Brian laughed, the sound echoing down the line like a lost soul. “You don’t have the biggest fish then. Think I’d have stopped doing my duty for a sheriff or an MP? No, James, think Lord Lagan from the bloody House of Lords. That’s why I had no choice, that’s why I saw small, bloodied bodies buried in makeshift graves and nobody dared say anything about it. Your investigation will be closed down, you know that, don’t you? There’s no way the establishment can allow anything this big to get out. What’s a few unloved children compared to the sanctity of the British establishment, James?”

Corstorphine forgot to breathe for a few seconds. Brian’s corroboration of the name Frankie had whispered two days ago suddenly made the unthinkable a real possibility. “You can make this right, Brian. Just give us an honest statement naming everyone, and I mean everyone, that was involved. I’ll take it all the way, I promise. We’ll make sure you’re protected inside, if it comes to that.”

“I’m sorry, James. I’m so sorry.” A muffled sob was immediately stifled at the other end. “I’ve got to go now, James. I wasn’t a bad cop. There was nothing I could do – not against them.”

“Nobody is above the law, Brian.”

“Yes, they are, James. Some people are untouchable, no matter how bad the crime. Look after Molly for me, will you? She never knew anything about this.”

“Brian! Brian?” The phone was dead. “Shit!” Corstorphine grabbed the patrol car keys and ran for the door, turning on his heel as he remembered the crowd of reporters out front. “Frankie! With me, fast!”

Corstorphine spun the tyres on the car park tarmac in his hurry to get out, only to be prevented from exiting the station car park by a large van equipped with a satellite dish. He turned on the siren, gesticulating wildly to the driver to get out of his way. The sound attracted a throng of reporters waving microphones and cameras at him in an effort to gain a scoop on the town murders, hemming them in even tighter.

By the time he’d cleared the car park they’d already lost five precious minutes.

“You don’t think he’s going to do anything stupid, do you, sir?” Frankie’s worried face stared straight ahead as if willing the car to travel even faster through the town centre.