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minutes. As he came through the front door, she looked up from the book she was trying to concentrate on and asked, ‘Close early, did they?’
    ‘There was nothing doing. I think you ought to get someone in plain clothes in there next Saturday night, though. There seemed to be some under-the-counter business going on at the bar that I think might interest your lot. Mmm, you smell nice,’ he concluded, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
    ‘New shampoo. Had to shower as soon as I got in. I got rather bloodied earlier in the day, and had to get out of my clothes before I puked. Drugs?’
    ‘I reckon so. The regular barman wasn’t in, and his replacement seemed to have other business on his mind rather than that of serving drinks. Just a word to the wise, that’s all.’
    ‘I’ll sort it out when I’m in next. Thanks for the heads-up.’
    While Hal was lugging in his instruments, Olivia was surprised to find her mobile phone ringing, and answered it to find Lauren on the other end of the call. She was sobbing into the handset, sounding as if her heart was breaking. ‘Whatever is it, Lauren?’ asked the inspector, wondering if there had been some tragedy in her personal life.
    ‘It’s just that lad we found. I can still hear him screaming. What am I going to do? I can’t get it out of my mind.’
    ‘Look, I wasn’t going to tell you till tomorrow, but he didn’t make it. He slipped away in the ambulance, but you can comfort yourself that he didn’t die out in that field, and at least we made sure that his pain was dulled, and that he was warm and as comfortable as he could be when he went.’
    ‘Can I sleep at yours tonight?’ the younger woman asked, unexpectedly.
    ‘Er, well, I suppose so … and I’ve got some sleeping tablets that you can take, but, Lauren, you’ve got to grow a thicker skin. I have to ask … how did you make sergeant, if this sort of thing upsets you so much?’
    She didn’t want to have to nanny her sergeant. Lauren was a grown woman, a wife and mother, and theirs was supposed to be a grown-up relationship, forged through the adversity of being in the same profession. On the other hand, she didn’t have a husband to go home to, and her children were away at school, whereas her own husband had just arrived back and her children were still around, although currently on the AWOL list.
    ‘I haven’t the faintest idea, but I’ve never seen or heard anything like today before in all my time in the police. Can I come now, please?’
    ‘Come on over. Company will do you good, and with one of my little bombs inside you, you’ll sleep like a top.’
    ‘Thanks, ma’am … Olivia. I’m on my way.’
    When she got to the cottage, there was no peace to be had there, though. She could hear the shouting from outside the front door.
    ‘You bloody stupid thoughtless little shit. How could you do this to me in my position? You could lose me my job, as well as frying your own brain,’ she heard, before Hal opened the door to her stentorian knock.
    ‘Do you want to end up in the gutter or in a filthy squat with a dirty needle in your arm?’
    ‘I only took a bit of blow,’ replied a voice Lauren had not heard before.
    ‘Ben,’ said Hal in explanation. ‘I saw him in the club, although he was too drunk to notice I was there. It would seem that he’s now experimenting with drugs, and Olivia’s not too pleased.’
    ‘I thought he was at college,’ she almost whispered as he beckoned her to come inside.
    ‘It’s the local college, and he just goes in every day, but not usually from here. He stays at mates’ houses so much that he might as well not live here. Tonight he’s decided to show his face, but apart from his mother knowing all the signs, he doesn’t know yet that I saw him buying something from under the bar at the club.’
    ‘Should I go?’
    ‘Not at all. Let them yell themselves out, and we’ll sit in the kitchen with a glass of wine. I’ll go through when