Hari and I stared at each other across the room, I could not believe he was once the friend I had known, the ideal of a trusted cop, looked up to by everyone who worked under him. He was an inspector now, my superior officer in theory and reality, but his special duties had made him look like a dishevelled, dissolute wreck, a transgressor. As the voice downstairs broke off, Hari shrugged as if to indicate he heard something like that every night. Still neither of us moved. I was aware I was only a single step away from the top of the stairs, that if Hari made a rush at me I should fall or be knocked backwards. But to move forward would seem to be initiating something.

As the microphone downstairs rattled back into its stand, Hari said: ‘Are you here because my wife sent you? Do you still work with her?’

‘No – she doesn’t know. No one knows. We’re both on the force, but I never see her. We agreed not to meet when other people were around, remember?’

‘And you can arrange that?’

‘She’s senior management. We stay clear of each other.’

From below, a thudding drum beat, a jangling electric guitar. The sound of the band exploded into the room. A vocalist started shouting la-la-la sounds in time with the music. The building resonated with bass notes.

I pulled the gun from the deep pocket of my trainer pants, releasing the safety in the same motion. I held it in my right hand, pointing at Hari. It was not how I had imagined it would be. Hari swung the baseball bat above his shoulders, stepped with shocking speed towards me. There was no doubt what he would do if he reached me. We were about three metres apart. I pulled the trigger.

Even drowned by the sound of the rock music, the gun’s discharge sounded loud. The weapon jerked in my hand, wrenching my weak shoulder. I missed! Hari was almost on me!

I took the gun in both hands, fired again at close range, no time to aim. This time I hit him in the shoulder, pushing him violently backwards and away from me, spinning him around, making him fall. The baseball bat twisted in the air and landed on the floor.

Hari doubled up in pain, but he was trying to crawl, squirming across the floor towards the top of the stairs. He was yelling.