‘Used to?’

‘It’s scheduled for destruction, so it’s been empty for a while now – seems like a good place to hide out.’

‘How do we get in there?’ Imogen asked.

‘It’s being sold as a land prospect and so the local estate agents are in charge of the site. I’m trying to get hold of one of them to meet you guys down there. As you can imagine, it’s not easy at this time of night,’ Gary said.

‘Anything else that links to him?’ Imogen said.

‘There was a call about a disturbance out there a few days ago, but when the uniforms did a drive-by they didn’t see anything out of place.’

‘Sounds like a good lead,’ Adrian said.

‘Let’s go.’ Imogen nodded.

‘I’ve already spoken to DI Walsh and he said he will meet one of you guys at his car. I think he’s going a bit stir-crazy in here.’

‘You go. I’ll stay and see Finn Blackwell off,’ Adrian said.

For the first time, he saw Imogen narrow her eyes and look at both him and Gary. She had noticed the tension between them.

‘Is something going on with you guys?’ she asked.

‘No,’ Gary answered quickly. ‘I’d better keep trying this estate agent.’

Gary walked away and Imogen folded her arms, raising her eyebrows.

‘Spill it,’ she said to Adrian, knowing them both better than they had given her credit for.

‘He’s upset about lying to the DCI and I don’t think he trusts that the Parker situation won’t get us both fired.’

‘He’s not alone there,’ Imogen said.

‘If it comes down to that, I am taking the blame and I won’t have any arguments from you.’

‘We’ll see.’

‘It’s my fault. I should have taken him in when I said I would. You weren’t a part of that decision, Imogen, and so you shouldn’t take the fall for it.’

‘But I agreed with you and I would have made the same decision had I been there.’

‘I don’t think I would have made that decision if you had been there. I don’t want to get you in trouble. I’ve been such an idiot, thinking I was above it all. I get it now.’

‘You get that the rules are there to protect you as much as anyone else? That they aren’t just there to inconvenience us?’

‘I’m sorry I dragged you into this.’

‘I can take care of myself, Miley. You didn’t force me into anything.’

‘The DI is waiting for you, you’d better go,’ Adrian said, glancing at the clock.

He could see her eyes flit to his lips and that was enough – she wanted to give him a reassuring kiss and just knowing that was reassuring in itself. He watched as she left and then looked over to the door that led to the holding cells. Finn knew more than he was letting on and Adrian was going to find out what that was.

Chapter Forty-Five

Adrian waited outside the station around the corner and out of view from the main exit, checking that no one else was around. Finn Blackwell stepped out of the station, with a furtive glance at his surroundings before proceeding. His twenty-four hours were up and they had released him. It was dark, but Finn had a light denim jacket on, so he was easy to spot from a fair distance. Adrian waited for him to get a few hundred yards from the station before he started to follow him. Finn walked slowly, occasionally checking behind him to see if anyone was following. What was he so paranoid about? Adrian managed to stay out of sight for the time being. Finn wasn’t a particularly fast walker and so it was easy not to lose him. Although he wasn’t walking back to his halls of residence; he was going somewhere else.