Renshaw hesitated, then waved a hand. The crane driver saw him and stopped the arm. Jane had just turned back to Renshaw when there was an explosion next to her. The car had landed not five feet from her. Dust and stones flew up. The car’s windows blew out. Its tyres burst on impact with the ground. Her eyes blazed as she turned towards the crane operator.

‘Thought that’s what you wanted!’ he yelled.

Her hand was shaking a little as she took out her phone again. She hadn’t ended the call and Bob was asking what all the noise was. ‘I need a forensics team at Renshaw’s scrapyard,’ she told him, as she circled what remained of the car. Quite a lot of it remained, actually. They made Bentleys to last. She was relieved that she’d ID’d it correctly. And now that she could see it, the licence plate matched the car taken from Raymond Masters’, the murdered man’s, garage. She wondered whose prints would be inside. She wondered what else might be in there. Nothing that she could see, but there was always the boot…

‘So that’s one forensics team still busy at the garage,’ Bob was saying, ‘another wanted at the graveyard, and a third at the scrapyard. Tall order, Jane.’

‘And while you’re at it, how about checking the whereabouts of Mr Flowers?’

‘Is that my quota for the day?’

Jane didn’t answer. She was just realising that Renshaw had disappeared back into his office. She headed after him, walking into a single, chaotic room, at the far end of which was another door. The door was open. It led out into the scrapyard. When she went through it, a couple of guard dogs started snarling and straining against their leashes. They hadn’t barked for their owner. They knew him too well.

George Renshaw was gone.

She cursed under her breath and started to search the scrapyard. He could be hiding anywhere, but she reckoned he wasn’t that stupid. He was on foot, though, so she could follow in her car. But she couldn’t leave the scene. The Bentley might vanish into thin air, just like Renshaw had done. Or prints could be wiped clean, evidence removed. She got Bob on the phone again.