“He loved it and he said I could come over and play with him tomorrow afternoon so may I please, Mummy?”

“Well,” began Gwen.

Then she saw the man at the door pointing a gun at her. He put a finger to his lips, then motioned for her to hang up the telephone.

“Yes, that would be fine,” said Gwen. “Mummy has to go now, darling. There’s someone here.”

“Someone here?” asked Iris, popping up from behind her desk as Gwen hung up the telephone. “Oh! Someone here with a gun. Hello, how may we help you? Are you looking for a wife? We have several gun-lovers amongst our female clientele.”

“Shut it,” said the man, coming into the office and closing the door behind him. “I came for the money.”

He was tall and thin, wearing a brown raincoat over a brown three-piece suit despite the fact that it was a hot, sunny day. He was gray at the temples, and had a thin mustache that did little to improve a sallow, weaselly face.

“Money?” repeated Iris, a puzzled look on her face. “This is a marriage bureau. We don’t keep cash on the premises. Why, whatever we have, we deposit on Fridays, which was yesterday. If you’d like to have better luck, may I suggest you come back next Thursday afternoon? I believe we have an open time slot for robbery available.”

“Five thousand pounds,” said the man. “A little kiss from Lily to Violet.”

“That was given in exchange for a packet of letters,” said Gwen. “I’m afraid you’re too late.”

“I don’t think so,” said the man.

He transferred the gun to his left hand, then reached inside his raincoat and pulled out a thick manila envelope.

“I’ve still got the letters,” he said. “So you must still got the money.”

“So you’re the one who killed the chap in the warehouse?” asked Iris.

The man rapidly blinked twice.

“He’s dead, then? The little Greek fellow?” he asked.

“You shouldn’t be surprised after how you left him,” said Iris.

“I didn’t know he bought it,” said the man. “I never was in there. I was watching for you from the other side. I saw him go in. Then a couple of minutes later, I see another fellow come out the dockside door, limping past my hidey-hole.”

“Limping?” asked Gwen.

“I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t like it. Then I see the two of you go in, and I decided to sit tight and see what was going on. Then I hear sirens, and that was enough for me.”

“And yet you came here,” said Gwen.

“You’ve got the money here, don’t you?”

“My point is, how did you know where we were? You didn’t follow us here.”

“I recognised you,” said the man, smirking slightly. “You two were all over the papers last month. Even saw you on the newsreel. So, it didn’t take much to figure out you’d come here.”

“Enterprising fellow,” commented Iris. “Well, if you’re here to make a deal, put the gun away and we’ll talk business.”