‘Laura?’ Jack said, but she didn’t seem to hear him.

So now she’s got the hots for Ridley, he thought to himself.

Laura turned back to him, a flush spreading over her face, as she realised she’d been sussed. Jack’s mobile buzzed to say that his Uber was pulling into the car park. ‘You’d better be quick, Laura,’ he said with a wink. ‘Someone else has her eye on him.’

*

Lee sat in front of Hearst, relaxed and calm. He knew he was in the right. ‘My last instruction, which I made very clear, was to keep me, his DI, in the loop. Now, either his mobile isn’t on, or he’s deliberately ignoring me.’

Hearst sighed. This part of the job was utterly draining. They were meant to be righting wrongs, not bickering. She sat with her elbows on the arms of her chair, and her hands together in concentration. This was her ‘I’m listening’ pose, and seemed to be working because Lee was still talking. His obviously rehearsed speech finally came to an end. ‘If I can’t control every aspect of the case, then I can’t control the outcomes, so blame someone else if all of this goes tits-up.’

Hearst lowered her hands and laid them flat on the desk. ‘You could have come in here and spun a story that left me no choice but to send DS Warr back to London. But you didn’t. You don’t want me to get rid of him; you want me to show him that you’re the boss.’ Lee opened his mouth to speak, but she had no intention of letting him. ‘Now, my question is, why can’t you do that yourself? What I see here, Eamonn, is chest-beating. Showing him that you have the big guns on your side. Well, you do. But I’m disappointed that you feel you need to play that card.’ Lee stayed silent, but felt his colour rising. ‘There is no blanket approach to command, Eamonn. Treat each officer in the way that you need to, in order to get the best out of them. Some of them walk to heel, like good little doggies and others will need one of those bloody annoying extendable leashes to give them a sense of freedom – but at the other end of that leash is you. Let him run for now. Don’t reel him in just for the sake of it.’

Lee nodded curtly and stood up.

Once he’d left the office, Hearst picked up her phone.

*