What she was saying only served to confirm Bailey’s opinion of Rick – that he was a control freak; he didn’t take drugs because they made you lose control, and for someone as powerful as him losing control could be fatal.

‘Adrian used to push Rick around when they were kids,’ continued Wendy. ‘Always riding him. But then, when Nancy put Rick in charge, Adrian just went off the rails… not that he’d ever really been on them properly to begin with. And from then on it all built up to this huge blowout that happened just after he turned forty. That was about a year ago. He had a massive argument with Rick, they almost had a fight, but then they made up and it seemed like things were okay, but I’m not sure that they really were…’

Bailey absorbed the information with interest. Meanwhile, Wendy had taken out a small compact mirror and had started to apply some pink lipstick to her artificially large lips.

‘So…’ said Bailey carefully. ‘Who’d you think killed Adrian then?’

Wendy glanced up from the mirror and shrugged. ‘Ain’t got a bleeding clue.’ She continued to apply her lipstick, then paused and tilted her head thoughtfully. ‘However, he did have this scuzzy coke-dealer mate called Marcus. They were always up to no good together. Marcus hasn’t been seen since Adrian was murdered. Wasn’t at the funeral or anything. Nancy and that lot are very suspicious that he’s suddenly dropped off the radar like that. They reckon he might know who killed Adrian, and they’re thinking he might even have been responsible himself. They’re trying to track him down as we speak. I tell you, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now with this lot looking for him.’

Bailey processed the revelations, thinking that this was definitely a new lead that the murder investigation team would want to hear about.

Wendy pouted one last time into the compact mirror, then snapped it shut. She smiled her brittle smile at Bailey.

‘You know, you should drop into my shop sometime. If you want to look good.’

She reached into her Chanel bag and took out a business card, which she held out to Bailey.

‘Sure,’ said Bailey, taking the card. ‘I think I probably will. Thanks.’

26

Bailey sat down on the knackered old couch in the temporary HQ and tried to block out the smell of doner kebabs drifting up from downstairs.

With Dale and Frank standing over her, she proceeded to open her backpack and take out the brown paper bag that Rick had given her. She put it on the upturned cardboard-box coffee table.

Dale leant over to pick it up. He peered inside gingerly, smiled and nodded his approval.

‘And a silencer as well. Great job, Bailey. I’ll take this back to the station and get it checked out.’

Without touching the contents, he placed the entire brown paper bag into a large plastic evidence bag, ziplocked it shut and slipped it into his own bag.