Abbott looked at him, thinking, You’re in this up to your fucking eyeballs, aren’t you? But said nothing. Keeping his cards close to his chest.

‘Any idea when you’re going to do it?’

‘You asking for me or because Her Royal Highness wants to know?’

‘How about a bit of both?’

‘Well, in that case, you both need to remember that I’m not in the habit of sharing status reports.’

‘So you’re not gonna tell me when you plan to move?’

‘I still don’t know. And even if I did know, no, I probably wouldn’t be telling you when I plan to move. We operate on a need-to-know basis, and I’ll decide when you need to know.’

‘OK, but here’s something that you need to know. Doyle’s levels of paranoia are going through the roof. He’s called on a bunch of guys from Manchester. He wants a larger force down here. They’re arriving at the weekend. Does that make any difference to your thinking?’

It did. It meant that Abbott had to move Thursday night latest. ‘He didn’t like having his hand forced, but on the other side of the coin maybe it was for the best. Perhaps he had been prevaricating, holding off.

‘When are we going? When are we going?’ Brace was saying that. Impatient.

‘I’ve got a gym to run.’ This from Miller.

Ward: ‘Those patio sets aren’t going to sell themselves, you know.’

The boys wanting him to go. McGregor clearly wanting him to go.

Whatever. None of that really mattered. What mattered was the operation. The objective. And yes, he had to admit that they were as ready as they would ever be. He had to admit that it was time to move.

He told the lads. ‘Operation is go for tomorrow.’

He spoke to McGregor again. ‘It’s tonight.’

‘Tonight. OK.’

‘Is there any way we can be sure that Cynthia will be absent?’

‘I can do my best to find out her movements.’

‘Do that. And at the same time, make sure that you’re as far away as possible.’

‘Will do.’

‘Oh, and McGregor? We’ll be needing the money as soon as the job is over. Is that clear? I’ll need it splitting three ways and transferring to three account numbers that I’ll provide to you.’

‘I’ll be in touch with Kilgore and see that it’s done.’

‘Excellent. I’ll be seeing you, McGregor.’

And I’ll deal with you later.

Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

‘Mrs Doyle?’

‘McGregor. What do you want?’

‘Just that me and the lads are planning a bit of a surprise for the boss man tonight, for the anniversary like.’

‘What anniversary is that, then?’

‘You remember when we took over the drugs business from Kemp?’

‘No, not really. Why?’

‘Well, that’s the anniversary.’

‘What? And we’re celebrating that, are we?’