Weenink winked at him. ‘Because you’re so loyal and principled. You won’t betray me, will you, Ben? No, I know you won’t. It’s against your morality. It’s not what they tell you in the Bible of Bullshit, is it?’

‘I’m surprised you’ve even read it.’

Cooper hadn’t read the Police Training Manual much recently, either. Who did, when you had been on the job a while and had learned the realities of the situation? Todd Weenink had certainly been doing the job far too long for that. The Bible of Bullshit was read only by wet trainees and senior managers.

‘You know what’ll happen, Todd. In the public’s eyes, you’ll get lumped in with the worst there are. A copper gone wrong is never forgiven.’

‘But all I did –’

‘I don’t want to know.’

‘You just asked.’

‘I’ve changed my mind.’

‘Fuck you, then.’

Cooper watched Weenink weave away for a few yards along Bargate, then stumble and put out a hand to support himself on a lamp post. He was beyond hope, of course. Breaking the rules was one thing, but breaking the law was another. There was no way that Cooper or anyone else could help Weenink. It didn’t matter how much you owed a colleague out of loyalty, or how close you knew other people were to being in the same situation – or even how close you had come to it yourself, at times. Weenink had made his mistake, and he would have to be abandoned to his fate. The wolves would be circling soon enough.

With a sigh, Cooper propped Weenink up and let him drape his arm round his shoulder. Despite the weight, he managed to make it to the lights at the corner of Bargate. Then he began to look for a taxi to get them out of there. The night threatened to stretch out endlessly ahead of him.

By eight o’clock the next morning, it was already obvious from the sky that it was going to be a good day for a walk on the moors.

The two women had a second cup of coffee together, leaning their elbows comfortably on the kitchen table among the toast crumbs and the cereal bowls. Karen Tavisker’s husband Nick had already gone off to work and left them in their housecoats, still chatting, so absorbed in each other’s company that they had barely noticed him go.

‘We’d better get ready, if we’re going,’ said Karen.

‘Of course. But not for a minute yet.’

‘This is so decadent.’

‘I don’t care,’ said Marilyn.

‘Nor me.’