‘The wife’s shit scared,’ Tony Marsden said to a group gathered around the coffee machine. ‘She was in tears all night and this morning she told me that she wanted me to get re-assigned.’

‘Well, my husband reckons we should all stop working until we know who’s behind it.’ This from DI Gloria Stanford, who was one of the newest recruits to the team.

Even DCS Drummond had a story to tell. His wife was visiting relatives in Scotland when she called him from there to say she’d received the message.

‘I tried telling her it was probably a prank but she wouldn’t have it,’ he said. ‘She got quite upset.’

It was quickly established that the message had been sent to the partners or immediate family members of all the detectives. These included husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, mothers, fathers and a couple of grown-up children.

Among those who took it really badly was Dave Prentiss’s wife, Karen. Prentiss, who was on his day off, phoned in to say that she became hysterical when she opened the message while breastfeeding their new baby in the hospital.

It was all very disturbing and no one really knew what to make of it. Drummond told us the Commissioner had been informed and he’d been in contact with the Home Secretary.

The cyber-crime unit had been working through the night to try to get a handle on who had sent the text.

‘They’re also trying to find out how this person or persons could have obtained so many private phone numbers,’ he said. ‘And obviously until they have the answer we’re all under suspicion of leaking them.’

This was to be expected but it nevertheless came as a shock. I didn’t want to believe that one or more members of the team might be corrupt.

Kate Chappell asked Drummond if we’d be offered any form of protection, to which he replied, ‘That’s not at all feasible. There are far too many of us and the Met’s already stretched because of the high-level terror threat against our people on the streets.’

‘So what do you expect us to do, guv?’ she said.

Drummond’s voice took on a hard edge. ‘That’s a stupid question, detective. What I expect you all to do is your job, no matter how tough it gets.’

It was a sobering reminder to all of us that as police officers we could not step back from the firing line. We had no choice but to stand firm regardless of how many death threats came our way.

But it was different for our loved ones and I felt compelled to remind Drummond of this.

‘What about our families, sir?’ I said. ‘Will they get protection?’