Rachel had no choice but to resign. The force had allowed her to do that – fall or be pushed. It was the only way to keep the small pension she had built up. Jack had seen her once, coming out of the college, dressed in old jeans and a T-shirt, holding papers in her hand. It looked like she was trying to get on a course, approaching the resignation as an opportunity, not a punishment. Jack smiled when he saw her, pleased that she was doing something with her life.

The future of Don and his men, and Mike Corley and David Hoyle, was not quite so bright. They had been charged with conspiring to murder Shane, all of them in custody awaiting their trial. Jack was the star witness, the only person who was in that room who wasn’t in a cell, and he felt no nerves at the thought of sending men to prison for many years.

Jack knew that David Hoyle would suffer the most in prison. Mike Corley would get some protection because he was an ex-copper. His own cell, with a television, provided that he didn’t mind sharing a wing with rapists and child molesters. David Hoyle would have to mix with the general population, and he wasn’t tough enough for that.

Jack had no sympathy. David Hoyle was a lawyer, he knew where the line was, and he shouldn’t have crossed it.

Jack took some deep breaths and looked at the floor. He shouldn’t feel like this. He could hear the soft murmurs of people around him, but they seemed distant, as if he was sitting in a bubble. He looked up instead, tried to focus on the view through the large window, past clusters of trees and towards a line of cottages on a distant brow. It was going to be all right, he told himself.

Then his thoughts were broken by the sound of music from the back of the room and the rumble of people rising to their feet. He recognised the tune. It was the one Laura had wanted for her entrance.

Jack felt a tap on his arm. It was Joe Kinsella, who smiled and said, ‘It’s time.’

Jack rose slowly to his feet, winced as his leg ached, and then as he looked round, his nerves melted away.

Laura was in an ivory-coloured dress, neat and simple, her shoulders bare, the train short, clutching a hand-tied bouquet of white calla lilies and roses, the colour provided by her stream of dark hair. Her dimples flickered in her cheeks. As beautiful as she looked the first time he’d met her.

As she reached him, he held out his hand and squeezed hers.

‘I love you,’ he whispered.

Tears sprang to her eyes before she gave his fingers a small squeeze and then they turned to the Registrar.

Jack knew then that everything was going to be all right.

Read on for

In Conversation with Neil White

1. If you were stranded on a desert island, which book would you take with you?

Although

To Kill A Mockingbird

first came to mind, because it is the only book I have wanted to start reading again as soon as I’d finished it, I would choose

Shoeless Joe

by WP Kinsella. It’s a whimsical tale of unfulfilled dreams set in Iowa, although the film adaptation is probably better known,

Field of Dreams

starring Kevin Costner.

2. Where does your inspiration come from?

If you mean my inspiration to write, it comes from other great books. When I read a really good book, I just think that I would love to write a book as good as that. If you mean for my plots, it just comes from real life. It’s a real tragedy that there are so many people willing to do horrific things to other human beings, but I am intrigued by their motivations, their thought processes, and how they can live with their guilt.

3. Have you always wanted to become a writer?

As an adult, yes, and I remember saying during my law degree years that the law would be what I would do until I could be a writer, so it was always an ambition. It was only after I left college and went to work that I decided to give it a try. My goal was to write a book that I would want to read, and as I enjoy reading pacey crime fiction, I was always going to try writing a thriller.

4. What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?

I worked once in a packing factory, and my job was to bash the tops onto washing-up liquid bottles. I had a wooden mallet, and the person opposite would put the tops in the bottle, and I would bash them, bang, bang, bang, bang. All night. If we wanted some variety, he would have the mallet and I would put them in.

I was once a security guard on Bridlington seafront, guarding the waltzers and dodgems at night. I lasted just four nights, when I realised that I wasn’t cut out for security work. Two couples bounded onto the waltzer in the dead of night (I was huddled in one of the cars, trying to keep warm), and my efforts to challenge them ended with the four of them sitting in one of the waltzer cars I was guarding, rolling cannabis joints, as I held my torch over them so that they could see what they were doing.

5. When you’re not writing, what are your favourite things to do?

Apart from spending time with my family – I have three boisterous boys – I enjoy reading books and watching films. I am a big rugby league fan, and a season ticket holder at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, and so I spend a lot of time watching it.

6. What is a typical working day like for you? Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, how did you cope with it?

I try and produce a certain number of words a day, because that helps me to move the plot forward. If I get stuck on the plot, I go back to the beginning and rewrite, because I find that by the time I get to where I had got stuck, a reminder of what I’d done before helps me unblock the jam. If I ever feel that I just don’t know what to write, I have a night off and watch a film. Sometimes you just have to take yourself away for a while.

7. Do you have any secret ambitions?

My secret ambition is to see more of the world. I have always said that I want to see rugby league in Australia, and one day I’ll manage that, but there are so many great places to see, and so little time to see it.

8. What can’t you live without?

If I assume that good health and family is a given, chocolate and alcohol would be high up the list, along with television and sport. I know that makes me sound like a lazy couch potato, but as it’s confession time, you might as well have the truth.

9. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a policeman when I was a child. I have always loved the criminal law, and as a child it was programmes like

Crown Court

and

Petrocelli

that I seemed to enjoy the most. Even when I was studying, as my friends considered high-flying commercial careers, I imagined myself in a police station.

10. Which five people, living or dead, would you invite to a dinner party?

Johnny Cash, and I would insist he brought his guitar.