Once we arrived back at Limehouse Police Station, I waited in the car outside while Dan delivered the mobile phone to the technicians. I reviewed the day’s events. It had been full of nasty surprises, and I doubted it was about to get much better.

*

A quarter of an hour later, we arrived at Tomasz’s bar. The two bouncers were outside, under the awning, looking as off-putting as they had the day before. One of them led us inside and escorted us along the corridor to the boss’ office. The door was ajar and from inside, we could hear Rosa’s son, bellowing into what I guessed was the phone.

‘Of course it matters,’ Tomasz yelled. ‘Find out what the hell happened and get back to me ASAP.’

Above the door, another state-of-the-art CCTV camera quickly positioned itself to capture our arrival.

The knuckle-faced security guard rapped on the oak door and the conversation stopped immediately.

‘Come.’ Tomasz was behind his desk, sitting in a large high-backed chair. As soon as he saw us, he got to his feet. The phone call had obviously been of a tense nature and this was reflected in his body language: his brow was crunched into an irritated frown; his lips were pursed and the expression in his eyes was hard, as though he’d had to concentrate on the conversation and now needed to calm down and prepare himself for whatever was to come.

‘Everything alright?’ I asked.

‘Oh, staff, that’s all. Nothing serious.’ He forced a smile. ‘That’ll be all, thanks, Aliasj.’

The bouncer left.

‘What can I help you with?’ He gestured to the seats in front of his desk. ‘Rather late, isn’t it?’

I preferred to stand. ‘What’s your relationship with Indra Gudelis?’

‘I know her through their shop, opposite Mum’s.’

‘And her sister?’

‘She works for me.’

‘Did you know Indra was pregnant?’

‘Of course.’ He frowned suspiciously. ‘She lost the baby when she fell in the street the other day. Marta took her to have her scan at the hospital. She asked if she could swap shifts so she could accompany her sister.’

‘Did Indra tell you who the father was?’ I studied his tells.

‘Why would she?’

‘Because you were.’ I looked straight at him, watching every muscle in his face.

He sank back down on his enormous leather chair, his face drained of colour. ‘I assume you aren’t joking?’ His cheek was twitching.

‘The hospital confirmed it earlier. It’s on the baby’s records.’ For a moment, I felt sorry for him. Unless he was an accomplished actor, the news was obviously a shock, but we had to assume it might not be. If he’d known, it gave him a possible motive for wanting Simas out of the way.

He closed his eyes slowly and placed his palms over his face, gently shaking his head from side to side.

Dan was tapping into his phone.