‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, DI Jefferson,’ he said. ‘We still can’t be certain that this isn’t just some nutcase making mischief. So there’s no way the Commissioner will sanction personal protection for so many people.’

‘But surely we now have to treat this as a credible threat, sir.’

He nodded. ‘And we will, but our response has to be measured and carefully considered. We can’t just pluck scores of officers out of the air so that they can act as round-the-clock bodyguards for individuals. That’d be a mega commitment – especially if this drags on for weeks – and we simply don’t have the manpower and resources.’

He was making a valid point and we all knew it. Protecting people deemed to be at risk was extremely labour intensive and it wasn’t always effective. There had been numerous instances over the years where people had been attacked and even killed despite being under police guard.

Drummond rounded off the meeting by asking for a list of all possible suspects.

‘In response to this latest development we need to question the most likely suspects,’ he said. ‘I’m guessing Roy Slack will be at the top of the list. But include all other villains who will know that it’s only a matter of time before we come after them. And check the database to see if anything like this has happened before. There’ll be more than a few loonies out there who’ve got form for wasting our time by making outrageous threats and demands.’

If anything the meeting had served only to increase my sense of unease. It was as though a grenade had been lobbed into the room and no one knew what to do with it.

It hadn’t yet gone off and we were hoping it was a fake. But there was no way we could ignore it, because if it wasn’t a fake then it had the potential to cause an awful lot of damage.

17

Rosa

Rosa stood naked in front of the window, her body flushed from the heat of the shower.

Her room was four floors up and overlooked a busy street full of shops. She could hear the tuneless chorus of blaring horns and people’s voices.

It reminded her of Mexico City. It was less chaotic, but just as frenetic.

London had, for a long time, been on her list of places she wanted to visit. But her first impression was not a favourable one. It was dirtier than she’d expected and the buildings were bland and weary-looking.

But maybe that was because this was an insalubrious area and she would have to cross the River Thames to sample London’s real delights.

This morning the city was draped in billowy clouds but at least it wasn’t raining.