Kash did not glance towards Draper. Instead he kept Michael’s eye.

‘When’d it stop, then?’ The voice was deeper. The accent more pronounced. ‘When’d you stop believing?’

Draper looked from Michael to Kash. Then back to Michael. It was clear she could not understand what she was witnessing.

‘Later than I should have,’ Michael replied. ‘But I’ve had a lot going on.’

‘So it seems.’ Kash nodded towards Michael’s injuries. ‘So what did Darren’s brief tell you?’

‘He told me everything. No reason not to, not now Darren has pleaded and you’re out. He told me that you did it all.’

Kash smirked.

‘And he told me that O’Driscoll’s terrified of you. That all along he was only willing to fight the case if it didn’t hurt your chances. That everything was to help you, no matter what you said about O’Driscoll or how the evidence would reflect on him.’

Kash shrugged. As if what Michael was describing was only right. Pure arrogance in every movement.

Michael continued.

‘And he said that once O’Driscoll had no chance – once he knew he was getting convicted – he instructed his lawyers to do whatever they could to get you out.’

Kash chuckled to himself throughout Michael’s answer and laughed aloud when it finished. He nodded his head as he spoke again.

‘Yeah. That all sounds about right.’

‘Simon, you can’t . . .’ Draper was lost for words. ‘Michael . . .’

‘Don’t worry yourself about it, love.’ Kash mimicked Draper’s hand-touch as he spoke. ‘Cleverer people than you have bought into that act.’

Kash returned his attention to Michael.

‘You know, I thought you’d sussed things on Friday, truth be told.’

‘I had my suspicions,’ Michael replied. ‘But like I said. Distractions. So it wasn’t until this morning that it fell into place. Why O’Driscoll would ride you out of this. Why Matt Cole failed to attack Colliver properly, because it would have meant attacking you. And why Colliver reacted the way he did when I suggested you were bullied. Why he said for the first time on Friday that it was you he was afraid of, and then suddenly clammed up when he was about to say more. That’s because he caught your eye, right? You broke the act for a moment and stared him down, didn’t you. Just none of us got to see it.’

Kash slowly clapped his hands in response.

‘Good guess, Mr Devlin.’ Kash said the final two words with as much disrespect as he could manage. ‘Yeah, those few months inside gave Colliver the guts to tell the truth, to save his own skin. But I always knew he’d be less brave once he could see me across a courtroom. That he’d be less willing to tell everything. Then you got under that skin and he started blurting things out, so yeah, Little Simon had to take his eyes off the floor for a bit. With all eyes on him, though, none of you lot even noticed.’