‘Good. I can’t see any of us getting any sleep over the next few days. We’ll have to plough on with investigating Rosa’s newsagent and crack on with this investigation. Can you interview his ex-wife and then get over to the Strozyk’s and Tomasz?’

‘Sure. Except—’

‘I’ll stop off at Bromley-by-Bow and see if the search of Ryan’s home address turns up anything useful.’

‘Maya, hold up.’ Dan stood still, legs apart, as though he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d said what he wanted. ‘You aren’t going to like this, but I think you need to put finding Ali on the back-burner. I know you feel guilty for him running off, and so do I, but we’ve got a hell of a lot on, and we can’t watch out for every kid that’s in trouble.’ He paused. ‘Also – we run the risk of screwing up again if we try to spread ourselves too thin.’

I absorbed his words and felt my determination galvanise. ‘No way.’

‘It’s not fair on the team.’

‘Since when did you speak for everyone?’ I heard my voice rise.

‘I’m not. I’m saying how I feel. I’m part of your team.’

The mumbled comment back at the station must’ve been Dan.

‘You heard what Ali said. Kyle’s going to kill him. He’s homeless, for Christ’s sake.’

‘I know that. I still think we need to prioritise solving crimes that have actually happened, not ones that haven’t but may. Our resources are stretched as it is.’

‘Rosa’s shop hasn’t been torched and we are investigating that.’

‘It’s not the same, Maya, and you know it. We are investigating an arson attack and two deaths, all of which occurred because the culprit got the wrong shop. We need to know who might want to target Rosa’s newsagent’s in order to find out who set fire to the soup shop.’

‘Fine.’ I caught the sulky tone in my voice but couldn’t help it. ‘I’ll look for Ali in my own time then. Thanks for your support, buddy.’ And with that, I left Dan standing there and stomped off.

Dan, 12.30 p.m.

Dan, 12.30 p.m.

In the watery afternoon sunlight, Dan entered the gated community where Patrick Ryan’s ex-missus lived. It was a new development, overlooking the canal behind Mile End park. After the barney with Maya, the neatly trimmed hedges and immaculate lawns irritated him. He wondered how Aroona would enjoy living somewhere like this, with gardeners and visitor parking bays and swanky wrought iron electric gates.

He parked the car and hurried up the manicured path to the main entrance, his warm breath billowing in the chilly air. He rang on the entry-com system. ‘It’s the police.’

‘Second floor,’ came a posh-sounding woman’s voice, and he was buzzed in.