He ignored her. ‘All the dark, wet streets I’ve worked, all the kickings I’ve taken. And what have I got to show for it, eh? I’m skint, my ex-wife hates me, my kids don’t know me, my bosses don’t trust me. Doesn’t matter how good I once was, I’m nothing now but an embarrassment. Well …’ he hawked and spat, ‘you may be shot of me now. But don’t get too cosy, ladies. Because there are lots more like me, and they’re all wondering why the fuck they ever bothered.’

The arrest team, finally irritated, manhandled him away.

Blake took her helmet off, unravelling her sweaty mane. ‘I wish I had a cash prize for every bastard I’ve arrested so up his own arse that he genuinely believed he was only the tip of an iceberg.’

‘I doubt Harry believes any such thing, ma’am,’ Lucy replied. ‘He’s just doing what he always does, trying to justify bad behaviour … none too impressively.’

‘Are you hurt, yourself, DC Clayburn?’

Lucy touched her face. ‘No, ma’am. It’s nothing.’

‘By the sounds of it, you’ve had a trying day?’

‘Well … yeah.’ Though somewhere in the back of her mind, Lucy couldn’t help wondering how the DI was aware of all this.

‘Unfortunately, I can’t let you go home to get some rest. You need to come back to Robber’s Row so we can try to make sense of all this.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ Lucy nodded. ‘I’d like to go to the hospital first … just to see my mother get settled in.’

‘That’s fine. But come back to the station straight after.’

Blake didn’t dally further. She moved away to join a conversation going on alongside the BMW, promptly directing several of the officers to drive over to the Shed, speak to the Low Riders, and take statements from them.

Good luck with that, Lucy thought to herself.

And then something else distracted her.

Beyond the fence separating the farmland from Hallgate Lane, an ambulance had arrived. But it wasn’t that; it was the vehicle that had pulled away to make room for it. Lucy couldn’t be sure, she’d only caught a fleeting glimpse, but it had looked distinctly like a black Bentley Continental.

Chapter 44

When Lucy came out of the Intensive Care wing, it was close on midnight, and the car park was quieter and emptier than during the daytime. Lights were on in the hospital grounds, and just around the corner at A&E, she could hear a vague commotion as the Friday night furore commenced, but at this section of the building, the only movement came from the last leaves as they fell from the November trees.