He forced a chuckle. ‘You’ve just met Wild Bill. Do you want to reconsider that statement?’

Suddenly, she was too weary to argue further. ‘I don’t have to say anything straight away.’

‘So I get a head-start? Good, that’s something. Question is, will it be sufficient to get your mum to a place of safety?’

‘Oh, now … don’t give me that.’

‘Don’t give you what? If they can’t get me, who do you think they’ll go after instead?’

‘That’s bollocks.’

‘You reckon? There’s no point going after Charlie. From what I’ve overheard, she’ll be in here a lot longer than me. Might as well be the next woman in my life.’

‘You’re a lying bastard!’

‘The truth is, Lucy –’ he gave her a frank but hollow stare ‘– I don’t know whether they will or won’t. But you’ve got to consider the possibility.’

‘If it comes down to it, I’ll protect Mum.’

‘Yeah. You and that army of lads who suddenly won’t trust you any more.’

‘I’m not debating it with you.’ She stormed from the room.

‘There won’t be any debate,’ he called after her, wincing again. ‘There won’t be time for that.’

Chapter 34

He hadn’t been a bobby for very long, but this was undoubtedly the worst job that Malcolm Peabody had ever been allocated. It wasn’t so much the stench of the landfill, cloying though it was – to an extent, he’d acclimatised to that by now. Or the all-pervading darkness – he had the torch that Lucy had brought him. Or even the loneliness; he’d been posted out here now, alongside the dog-pit, for ten hours, and hadn’t seen or heard from a living soul – but that was often a copper’s lot.

It was the boredom.

Sitting around waiting for something to happen was not exactly unusual in police work. But most officers, if they were on an obbo or stakeout, would try to get on with some paperwork, or study for their next exam. But neither of those options was available at present. He’d tried playing games on his phone but had soon become worried by how quickly it was running the battery down. As his radio battery was already out of juice, if he lost the phone as well he’d be completely cut off out here.

Of course, all this had been exacerbated enormously, because he’d been due to finish at three o’clock, but at five-to had received a phone-call from the night shift duty officer, Inspector Robertson, who’d told him that they couldn’t spare anyone for another couple of hours as there’d been major incidents across the division.

‘Thanks for this, Lucy,’ he muttered as he wandered up and down on trampled garbage, his feet occasionally crunching through into soft, stagnant mulch. ‘Now I’m here till five.’