She didn’t need to say anything more than that. Grant had never met Jimmy Colton, as far as he was aware, nor Paul Reeve for that matter, but given the conversation he and Mary had with Annie the other day about Ethan’s no-good friend Jimmy, the police’s questions surely couldn’t just be a coincidence? Grant put his hand to his forehead and squeezed his temples as hard as he could until the pressure caused a stabbing pain at the front of his brain.

‘What should we do, Steven?’

‘I think at this stage the real question is; what else can we do?’

Chapter Thirty-One

With the sun edging down beyond the high-rises in the distance, Dani looked around as she approached, noticing the police cordon, the ambulance, the three squad cars and riot van that all had their lights flashing, and the collection of yellow-coated bobbies swarming about the place. No sign of Jason now, she realised. Easton was perched on the back end of the ambulance, its doors wide open, his legs dangling. He had a cut above his left eye and his swollen nose was plugged with cotton wool.

‘Quite some drama you’ve caused here, DS Easton.’

‘I’ve always been a bit of an attention-seeker,’ he said.

‘Can you get up to show me what happened, or do you need a wheelchair?’

‘Perhaps a few weeks of paid leave first? I hear the Bahamas is nice this time of year.’

‘Easton, get off your lazy arse before I give you something far worse than those two scratches.’

Easton smiled, then got to his feet and he and Dani walked across the street. The police response to hearing of an attack on a fellow officer was swift and strong, as it should be, but on this occasion, as Dani had figured out on her way over to Handsworth, it was also largely unnecessary. Easton was fine. McNair had called a few minutes after Jason and confirmed that his injuries were not serious, which Dani now presumed was why Jason hadn’t hung around. Dani had felt massive relief at the news, but then she’d had to suck it up when McNair had openly laid the blame for Easton’s attack at Dani’s door, for sending him out chasing the lead without her – as though Dani were Easton’s mother and should chaperone him twenty-four hours a day. He was a sergeant, for god’s sake! And a pretty damn competent one at that. Dani had wanted to remind McNair of that fact, but in the heat of the moment, with McNair giving her the hairdryer treatment, she’d realised it was probably not the wisest move.

‘That’s the address there,’ Easton said, pointing.