Ben ignored her a second time, though he knew he’d have to explain things to her before long. He quickly rifled through the cop’s coat pockets and found his police ID in its leather holder and a thick wallet. When he opened up the wallet he wasn’t surprised by its contents. He gave them a sniff, then checked the ID. The cop’s name was PC Murray Brown.

‘Nice meeting you, Murray.’ Ben stood up, stepped away from the unconscious heap in the snow, and turned to look at Grace. Explanation time. Her hair was all awry in the cold wind and the look of wide-eyed bewilderment on her face was lit blue and red by the patrol car’s swirling roof light.

Ben pointed at the two inert shapes on the ground and said, ‘I thought you people were trained in unarmed combat. These two could barely wrestle their way out of bed in the morning.’

Grace could hardly speak. Her mouth opened and closed twice before she managed to say, ‘Ben, what the hell are you thinking? Those are police officers you just assaulted!’

Ben shook his head and replied, ‘No, they’re not.’

Chapter 45

Ben said to Grace, ‘They’re not police officers. They’re bent police officers. That’s a whole other matter. When they chose not to play by the rules, they gave away all privileges of their office and opened themselves up to the consequences.’

Grace just shook her head in bemusement. Ben opened up PC Brown’s wallet to show her what was inside. ‘How many cops you know are running around with two months’ salary in crisp new fifty-pound notes stuffed in their pockets?’

‘What are you talking about?’

Backlit by the patrol car lights, Ben walked over to the first cop and knelt beside him. The guy stirred and groaned, showing signs of wanting to wake up. So Ben tapped him on the skull and put him to sleep again, then went through his coat pockets. Same result. Another bulging wallet containing a thick wad of cash. He sniffed that one, too. The name on the police ID was PC Douglas Rennie.

Ben tossed the wallet to Grace, and she caught it one-handed. He said, ‘This payoff happened so recently, the notes smell like they just came out of the machine. And whoever gave these jokers all this cash also gave them these little toys to play with.’

He tossed her the shock prod, which Grace deftly caught with her other hand. He said, ‘Four thousand volts gives quite a jolt, as you saw. People use them on pigs and cattle. Those things have skin like leather. We don’t. It hurts like hell, but that didn’t stop your colleague PC Rennie from wanting to use his on you. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they’re part of official police kit.’