Fry stood up and began to stack the files back together.

‘I’ll do that, if you like,’ said Cooper.

‘I can do it myself.’

She grabbed her phone off the desk, flicking it open as if to check whether she had any messages, though they both knew it would have rung if she had. He was perfectly familiar with her ring tone. No downloaded pop tunes for Fry, just a few unobtrusive electronic notes like something from the opening of The X Files. Nothing to upset a bereaved relative.

In fact, a strange silence had descended on the CID room. Cooper turned, and saw Detective Superintendent Branagh standing in the doorway. She said nothing, but looked at Fry and raised one eyebrow.

‘Coming, ma’am,’ said Fry.

She went almost eagerly, and Cooper began to wonder whether he was completely wrong, and everyone else was wrong too, about Fry going through a bad time. Maybe it was something else entirely. Perhaps it was quite the opposite.

Before they left, Cooper looked at Superintendent Branagh again. Who would want to hitch their wagon to that kind of horse?

Chapter Twenty-nine

‘SO,’ SAID BRANAGH when Fry had settled in a chair in her office. ‘DS Fry, do you think you have the full support of your team?’

Fry felt herself grow tense. She’d tried to prepare herself before she came into the superintendent’s office, but this wasn’t the question she’d been expecting. Branagh might look like a bruiser, but this was surely fighting dirty.

‘Has someone said –’

Branagh shook her head. ‘Whatever discussions might have gone on with other members of staff, they’re confidential. Just as our discussion is this afternoon.’

‘Of course.’

‘DS Fry, I know you came here after a distressing incident in Birmingham, when you were with the West Midlands force.’

Fry swallowed. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘The management team here were impressed with you. Hence the quick promotion. But since then . . .’

‘I’ve worked very hard for this division,’ said Fry. ‘I hope my work has been appreciated.’

‘Indeed. But to go back a few steps . . . After the incident, you began the standard counselling process. But there’s a note here that you abandoned the counselling sessions before they were complete. A personal matter.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Yet the earliest reports on you said that you were suffering no ill effects from the incident. Your supervisor even suggested that the experience might have made you a stronger person. “Baptism of fire” was a phrase used. He described you as “solid as a rock”.’

‘Yes.’

‘Of course, that report was written by a man,’ said Branagh.

‘I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t understand.’

‘My own view,’ said Branagh, ‘is that no one is strengthened by an experience like the one you went through.’

And then the superintendent did something even worse. She leaned forward and smiled. A friendly, understanding smile that made Fry’s heart sink.