The young PC standing in the corner of the room kept his eyes straight ahead.

Larry was dragged up from the floor roughly and shoved back on to his seat. The lack of food and sleep, the overdose of nicotine and the blows, had all taken their toll. He was indeed broken.

‘Now, Barker, you tell me all you know about the Cavanaghs and I’ll take you to a nice clean cell, get you a bit of egg and bacon, and let you have a lovely long sleep.’ Then he bellowed: ‘So don’t wind me up, boy! I know they was behind the blag, or at least a party to it in some way. I want answers and I want them now or I’ll kick you from one end of this station to the other!’

Larry wiped a grubby hand across his sweating forehead, leaving a long black stripe.

‘I ain’t got nothing to say about the Cavanaghs, Mr Limmington. Nothing. With respect, sir, you can scare me, you do scare me, but not half as much as the Cavanaghs. You’ll have to go somewhere else to get them grassed. I’d rather do me twelve years alive and kicking than get off with it all and be dead.’

Limmington sighed deeply. He knew now as sure as eggs was eggs that Barker wouldn’t crack. But it had been worth the try.

He wanted the Cavanaghs, he wanted them desperately. The twins and that bloody dragon Briony.

They were a taint on the earth, they were scum, and he wanted them out of the ball game for good.

Kerry watched the woman warily as she put a sandwich and a glass of milk on to the table in front of her.

‘Come on, Miss Cavanagh, get this down you, you’ll feel much better.’

Kerry smiled half-heartedly and took a bite of the ham and tomato sandwich to placate her. Then she picked up the milk in an exaggerated gesture and sipped it, holding it up first as if toasting the woman before her - with her great muscled arms and harshly cropped hair.

‘You’re a card, Miss Cavanagh, and no mistake.’

The woman, Betty Bradley, shook her grey head and walked from the room. Kerry pushed the tray from her and looked once more out of the window.

She needed a drink desperately.

She could cheerfully kill for one.

But Briony, Briony the wonder woman, the marvellous sister who knew everything and was practically omnipotent, had seen fit to supply her with a large, obviously lesbian, minder. Betty Bradley watched over her day and night. It was sickening.

Kerry sagged visibly in her seat, her show of defiance leaving her drained.