Abu-Zar turned to Firash now and asked him to explain what they’d discovered about the night Mark had died.

‘When he didn’t come back, we tried to look for him, but we had no way of knowing where he had gone. After he was found in the river, we began to receive news of sightings of him from people in the community. None of this we reported to the police because we knew that they’d been trying to prevent him from doing his job. Anyway, we believe we now know where he went that night. We also believe he met with a police officer.’

‘Who was Mark meeting? Was his name Cleverly?’ she demanded when Firash didn’t immediately answer.

He shook his head. ‘We believe it was the man in the hospital. The man McNab rescued.’

‘You think Jack Winters killed Mark?’ Ava couldn’t believe what she was saying.

‘Mark believed he was going to meet Jack Winters that night. We need to find out if that was true.’

It would have been the perfect set-up. If Mark thought he was meeting a police plant inside Go Wild, he would have gone without a moment’s hesitation. It was also why he wouldn’t have revealed his possible source to anyone, even Firash.

Had Winters been playing both sides? Or was he just being used? If so, by which side in the game?

There was another name in all of this. A name Firash had acknowledged but not spoken about as yet.

‘Mark distrusted DI Cleverly. Do you know why?’

Firash nodded. ‘DI Cleverly has a son, who Mark believed was connected to Go Wild in some way. He thinks the policeman was trying to cover for him.’

80

Ava glanced at the large clock in the hospital entrance hall, aware that Firash had been gone for at least half an hour.

Surely that meant he’d been allowed in to speak with Jack Winters?

The presence of two armed officers on patrol in the main concourse suggested that the police were taking security seriously. Swallowing a mouthful of cold coffee, she averted her eyes as they made yet another circuit, while chiding herself that it only made her look suspicious.

Had she forgotten everything Mark had taught her about being undercover?

The officers having now passed her by, she attempted a quick scan of the crowd, only to find Firash at her side.

‘He’s gone,’ he said as he took a seat at her table.

‘What do you mean, gone? Gone where?’

‘They wouldn’t say.’

Firash had caught sight of the police patrol and gently angled his chair round to face towards the queue at the cafe counter.

Ava voiced the unthinkable. ‘Might he have died?’

‘It’s possible,’ Firash said quietly. ‘Or they’ve moved him elsewhere in the hospital. I texted Jenny to ask if she knows what’s happened to him.’