But Trudy had had more than enough of this little madam’s tricks! It was time, she thought grimly, to get the upper hand once and for all. So, just as she’d been trained, she let Juliet get close enough, then ducked under her outstretched hands, grabbed a wrist and twisted up and backwards sharply, just as Juliet’s twin had done to Trudy not more than a minute or so ago. This made the young girl stagger and half-turn, in order to avoid having her arm wrenched out at the shoulder.

Now that Juliet was in a vulnerable, half-crouched position, Trudy stepped smartly behind her assailant, and literally kicked her legs out from under her. She then followed the writhing, cursing, furious and petite girl down onto the carpet in a more controlled landing.

Juliet, not looking remotely svelte or smug now, reminded Trudy even more of an outraged cat, she was screeching and hissing epithets so hard.

With one bent knee either side of her twisting body, Trudy hastily used her one free hand to open her satchel (which had long since dropped to the floor beside her,) and reach inside for the handcuffs that made up part of her accoutrements. She snapped them on the girl’s wrists with a satisfied sigh and a reassuring ‘click’.

The noise of the handcuffs finally brought home to Juliet the full ignominy of her situation, and she closed her eyes for a few moments, forcing herself to calm down.

Trudy, meanwhile, saw that her police cap was within reach, and so retrieved it and put it back on her head. For some reason, this small act made her feel much better! As she was tucking her now messy hair firmly back under the cap, she caught Phyllis Raynor’s grim face watching her from a safe distance, and glared at her.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ Phyllis said, aggrieved. ‘None of this is my doing!’ The older woman had had the good sense to get out of the way, and was now half-hiding behind the bed. ‘I want these two charged!’ she added loudly.

At this, Juliet howled in protest. ‘No, arrest her! She’s the blackmailing bitch!’

Rodney finally managed to get Jasper into the same position as his unfortunate sister, and grunted in satisfaction. The man might be small, and he might talk like a public schoolboy but as PC Broadstairs had been finding out to his cost, the little sod fought like a back-street villain from Naples!

Now, finally, some sort of calm began to settle. Trudy was kneeling over the handcuffed Juliet, and Rodney was doing the same to her twin, and making a formal arrest – the charge being the same as that being delivered to his sister, that of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.