He’d already noticed her and was watching her with a thin smile on his face, dashing any notion she might have had of turning around and leaving. She walked over to his table. He stood up and they engaged in a perfunctory and slightly awkward embrace. She put her bag down and sat in the chair opposite him.

His smile, just as she remembered, was purely a permutation of the muscles around his mouth. It didn’t extend upwards to the rest of his face. His pale blue eyes were, as ever, dead, watery and penetrating.

‘Vodka and blackcurrant?’ he said.

‘You’ve got a good memory.’

‘It’s only been six months.’

She watched him as he went to the bar to get her a drink, his profile illuminated by the blue light of the TV screens. Although his cold-fish demeanour could put a lot of people off, she felt a measure of affection for him as her former mentor. She’d learnt a lot from him, not least that you often had to think like an outlaw in order to catch one.

He came back from the bar and placed the drink down in front of her.

‘How’s the job?’ he asked.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Working towards my sergeant’s exams.’

‘You’ve got rings under your eyes.’

‘I don’t sleep so well these days.’

‘I hear warm milk before bed is good for you.’

‘I’ve tried everything.’

He nodded slowly and looked away.

They filled up the minutes with small talk, him asking her questions but seemingly only half-interested in her responses, his eyes flickering around the pub all the while.

She waited until they reached a natural pause in the conversation and raised her eyebrows at him expectantly. ‘You were never one for casual chit-chat, Frank, so let’s get to the point.’

He nodded slowly. ‘I have some bad news for you. I thought it better to tell you in person.’

‘I knew there was something wrong.’

‘Alice is dead.’

A dagger of shock knifed through her. ‘Alice Simms?’

‘I know you two were quite close.’

She blinked and nodded stiffly. She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. An unsolicited flood of memories and emotions threatened to overwhelm her. She bit them back. She didn’t want to appear weak in front of Frank. She didn’t want to break down in public and certainly not in a place like this.

Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself.

‘We did undercover training together and you know how tough that is. We became really good mates.’

‘I’m sorry to be the one who had to break it to you.’

‘You could have chosen a slightly nicer place to do it in.’

He shrugged apologetically.

Alice had been one of Bailey’s closest friends when she had been working undercover. The bond they had forged whilst operating in such a challenging environment had been particularly strong. They’d first met on the undercover training course and their friendship had rapidly grown beyond work to the point where they’d ended up sharing a flat together, an arrangement that had ceased when Bailey had quit that line of work. To hear that Alice was now dead left Bailey stunned.