‘Shoreditch?’ Silas looks up. He pulls out his mobile and calls Jake, remembering that he was looking for Rob’s flat somewhere in Shoreditch.

‘You found where Rob lives yet?’ he asks, glancing around the Parade Room.

‘We know the road,’ Jake says. ‘Nile Street.’

Silas has a terrible sinking feeling, similar to when he found Conor on the floor of his bedroom, unconscious from a heroin overdose. Rob wouldn’t have registered his own car at his own apartment using a ‘care of’ address. Gilmour, whoever he may be, is one step ahead. He’s also mocking Silas. Rob too. Why else would he use Rob’s address? If he didn’t want to be traced, he could have covered his tracks, given the DVLA a false address or a mailbox. It’s almost as if it’s deliberate, a taunting message.

After giving Jake the exact address in Nile Street, Silas gets up from his desk and stares out of the window at the station car park. It’s still raining. Silas likes rain. It’s less distracting than sunshine, helps him to focus. See things. Join the dots. Gilmour Martin, Rob’s lookalike, flew into the UK on an illegal passport and acquired a matching Tesla, which he promptly registered at Rob’s London address. He was then seen at Gablecross a day before Kate’s accident. Does that mean it was him at the scene of the crash too and not Rob?

‘Jake mentioned that Rob is worried about seeing his his doppelgänger again, the one he met in Thailand,’ Silas says, turning to face Strover, trying to make sense of it all. ‘Apparently Rob fears that his double will come back to ruin his life. Rob even mentioned his name – Gil. You know doppelgängers are meant to be a sign of your death? Harbingers of doom.’

Strover gives him a circumspect look. ‘You believe all that stuff, boss?’

‘I didn’t say that.’ He pauses. ‘But let’s just suppose this Gilmour has come to the UK to destroy Rob, for whatever reason. How would he set about taking down Rob, a successful tech entrepreneur?’

‘Attack his business?’ Strover offers. ‘I don’t know, do something that triggers a share price crash?’

‘Or he might try to frame him.’

‘How?’

‘Rob’s company is under pressure, way overvalued, according to Jake,’ Silas says, warming to his theme. ‘He also said that Rob could be getting into facial-recognition software. A boom industry right now, as we know. Soon to be worth twenty billion dollars, so they say. Everyone’s trying to crack it. Law enforcement agencies everywhere are begging for a system that actually works. Rob probably sees it as a lifeline. But what’s its biggest threat?’

‘Apart from the fact that it’s intrinsically shit, you mean?’ Strover asks.

‘Apart from that.’ Silas allows himself a smile. Strover’s in danger of becoming a fellow Luddite.