A murmur of amusement rippled round the table. Her and the commissioner’s loathing for each other was no secret in the corridors of Whitehall. She glanced at Clements, sitting back, arms folded to enjoy the joust.

Halford ploughed on: ‘Suleiman’s vocal opposition to drug-and gang-related crime inevitably made him some enemies. But because of the volatile atmosphere on the streets we’re having to move forward with a significant degree of caution to ensure our interventions do not exacerbate the situation by further raising tension in the community.’

‘So – after five days – no actual suspects.’ Garvey glanced at Woolf, but the MI5 man was frowning intently at his clasped hands, as if he had forgotten how to work them.

Halford pressed on: ‘We have a number of persons of interest among the criminal fraternity who had reason to be upset with this individual.’

‘Sufficiently upset to commission a professional hit?’

They all stared at her.

Garvey sighed. ‘From my limited and inferior third-hand knowledge, drug shootings are almost always close range and even then frequently botched, resulting in multiple discharges to get the job done. This was a single shot to the head – or, more precisely, the left temple – a direct hit. The shooter was obviously a trained marksman, perhaps a sniper or—’

‘For Christ’s sake, Sarah, this was not a hard stop and this was not one of my men.’

All eyes were on Halford now. He coughed slightly, needlessly adjusted his collar and attempted to continue in a calmer tone: ‘The pursuit team came upon the victim’s car when it was already stationary.’

The room fell eerily silent. Garvey’s eyes burned. Halford had tried to shut off her questions by addressing her as if she were a child. Bad idea. She kept her tone measured. ‘Yet it was your officers, was it not, who ordered him out of the car, with their weapons drawn?’

‘We had reason to believe the driver had a weapon in the vehicle.’

‘And Suleiman complied – presumably because your men were pointing their MP5s at him.’

‘Home Secretary, I’m not prepared to be questioned like this.’

‘No, Commissioner, you clearly aren’t.’

Halford was now bright red and speechless with rage. Clements’s barely contained glee at the spectacle erupted into a loud snort, which he half concealed behind his hand.

Garvey was well into her stride now, the atmosphere in the room electric. ‘Where are the bullets?’

‘They’ve been sent for examination.’

‘So you did find them.’

‘They were removed from the body.’

‘So they hadn’t exited. How come?’

Halford’s voice was low and cold. ‘I don’t follow.’

She leaned forward. ‘Well, unless I’m mistaken, all police rounds are designed to embed themselves in the target with the minimum possible likelihood of their exiting and injuring someone else.’