It was only a few minutes later when Verity called Leticia into her office. She seemed to be in a good mood, and the young probation officer couldn’t help but link it to the incident with PC Wickens.

‘Take a seat. Can I get you a coffee?’ Leticia watched her boss head off to the kitchen. It was quite unlike Verity to offer coffee to a subordinate. Although she was only one rung above Leticia, Verity radiated self-importance. But it was certainly true that she had an enormous caseload of her own, in addition to supervising her three direct reports.

‘I just wanted to check that everything has gone according to plan with Wright,’ she went on as she brought in two mugs and closed the door.

‘Yes, everything went fine. DI Morgan has got him a house, rather better than I think he deserves. All the practical arrangements seem to be in hand.’

‘You met Wright yesterday, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. He seemed quite ordinary, at first.’

Verity nodded. ‘They often do. We always assume we can spot evil, but we can’t. I’ve no need to remind you how important it is that we keep him on a short leash. I want you to continue to make it clear to him that every part of the conditions of his release under licence must be observed without exception. A single violation will result in him being sent straight back to a category A prison, not the cushy number he is on now.’

‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Of course.’ Her pale green eyes locked on to Leticia’s, alert.

‘Why didn’t you take the Rollason case yourself? You’ve got all the experience.’

‘Jill offered it to me. But there were organisational reasons. You’ll know soon enough why.’ Verity put a reassuring hand on her arm. But even when the hand was gone, it felt like it was still there, chilling her blood, an image delineated in goosebumps.

‘Now, I understand that DI Morgan has arranged for him to have a dumb phone, without Internet. They’ll give it to him at the gatehouse as he leaves Spring Hill.’

‘Morgan did mention that, yes.’