Dave shrugged defiantly.

‘Want to tell us where you got it?’ said Blake.

‘It was a present.’

The two detectives looked at each other sceptically.

Dale turned to Bailey.

‘Interesting,’ he murmured. ‘Adrian had a blue Rolex GMT. Exactly the same as that one. I remember seeing it when I met him and thinking what flashy bastards these gangster types can be.’

‘Looks like your watch has got a bit of damage,’ Charles continued, peering at Dave’s wrist. ‘Looks a bit scorched. Like it was in a fire or something.’ He frowned. ‘And it looks like it’s stopped.’

Blake leaned forward for a closer look. ‘Well, well. It’s stopped at exactly ten twenty-four. If I’m not mistaken, that’s the exact time that the bomb went off. It’s almost like it suffered a large fiery shock at exactly that time. Like…’ He turned to Charles. They both made a big show of scratching their chins. ‘Like a car bomb for example,’ he finished.

‘You want to get that watch looked at, mate,’ Charles suggested.

‘Yeah, I hear the Rolex shop on Bond Street does repairs,’ Blake added. ‘Maybe you should drop in.’

‘Although I suppose it does tell the right time twice a day,’ said Charles.

Blake leaned in, the sarcastic smirk dropping off his face. ‘Did you take that watch from the crime scene?’

‘N… no,’ stuttered Dave. He clutched the watch tighter to his chest. As he did so, Bailey noticed that, with his other hand, he also protectively cupped a gaudy plastic keyring that was hanging around his neck from a shoelace. By his reaction, she idly wondered if he’d taken that from the crime scene as well. Looking closer, she saw that the keyring took the form of a cutesy manga-style kitten with an oversized head wearing pink dungarees. Perhaps the keyring had belonged to the female victim of the blast. Bailey couldn’t imagine that Adrian Molloy would have possessed such an item.

‘There was a body part close to where you were situated,’ Charles continued. ‘A human arm, to be precise, belonging to the male occupant of the vehicle that was blown up. A left arm. Did you remove this watch from that arm?’

‘No!’ said Dave. His eyes rolled around in panic and he now had a trapped look about him.

‘The bloke was nice enough to give you fifty quid and you go and repay him by nicking his watch,’ admonished Charles.

‘Taking evidence from a crime scene is a criminal act,’ said Blake. ‘That constitutes two crimes. Theft by finding. As well as the much more serious charge of perverting the course of justice.’

Charles shook his head gravely. ‘Perverting the course of justice. That’s serious. Carries a heavy sentence. You can get up to life.’

Although technically true, Bailey knew a life sentence was highly unlikely. The maximum sentence was usually between four and thirty-six months, or sometimes just a fine, though she couldn’t imagine he’d be able to stump up much in the way of cash.