The amused look had disappeared from Corrigan’s face. His eyes had narrowed and he was studying Adrian, sizing him up. Adrian was well and truly in Corrigan’s crosshairs now and in a way that’s where he wanted to be. Much like when he was a kid, he now wanted to draw Corrigan’s fire away from Angela. The same way he would anger his father to get his attention away from his mother.

Adrian stood. He was surprised by how familiar this feeling of satisfaction with himself was. It would probably seem strange to anyone who hadn’t grown up the way Adrian had, but to him, this was a victory. Corrigan was gunning for him now and that was exactly the way Adrian wanted it.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Adrian was sitting in the incident room waiting for DCI Kapoor; she had asked him to meet her a few minutes before the briefing started. Getting in trouble came naturally to Adrian.

DCI Kapoor walked into the room and sat opposite Adrian.

‘I’m sure you know what I am about to say to you, DS Miles.’

‘Corrigan called you?’

‘No, Corrigan’s solicitor did. He said if you continue to harass his client then you will have to take the consequences.’

‘So, investigating someone is considered harassment now, is it?’

‘It’s a fine line and it’s not one I am sure you know how to walk.’ She raised her eyebrow at him.

‘Thanks.’

‘Your instincts are rarely wrong, but that’s not enough. We have to follow the law. If we don’t, the system breaks and then where would we be? That’s a rhetorical question; you don’t need to answer. You need to learn to colour inside the lines.’

‘Corrigan is bad,’ Adrian said. ‘I pulled his wife’s broken and bloodied body from the water; I watched his employee drive a knife into his own heart rather than speak out against him. What kind of man instils that kind of fear in people? Who else has he hurt? What other hideous things has he done?’

‘Let’s pull his life apart: legally, financially, any way we can. If he is doing something bad, we will find it. You are not a stupid man, Adrian. You must know that going at this all gung-ho isn’t going to help. Every time you have done that before it’s landed you in trouble. Learn from your mistakes.’

‘I know. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t make me regret trusting you,’ Kapoor said.

Imogen, DI Walsh and Gary walked in. Gary linked his computer to the magic whiteboard display screen and started typing, pulling up reports too fast for anyone to read them. Imogen sat next to Adrian.

‘I have some information,’ Gary said.

‘Don’t keep us in suspense, Tunney,’ DCI Kapoor said.