The two men had been on shift together for several years, and with a strength that belied his small stature, Stumpy was a handy crewmate to have on your side. A man of few words, Stumpy had more war stories than he chose to share, and was without a shadow of a doubt Ray's best DS. Detective Sergeant Jake Owen had been called Stumpy for so much of his career that it was always a surprise to hear his full name read out in court.

'Will do.' The older man took a final drag of his roll-up. Can you get on to Area Intelligence and see if any- thing's come in yet?' 'I'm taking Kate out to the Fish- ponds hit-and-run. They nodded a greeting to the throng of smokers clustered under cover by the back door. They exchanged half-smiles in mutual acknowledgement of the adrenaline rush it always felt so wrong to enjoy when something so horrific had happened. 'Are you all right to stay late?' Ray asked, but Kate was nodding before he'd even finished the question. She's badly in shock, as you can imagine.' Shift have got the scene contained and the skipper's taking a statement from the child's mother as we speak. She was good though: better than she knew. Fresh from shift, she had only been on CID for a couple of months and was still finding her feet. Ray stretched out a hand for the piece of paper and scanned it while Kate stood awkwardly in the doorway. ' He stopped, recognizing the look on her face almost before he saw the Command and Control printout in her hand. Leaning forward to find a marker pen in his chaotic top drawer, Ray crouched down and changed the label to 'Detective.' The door to his office opened and he hastily stood up, replacing the lid on the pen.

I let you go by clare mackintosh