‘I knew he used to deal a bit of dope, but he told me he’d stopped and that’s why he was skint. He said he was trying to get clean.’

‘Except he isn’t skint at all. He’s got several thousand pounds in his lock-up.’

‘I didn’t know that either. He told me he couldn’t afford to rent a place. He wanted somewhere to lie low and run his business from. I believed him. I feel like a bloody idiot because I can see now that he used me.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I paid him to set fire to Mum’s shop. Instead of doing the job himself, as we agreed, he got some poor kid to do it, and I’ve now got tangled up in organised crime and murder.’

‘We’ll make sure the CPS know the full facts.’ It was hard not to feel sorry for Tomasz. It was such a stupid thing to do but I could see how the idea had grown from his exasperation and worry. ‘Were you aware that Mr Hayes had a daughter?’

‘No.’ Shock registered on his face. ‘I’m beginning to realise that I didn’t know much about him at all.’

WEDNESDAY

WEDNESDAY

Maya, 8 a.m.

Maya, 8 a.m.

When I arrived at the Royal London Hospital, they’d just finished shift handover on the ward. Abbie Kelly was sitting up in bed, not far from the nurses’ station, playing with another child. Laughter and squealing reverberated around the vast open space, and I wondered whether the four-year-old had taken in the fact her mum was dead.

The nurse looked up from her monitor. She spoke softly. ‘Social Services were here last night. She’s going into foster care.’ I saw regret in her expression. ‘Poor kid. Still, she’s young. The best we can hope for is that she gets adopted by someone loving, someone who will help her to put the past behind her.’

‘I hope so.’ Unless Abbie decided to visit her father in prison, she wouldn’t be seeing him for a long time. Kenny Hayes and his brother, John, were due in court in the next few days. It was hard not to wonder if her life would have been different if she’d had a different dad, or if her mum had been able to escape prostitution. ‘How is she?’

‘A few scratches and bruises but given she’s been locked in a room for four days, with hardly any water and no food, she’s lucky to be alive. If she weren’t healthy, she wouldn’t have survived.’

‘He didn’t—?’

‘No. He was drugging her though. If you hadn’t rescued her, she would’ve died soon. But the doctors didn’t find any evidence of sexual abuse.’