Lucy saw Stan Beardmore crossing the hospital car park towards her. The truth was, she wasn’t sure whether she was going home or not. She glanced at the Mondeo she’d taken from the CID car pool earlier. She supposed she’d been about to get into it, but Mick Shallicker had only dropped her off two minutes ago, and she was still in a daze.

‘I’m sorry, Stan … what?’

‘I said, are you going home?’

‘Erm … maybe.’

‘And maybe not.’ He seemed uncharacteristically flustered. ‘I’m sorry about this, Luce, but none of us are going home yet.’

‘Okay …’

‘You’ve heard there’s been another shooting?’

‘Erm … no.’

‘It’s almost certainly a sequel to the one at the restaurant. Gunshots reported in the vicinity of the bus station, no actual details. But the firearms unit who were on their way here have now been diverted there.’

‘Okay …’

‘You all right?’

Lucy was still so fazed by the revelations of the last few hours, and the new round of subterfuge it would plunge her into, that the full gravity of the DI’s words hadn’t yet struck home.

‘Yeah, sure … it’s just been a long day.’

‘Well, like I say, we’ve no firearms on the plot at present, so I’m getting extra uniforms in to cover the hospital perimeter. I could use you too, so get it together. Come on then.’

She hadn’t noticed that he was already walking back towards the hospital. She followed him, trying to put everything else out of her mind, though it wasn’t easy.

‘I thought it’d kick off as soon as I heard it was McCracken who’d been shot,’ he said.

‘Have you let Mr Mullany know?’ Lucy asked. Chief Superintendent Charles Mullany was November Division’s overall commander.

‘I have,’ Beardmore confirmed. ‘For all the bloody use he’ll be.’

‘Should help us get everyone mobilised more quickly.’

‘Yeah, when he eventually gets here.’

They rounded the corner of the building. It was vaguely disconcerting, now that Lucy knew what was happening, to see no police presence in front of the Intensive Care entrance.

‘Brentwood and Tooley are checking the other doors,’ Beardmore said, as though reading her thoughts. ‘This place is a sieve in security terms. At least one of them’s coming back here at the first opportunity, though, to give you support. In the meantime, go through into ICU. It’s got an internal security door, which works. You don’t have to let anyone in you don’t like the look of.’

‘Is there a way through to IC from other parts of the hospital?’ Lucy asked.

‘Yeah, but, like I say, we’re currently making sure everything’s locked down.’

They entered by the main door and walked through the waiting area, passing the chairs where Lucy had held her tense conflab with Cora.