The meeting was constructive only in the sense that they covered a lot of ground. It was agreed that while they were under unusually high levels of police surveillance they would put the brakes on some of the operations, including the riskier aspects of the drugs distribution network and the collection of protection money.

‘It’ll cost us a fucking fortune,’ Frank Piper said, his voice stretched with tension.

Slack nodded. ‘I realise that, but it can’t be helped while all this shit’s going down.’

Slack ended the meeting with more lies about how he had their interests at heart and how he was confident the task force would not topple the firm.

He wasn’t feeling well suddenly and he knew that if he didn’t take his medication it was going to get a lot worse. There was already a pain at the base of his spine and it would soon work its way up his back.

The problem was he’d left his tablets at the flat so it meant skipping dinner and heading straight back there.

‘Go downstairs and enjoy yourselves lads,’ he said. ‘I have some business to attend to so I won’t be joining you.’

After they’d left the meeting room he asked Danny to join him in his office and there he explained why he couldn’t hang around.

‘I’ll be fine once I’ve dosed myself up,’ he said.

He dictated a short text message that he wanted Danny to send to the task force detectives. Then, before leaving the office, he sent a text to the phone he’d given to Rosa Lopez.

Good work so far. I’m adding another name to the list. Deal with this one asap. Details to follow.

31

Laura

Aidan reacted to the news of Marion Nash’s murder by saying, ‘Oh God. This is terrifying.’

I told him that I didn’t have the details and that I wasn’t sure when I’d be home.

‘I don’t know what’s going to happen.’ I said. ‘Things are moving so fast we can barely keep up.’

I had never been in this position before. None of us had. We were not only police officers. We were also victims. And so were those who were close to us. It made it difficult to know how to respond.

‘You should go and get some sleep,’ I said to Aidan. ‘Don’t wait up for me. And please do what you can to make mum feel safe.’

As I hung up, my throat got tight. It was becoming harder for me to keep a lid on my emotions. Coppers were supposed to remain detached and objective. Calm under pressure. But, under the circumstances, that simply wasn’t possible.

The fear was bunching up inside me and I was feeling emotionally raw. Two people were dead – one a close colleague and friend, the other the wife of another colleague.