‘Of course I want you there, but it’s better if I do it on my own. It’s selfish of me, but I think I’ll keep it together better if I’m on my own. Besides, I don’t want you facing Ian Burton,’ she told Kate.

‘Oh, Kelly, you know I’d love to face Ian Burton, on my own, in a cell, with a rusty piece of metal,’ Kate replied.

‘That’s what I mean,’ Kelly said. They laughed. ‘We’re looking good. But I’ve said that before,’ she added, alluding to the fact that, in a courtroom, the truth didn’t always prevail. She took the conversation back to the case. They’d all seen bastards walk free, or get shorter terms than they deserved. Equally, they’d all seen Mrs Miggins get three years for fuck all. It made no sense sometimes, police work. Mrs Miggins was police jargon for busybodies who stymied the whole criminal justice system. They brought 10 per cent of criminals to trial, and most of those didn’t get what was merited. As soon as an investigation left the confines of the office at Eden House, in Penrith, and was passed to lawyers and barristers, crime took on a new life form. It turned into an entirely different beast, and it was out of their hands.

For her lover of almost five years to travel so far to that side of the law made her blood boil. But they shared a child. And she missed him. That was what really disturbed her today.

‘Just remember my ex is a dickhead too. We all have one.’ Kate’s ex-husband, Derek, had left the family home after twenty-odd years.

‘Did you see the papers this morning?’ Kelly asked.

‘Yup, absolute bollocks,’ Kate said.

The headlines had run with Johnny’s noble commitment to PTSD charities and how Ian Burton had dedicated his life to the military, for queen and country. The problem was that the prosecution, in going after a soldier who suffered undoubtedly with mental health issues, came across in the media as unfeeling twats. The fact that Ian Burton was warped in the head before he ever touched a uniform was irrelevant. If they even suggested that Ian Burton was damaged goods, then the human rights card was played, and plastered all over the news. It didn’t really matter how loudly they argued that not all ex-soldiers damaged by war turned into serial killers. Whichever way you looked at it, Ian Burton was a victim and his targets were scum convicts, so who cared?