He quickly pulls off his T-shirt and scrunches it beside his hoodie. Goose bumps erupt on his skin, he shivers in the cold and wraps his arms around himself.

The flash of a light blinds him for a moment. Jordan squints up at the man who is pointing the camera at him. ‘Drop your hands to your sides.’

Jordan trembles and can feel his anger surfacing.

‘I won’t ask you again.’

A cold hatred courses through Jordan’s body as he unfolds his arms and lets them hang by his side.

The camera flashes twice more; each feels like a stab in his heart.

‘Put your things back on,’ says the man.

As he gets dressed the man picks up the bucket and takes it upstairs.

‘I’m hungry and thirsty,’ Jordan calls.

He hears a toilet flushing. A few moments later the man returns with the empty bucket, a small bottle of water, a Mars bar and a packet of wet wipes. He hands them to Jordan. ‘You’re a mess. Clean yourself up.’

Jordan’s teeth begin to grind. He has never felt such hate.

The man leaves and bolts the door behind him.

The thing in the tank is watching him with its pale glassy eye. Jordan hadn’t noticed it before but the mask has a leering upside-down grin.

He clenches his fists.

‘Stop looking at me, you fucker! You filthy paedo! Stop it!’ he shouts.

But the man in the mask just looks back at him with that fixed sinister smile.

Chapter 34

34

DS TOZER CALLS ARCHER’S PHONE as she enters the Tube station.

‘Ma’am, I’m at the Steel’s Lane Health Centre, the abandoned maternity hospital in Shadwell where Chau Ho lived. Something happened here. I’m sure of it. I’ve got a bit of a problem, though. The search warrant hasn’t come through and there are builders here ready to move in and take the inside apart before we get a chance to examine it. It’s become a bit of a shit-fest. I think you should come down.’

‘I’m on my way.’

Archer hails a black cab and twenty minutes later arrives outside the front of the old health centre on Commercial Road where half a dozen burly builders crowd around a harassed-looking Tozer. Archer makes her way toward the mêlée and is spotted by Tozer, who takes her to one side.

‘I spoke with a friend of Chau’s who used to live here. He came by three nights back to drop off his keys but couldn’t get inside. He could see Chau’s bedroom light was on and he could hear her music booming throughout the house. He tried to push the doors open but the handles were secured from the inside, which he said was weird. He called several times but she didn’t pick up and he also tried throwing small stones at the window to attract her attention.’