Gina placed her phone back in her pocket, stretched in her stab vest and allowed the officer with the enforcer to step forward. She’d given enough warning. She’d called through the letterbox, telling the occupants that they had a warrant but no one had answered. Several bangs later, a section of the door caved in. Gina pushed her arm through the gap and opened the door from the inside before she and Jacob stepped over the threshold. Dust motes filled the sunlit stairway and the sun shining through the window at the top of the stairs almost blinded her.

To the left was a dining room. She crept forward, heart hammering against her ribcage. She gulped a mouth full of air and tried to swallow but her throat refused. She needed to swallow quickly, either that or she might choke. She loosened her shirt and coughed slightly. Now was not the time to have an anxious episode. Sweat beads formed along her hairline and began to stream down her forehead. As she stepped closer to the kitchen table, a flashback to her last case almost caused her to stumble. An image of her being dragged under her own table by her masked attacker filled her mind. Clenching her fists and swallowing again, she took a step back. Just like she’d been told, slow breath in, hold, slow breath out.

‘You okay, guv?’ Jacob whispered. The other officers turned right by the door and entered the lounge.

Gina felt her blood pumping hard, the dust motes turning into the speckles a person sees just before they pass out. It was hot, so hot. She inhaled sharply. Not now, not today. ‘I’m fine.’ She crept towards the kitchen and opened the door as she continued to breathe in and out. Flies buzzed around a cracked Belfast sink. The dark oppressive wood on the cupboard doors made the room feel dingier than it really was. The stink of rotten food and onion skins filled her nostrils. ‘Mr Hanley,’ she called. He wasn’t downstairs. She proceeded back towards the main door. She was going up. ‘Mr Hanley. Christina or should I call you Miley? You call yourself Miley now. Just shout if you can hear me.’ She crept up another step, listening for a noise, any noise.

A woman began murmuring and shouting incoherently.

‘Mrs Hanley?’ Gina took another step.

‘Guv, you have to come out,’ their most recent recruit, PC Kapoor, called as she slammed through what was left of the front door. Crying came from the right side of the building.

‘You go back out,’ she said to Jacob. She beckoned to Kapoor to back her up. The young woman crept up the stairs, crossing Jacob as he ran back down.

‘Mr Hanley, stay right there,’ she heard Jacob shouting.

Gina hurried up, passing a small bathroom. She gently pushed the first door. The smell hit her. A slop bucket sat in the corner of the room. A pile of several sheets that had once been white sat on top of an old torn mattress. Carpet fibres were dug up all over the room and she saw a couple of beetles making their way towards the skirting board. She remembered the cast skins that forensics had found. The girl cried out and another woman kept shouting the same incoherent sound over and over again. She heard Jacob shouting outside but she couldn’t make out what was being said over the noise.

‘The next room,’ she whispered as Kapoor trod gently behind her. There were two more doors but it was obvious that the screaming was coming from the door she and Kapoor waited behind.

‘Mr Hanley, don’t jump. Please let Miley get back into the bedroom,’ she heard Jacob saying.

‘We have a hostage situation,’ Gina said. Sweat filled her eyes. Every time she brushed it away, more replaced it, almost clouding her vision. She untied her stab vest and threw it to the floor.

‘Guv?’

She knew she was putting herself in danger but she couldn’t work in the heat. It was sending her mad and her heartbeat erratic. ‘I’ll be okay.’ Her hand rested on the door handle. If she pressed it down, would she alarm the girl’s captor? If she didn’t, would she miss her chance to save her? Her mind flashed to Julia Dawson. More than anything, she wanted to find Christina and reunite the family. ‘What do I do, what do I do?’ she whispered.

Kapoor wiped her head with her sleeve and returned a nervous smile.

‘Mum.’ Gina listened to the girl choking on her own tears as she forced her words out.

She had to get into the room. Gently pressing the door handle, she gave Kapoor the nod, letting her know that they were going in. Another officer hung back on the stairs. As Jacob called out again, Gina opened the door.

‘You don’t have to do this, Mr Hanley. Come down so we can talk about it,’ Jacob said.

‘This was never meant to happen,’ the man yelled as he stood on the ledge, the other side of the window.

Jackie Hanley kept repeating the same sound as she sat on the floor in the middle of the room.

Gina nodded to Kapoor who knelt down to see if Mrs Hanley was okay. The sick woman was gripping a knitted doll and strands of wool were tangled in her hair and around her legs as the doll unravelled with every movement. Christina was sitting on the window ledge, her legs dangling outside with Mr Hanley’s hand snaked around her waist, squeezing her as she screamed. The girl turned, gazing at Gina as if trying to focus. Gina held her finger to her mouth and watched as tears slipped down the girl’s cheeks.

‘You have to let the girl go. Let her get back in the bedroom,’ Jacob called. ‘We can talk about this. I know you don’t mean to hurt her.’

‘I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I didn’t hurt Simone. I loved Simone. Jackie loved Simone being here. I tried to help her, took her in and paid her to look after her grandmother. The drugs took her, not me.’

‘And you don’t want to hurt the girl. You didn’t hurt Simone so please let the girl go. She’s scared. Please step back into the room.’ She could tell Jacob was running out of ideas. If William Hanley jumped, depending on how he fell, he might make it. He may break a leg or even both. He may fall badly and end his own life. From what she remembered, the outside of the building was slightly larger at the bottom. Mr Hanley probably had a plinth about a foot long to stand on. He was a big man and by the way he was holding the girl, she could tell he was jittery.

Gina stepped past Jackie and Christina tried to reach back to grab her hand, but the girl had no strength and her hand dropped before Gina could grab it.

‘I am never going with you. You can all go to hell. I’ve lost my granddaughter, when my son finds out what happens, I’ll lose him too. I’m not losing my freedom. You think I don’t know that you’re trying to come here, be all sympathetic, telling me we can talk about it? Like hell. There will be no talking.’

‘No, please let me go,’ Christina whimpered. Mr Hanley turned and caught a glimpse of Gina creeping up behind him. Their gazes locked. She felt her heart almost beating out of her chest as she realised he was going. He propelled them both from the window, letting go of the girl once his feet left the plinth. Gina’s eyes met Christina’s as she reached out and grabbed the girl’s desperate hands. She heard a thud as Mr Hanley hit the stone porch, face first.

Christina sobbed as her weak sweaty hands began to slip out of Gina’s. Jacob and the two officers linked hands below them. It wasn’t ideal but it had been all they could probably think of given the time in which they had to react. However hard she tried, it was no good. Kapoor pushed in and leaned out, grabbing Christina’s wrist, just below where Gina was holding. As Kapoor held onto the girl, Gina inched forward and grabbed her other wrist. Between them, they slowly pulled the lifeless girl up and through the window, laying her on the floor. Pale and clammy, Christina jerked and screamed before shaking and passing out. ‘Get a paramedic up here,’ Gina called as she held the girl. ‘We have a vulnerable adult and an unconscious girl.’

Footsteps stormed the house and filled the room.

She watched as another paramedic inspected Mr Hanley’s body. They would never hear his full version of events. She did know that the house would give up his secrets. Once forensics came in and examined everything, they would have a clearer picture of what had happened to Erin. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed that Christina had stopped moving.

A young female paramedic darted in and knelt before the girl. Gina crawled across the floor and sat beside her, stroking her hair. ‘It’s okay. You’re okay now. Wake up.’ Gina couldn’t feel a pulse. ‘Wake up,’ she yelled.

‘Could you please move back, Inspector?’ the paramedic asked.

Another paramedic entered and helped Jaqueline Hanley out of the room, slowly steering her towards the stairs while trying to unravel the woollen doll from her.

‘Your mum loves you very much and she just wants you home safely,’ Gina whispered, feeling a tear welling in the corner of her eye.

‘Inspector, I need you to get back.’

Gina hit the door frame knowing in her heart that they had been too late for Christina. Her phone went. ‘Smith?’ She paused and looked up at Kapoor. ‘I’ve got to get back to the station. Our fake Mrs Hanley is being discharged from hospital and then being brought back to the station for interview.’ She gazed back at Christina as the paramedic tended to her. She so wanted to stay with her and will her through whatever was happening, but she had no option but to hurry back.

Another officer ran out of the house, holding a passport. ‘Look what we found in the bedroom.’