‘Give me ten and I’ll be there.’ Nikki closed her phone and, leaving a message on the desk to say that she would be out for half and hour, hurried from the building.

‘My boys, along with some of her friends, have traced the first fifteen minutes of Lisa Jane’s movements since she left her home on the night she died. Then we lose her. If I give you specific times and locations, would your CCTV cameras be able to pick her up from there?’

‘We can certainly try, Archie, although Greenborough’s equipment is hardly state-of-the-art. Dave is actually working on that now. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to have some points of reference to help him.’

She scribbled down everything he told her, then shut her notebook. ‘Marcus Lee is dead, Archie. This Fluke character is favourite for his murder, although we have no proof.’ She paused then added, ‘Yet.’

‘Ah, the mysterious Fluke again. I wanted to talk to you about him, Nikki.’ Archie leaned back against the bonnet of his old Mercedes, and stared down the river. ‘I may be wrong, but since my family has been paying particular interest in this vermin, we have come across several very contradictory descriptions, and as my boys have been quite … eh, how shall I say … well, forceful in their methods, I do not believe any of our informants are lying.’

‘We’ve had exactly the same.’ Nikki narrowed her eyes. ‘So what does that say to you?’

‘That there is more than one Fluke.’ He raised his hands, palms up. ‘What else can it mean?’

‘Unless he’s a wizard at disguise, I totally agree. Although …’ It was her turn to stare thoughtfully down river, ‘… I have no bloody idea what these bastards are playing at.’

For a while neither spoke, then Nikki said, ‘One of my officer’s said there was a bad feeling on the estate last night.’

‘Mm, and I expect we haven’t helped much either.’ He gave Nikki a slightly apologetic look. ‘We have offered to help you, and we appreciate your help in return, but it doesn’t mean that the family isn’t at boiling point. Some of the younger ones, Lisa Jane’s peers, are wanting blood.’

‘Hardly surprising, Archie, but for God’s sake rein them in! I don’t have to tell you what more violence erupting on the Carborough would mean.’ Nikki paced up and down angrily. ‘What with this bloody Fluke, masked gangs, the stabbing, the attacks and the death of Marcus Lee, added to your own tragedy and the missing student, we are at our fucking wits end!’

‘I’m sorry, Nikki, and I’ll do what I can with the young guns, I promise. We’ll continue to track Fluke, if you’d help us with that CCTV footage.’

‘Yeah, I’ll do that, never fear.’ She went to move away, then said, ‘And Frankie Doyle? Any news of her?’