The group was still hyper, clapping each other on the back. They cheered while they issued each other with playful punches. Then they picked up the speakers, and rolled out of view in a wave of adrenaline and noise. Seconds later, the square outside the pub, by the marina, looked exactly as it had fifteen minutes earlier.

‘That’s it. They’ve gone. It’s all over.’ Dan looked round at the plain-clothed policeman. ‘What the hell just happened?’

‘They’ve what?’ Jackie asked through his earpiece.

‘They danced to three tracks of music and cleared off. Little sods. They’ve wrong-footed us again. It was a distraction, I bet you.’ Dan knew they’d been duped.

And try as he might, he couldn’t shift the feeling that very soon someone else would be dead.

2 p.m.

2 p.m.

In the pool of black blood, the weakened body was defeated. The young lungs spluttered their final breath in the darkness, as though they were calling out, desperately hoping to be rescued, yet all too aware that no-one cared.

Where some deaths were grieved, this one wouldn’t be. There’d be no mourners at the graveside, for there’d be no funeral. There’d be no mother’s tears, for the mother was dead, and this was a dispensable life.

It was the last breath. A fine mist sprayed everywhere.

He dipped the pistol barrel in the fresh blood and began scrawling on the wall in large, angry letters . . .

Maya, 3 p.m.

Maya, 3 p.m.

The atmosphere in the office had changed completely when I arrived back. Alexej was issuing instructions to two uniformed officers, and Shen was pinning new information on the boards. Dan collared me before I reached my desk.

‘You must’ve been in the lift. I just rang you.’ His excitement was infectious.

‘What’s happened?’

‘We’ve got two men dumping a body at the Manor House site. On the CCTV.’ He pointed at Alexej, who had several screens in front of him. ‘And LfA has taken their site down. Come and see.’ We got to his desk and he opened his browser. ‘They’ve removed the whole website.’ The page showed the message:

Not Found

The requested URL / faqs / was not found on this server

Apache / 2.4.29 / (Unix) Server at LfA / Port 80

‘I’m relieved it’s gone but I don’t have a good feeling about it,’ I said to Dan. ‘Why would they take it down now?’ My mind was reeling with possibilities. ‘It’s got to mean something.’

‘Don’t know. It’s good news about the CCTV though.’

‘Can I see?’

Alexej shifted to a large monitor. On the screen, a non descript-looking white transit van pulled up at the entrance barrier to the Stepney site. The driver swiped a card, the metal arm swung up and the van entered. As it turned a corner, another man was visible in the passenger seat.