She moved away without meeting Michael’s eye. She did not want to look at him. Did not want to see his devastation. Reid’s death alone was hard to take; Sarah had genuinely loved the man. Combined with Michael’s undisguised pain, it became more than Sarah could take.

Worse still, though, was the thought that would not leave Sarah’s mind.

I did this. If I had just called Levy. If I had just mentioned Hirst as soon as I knew he was out.

The thought was a crushing mix of abject shame and guilt, on top of her grief. And it was a thought which she feared Michael must share.

Sarah was distracted from her own anguish by the sound of Michael placing his glass back onto the worktop. His gaze was fixed upon it, as if fascinated by the now-diminished liquid inside. Sarah knew better. Michael had retreated into himself. Into a dark place she could not hope to understand.

She felt the tears building again, threatening to overwhelm her. She blinked them away, looking around the room for something she could focus on. And as she did so it occurred to her that this was the very room in which she and Michael had first met, almost two years ago. That night it had been Sarah who had lost someone dear to her. Her own friend and mentor.

A shitty damn coincidence, she dully reflected.

‘Have Kevin Gilligan and Seth Neil been contacted?’

Michael did not look up from the glass as he spoke.

The names meant nothing to Sarah. She was not sure the question was for her.

‘I don’t know,’ she replied, the otherwise empty room satisfying her that Michael could be speaking to no one else. ‘I don’t know who those people are.’

‘They were the two prosecuting barristers in Hirst’s trial. They could be on his list.’

‘Right, OK. Yes, Joelle saw to that from Scotland Yard. She said that the prosecutors had been contacted and that their protection officers were on-site.’

Michael did not react to Sarah’s mention of protection officers. Instead he wiped the swelling tears from his eyes and spoke again.

‘They can’t go home. None of us can. Not until Hirst is caught.’

‘I don’t understand any of this, Michael.’ Sarah’s voice began to break. The loss of Reid – the whole situation – was hard to take. But combined with the threat to their own lives? It was close to impossible. ‘Why is Hirst doing this? To Derek? To us? You guys were on his side, for Christ’s sake. You defended him.’

‘You don’t need to know, Sarah. You don’t want to know.’

‘Maybe she doesn’t.’ The distinctive voice came from the kitchen doorway. It carried the slightest accent. One Michael had barely noticed until today. ‘But I do.’

Levy strode into Reid’s kitchen. It was not the ideal place for a conversation, with his body lying cold in the next room. And she was sure it was the last place either Sarah or Michael wanted to be. But with Michael now a potential target, a house crawling with cops had seemed the safest place for the moment. At least until she could get a protection detail sorted. For now, though, her priority was to get some answers.