She was choking up so I brought the conversation to an end with a final question. Was there anyone else I could speak to who would know more about Terry?

‘You should try Eddie Fowler,’ she said. ‘He lived with Terry’s mum, Chloe. They were together for twelve years and he helped bring Terry up. They were pretty close.’

‘Any idea how I can contact him?’

‘Last I heard he was still at Chloe’s place in Stratford.’

It didn’t take me long to get an address and phone number for Eddie Fowler. Or to discover that the bloke had form. A criminal records check revealed that while in his early thirties he did a stint in prison for burglary. He was now sixty-one and on benefits. So I wasn’t surprised that he answered when I rang him on his home phone.

I told him I was gathering information on Terry Malone and asked him if I could come and see him.

‘What exactly do you want to know?’ he said, and his voice had a northern lilt.

‘Anything you can tell me – in particular the nature of his relationship to the man he was working for at the time of his death.’

‘You mean Roy Slack?’

‘I do.’

I sensed a moment’s hesitation before he said, ‘When were you thinking of coming?’

‘Right away if that’s possible. I can be there in half an hour.’

‘I’ll be waiting then.’

I went straight to Drummond to tell him where I was going and what line of inquiry I was following.

‘I’m not sure where it will lead, guv,’ I said. ‘But nobody else has spoken to Eddie Fowler as far as I know. So he might be able to shed light on why Slack regarded Terry Malone’s death as the final straw.’

‘Go for it,’ Drummond said. ‘We’ve got sod all else in the way of leads. And get Marsden to go with you. DS Chappell is tied up making some calls on my behalf.’

Tony Marsden was on his best behaviour as we headed towards East London in the back of a police patrol car for our own protection. He refrained from making any crude remarks or insensitive observations and listened intently as I filled him in on why we were going to see Eddie Fowler.

‘You told us yesterday that you thought it possible that Slack had decided to go out with a bang,’ he said. ‘So maybe you were right and it’s what this is all about.’

‘Well, I think it’s more believable than a bid to shut down the work of the task force,’ I said. ‘The guy’s no fool. He’ll know well enough that however many cops are killed we’ll still go all out to break up his empire and collar the scum who work for him.’