Kelly nodded and turned to her computer to begin the tedious task of filling in an incident form. This one would be longer than usual. She’d already chatted to the AAIB and told them everything they needed to get started. How the hell they were supposed to lift a helicopter off the top of Scafell Pike was beyond her, and it could take weeks to get the right equipment up there. The human tragedy of the day hit her and she fell silent as she filled in the information. Names, ranks, actions all had to be accounted for in the event of a public inquiry and, given that one of the casualties was a cabinet minister, she couldn’t leave anything out. This story would run and run.

Kate came back into the room with two mugs and placed one next to her. She yawned again.

‘So, is Johnny staying up at Wasdale?’ Kate asked.

Kelly appreciated her friend trying to keep her awake. She nodded and sipped her coffee.

‘It was weird. We didn’t really talk, but it was like we were still together. You know, we acted like a team. It was comforting in one way, but in another, so fucking irritating. I think he felt as though he’d proven something to me.’

‘Like you can’t live without him?’

‘Or work without him.’

Kate rolled her eyes.

‘It was his decision to work with the defence team. From what I saw inside Highton prison, there’s no excuse for what Ian Burton did. He and his father controlled everything inside that prison, and to suggest that Ian did it because he was traumatised makes a mockery out of people who really suffer with PTSD. Soldiers don’t go around killing people just because they’re pissed off with what they saw in Iraq.’

Kate’s anger bubbled up to the surface and Kelly realised that if she ever took Johnny back into her life, it would be very difficult to explain it to her friend. It was helpful to have friends who were so sure of their morals. Kelly and her second in command rarely disagreed about human beings. Sometimes good people did bad things. Everybody made mistakes. But that was why the law accounted for the difference between murder and manslaughter. What Ian Burton did to his victims wasn’t accidental, and he wasn’t insane.

Chapter 17