At least there were higher powers on my side. ‘So against my better judgement, I will allow you to assist in the murder investigation, but I will not tolerate any unorthodox behaviour or meddling on your part. Do you understand me?’

‘Yes sir,’ I said, my voice hoarse.

‘I will be watching everything you do, and the moment you step out of line, or screw up, I will be down on you like a ton of bricks and you won’t know what’s hit you. And this time, there will be no one to save you. You might have everyone else fooled, but I know what you’re really like young lady. You seem to think you’re above the rules and everyone else here, and I will not hesitate to take you down and kick your arse back to the boohai where you belong. The only reason you’re still here is because you’re someone’s pet. I don’t know who you fucked to get here, but don’t think you’ll get any special attention from me.’ Jesus Christ, all I’d ever had was special attention from him. ‘Do you have anything to say?’

Actually, I did.

I cleared my throat and spoke, my voice still gravelly, but quiet and clear. ‘If we’re going to be brutally honest, sir, then I have to say I feel that you’ve had it in for me from the moment we met at Mataura. I don’t think I ever had a chance in your eyes because you already had me pegged and labelled and that’s not going to change, no matter what I do.’ My eyes flicked up from the desktop to his eyes and saw them, cold and narrowed. I paused a moment, anticipating the rebuttal, but he didn’t interject. ‘Despite what you seem to think, I am a good detective and a good investigator’, I continued, daring to look him straight in the eye, ‘if you’d only give me a chance to do my job, instead of throwing up these constant barriers and impediments. You have to admit I have come up with the main leads in this case.’

‘Yeah, and the circus lead looks like it was one great red herring. You’ve wasted everyone’s time, and not to mention, lives.’

He knew how to throw the cruellest barbs, and once I was able to continue talking, I couldn’t disguise the hurt.

‘You can’t lay the blame for that on me, and the coincidences there are too great to ignore. There is a connection between the circus and those murders, you know there is.’

‘Why don’t we have any firm suspects, then?’ he asked, leaning forward over the desk. ‘Sometimes coincidence is just that.’

‘Because we haven’t looked hard enough. We haven’t given the processes enough time. We’ve been too distracted by everything else.’

‘And whose fault is that?’