‘First of all, from what I have found out, Steven Golding has been under psychiatric care for many years. When he was fifteen, his mother, father, and two young sisters were all killed in a fire. It was an arson attack – deliberate. He had stayed overnight at a friend’s so he survived. But he has never fully recovered; he has been in and out of psychiatric facilities for the best part of the last thirty-odd years. He was released again, four months ago, having accrued a large amount of money over the years from his benefits, et cetera. It came to over twelve thousand pounds in total. It seems he removed that from the bank in cash, and no one has seen him since. He hasn’t turned up for any of his outpatient appointments, and he hasn’t been near the flat he was allocated by the housing trust. He is unknown to the police – never been arrested for anything. According to his doctor, he suffers from delusions, and he is often unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality. But they have assured me that he is not violent. He is on quite heavy medication, Dolmatil and – ’ Timothy Branch stared down at the page, unable to read his own writing – ‘I can’t read that, I’m afraid. But I assume it’s an anti-psychotic drug of some description. Steven Golding has a very high IQ and is an avid reader – he can read a book in a day. He was last seen three weeks ago when he withdrew all his money out of the bank.’

Michael Flynn opened his arms out in a gesture of supplication. ‘Is that it, then?’

Timothy Branch nodded. ‘That is everything I could find out. I’ve got my people watching out for him.’ He quickly pulled out a picture from his file, and handed it to Michael. ‘This is a recent photo of him.’

Michael Flynn looked at it. Steven Golding appeared older than he actually was – he was as grey as a badger and his eyes were the same dull grey; he looked almost lifeless. He was looking directly into the camera, his mouth was hanging open, his teeth were black, rotten, and his skin looked thick, like orange peel. He was not a man anyone would stop to talk to, that much was obvious.

Timothy Branch took a deep breath, and then said seriously, ‘From what I can gather, if he doesn’t take his medication he can become paranoid and quite aggressive. But I must stress that, according to his doctor, he is not a violent man – when he is taking his meds, of course.’