Chapter 83
Degsy surveyed the scene. Headlights lit the front of the charred, still smouldering building. “What kind of arsehole would do something like this?”
Several moments passed before he spoke again. “Could we have done more, Sammy? We should have done more. We didn’t do enough.”
Sammy shifted uneasily. “Boss, we did all we could, well, all the system allows us to do. To be honest, we probably did more than most.”
The DI turned to face his DS. “The little shits were just waiting. Waiting, for the passing attention to fade away. Waiting, for us to lose interest. I should have been more aggressive with the housing people.”
“It’s not your fault, Degs. I’ve worked with the housing before. They have their own speed and anyway, the bucks would’ve probably found them again months from now, a year from now even.”
Degsy looked at him. “But that’s the problem, isn’t it, Sammy? There are no real sanctions. We lock them up and the Courts let them out. When they do get sent down they only ever do half the sentence, max, and the prisons are fast becoming a joke. The Courts blame the Government and the Government blames the previous one or the EU. No one can be arsed to mend it and no matter what we do, we’re damned.”
A white helmeted Fire Officer approached them. “Your lot can go in now. We found the bodies of the two kids in the back bedroom. The mother and baby we found on the stairs.” A nod then he trudged past them.
Degsy looked at Sammy and shook his head. “We didn’t do enough.” He wiped his eyes with his hand. “We just didn’t fucking do enough.”