‘So right from the get-go this whole operation has been nothing more than a giant trap?’ she said, trying to get her head around the sheer audacity of his scheme.

Dale nodded smugly. ‘They say that luck is the crossroads of preparation and opportunity. Well, I’ve been preparing to get rid of you for ages so, when the opportunity to infiltrate the Molloys came up, things just kind of fell into place.’

Bailey shook her head in bafflement. ‘It seems like a heck of a lot of trouble to go to. Why didn’t you just shoot me or something?’

He waved his finger at her. ‘No. That would have looked way too suspicious. No, this way is perfect. I wanted to wait until you were in deep with the Molloys before blowing your cover. That way, they’d have no choice but to kill you because you’d know too much about their business by that stage.’

She had to admit, his logic was impeccable. ‘Getting them to do your dirty work,’ she muttered.

‘I like to keep my hands clean,’ he said. ‘But that’s not the half of it. When I paid my little visit to Rick yesterday, I told him that his brother had been an informant, which of course he’d already worked out. But when I told him that Adrian had helped to insert an undercover police officer into his organisation, you have no idea how grateful he was. You see, when I first met Adrian, not only did I see the opportunity to solve the Bailey Morgan problem, I also saw that by doing so, I could ingratiate myself with Rick Molloy. Ever since the car theft ring went down, I’ve been looking for a new employer, and Rick Molloy fits the bill perfectly. Adrian, of course, wasn’t wise to any of this. The stupid fool thought he was dealing with a kosher police officer, but I was merely using him to get my way. When he got blown up, that did throw a bit of a spanner in the works initially, but it actually turned out to be for the best – he’s one less headache for me to worry about now this thing’s finally come to fruition.’

She stared in disbelief and loathing. ‘Where did it all go wrong, Dale? Back at Hendon?’

His face twisted bitterly. ‘They lied to us, Bailey. They told us it would be exciting. They told us it would be rewarding. But what did we get? Long hours. Low pay. And an ungrateful public. Some reward!’ He exhaled derisively. ‘I don’t understand how you can put up with it.’ He smiled unpleasantly. ‘But then I guess you won’t have to for very much longer.’

‘If you hate being in the police so much, then why don’t you leave?’

He shrugged. ‘Because I got used to being corrupt. That’s why. It has its own rewards, you know. I was doing it for years, and it was all going swimmingly… until the car theft ring got busted. And then I had to cease all my activities. I just couldn’t risk doing anything that might expose me, couldn’t risk doing anything that might possibly flag me to you and Frank. So since then I’ve been lying dormant, and spending my time working out the best way to get rid of you.’