‘Yeah, but that’s not the point.’ He frowned, in some way disappointed with himself. ‘We still didn’t catch the bastards, did we? No matter how many others we put away. Going back to Lee, he was doing an apprenticeship when Tony died. A plumber, I think he set out to be. Only a young lad, but … a devastating blow, obviously. Put him on a new course in life. Brought him into the job, where he’s been pretty … well, zealous would be one word.’

‘Yeah,’ Lucy said under her breath.

Suddenly, things were a lot more explainable to her.

One dead cop who was very, very close to Lee Gaskin and then a nearly dead cop who was close enough to him. Clearly, they were indivisible in his mind. And those responsible, the unknown killer of Tony Gaskin and the cop whose negligence almost caused the death of Mandy Doyle, were near enough one and the same. It was a delusion on Gaskin’s part, Lucy realised. A big one. But at least his attitude was now understandable, even if not excusable.

‘Best solution’s just to stay out of his way,’ Tucker said. ‘Kathy likes there to be a good atmosphere in the team. No personal issues, if you know what I mean.’

Lucy was intrigued to hear him talk as if she was already a permanent attachment to the Squad: was that something he hoped would happen, or was he actually party to conversations that had been held?

‘Well … you’re done with me now, anyway, aren’t you?’ she said.

Tucker smiled. ‘We’re done with you?’

‘I mean we got our man. You’ve no further use for me.’

‘Well … you’re right, we got him.’ He raised his glass in an impromptu toast. ‘Everything else about today is unimportant compared to that.’

They sipped together.

Rather dolefully, he added: ‘Whether we’ve got any more use for you depends on whether the brass have any further use for us.’

Lucy thought again about the shadow hanging over them. ‘Surely, if the Squad does get discontinued, you’ll all get good gigs elsewhere?’

He shrugged. ‘You’d like to think so. But I reckon we’ve got a good set-up here. I mean, when we were the Manchester Robbery Squad, it was better. We had more manpower, more resources. We took some big teams down. But we’re doing all right here too.’ He nodded across the room to where the current major op was in progress. ‘Kathy’s been tracking this Saturday Street mob. They’re real heavyweights. If we pull them in, especially after serving the Creep up to West Mids … well, it’ll show what we’re capable of.’