Not much they can do, as we suspect it’s all laundered money to start with. But you’re right, guv. They’ll be after someone to blame before long, and Blaydon’s right in the firing line. Still, it hasn’t come to that yet, and maybe Blaydon’s thinking he can pull his chestnuts out of the fire by being useful to them in other ways. Markets go up and down, and most businesses weather the storms, especially if they don’t need to pull out the cash right away. But Unicorn has cash flow problems, and I’m sure Blaydon knows that two things you can always rely on to make money are sex and drugs.”

“So it’s financial?”

“Yes, guv,” said Gerry. “I think so. At least partly. Maybe wholly. I’m not saying Blaydon isn’t a shit of the first order, in psychological terms, but in reality, he’s also going bust.”

“Excellent work, Gerry.”

“I can’t take credit, guv. Most of it’s there in DI MacDonald’s files. I just tried to put it together as succinctly as I could, in a way that makes sense of recent events.”

“And you succeeded admirably. Anything more on Howard Stokes?”

“I’ve just come from the mortuary,” said Annie. “Dr. Galway says it’s a straightforward heroin overdose. Not a trace of criminal wrongdoing. Vic Manson’s fingerprint analysis bears that out. And the prints and the angle of the needle all bear it out. It happens all too frequently. There’ll be tox screens and so on, but she’s pretty sure it was an OD.”

“How do we know someone didn’t sell him a hot shot?”