‘Stop!’ Adrian called out.

‘I’ll jump! Just let me go,’ Pike shouted.

‘I can’t do that,’ Adrian said. ‘Get down and we can talk.’

‘There’s nothing to talk about! Did Finn talk, is that how you knew about me? I didn’t think he would.’

‘Finn told me lots of things. Please get down off that wall.’

Pike looked over his shoulder at the train tracks below, clearly trying to gauge whether he could make the jump or not. There was no way he could land that fall and then be able to get up and run afterwards. Still, Adrian watched as he considered it.

‘I knew this lot would be the ones. You know? There was something about them. I should have kept Caitlin Watts around, but she was about to crack and I couldn’t risk it; she would have kept Finn under control though. She kept all the boys under control. She was a great find.’

‘How long had it being going on?’ Adrian tried to ignore his personal feelings about what Pike was saying, that Caitlin was coerced into sleeping around as part of their sick little game. It was tantamount to prostituting her.

‘It was just me and Coley to begin with. A gentleman’s bet twenty-three years ago. But then the others joined in over time. Lassiter was the most recent addition.’

Pike was confessing, this was not a good sign. He was going to jump. There was a distant sound of sirens, coming; Imogen had obviously called for back up.

‘Do you have a list of the students you brought into the game?’ Adrian said, stalling. As soon as the other police officers arrived on the scene of the crash, Imogen would make her way to him and she could help persuade Pike to hand himself in. The fact that Adrian hadn’t been able to talk Finn down had knocked any confidence he had in his own negotiation skills.

‘No. I have destroyed everything, you won’t find a shred of evidence against me.’ Pike turned and looked down onto the tracks again.

‘You won’t make it; it’s too high! Get down.’

‘I think we both know it’s too late for that,’ Pike said before turning his palms face out and closing his eyes. Adrian lunged forward as Pike tipped backwards, his fingers just centimetres away from his jacket that whipped up as he fell. He couldn’t make it in time. Adrian’s hands gripped at the wall and he looked over the side. The train was passing through. Pike’s arm lay by the side of the track and Adrian heard the screech of the train’s brakes. He was dead.

A myriad of mental images, combined with what Adrian had seen, forced his breakfast to the surface as he turned and threw up on the pavement next to the brick wall. Imogen’s hand rested on the small of his back; he had not seen her run over to him. Overcome with emotion, he turned and put his arms around her. It had been a long week and an even longer case. He could only hope that it was over now. He made a promise to himself as he felt her arms around him. He would never lie to her again. If he did it would destroy them and she was too important to let go.