Superintendent Rick Bainbridge peered at her over thin wire-rimmed glasses. ‘Come in. Sit down.’

His icy tone spoke volumes. She walked across the room to the waiting chair, drawing in a long, slow breath and preparing herself for the onslaught.

‘Know what these are?’ In one hand the Super held a thick pile of reports, each of which he carefully placed, one after the other, like giant playing cards, on his desk.

‘Fan mail?’

‘You know it bloody isn’t! And this is no joke anymore.’ He threw the remaining papers down. ‘Complaints, Nikki! Damned complaints!’ He sat back in his chair and shook his head. ‘And this time I’m not sure whether I’ve got the energy or the inclination to try to bale you out.’

Nikki opened her mouth to reply, but decided against it. Better to let him rant for a bit. He’d cool down eventually; he always did.

‘I’ll be frank with you, Nikki. I’m running out of detectives who will work with you. And, considering the fact that you get more arrests than the rest of the bloody teams put together, that is one ridiculous situation to be in.’

‘Dave and I get along, sir.’

‘Dave Harris is uniform. He’s not a detective, and he’s only tagging along with you because he’s too damned lazy to get his finger out and do some proper police work.’

‘Well, it wasn’t my fault that DS Salter decided to move to the West Country.’

The Super glared at her. ‘It was, and you know it! And she’s still not sure if Truro is actually far enough away.’

‘Unfortunate clash of personalities, sir.’

The Super’s eyes rolled up towards the ceiling. ‘Oh please! This is not a game! Now, will you just cut the snide comments and wake up to the fact that this time …’ he slammed his fist down on the desk, ‘… this time, it’s serious.’

Nikki blinked, and felt a jolt of concern. This wasn’t following the usual pattern. She looked up, and saw an uncharacteristic mixture of concern, anger and frustration on that familiar craggy face.

‘There’s no easy way to say this, but top brass are talking about disciplinary action.’

‘What!’ Nikki’s jaw dropped. ‘Oh, sir! I know my methods are bit extreme sometimes, but Jesus, we have to get the dealers off the streets! You know this area is overrun with drugs, you can’t just pussyfoot around with these villains. I just play them at their own game, hit them where it hurts, and I get results! Good results! You know that, sir.’