‘Probably not,’ Fleet conceded. ‘But then again, neither am I. Nor you, I would imagine. And Nicky and I haven’t exactly been punching out every day at five on the dot. It’s been just the two of us – remember? A lot’s happened over the past twenty-two years for us to try to catch up on.’

Burton visibly bridled. ‘So this is my fault? Is that what you’re saying? Because I’m not going to sit here and—’

Fleet couldn’t hold his temper in any longer. He slammed a palm on to the surface of Burton’s desk. ‘For Christ’s sake, Roger!’

Burton bit down. His fingers tightened on the arms of his chair.

Fleet dropped his head, and breathed into the silence.

‘Do you really think I hold anyone to blame but myself?’ he said, looking up. ‘Yes, I admit, I’m pissed off. At you, and Apte, and all the others. At Webb in particular, that—’ Fleet cut himself off, shaking his head instead of voicing what he really thought of the man from the Home Office, whose plots and subtle manipulations had ensured that Fleet and Nicky were caught in the middle of a political pissing contest in the first place.

‘But I’m Nicky’s commanding officer,’ Fleet said. ‘Meaning I’m the one responsible for her safety. I shouldn’t have let her go off on her own, not after it was clear to me that something else was going on … something bigger than a decades-old murder.’

He stood up straight.

‘Which is exactly what I’m trying to tell you: it’s all connected, Roger. Ben’s death. Lance Wheeler’s. Nicky going missing. I don’t know how exactly, but I’m sure. And now a police officer’s life is at stake.’

Burton made a face then, and Fleet could tell he was trying to convince himself that Fleet was being overdramatic. But there was a crease of uncertainty as well.

‘Tell me,’ the superintendent growled. ‘What exactly would you have me do?’

‘Give me the resources I asked for,’ Fleet said. ‘We need every spare body on the search for Nicky, and after that we need to find whoever’s behind this. The politicians have had their fun. They’ve stirred up a shitstorm, and done everything to make sure Callum Richardson is at the centre of it. But now they need to let us do our jobs.’

‘You seem to be assuming that this investigation remains yours to run,’ Burton responded. ‘You disobeyed a direct order, Detective Inspector. I can and will not tolerate insubordination.’