‘I wouldn’t want to do that, anyway.’ He was still studying the ceiling tiles.

‘Now, about your own adult children.’ She looked through the document in front of her.

‘I haven’t had any direct contact with them since their mother died.’

Leticia read a little further. ‘They were brought up by your sister-in-law.’

‘That’s what I heard,’ he said. ‘She hasn’t spoken to me either.’

‘Now, since you’ve asked if you can make contact with them, we’ve tried to find out whether they are agreeable. As far as your daughter Susan is concerned the answer is no, I’m afraid. We weren’t able to find out where your son is living.’

‘Right.’

‘It would show considerable maturity on your part if you respected her wishes. It would look good on your rehabilitation plan.’

‘Right.’ He was inspecting his fingernails now.

‘There are some additional conditions here about the use of the Internet, which I want you to read. I can’t stress enough the fact that if you breach any of these regulations, even once, you will be called back to prison immediately. There will be no second chances.’

He leaned forward. ‘So what about these death threats? Vigilantes threatening to kill me. I need twenty-four-hour protection.’

Leticia had expected this question. ‘I think you’ve been told that won’t happen.’

‘So you’ll just let them murder me?’

She stared at him and choked back a retort. It would be no more than you deserve. She took a deep breath and said: ‘Look, you should get this in perspective. You are not a gangland supergrass and the vigilantes are hardly professionals. Besides, we’ve gone to enormous trouble to give you a new identity, and put you into a new location. Keeping your identity secret is mainly down to you. The evidence is clear that in most cases where a new identity was broken it was because of carelessness or boasting by the offender. My advice is, be cautious. However tempting it is, don’t get drunk or stoned. Stay off the spice.’

‘Are you finished?’ He folded his arms.

‘We’ll never be finished,’ Leticia said. ‘You were sentenced to life imprisonment, and you are released now only under strict licence. That means we can call you back even twenty years from now. We’ll be watching you, every step of the way.’

‘Is that right, pet?’ The murderer turned his gaze on her. Now she felt the coldness of those small dark goblin eyes. A momentary shiver ran down her spine, as if someone had just walked on her grave. The evil was there, all right, well-hidden but unreformed, disguised with the aid of the public purse. Suddenly repulsed, she couldn’t get out of there fast enough. What on earth were she and her colleagues doing, letting this man loose on British streets?

Chapter Fifteen