ELMHURST COMPREHENSIVE School stood foursquare against the elements. The elements won, 50-0. Built in the sixties when concrete was king, it was designed to depress. In its tarmacadam crumbling glory, it was a rough and ready edifice showing its years like a middle-aged woman who had neglected to moisturise. Weathered by wind, stained by rain, it stirred no fond memories for Rafferty. He’d been glad to leave the place at sixteen and go to work on the black with his cousins until such time as his Ma had talked him into joining the police.
He parked up, careful to lock the vehicle so the bored-looking teenagers lounging against the outside of the school gates who eyed him with flat stares couldn’t have it away with the satnav.
Carefully picking his way over the pot-hole ridden tarmac, he o
