‘I think I’ll pass on that one, thanks,’ she replied. ‘More like he thinks you’ll go easy on him if he looks smart.’

‘Who knows what a man like that is thinking. Probably best we don’t know. Have you got all the details you need?’ Hayley nodded. The detectives did the easy part – a brief interview where they would check he hadn’t moved house and that they had an up-to-date telephone number, and where they would ask if he was adhering to whatever conditions had been set for him. Hayley’s part was then to make sure it was updated on PNC that he had attended. If she didn’t, an arrest warrant was generated automatically.

‘I have. I’ll make sure he’s updated. Unless you tell me someone will kick his door in at 3 a.m. if I don’t! Then I might be tempted to let it slip my mind …’

The detective smiled. ‘More like I would have a shitty email from someone very senior by the morning and a lot of paperwork to do. I’d much rather you saved me the trouble if it’s all the same with you.’

‘Fine. You win!’

A wink and he was gone. Hayley turned to where she could still see the tall figure hurrying away from her police station. It was a long walk to the pavement. He made it now and turned left. He had his hands thrust in his pocket and his chin dug into his collar like he was feeling the cold. A street lamp spluttered to life like it had been waiting for him.

‘He gives me the creeps,’ she said.

‘That’s because you know what he’s done. That’s enough to give anyone the creeps,’ Gary replied.

‘Even if I didn’t there’s something about him. Someone like that shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets a free man.’

‘He’s monitored, don’t forget,’ Gary scoffed. ‘That’s how he gets to walk free. He comes in here, they ask him if he’s behaving, he tells them what they want to hear and off he goes.’

‘System’s a joke,’ Hayley agreed.

‘You don’t think he is then? Behaving, I mean?’

Hayley took a moment, watching across the lawns at the front of the police station as the man walked left to right, passing from one streetlight to the next.

‘A man like that,’ she mused, ‘he’s already ruined lives to take what he wants and he gets to just walk away from here. Why would he stop?’

Chapter 49