CHAPTER 57
Eric was down at the weekend, just as I switched to night shifts. He arrived early Friday evening, as I lay in bed trying to get a few hours sleep before going in, and the first I knew was when a warm body slipped into bed with me. I grunted a bit, then made my complaint.

CHAPTER 56
I was beside the old Rover at three thirty, the drips sounding like hammer blows, and then awake, knowing I had shouted but not remembering what.

CHAPTER 54
I was crapping myself as I did the final touches to my eyes and lips.

CHAPTER 52
There was silence in Custody at that, and I turned the radio off. Jim came back a few minutes later, looking spent.

CHAPTER 50
Richard took Kirsty into the interview as a witness, along with Polly, and I had to explain to the boy why I couldn’t stay with him.

CHAPTER 48
The SS were as good as their word, and half an hour after I had rung a young woman was being escorted into my sanctum. Khan was already there, Darren in his cell devouring the two mars bars I had bought for him. The social worker, Miss Armitage (‘call me Polly’) was straight to the point.

“Sergeant, what exactly brings you to believe that Darren is at risk?”

CHAPTER 46
How could I not want to wake up like this? Warm, sun easing through the tent, a robin singing sadly off in the hedge and the scent of bacon frying.

CHAPTER 44
Dinner was a lighter meal than Jan usually did, as we would be dancing, and we fully intended to snack later. I was settling into my new role, and when the ‘something nice’ from Eric turned up, it was a pair of leather sandals. Kelly smiled in a truly predatory way. If Sandra had been a hawk, she was a leopard waiting to drop. The smile widened, and all she said was “toenails”

CHAPTER 42
Morning light coming into the tent, filtered by the material, and my left arm still asleep where Eric was lying on it, my nighty twisted yet again and our legs somehow tangled up inside the bag.

CHAPTER 40
We assembled our little army and headed off back to the music, bundled up with water and instruments. Jimmy was booked to play the smaller stage, where Mark was raving about a band with a girl called Kathryn Tickell following on.

CHAPTER 37
Each day brought a new conflict in the form of a new confirmation. The toilets was one that almost surprised me; my subconscious was clearly telling me that if Steph had done it, so could I, but my rational part saw it as it was, a quick route to an early exit from the Job.

CHAPTER 35
The way a morning should be, apart from the fact that it was me that had to drag her arse out of bed to put the kettle on. He was still adrift when I returned with the tea, and as I prodded him awake I realised he had a slight hangover.

CHAPTER 33
That one smacked me down hard. It was clear that she knew exactly what the question would do, and I had to think hard as to what answer I should give.

CHAPTER 31
Once again I woke up to the feel of someone’s arm across me, but a faint sighing of breath rather than the surfacing walrus that was Ginny in sleep.

CHAPTER 29
I have to admit that the rest of the session was more than a little anticlimactic after our lunacy. We got through the dances with minimal hiccups, and finally Di had us play some polkas for a while so those who still had the energy could burn it off.

CHAPTER 27
The rest of the lunch was kept deliberately neutral, by unspoken mutual consent. We had each dropped our little pebbles into the water, and the ripples were spreading in interference patterns.

CHAPTER 25
Jim raised his hand. “Sam, not a word about nip and tuck, or slicing and dicing, OK? Annie, what is the plan? Do you have one at all?”

CHAPTER 24
“I thought we had that one sorted, Ginny”

“You know fine well we haven’t. You are rushing into all this now, and I am worried. You were slicing your life away piece by piece, and now you are getting ready to jump off a cliff. What is it Sally says? Pause, think?”

CHAPTER 22
He was just behind me, looking embarrassed.

“Mate, I’m sorry, I was bringing you a cuppa, and sort of overheard. I can keep my gob shut if you want, but I also do a good listen”

CHAPTER 19
Once refuelled, we set off for the lumpier part of the ride, and it was the drag by Turner’s Hill that stretched the group out. We gathered once more at the crossroads before some rolling stuff took us to a little cluster of greenhouses.

CHAPTER 17
I had already packed the necessaries for work the next day into my locker, so I was able to make do with just the Barley, the small saddle bag from Carradice that would give me enough space for what I needed for the night ride.

CHAPTER 15
Stewie. He clearly knew. I gave Sally a look, asking with my eyes, and she murmured “He is part of my therapy kit for you”