‘Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984, we are allowed to enter and search the premises after the arrest of someone linked to the property. We have made such an arrest.’

‘No one who lives here has been arrested.’

‘Benyamin Khan was arrested at 1.00A.M. this morning.’

Jia flinched. She had spoken without having all the facts. Her mind flipped back to the missed calls: it must have been from her contact at the station.

‘For what?’

The woman pressed her lips together into a thin smile. ‘Kerb-crawling,’ she said.

Jia turned to her sister with a questioning look. She shrugged.

‘I heard him come in about an hour ago. Someone must have bailed him out,’ said Maria.

‘Idris,’ Jia said, under her breath.

‘How long can we leave them out there?’

‘Go and get Ben. Bring him down.’

As Maria hurried up the stairs, Jia picked up her phone and flicked through her contacts for Mark Briscoe. He answered after the third ring; his voice sounded groggy. ‘What time is it?’ he said.

‘Mark, five of your officers are outside my house,’ she said.

‘Let me get back to you.’ He hung up. His instant response pleased her and she logged it in her mental ledger. Over the last couple of months her relationship with the police chief had gone from cold to cordial, and was warming towards friendship. While not entirely throwing caution to the wind, she had accepted the fact that it was in both their interests to cooperate given the deteriorating situation in the city. Jia’s connections gave her access to red carpets, VIP passes to shows, and private boxes at Premier League matches, which she was happy to pass on to her friends and colleagues, especially those who had earned her favour.

She looked up to see Maria coming down the stairs, Ben a few steps behind. He stopped halfway, just as he had the last time the police had come to search their home. His face had healed, his cheekbones returned, and despite having had little sleep, he looked refreshed. Jia loved her brother, but she wished he would make better choices.

‘What’s going on?’ he said, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

‘The police are here to search the house.’ She wanted to add, because of you, but her phone rang. It was Mark.

Maria and Benyamin waited as Jia took the call. She didn’t speak at first, just listened, and then eventually said, ‘I understand. You don’t need to apologise.’ She turned to her brother and sister as she spoke, and smiled. ‘Yes, Mark, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.’

‘What do we do?’ asked Benyamin when she’d hung up.

‘Nothing.’

‘But Maria said they want to search the house. We can’t just let them in.’