Dani went back to her search. She lifted up a plain white envelope and found underneath it three passport photos from a square of four. The man in the picture was definitely Paul Reeve. And Dani was sure it was also the same man who was now lying dead in the other room.

‘What’s with the false name, do you think?’ she asked as she stared at the photos.

‘Who says it’s false?’

Good point, Dani thought, but didn’t say. They’d already confirmed that Paul Reeve was a genuine identity, and had assumed Jimmy was just an alias he used. But was there really a Jimmy Colton too? If not, then Paul Reeve, or someone else on his behalf, had gone to a hell of a lot of effort to create the fake identity. It was way more than just using a different first name to chat up girls in bars. Why?

‘Constable is still off speaking to the neighbours,’ Easton said. ‘Forensics are outside, just getting kitted up. Ledford will be here within the hour.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I’ve also got an address and a phone number for Paul Reeve’s parents. So what now?’

Dani shut the third drawer and opened up the last one. Socks. Boxer shorts. Neatly folded and designer branded. Dani frowned. She stuck her hand into the drawer and pulled the underwear aside. Sure enough, the drawer was shallower than the other three. She felt around the edges. It wasn’t a false bottom. Dani slid the drawer back slightly then tilted it up and pulled it back out, lifting it off the runners. She looked inside the unit’s carcass.

‘Bloody hell,’ she said.

Easton crouched down beside her.

‘Bloody hell indeed,’ he said, as Dani gazed inside the drawer unit. More specifically, she gazed at the myriad little plastic bags of white pills and powder. There were also two brick-sized lumps covered in brown tape.

‘I think we know how he could afford this place then,’ Easton said.

Chapter Twenty-One

‘What exactly do we know about Paul Reeve?’ Dani asked Easton as they drove from Edgbaston and across to Shirley where Paul Reeve’s parents lived. Her question was as much a refresher for herself as it was a means of learning new information. They’d already scoured what data they could on Reeve but Dani was struggling to put the pieces of his life and death together in her mind.

‘Twenty-two years old,’ Easton said. ‘A former semi-pro footballer for Tamworth football club. Apparently everyone thought he’d make it to full professional when he was younger, but a knee injury saw all that come to an end when he was still a teenager. You’d be amazed how many careers fall apart at a young age like that.’

‘You’re speaking from experience?’