‘Wait! Fabian, don’t do anything stupid, please, I’m begging you. Let me come in; we’ll take George in and he can explain everything.’ As she was talking, she indicated to the ART in front of her that he should get on to his commander and make preparations for going in. She used common signals learned by all commanders to communicate. They were military in origin, and universal. He nodded and got on his radio. Meanwhile, she tried to keep Fabian on the phone. She was aware of the danger, and communicated to the ART her belief that at least one of the men inside the flat was armed. He walked to his colleague and they spoke into their jackets. She tried to shut the noise of the radio out of her head and concentrated on keeping Fabian talking.

She racked her brain to try to piece together the facts of what she knew to see if she’d missed the opportunity to arrest Vivienne Kennedy-Craig, and she also considered the possibility that Fabian was lying.

‘Why did he agree to it?’ she asked him. She already knew the answer.

‘His daughter,’ he said.

Fabian told her about Vivienne’s promise. She understood. Vivienne had manipulated a desperate father. ‘Did you know?’ she whispered.

There was a pause and she barely heard his answer.

‘No,’ he breathed.

Either he was an extremely good liar, or he was telling the truth. This time she couldn’t tell the difference. Usually she took great pride in reading people’s body signals when she was looking for clues they weren’t being truthful. But she couldn’t see his body. She watched as the ARTs advanced back up the stairs and held her breath. The radio crackled and she held her hand over the mouthpiece of her phone.

The line went dead as she heard the splintering of wood and the breaking of a heavy plastic door, and the shouts of six men as they threatened those inside with lethal force if they didn’t cooperate.

Kelly swallowed. It was times like these that were potentially career-ending moments. All she could do was pace from foot to foot as the noises drew a small crowd together behind her and she retreated to the stairwell, away from the journalist who was refusing to leave, but continuing to film the fuss.

A single shot rang out in the dead grey sky and Kelly’s attention zoned upwards, towards the balcony, from where it had come.

Chapter 60

Inside the flat, George lay on the floor, on his front, prone and tied by the hands. Blood poured from his leg and he cried in pain. One officer went to the two girls and tried to stop them screaming, another arrested Fabian Kennedy-Craig and read him his rights. Kelly ran along the balcony and entered the flat, surveying the scene and assessing the status of the two girls.

‘Fucking hell!’ one of them screamed.