‘I fuckin’ hope so,’ said Peter, ‘’cos I’ve no room for loose cannons in this firm. I’ve just got rid of one and I don’t fuckin’ want another.’

‘No worries. Like I said, Mike’s alright. And he’s a different kettle of fish from dickhead Dave.’

‘Well, I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it for now. But he’s gonna have to fuckin’ prove himself. Let’s hope he comes up to scratch on the next job.’

‘He will,’ replied Glynn. He then drained the dregs from his celebratory glass of brandy and picked up his share of the cash. ‘Right, Pete. I’m off. I’ve gotta decide what I’m gonna do with this little lot.’

He flashed a charming smile at Peter before going.

Once they had all left, Peter sat swirling brandy around in a crystal tumbler and thinking back to what had happened with Mike. He wasn’t happy with him at all. Rough handling the girl was bad enough but Peter didn’t like his attitude either. It irked him to think that he’d got rid of Dave only to replace him with more trouble.

He tried to console himself. Perhaps Glynn was right. Maybe Mike would toe the line now he knew the score. He hoped so, because he didn’t need more grief from his men. What he did was high risk enough without his men acting out of line. But, apart from Mike being a bit too eager, the job had gone well.

He glanced over again at the stash of money on his dining table. As leader of the gang and chief planner, Peter had taken the biggest share from the job. Yes, it had definitely been a good earner. He was now building up a tidy sum of money, which would come in very useful in the future. Peter already had plans of how he wanted to spend it. Big plans. He was going places, and nothing and nobody was going to stand in his way.

Chapter 17

Governor Jones looked over the rim of her glasses at the three guards standing in front of her.

‘Perhaps you’d like to start by telling me exactly what happened,’ she said to none of them in particular.

‘Well,’ began Prison Officer Fox, ‘we rushed in when we saw a fight taking place. I went straight to prisoner Robinson. I could tell she was getting out of hand. The woman was like a banshee but I held her back before she could inflict any more damage.’

‘And exactly what damage did she inflict?’ asked Governor Jones.

‘The other girl’s face was scarlet where she’d punched her. Vicious, it was. And it wouldn’t have stopped there. She was going mad to get at her—’

‘Who was the other prisoner involved?’ Governor Jones cut in.

‘That new one, erm… what’s her name?’

‘Sharon Bamford,’ replied Prison Officer Roberts.