‘In the moment it never crossed my mind. I know it should have. Yes, we were in plain clothes but Harland had been watching the scene. He must have known we were officers.’

‘Another assumption on your part, then?’

‘Yes, another damn assumption!’

Baxter paused and looked to McNair, as though questioning Dani’s sharpness. When he returned his focus to her, Dani held his glare.

‘Did you call for backup?’ he asked.

‘No. I was more intent on catching him.’

‘And you didn’t request Easton to call?’

‘No.’

Dani let out a long sigh and the conversation paused. She could see Baxter was mulling over something. When he came back with the next question it was simply more of the same, and the back and forth carried on in that way for another ten minutes, as Dani painstakingly talked through the events leading up to Harland’s death, and her actions in the aftermath.

Her tone with Baxter remained sharp and defensive, though beneath the surface she felt sorrow and guilt bubbling away over the fact that a man had lost his life. She wouldn’t let it out now.

When Dani was done with her explanation, McNair leaned over and whispered something in Baxter’s ear. He nodded, then turned back to Dani.

‘DI Stephens, we’re very appreciative of your time this morning. Do you have anything else you’d like to tell us before we consider next steps?’

‘Like what?’

‘Any mitigating circumstances or other issues that you think are relevant to this discussion, and that you’d like us to be aware of and to consider.’

‘Yeah, ok. How about that I wasn’t driving that damn truck? How about that I didn’t force Harland to run away from us, nor did I suggest or encourage or otherwise force him to run into the middle of a bloody dual carriageway? How—’

‘I’ll take your sarcasm as a no to my previous question. I understand you’ve recently returned to Force CID after an extended period of absence?’

‘Correct.’

Baxter studied her for a few moments, as though he couldn’t bring himself to open up the subject matter. He said nothing more, just waited for Dani to finish what he’d tried to start.

‘You want to know if my brother attempting to murder me, and the subsequent brain damage that I suffered, for which I’ve been sidelined from my job for two years, had any bearing on my actions yesterday. Have you any idea how ludicrous that sounds?’

‘I’ll take that as another no,’ Baxter said. ‘Ok, well if there’s nothing more?’

‘There’s nothing.’

‘We’ll need a while to consider.’

Dani huffed and got up from the chair. McNair escorted her outside as though Dani had no clue where her desk was located anymore.

‘Don’t go anywhere,’ McNair said to Dani before heading back into her office.