Eleanor Cook cleared her throat. ‘A woman visiting an inmate this morning claimed to recognise Violette LeBrac and a younger boy in the visits hall.’

He stared at her. ‘Violette and Eddie were here? Visiting Noor LeBrac?’

‘We haven’t confirmed that, but the visits hall was understaffed this morning.’

‘Lorna here had to help out,’ Farrington chimed in. ‘She usually works in the mailroom and probably didn’t know what she should be doing.’

‘Just the two of them, on their own?’ Bish asked Farrington, who seemed the one to break. ‘They just walked up to the visits hall and popped in to see Violette’s mum?’

Farrington didn’t seem to know how to answer this without looking at Gray.

‘A Mr Bilal Lelouche came visiting,’ Allison answered for him, handing Bish a printout of the visitors’ log.

‘Who’s he?’ Bish asked.

‘A LeBrac family friend,’ Allison said.

‘We spoke to Noor LeBrac after the report was made,’ Cook said. ‘She told us that Mr Lelouche visits every year, after Ramadan. We checked previous years’ records and confirmed it.’

‘Ramadan ended almost a month ago,’ Bish said.

Cook was irritated. ‘Yes, we know that, Chief Inspector Ortley. Apparently, out of respect for what’s happening with LeBrac’s daughter, he held off this year. According to the records, he did the same thing today he always has. He brought along two of his kids —’

‘Names and ages?’ Bish asked.

Farrington had found his voice again. ‘We asked for his ID, as we do all adult visitors.’

‘But you didn’t check the IDs of his children?’ Bish said.

Cook indicated the printout of the visitors’ log. ‘It says here they were Fatima and Anwar, seventeen and fourteen years old.’

Bish took a deep breath.

‘I’d say it’s unlikely that Violette LeBrac and the boy were actually here,’ the acting governor said, looking at the others. They, of course, nodded in agreement.

‘It was probably some racist who made the claim because she thinks they all look the same,’ Gray said.

Bish wondered how long they’d spent getting their story right. ‘Let me see the security cameras,’ he said. ‘I’m sure it’s all there in black and white.’

‘We’ve already looked,’ Cook said. ‘The images aren’t clear enough to make confirmation.’

‘Let me be the judge of that.’

Cook already had the footage downloaded to her computer. Bish stared at the screen where Bilal Lelouche and the children were visible. The girl was wearing a hijab and the boy an Arsenal beanie. They were quite obviously avoiding the security camera.

‘It’s them,’ he said.

‘How can you be sure?’ Cook asked.

‘Because I’ve met them,’ Bish said. ‘My question is, how could this happen? Two kids of Middle Eastern appearance wander into the Visitors’ Centre, and no one takes the time to check them out?’

‘So now we’re going to intimidate every single teenager of Middle Eastern appearance who walks through those gates?’ Cook demanded.

‘No,’ Bish said with forced patience. ‘You’re going to interview every single teenager of Middle Eastern appearance who visits Noor LeBrac.’