Feels the tickle in his chest. Hold it, Col, hold it . . . He’s made it up the stairs without needing to breathe out. Six, seven, eight steps down the off-green corridor. Eyes streaming, chest thumping . . . Turning the handle and entering into Interview Suite B. He breathes out. Fills the cold, damp room with the smell of cigarettes. “Thought you deserved a treat,” he says, and then gives in to a fit of hacking coughs. Police interview rooms have been no-smoking zones since 2007. Smokers are at the mercy of their investigators when it comes to a nicotine fix. Colin Ray is not feeling merciful. Left the interview to pop outside for a cigarette, and declined Alan Rourke’s request to accompany him. “Should give them up, lad,” says Ray, scraping the chair back from the desk and sitting down forcefully, wiping his eyes and then his nose with the heel of his hand.
