‘No. Although we did find a hiding place under the floorboards which contained traces of gun oil and traces of gunshot residue. Prints, of course, but mostly Mr Hyde’s, plus a good few glove marks. But that’s not all we didn’t find. Were you aware that Mr Hyde had left the country?’

‘We haven’t spoken for weeks. Perhaps he’s on holiday?’

‘It would seem not. His neighbours say he left home the same day you fought off Sir Patrick’s attackers in Fulham. And hasn’t been seen since.’

Mickey shrugged. ‘Three weeks. That’s not too long for it to be a holiday.’

‘And his bank account hasn’t been touched in all that time?’ Jasmine back in the hunt. Unable to help herself, he guessed. ‘What’s he doing for money, I wonder?’

‘Can’t help you there.’

Mickey pretty sure that that was a dead end for the Martin angle. Given there was no CCTV evidence of his visiting Martin. And Martin’s weapon store having been cleaned out by Joe. While the Friday Night Boys had bleached and scoured the Bren and then dumped it in the River Lea after its final outing.

‘So you’re telling us that the hard fact that a suspected arms dealer known to you borrowed this murder weapon, on the same day your dead sister’s drug dealer was found shot, is pure coincidence?’

Mickey shrugged again.

‘Martin knew Katie well enough. Perhaps he chose to take revenge? Although the idea that he was some kind of weapons dealer is frankly amazing. Especially without any hard evidence.’

Nice try. Is that all you have? Irving, perhaps reading his thoughts, moved on. Taking the bagged pistol off the table.

‘Very well. Let us turn our attention to another event. Soon after Warren Margetson’s murder. The fatal shooting of five members of a North London crime gang. You might have heard about it. They were a cash collection crew working for the Castagna family.

‘I saw it in the papers. Caused all sorts of excitement.’

‘The killings were performed with a Heckler & Koch MP5 machine pistol. A weapon you’re familiar with, I expect?’

Mickey saw the freshly baited trap that had been placed before him. Clumsy, but still effective. The opportunity to deny ever having handled or fired an MP5SD. A slip now and they’d charge him with five murders. The fact that the weapon had been silenced never having made it to the media.

‘MP5? Yes, I’m familiar with it. Noisy little thing in such a confined space.’

‘Indeed.’ Haskins shooting him a hard stare that Mickey returned levelly. ‘And where were you, at 16.00 on the 25th of April? You told your wife you were on duty, but there’s no sign of you having worked that day.’

‘No. It was a lie.’ Mickey allowed the silence to build. ‘What, you want to know why I lied to my wife?’