‘The guy must have clocked us as police,’ Easton said. ‘These buggers have a sixth sense even when we’re not in uniform. We didn’t get the chance to say anything. He headbutted me and made a run for it. I was down on the ground and had no chance of catching him.’

‘And Constable? He doesn’t look injured to me. Didn’t he give chase?’

‘Kind of funny, really,’ Easton said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. ‘As I was falling back, I barged into Constable. He then tripped over an old lady’s trolley bag. She was just walking by. Nothing more than bad timing.’ Easton pointed to a shaky old woman who was still being consoled by two uniformed officers. ‘She must be a hundred and fifty at least. The trolley fell, knocked her to the ground. Kind of like dominoes, or so the gawkers were saying. I mean, I was dazed, seeing stars. Dan, I mean Constable, he went to pick the old lady up. He thought he’d broken her leg or something. She was screaming and screaming.’

‘Meanwhile, whoever attacked you had the easiest getaway ever.’

‘I know what you’re thinking. Keystone cops.’

‘You said it, not me.’

‘But we did the right thing,’ Easton said with absolute conviction. ‘I mean, turns out she’s fine, but if we’d left that old lady injured on the ground with a smashed leg, the result would’ve been a massive lawsuit slapped on the Super’s desk.’

Easton was probably right about that. Was that approach called damage limitation or plain old rose-tinted community spirit? Dani wasn’t sure, but she did know her instincts in that situation would probably have been very different. She would have been up and after the guy in a flash.

‘Did you or the PCs find any witnesses?’ she asked, looking around at the now largely dispersed crowd.

‘There really weren’t many. It was quiet. And they all moved on too quickly.’

‘What about the old lady?’

‘Her description was pretty much the same as mine and Constable’s.’

‘So you’ve no idea if it was James Colton or Ethan Grant or someone else entirely who did this to you?’

‘No idea. Though the fact he attacked me and ran at all suggests he’s up to no good, one way or another.’

‘Yeah.’ Dani sighed then took a couple of deep breaths to try and get her head straight and focused. It seemed to take the edge off her worsening mood ever so slightly. ‘Have you been inside yet?’

‘No. Constable has. It’s a two-bed flat. Pretty sparse place. Not quite up to Reeve’s standards. Mattresses on the floor for beds, not much in the way of furniture or personal belongings, but plenty of booze and cigarettes. Weed too. There’s no ID. No post or documents to say who’s been living there.’