I walked away and stopped out of his sight behind one of the large beech trees at the far corner of the play area. He arched his back again and then walked over to the garages and grabbed a handful of nettles. He returned to the Citroën and undid his boiler suit so that it was resting around his thighs. I lost sight of him for a few seconds as a passer-by came along, forcing me to stare at the pavement to avoid looking shady. When my gaze returned to Boiler Suit Man he was slumped over the front of the car with his trouser legs round his ankles, banging on its bonnet and screaming, ‘Aaargghh shit! Oh shit! Please, God, help me!’

I felt bad but reassured myself with the thought that my nettle theory might actually have some substance.

I had an appointment at the office with Wayne first thing to take a full statement from him about his arrest. About five minutes before he was due, he telephoned me and asked if we could meet in the coffee shop rather than the office. I agreed. Any excuse to get out of the office is always welcome. I sat down at a table with him and he started talking. In essence, he told me that his father had been a policeman just down the road in Lewisham before he retired four years ago. He worked as a detective with the serious crime unit. The squad was as corrupt as they come but he had wanted nothing to do with all that. The other members of the squad wanted him out. They considered him a liability and feared that one day he might grass them up to the bosses at Scotland Yard. They made his life a misery at work and eventually he caved in, took early retirement and left the force. A couple of years later he was approached by a journalist working for a newspaper or the TV and agreed to an interview talking about corruption in the south London force. Not long after that, he was stopped in his car and the police found a big lump of cocaine in it. It had been planted, of course. Then he was approached by one of his old squad and told that if he pulled out of the interview with the journalist, then the charges could easily disappear. He agreed, the charges were dropped and he never heard from the journalist again. His theory was that she had been scared off and had made the wise decision to end her investigation.

Wayne was certain that the same thing would happen this time. They were just giving his dad a reminder to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t know what had stirred them up again, but he wasn’t worried because his dad would do the right thing. He didn’t want to waste my time any further with statements and such.