“We can’t guarantee you’ll be back in time to open up, especially if you want the lunchtime trade. I’d put a note on the door, if I were you. And make sure you lock up behind you and take your keys and wallet.” He held his hand out. “We’ll be taking the mobile for forensic examination. We’ll take good care of all your stuff for you while you’re in the cell.”

“Cell?” said Sunny, handing over his mobile.

“That’s what usually happens when we take people into custody. Annie?” Banks had noticed that Annie was standing by the wall studying the drawings. He knew her father was an artist and that she had grown up in an artists’ colony in Cornwall—she even painted herself—but this was hardly the time. “Come on. We have to go.”

“Just a minute,” she said, pointing to a drawing of two elderly Asian men standing on a street corner talking. “What do you think of this?”

“Very nice. Now, come on.”

“It’s one of Mimsy’s.”

“What?”

“Mimosa Moffat. She happened to be a very accomplished artist—at drawings and sketches, anyway. I had a good look at her work in her room on Southam Terrace, and I’m telling you, this is hers.”

Banks turned to Sunny, who just shrugged. Annie took out her mobile and took photographs of all the artwork. “I’ll let the search team know we’d like them all bagged,” she said. “They’ll probably have her prints on them somewhere. I’m not an expert, I admit, but anyone who’d seen her work before would recognize it immediately.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Banks. “Now, come on, Sunny, hurry up, your car’s waiting.”

Sunny hurriedly wrote out a notice to stick on the door of the takeaway, then picked up his jacket and checked the pockets for his essentials. Annie put the handcuffs on him, and she and Banks sandwiched him on the way down the stairs. Out in the street, the neons and sodium lights looked fuzzy in the heat haze. Next door, Banks saw two uniformed officers putting Ismail and Faisal in a patrol car to deliver them to Eastvale. A small crowd had gathered across the street, even at such a late hour. The police had been as discreet as they could, but there was no doubt word was getting around. The feeling of tension in the air was as palpable as the heat, and Banks was glad to get in the back of the car with Sunny and let Annie drive to Eastvale.

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