‘How the hell can it be closed?’ Kim asked the hospital security guard who was ushering them away from the administration block. For once Bryant had actually put his foot down while driving them from the Cedars to Russells Hall so they could catch the OMD before she left.

This time she’d found the office without the help of Terry but couldn’t get past the key coded door that had been open the previous day.

She guessed her constant banging on it had caught the attention of whoever was monitoring the camera in the corner.

‘It’s the admin block. They normally leave around five.’

She turned to face the tall, lean security guard with smooth, dark skin and peered at his name badge.

‘Look, Tyrone, I reckon Vanessa Wilson is still back there working, so if you could just let us through.’

They had established yesterday that she wasn’t the clock-watching type.

‘She’s not. Problem with a poorly kid or something,’ he said, shrugging. ‘Left a couple of hours ago.’

‘There must be someone we can talk to?’ she raged. Who finished work at this time of day?

He shrugged again. ‘Sorry, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.’

‘And I’m sorry but that’s not…’ her words trailed away as a movement to her left caught her attention. ‘Okay, thanks,’ Kim said.

Bryant glanced at her questioningly. He had leaned against the wall, settled in for the long haul. She didn’t normally give in so easily.

‘We’ll find our way back from here,’ she assured the guard.

He shrugged and looked around before moving away.

‘Jesus, guv, you accepting no for an answer?’ Bryant said as she walked slowly behind the guard back to the main corridor. ‘And his name wasn’t Tyrone,’ Bryant observed.

‘Yeah it was. His name badge said—’

‘And the SIA licence on his arm said otherwise.’

Kim narrowed her eyes at her colleague. Trust him to notice the detail of the man’s security industry identification.

‘Some people in front-facing jobs don’t like to use their real name, especially where they might meet conflict or live locally, so they use a middle name to make themselves less identifiable.’

‘Oh, got it.’

The security guard not named Tyrone turned once to make sure they were still behind before he turned the corner.

Kim immediately stopped walking and turned the other way.

‘Follow me,’ she said, heading for the stairwell at speed.

Once through the door she took the stairs two at a time. She heard a door squeak above her.

‘Guv, what are we?…’

‘Just keep up, Bryant,’ she hissed as she pushed open the heavy fire door back onto the corridor.

She looked both ways and swore.

‘I thought I saw someone I recognised,’ she said as her phone dinged receipt of a message.

She took out her phone and read it. Surprised at the sender and the contents, she read it again.

‘What’s up,’ Bryant asked.

She shook her head. ‘Never mind,’ she answered, looking up and down the corridor. ‘I swear I just saw—’

She stopped speaking as the double doors to the medical assessment ward swung open.

A white-clad orderly was backing out of the ward, guiding a hospital bed. She stood back against the wall and turned her head to look at the noticeboard.

‘It’s just an X-ray, Mr Braithwaite,’ he said. ‘We’ll have you back in no time.’

‘Bloody hell, he kept that quiet. We had no idea he worked here as well,’ Bryant observed, following her gaze.

The man they were watching was Giovanni Mancini.