Further away, Sasha and Lolly were thrown to the ground, and mostly shielded by the Fiat and the fence. Glass rained down all around them as they lay curled up on the pavement, and pinged against the metal body of Sasha’s open-topped sports car. Other debris – bits of window frame, the tiles ripped from the roof – seemed to take forever to crash to earth, even though everything happened in a matter of moments. The noise of the blast was deafening, making Sasha’s ears ring.

And as flames licked around inside the bungalow, and acrid smoke began to billow from the gaping holes where the door and windows used to be, Sasha and Lolly lifted the door off Angie and carried her to safety on the other side of the street, before calling 999. She had been taken to Southend University Hospital, suffering from concussion, along with Lolly, who sustained a number of deep cuts to her neck and shoulders.

‘Why the long face?’ Ajay asked Sasha as she sat getting her own superficial cuts and bruises treated by a paramedic. ‘You don’t look like a woman who just escaped getting blown to kingdom come.’

‘Mum and Dad and Con are coming round tonight,’ she said, picking a shard of glass from inside one of the cuffs of her shirt. ‘And I was just thinking how I could really do without it.’

‘I think you have a good excuse,’ he told her. ‘Although it seems to me, the best thing you could do right now is go home and drink a glass or two of wine.’

‘I don’t see why not,’ agreed the paramedic. ‘You don’t have concussion.’

‘Looks like it’s going to be a long night.’ DC Craig Power came to the door of the ambulance and looked up at them. ‘The firemen have just confirmed it. There’s a body in the house.’

Sasha gave Ajay a look, as if to say, There goes that plan. ‘Is it Tony Gardner?’

‘The deceased hasn’t been ID’d, but it’s a white male. The fire investigators won’t let us inside until they give us the all-clear that it’s safe to do so.’

‘Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong.’ Sasha stood, brushing away the paramedic. ‘Angie Gardner said Tony and Deano were close when they were younger, stealing, fighting, getting involved in gang stuff. Maybe this has nothing to do with what did or didn’t happen in Wales. Maybe it’s always been about Dean and Tony.’

Ajay shared an uh-oh glance with Craig. They both knew what happened when Sasha got the bit between her teeth; she worked herself into the ground. ‘Honestly, Sash, even if you don’t have concussion, I suggest you go home and make sure you’re fighting fit for tomorrow.’

‘I’m needed here,’ she insisted.