Cooper parked the Toyota across the Citroën’s tail end to block it in. As they approached the vehicle on either side, he spoke into his radio.

‘Diane, we’ve got Mullen’s car, in the main entrance to the shopping village. Right on the forecourt in front of the doors, you can’t miss it.’

‘You said that about Dinkie Donuts.’

‘Georgi and I are right here.’

‘Who’s in the car?’

Cooper peered in through the windows, though he’d already guessed the answer.

‘No one. They’ve legged it.’

‘Where could they have gone? The shopping village is closed.’

‘They can’t have gone far.’

Then Cooper saw an iron stairway leading down from the forecourt. At the bottom was a door into the second level of the car park, just below the road. The door was painted red and lit up like a beacon. And it was open.

‘That’s the obvious way, Georgi, wouldn’t you say? Especially if you were in a hurry.’

‘Let’s go, then.’

‘Hold on a minute.’ Cooper fetched his torch from the back seat of the Toyota. It was a four-cell Maglite, nearly fifteen inches long and weighing at least a couple of pounds. Not only would it give him a good light, but it was handy as a weapon, at a push. Then he found a spare torch from the car and handed it to Kotsev. ‘You might need this.’

He turned at the sound of a horn, and saw Fry’s Peugeot approaching, and her window winding down.

‘We’ll come in from the other direction,’ she called.

‘There’s a roof level up the ramp, Diane. You might start there.’

‘OK.’

She began to put her car into gear again, but Cooper put his hand on the door. ‘How far are we going with this?’ he said. ‘I mean, Brian Mullen hasn’t committed any crime that we know of.’

Fry gazed back coolly. ‘He’s running for a reason,’ she said, as the Peugeot pulled away.

Cooper and Kotsev clattered down the iron stairs and through the red door. Inside, the parking levels were already half empty, the gaps between vehicles allowing a view right down to the ramps at the entrance. They shone their torches into the corners and along the sides of the ramps.

They hadn’t been inside the car park long when Cooper heard a voice in his ear.

‘We’re coming in now,’ said Fry. ‘These attendants haven’t seen anyone in the last few minutes, but I’ll leave them to keep watch. How many parking levels are there, Ben?’

‘Three, I think.’

Cooper found a door by the stairs, which led into the main building.

‘Hey, there’s a door open here,’ he said.

‘Be careful, Ben.’

‘Aren’t I always?’

‘Actually, no.’