Snatched From Home: What Would You Do To Save Your Children? (DI Harry Evans Book 1) by Graham Smith

geek’s name, Campbell realised Evans could get whatever he wanted. Processing this information, he acknowledged to himself the team were as cavalier in their attitude to rules as Evans, who conducted their behaviour like an errant ringmaster.
    ‘With my accent they’ll never take to me. It’s a non-starter.’
    ‘I’ll get Mikey to introduce you as his wife’s cousin. He’ll be able to get you into the crowd who are pushing most of the drugs in Kendal.’
    ‘Why’s he doing that? Surely a few quid from the CHIS fund is not gonna make him take the risk of grassing up a drug dealer. You know what happens to grasses; if he introduces me, then he is putting himself right in the firing line.’
    ‘He’s pissed off at the way he is being treated in there. The main dealer has a share in the pub and treats it like his own fiefdom. All he wants is a few hundred quid so he can piss off back to London. You’re supposed to be the undercover hotshot, so it will be up to you to get the dirt on the dealer so we can nick the bastard.’
    ‘You are going to set up a whole undercover op based on what a guy has told you in the pub?’
    ‘No, of course not. Don’t be a dickhead. You are going in for a few beers a coupla times a week and Mikey will tell the dealer you want some charlie. You buy some a couple of times, and then you’ll say that the quality is good and you want to buy bulk so you can sell it on in Glasgow if the price is right. Your main supplier has been taken out by rival firms and this has created a space you can fill. He’ll want the trade and the profit that goes with it. You will seem safe ’cause he thinks he owns the barman.’
    ‘No way. My wife is due to give birth any day now, and I don’t want to be sixty miles away half-cut, doing drug deals.’
    ‘Don’t give me that shite; you only left the undercover squad ’cause your card was seriously marked. You’re forgetting I’ve read your file and know everything about what happened.’
    ‘Leave it. It’s a long story and one I’m not proud of, needless to say that what’s in the file is only the tip of the iceberg.’
    ‘Sounds about right.’
    ‘Since then I’ve had to work my arse off to get myself back up to DI. Ten years’ worth of promotions were wiped out because of one error of judgement.’
    Evans considered what the younger man was saying and worked out that while Campbell had made a mistake, there was probably a senior officer equally culpable who had covered his own misdeeds by blaming Campbell. Shit always rolled downhill in hierarchal organisations.
    ‘How the hell did you get this gig then?’
    ‘Hard work and some good results. My HR file says I’ll never rise above DI, but as DI jobs go this is a good one, as you well know.’
    ‘That it is, lad. That it is.’ Evans drained his glass and met Campbell’s eye. ‘So after all your sanctimonious preaching yesterday, you’re telling me that you’re just as liberal with the rules as I am?’
    Campbell shook his head. ‘No way. I don’t treat the law or the public the way you do. I made one mistake and was hung out to dry, while my DCI wriggled off the hook.’
    ‘Aye, but you’re not lily-white either, so stop preaching to me and let me do things my way until they get rid of me and then you can do whatever the hell you like.’
    Before Evans could probe further into his past, Campbell made a suggestion: ‘C’mon, let’s go visit this Peters guy, see what he has to say for himself.’
    They walked along Highgate towards the accountant’s offices without speaking. Once again Campbell was amazed at the number of people who greeted Evans, or were on the receiving end of a comment from him about their welfare or that of a family member. What should have been a five-minute walk took closer to twenty due to the number of people he spoke to.
    Campbell spent the time waiting for Evans assessing the area. Driving in, he’d seen signs for Kendal College, which accounted for