‘And he didn’t pay,’ Robin hears Liv shout. He opens his mouth to protest, but the bouncer is on him again, pushing him out into the silent alleyway behind the club, then back against a wall.

The bouncer’s huge. Bulging biceps, white T-shirt stretched across defined abs. He glares at Robin with a roid-raged stare.

‘Hand it over,’ he growls, but then pulls at Robin’s jacket, prodding at his inside pockets. He takes the wad of cash that Robin withdrew from the cashpoint only an hour previously, but then he digs again, pulling out Robin’s warrant card.

The bouncer opens it and looks at the shiny badge, then the ID.

‘You’re a fucking copper,’ he growls.

‘Off duty,’ Robin says.

‘Still a fucking cop, whether you’re in uniform or out.’ And before Robin can speak he sees a blur in front of him, then a shock of pain as the bouncer’s fist connects with his eye. It pushes his head back, bouncing hard against the brick wall behind.

He stands for a second, leaning against the wall. His vision’s blurry, black leaching in from the edges, the bouncer still in front of him.

‘Are you the one that sold her the roofies?’ Robin mutters.

He’s not sure why he says it, except that something feels fitting as the pulse of agony grows across his face. A second blow connects to his stomach, then a third in his side. The punch folds him in two, winded, and his legs crumple, throwing him down to the concrete floor of the alleyway. His eyes are streaming; he’s unable to breathe. Pain everywhere. He tastes blood in his mouth; he must have bitten his tongue.

‘Don’t come back, fucking cop.’

He hears footsteps, then the slam of the metal door closing. Robin stays there for a moment, in a crumpled ball, next to the smell of the bins, the drip of leaking guttering. He listens to men on the street outside and takes a slow, juddering breath in.

‘Shit,’ he manages, at last, with little more than a groan.

He tries to open his eyes, but his left one is refusing to comply. He tentatively raises a hand to touch it, before pulling away as it stings bitterly in response.

Using the rough wall, he raises himself to his feet, then staggers out of the alleyway, back to his car. He passes people walking on the pavement, but nobody even gives him a second glance at this time of night. Just another man, in another fight. Getting what he deserved.