Dale’s expression suddenly turned grave. ‘But whatever you do, don’t underestimate Nancy Molloy. She’s a very dangerous person indeed. She possesses a rather traditional view of the world. For her, it’s all about family, blood ties… and revenge.

‘Down in Spain, the Guardia Civil never got to the bottom of Arthur’s murder, but Nancy never gave up. She eventually managed to track down his killers. Apparently it was a rival firm who claimed Arthur had stiffed them on a drugs deal some years earlier. Rumour has it that once they’d been captured, she insisted on personally dispatching them one by one… by putting a masonry drill through their skulls. She’s a vengeful and vindictive person. And if she finds out you’ve crossed her, she’ll never forgive and she’ll never forget.’

Bailey felt a chill shudder go through her. What a family. And she thought hers was bad.

5

Bailey pushed open the double doors to enter the lift area. She pressed the button and waited for the lift to come.

As she stood there, she reflected on the job she had just decided to undertake, once again savouring the bite of a new challenge.

The double doors swung open as someone else entered the lift area.

‘Hold up. Bailey.’

She turned around. It was Dale. He looked a little out of breath, like he’d been running to catch up with her.

Seeing him standing there, she noted how, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, he bore more than a passing resemblance to Mark, the detective sergeant she’d dated for two years before ending the relationship due to a stark difference in outlook on the matter of starting a family. She just seemed to have a thing for men who looked like that – the ‘Teutonic’ type, as someone she’d once known had referred to them.

‘I forgot to mention,’ he said. ‘There’s a murder investigation team working on Adrian’s car bomb. So any information you encounter in the course of the operation that could help them out, you can feed back to me and I’ll relay it to them.’ He paused. ‘But, like Frank was saying, your main focus should be the guns.’

Bailey nodded as she registered the piece of information, getting the impression Dale had just used it as an excuse to come out and talk to her.

There was a slightly awkward pause. She swallowed nervously and felt her heart flutter a little.

‘You female undercovers are a rare commodity,’ he said. ‘You must be in high demand.’

He was right about that. There was a definite imbalance in the ratio of female to male undercover police officers. But, in some ways, women had the advantage as they were less likely to be suspected of being police because they weren’t deployed as often as men.

She shrugged, attempting to remain casual. ‘Well, I guess it keeps me busy. Anyhow, revising for my sergeant’s exams was getting kind of boring. Working undercover is the ideal form of procrastination.’