He’d watched, helpless, as Kelly had worked her way deeper and deeper to the core of what was really going on. Maybe she’d put the last few puzzle pieces together already.

‘Should we call it in?’ Liam asked.

‘No, first we go to Ormond.’

‘What, to his house?’

‘Where else? Let’s go and see how far his loyalty extends when his skin is on the line instead of ours.’

‘What do you mean?’

Will looked at his long-time friend. He didn’t need to say anything. The two of them understood one another without saying a word.

They drove in silence. Ormond lived outside Penrith on some swanky new-build estate. They’d never been invited there, and had never had a reason to go, until now. They’d supposed that it would always come to this one day, and now that day had arrived. It was only mid-afternoon, but the sky was grey and the surrounding fields were covered in a thin layer of snow, merging the colours into one drab canvas. The big dump hadn’t happened, mainly because it was too cold.

They were glad in a way not to be working. Work came with a set of uncertainties that they faced almost weekly. There was always something to do for Ormond. It had never crossed their minds to say no.

Liam looked out of the window and Will concentrated. The traffic was light and they soon neared the address. Will’s heartbeat was slow and calm; he hadn’t felt such liberation for years. Not since the night he’d met Liam.

It had been freezing cold, he remembered that much. The radiators in the children’s home were old and useless, and anyway, the bastards who ran the place kept them off to save money. Will was crying in his bed, trying to get warm under a blanket. A blanket stained with his blood. Liam sat on the bed and asked him if he wanted to read a book together under the blanket, using a tiny torch he had.

He’d stopped crying. They soon became warm and fell asleep reading the book. From that night, they were inseparable. They shared moments of laughter together, and even some joyous times in the home. They also shared the horrors together, and both believed that it was the other who kept them alive. Ormond had thrown them a lifeline, but he also knew their secrets.

The house was grand, and a Mercedes was parked in the driveway.

They went past it and parked on the street. Still they didn’t speak. They’d become so adept at understanding what the other was thinking and feeling, that colleagues sometimes found it odd working with them.

That wasn’t their concern.