‘I suppose they’ll look under every rock. Everybody will be guilty until proven innocent. I won’t be allowed into the office except for interview, and that goes for the whole team.’

‘What about cases?’

‘They’ll be handed to other teams, perhaps in Lancaster, maybe in Barrow or Carlisle.’

‘You’ll be popular.’

‘Especially at Christmas.’

‘It’s almost time to get a tree.’

She smiled. She knew what he was doing and she allowed herself to be distracted. Christmas was going to be tough. It was her first one without her mother. Memories of last year flooded back and she fiddled with the ring Johnny had given her. The rubies were blood red, but she’d seen so much blood over the last week that she’d become almost immune. The pool around Adam Cotton had become an oil slick for the medics and uniforms to slip around in as they’d tried to save him.

She slumped her head onto Johnny’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

‘What will happen to the Watson boy?’

‘I don’t know. I think it’s quite clear what happened, but with what he’s been through and Liam not budging from his story that he got in between them, it could be a surprise. He’ll be dealt with in juvenile court, and he’s got no previous. There are also huge mitigating circumstances.’

‘We should be celebrating you cracking both cases. What happened to Ormond?’

‘Counter-Corruption will find him; it’s their problem now. I just hope he hasn’t got a contingency plan to get him off the hook. With the solicitor’s testimony, as well as the links to organised crime, I can’t think of any scenarios that would save him now. I wonder if he’s done a runner. He’s been getting away with it for so long now that to lose it all would be devastating. How does a man like that go from king of the jungle to nothing?’

‘His pride will definitely take a bashing, but people like that usually lie anyway, and go down crying their innocence. They’re in permanent denial.’

Kelly saw June and Amber turn the corner and rush towards them. They both stood up and the four of them embraced, exchanging updates and answering questions.

‘Can we see him?’

‘Not yet. I think he should be back from his MRI and they’ll have to look at it.’

‘We watched the riot on TV.’

‘I think a lot of people did.’

A man in a white coat walked down the corridor and smiled at them.

‘This is Dad’s consultant,’ Kelly said. She introduced June and Amber.