‘Probably got a girlfriend already,’ she told herself. She hadn’t spied a wedding ring on his finger, but it seemed unlikely that he wouldn’t have a partner of some sort.

Her thoughts were interrupted in the corridor outside, when she encountered Lee Gaskin.

He’d just come in through the personnel door, having also been involved in the stake-out for the Creep, though in his case up at Cotehill Crescent. As usual with officers unused to working anything other than daytime shifts, which was Robbery Squad’s normal form, he looked sallow-cheeked and drained. But he carried his firearms jacket over his shoulder, revealing the brown leather strap across his chest, and the Glock still holstered under his right armpit.

‘Well, well,’ he said, in his usual sneering tone. ‘If it isn’t Jane Bond herself. More crazy hi-jinks? I guess we’re just lucky your pretty little face didn’t get messed up this time.’

‘You could have been there to make sure of it,’ she replied. ‘But as usual, you weren’t.’

His eyes, already bleary with fatigue, narrowed. ‘But I suppose where we’re really lucky is that no one got badly hurt … none of our lot, I mean. Because that’s your usual style, isn’t it?’

Suddenly, the weight of the hour began to tell. Not to mention the physical and emotional strain Lucy had put herself under for the arrest. In any case, one thing she couldn’t stand was gobshites blundering into situations they had totally and utterly misread.

‘Take a fucking hike, Lee.’ She tried to step around him. ‘You’re the last idiot I need at this time of night.’

To her surprise, he slid sideways, blocking her path and leaning into her face.

‘You what?’ His voice was genuinely aggressive, his breath rancid with cigarette smoke. ‘You think because you got lucky tonight, you’re entitled to use my first name? You think we’re equals?’

‘Oh … stop acting,’ she said, tiredly.

‘Acting?’

‘What was Mandy Doyle, Lee … your mother, your missus? Like I say, stop acting.’

‘Don’t get cocky with me, you little bitch.’

‘Oy!’ a voice bellowed. Danny Tucker had just emerged from the Custody Suite and overheard. ‘What’s going on?’

Gaskin’s belligerent expression sagged. ‘Nothing to do with you, this, sarge … it’s personal.’

‘The hell it’s nothing to do with me!’ Tucker stalked towards them.

‘It’s okay, Danny,’ Lucy said. ‘DC Gaskin’s just letting his mummy issues get the better of him.’

‘Fucking bitch!’ Gaskin pushed her.

Now Tucker leapt between them, shoving Gaskin backward.

‘For Christ’s sake, Dan!’ Gaskin pleaded, seeming surprised by the intervention. ‘Don’t tell me she’s fooled you an’ all?’

‘What the hell’s going on?’ Tucker demanded.

‘Are you seriously telling me you don’t know how much of a fucking liability this one can be?’

Tucker looked baffled. ‘She did a job and a half for us tonight!’