‘And do you know the name of the man Marcus works for?’

‘He calls himself Fluke.’ He paused and stared mournfully at his new friend. ‘I dunno his proper name, but I know where he lives.’

Joseph took a deep lungful of air. No wonder the boy was in danger! ‘And Marcus, did he help Fluke to hurt you?’

The tears welled up again. ‘No, Sergeant Joe. He tried to stop him. I think he thought Fluke would just give me a good thrashing for being so stupid about the masks, but when he saw what the man was doing, he tried to help me.’

A shiver crossed Joseph’s back, from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. ‘And what happened to Marcus?’

Between gulping air and trying not to cry, Mickey said, ‘Fluke hit him with something. Something heavy. He went down and he didn’t move again. Then the man came back to me … and he had … a knife….’ Mickey began to shake uncontrollably.

‘That’s enough now. You try to rest. It’s all over. You can leave it all to us. Just tell me where Marcus lives, then we’ll find your friend and we’ll make sure that we find this Fluke too.’

Joseph went to the door and called one of the constables inside. ‘Stay with him. Don’t leave him for one second. I have some urgent calls to make.’

Nikki picked up the phone on the first ring. ‘He said what!’ she exclaimed.

‘Yes, he doesn’t know Fluke’s actual address, but he said he could take us there.’

‘Shit! We can’t wait for that. Could you could get him to describe where it is?’

‘I’ll try, ma’am, but he’s asleep again and the nursing staff are not too happy that he got so upset earlier. His last outpouring really floored him, poor kid.’

‘But we have to find this Marcus Lee, whoever he is. He could be badly injured, maybe dead or dying. Damn it! Is this never going to end?’

‘If he’s got form he’ll be on the police computer, but if he’s clean why don’t you save time and ring Archie. Ten to one he’ll know exactly where the Lee’s live.’

‘Good thinking, Sergeant. Now get back to your charge. Apart from keeping him safe, he’s worth his weight in gold right now. And do all you can to discover Fluke’s address. Mickey can sleep for days and have all the comics he wants, after he helps us nail his attacker.’

‘I’m on to it, ma’am.’

Nikki caught the Super just as he was leaving. She briefed him and promised to call him if anything of note happened. He had offered to stay, but Nikki had not liked the unnatural pallor of his face, and decided the man badly needed some sleep.