‘Oh, I’m an exception to the rule, am I?’

‘I treat you no differently, even though you are a very attractive woman.’

Jane was completely taken aback and not sure how to take his compliment.

Elliott continued. ‘I have a session booked at the Milton firing range in Gravesend. It’s a military and MOD police training center, and I think you’d really benefit from learning how to shoot at moving targets.’

Jane was in two minds whether to ask him how he had found out about her situation with the Sweeney. If Dabs had not been talking to him, then she needed to know where Elliott had got the information. But in the end she didn’t have the strength.

Elliott gave her the address. ‘And make sure this time you’re at the club by six forty-five.’

Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jane was determined not to be late and as a result had given herself double the time she would need. She had fetched her tracksuit out of a washbag, and as before, she put her towel in her overnight bag along with a fresh skirt, shirt, jacket and court shoes, ready for work at the station. She headed out towards Marble Arch and then Horseferry Road. She drove through Lambeth, across Westminster Bridge and on to the New Kent Road, eventually getting on to the A2 slip-road towards Dover.

It was quite a complicated route, and she missed one turning before finally finding the appropriately named Shooters Hill Road, before joining the B262 towards Gravesend. Eventually she found herself on a narrow road with high fences and a barred gate at the end with a small guard box and an armed uniformed Ministry of Defense police officer inside. As she pulled up by the gate Jane checked her watch and was pleased she was fifteen minutes early, though she wished she’d had something to eat and drink before she left home as her stomach was rumbling. She opened her glove compartment and took out a packet of Polo Mints, and had just popped one in her mouth when she saw Elliott, wearing a black tracksuit with the hood pulled up and carrying a metal briefcase. The MOD officer came out of the hut and had a brief conversation with him. Elliott walked over.

‘Do you have your ID with you?’

She opened her handbag and passed it to him. He went back to the MOD officer, showed him Jane’s ID and signed her in as a guest. Returning to the passenger side of Jane’s car, Elliott opened the door and got in beside her.

Following Elliott’s instructions, Jane turned right onto a narrow tarmac lane until they arrived at what looked like a warehouse. There were numerous white-painted parking spaces but no other vehicles and Elliott instructed her to continue towards a glass-fronted door with a keypad beside it.