She trooped along Angel Road, Dimitri a few steps behind her, searching for number 66b. There was number 62 and 64, but then the numbers jumped up to 68. Where on earth was 66, let alone 66b? She had continued down the street when Dimitri called out to her,

“Alex, where are you going?”

“I'm trying to find 66, what is up with the street numbers?”

“What? It's here Alex.”

He was standing halfway along the street, past number 64, but not as far as 68.

“There isn't a number 66.”

“Then what's this?”

Dimitri was pointing towards a strip of brick between 64 and 68. Alex walked up to him and stared at the space he was pointing at.

“Have you been drinking? Where is number 66 supposed to be then?” Alex said.

“It's here,” Dimitri said.

He looked confused and was now walking towards the wall, waving his arms about as if illustrating something with his hands.

“Dimitri, you on some sort of medication? There is no-”

Alex stopped mid sentence. Dimitri was pointing to a pair of large red doors with circular handles, she was sure hadn't been there a moment ago. Above the doors, the number '66b' was etched into a gold plague.

“How the hell did I miss that?” Alex said.

“You going mad babe?” Dimitri said.

Alex scowled at him and banged on the door, shouting the usual rhetoric of 'Police, open up.' A moment later, the door opened. Standing in the entrance was a broad man with a distant face, his eyes a deep brown that merged into the blackness of his pupils.

“What do you want?” he said curtly.

Alex showed her warrant card and stuck her foot in the crack of the door.

“We need to ask your boss a few questions. May we come in?” Alex said.

This was always posed as a question, 'may we come in?', but it was infrequently meant as one. They were coming in, whether you liked it or not.

The man stood like a stone giant before them, his finger to his ear while he waited for his next command. He was big by any standard and Alex prayed they would never have to try and arrest him, because if he resisted, they would probably need to the entire station to try and pin him down. A few moments later, not speaking a word, the stone giant stood back, leaving enough room for Dimitri and Alex to squeeze past him.

Inside the club it was dark, the only light coming from involuted pieces of sculpture on the walls that shone out shards of red light. It was a place of shadows, where secrets remained hidden and the truth remained tucked away out of sight. They walked down the entrance corridor which opened to a dance floor with glowing scarlet floor tiles, pulsating in jellyfish-like movements. To the side stood a bar, lit in such a way that it managed to remain, for the best part, completely in darkness. Sat at at the bar was a man in a red suit who turned to face them as they approached, a cocktail in hand.

“Detective Inspectors Alexandra Stroud and Dimitri Teplov, how nice of you to visit me,” the man said.

“You are expecting us?” Alex said.

How had this man known their names? She had flashed her ID at the doorman, maybe they had some fancy camera equipment that had seen it, but what about Dimitri? How did he know who he was?

“Now why would I expect you?” the man said.

“Are you the owner?” Dimitri said.