‘I’ve googled it and it’s all over social media,’ he said. ‘Look.’ He linked his computer to the whiteboard, and clips, videos and news items came up on screen. The TV in the incident room was on silent for most of the time, when they were ordinarily going about their daily tasks, but when a major inquiry caught the attention of the press, they turned it up. Rob switched to local news, and sure enough, the raids and arrests on the estate were being reported.

‘Jesus,’ Kelly said.

More officers came into the incident room and they watched in amazement as events unfolded. Much of the footage looked as though it had been shot on mobile phones and showed terrified residents running away. Images from an overhead helicopter revealed a large crowd surrounding police.

‘Who authorised this?’ Kelly was fuming. She clenched her fists and an uneasy feeling settled under her ribcage. She knew the answer before Rob confirmed it with a phone call.

‘Op Eagle was authorised by Superintendent Ormond, guv.’

Kelly marched out of the office and dialled Ormond’s number furiously. She barely let him finish his formal greeting.

‘Sir, I’m hearing reports of a disastrous operation on the Beacon Estate of which I had no knowledge.’

‘Yes, Kelly. It was purely an operational pincer movement to garner more information. Unfortunately, a mob gathered and our officers were quickly outnumbered.’

‘Sir?’ Kelly’s blood boiled.

‘Armed Response defused the situation and we’ve made several arrests. We were after certain characters associated with the gang responsible for the most serious crime in the area. In fact, we think—’

‘With absolute respect, sir.’ Kelly spoke with her teeth locked together. She felt like punching him. ‘With respect, sir, I’m the SIO on this case. I could have given context. Which characters exactly?’

‘I don’t know names; you’ll have to talk to the operations sergeant. They were supplied by reliable intel from drug surveillance.’

‘Drug surveillance, sir? These are suspects likely to have committed both murders. We’ve been examining CCTV all day and now you’ve gone and thrown me under a bus.’

She remembered who she was speaking to and closed her eyes. Shit. For the first time since she’d been back in Cumbria, she regretted her decision to leave London. This was a man twenty years her senior in experience, and now she wondered how he wiped his own arse. Was it still possible, in 2018, to have such incompetence on the force? His arrogance staggered her.

To her amazement, he didn’t reprimand her. He was in too deep because of his relationship with the Watsons. She realised she felt sorry for him.

‘Sir, could I have the name of the operations sergeant in charge? I need to correlate Op Eagle with my own investigation. I can’t work on the periphery.’