‘Yes,’ Lucy admitted, wondering if they were coming to the crux of it. Had someone overheard her conversation with her father, and did they all now know her dirty little secret? ‘But he was out of it … hadn’t really come around from the anaesthetic.’

‘Say anything interesting?’

‘Not really. Congratulated me on standing up to his boss. Said that he’d probably only turned up to check on an injured friend.’

It was only a partial lie, but again something inside Lucy twisted, left her feeling depressed as well as worried about the strange, intangible world she’d somehow slipped into, this limbo between law and disorder.

Nehwal nodded, seeming to accept this. ‘He didn’t say anything about who he thought might have shot him?’

‘Nothing like that, ma’am. I’d have reported that already.’

The DSU munched more toast. ‘I might as well put you in the picture fully. Something happened in the early hours of this morning, which, frankly, only an idiot would not connect to the McCracken shooting. A stolen bus was found burning on wasteland down near the old Bleachworks. You know that place?’

Lucy nodded. ‘The bottom end of the Aggies. Where the colliery used to be.’

‘That’s right. Well, the Fire Brigade managed to put it out, but inside they found two male bodies. The bus driver, and another one whom we’ve now identified as a former police officer called Miles O’Grady.’

Lucy shook her head. ‘Don’t know him.’

‘He was dismissed several years ago on corruption charges. Been working as a private eye ever since. The main thing is, it seems that he was in possession of an unlicensed firearm, which might very well be the same weapon that fired those shots into McCracken and his girlfriend. It’s currently undergoing tests. More important, though, Lucy, especially where you’re concerned, is that, though the post mortems haven’t been completed yet, and it’ll take a bit of time as the bodies were badly charred, there’s a clear indication that both men were garrotted with some kind of neck-wire.’

Lucy sat up sharply, but Nehwal was still talking.

‘Now, is it my imagination or did you say something to me on the phone yesterday about one of the dead dogs you found on the landfill having been garrotted with wire?’

‘I did say that,’ Lucy replied. ‘A few of them, in fact. Ma’am, does this mean—’