Standing in front of his desk since he had not been invited to sit down, Murray was in the process of deciding that he disliked the man intensely. He stared at the place where the scalp of the Chief Superintendent shone pink through the wispy grey hair. In the situation he found himself in, concentration on that kind of detail sometimes helped. 'The people out there have had all their leave cancelled, right? And the days off. We've got the full team here from half nine in the morning till half nine at night - and after that there's still people here. We're tired. And then we've got you.' The smart thing to do would have been to grovel, but the best Murray could manage was to keep his face expressionless. 'They tell me you were a real copper once.' This time McKellar waited until there was an answer. 'A long time ago – I was in Eastern.' 'I started in that shop. Nobody ever taught me to behave like a cunt there. I hear you went to America – is that where you learned to be a cunt?' 'I went to America,' Murray agreed stolidly.
