As we stared at each other a startling thought occurred to me. Was it possible that Janet Dean was the bent copper inside the task force? Was that why she was springing to Slack’s defence?

I wanted to ask her. To blurt it out.

Are you on his payroll?

Is that how you can afford a posh house and a boat?

Did you provide him with our personal details?

But I resisted, knowing that I was probably wrong. Knowing too that if I said it I couldn’t take it back.

Instead I turned sharply and stormed across the room towards Drummond’s office.

His door was open and I could see him at his desk watching the TV. When he saw me approach he stood up and waved me inside.

‘You’re not supposed to be here,’ he said. ‘I told you to take all the time off you need to be with Aidan.’

‘I don’t need any more time off, guv,’ I said. ‘Aidan is much better and he’s being well looked after. I’ll be more useful helping out on the investigation.’

He gestured for me to sit down and then shook his head as he perched himself on the edge of the desk.

‘That’s not an option, Laura,’ he said. ‘You’re in no fit state mentally to be working. You’ve had an awful shock and we can’t ignore the fact that one of the victims is your partner.’

‘But I’m all right, guv. Honestly. And you can’t possibly have enough people to cope with what’s happening.’

He thought about it while chewing on the inside of his cheek.

Drummond had never been a stickler for rules and protocol so I was hoping that he wouldn’t make a big thing of it and would just give me the go-ahead to return to duty.

After a few seconds he opened his mouth to speak, but then his attention was suddenly drawn to the television screen.

‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘I want to hear this.’

He grabbed the remote from his desk and turned up the volume. Then together we watched the Prime Minister step up to a lectern outside 10 Downing Street.

She then made a short statement about the COBRA meeting that had just finished and which she’d chaired. Her face was glum and her voice strained as she spoke into a microphone.

‘I called the COBRA meeting following the murder of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, John Saunders,’ she said. ‘He was the latest victim of a campaign of terror against police officers and their families. This morning we agreed ways to step up our response. The measures include transferring officers from other constabularies into London. The security services and the Counter Terrorism Command will play a more active role. They’ll work alongside those teams already involved in the various investigations.’