‘I think I’d like to go and spend a little while with my daughter. Would you stick around in case there is any news on the Sergeant?’

‘Of course. And I’ll come and get you if I hear anything, either about Joseph or from the station.’

As Nikki walked the long corridors to HDU, she saw Frankie Doyle’s wicked eyes in every other person she passed. There was no doubt now that she had fully intended to kill Hannah. As it was, committing her to a long, living death must have been even more deliciously satisfying for her twisted ego. Nikki bit back tears. Sadly, the bitch had been right. Maybe it would have been easier to die out there in the cattle market than to keep living the sort of life she had now. If Hannah had died, she would have buried her, then grieved, and finally, as everyone has to, moved on with her life. But the night she spiked Hannah’s drink Frankie Doyle had committed them both to limbo.

At the door of Hannah’s room, she stopped. Through the window she could see a nurse carefully washing her daughter’s face. Hannah seemed to be awake, her eyes were open, but there was no interaction with the woman that was caring for her. There never was.

Nikki swallowed back the sob that was rising in her throat. How could she go in there and sit with her child? How could she talk inanely to her, knowing that the woman who put her there was still very much alive and had just cold-bloodedly knifed her colleague?

She remained at the door, looking in for a moment or two more, then turned and walked slowly back down the corridor. She couldn’t face her. Not today.

As she walked, she decided that Joseph was right. Everything regarding the treatment of Frankie Doyle had to be carried out by the book. There should be no legal loophole that she could squeeze through. But could she do it? The punishment meted out by the judges didn’t always reflect the severity of the crime, and Nikki wasn’t sure that she wanted to leave that judgement to chance.

Frankie Doyle was going to pay, one way or another.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

IT WAS JUST before eleven when Nikki and Dave walked slowly across the deserted hospital car park to their vehicle.

‘Straight back to the station, ma’am?’ asked Dave with a yawn.

‘Yeah. I just hope to God they get hold of all that white stuff and the scum that were about to make a fortune out of it.’

‘They will, ma’am,’ said Dave confidently as he unlocked the car. ‘I know there wasn’t much time to organize such a massive operation, but those specialist units really know their job.’