‘My wife bought it for our wedding anniversary,’ he told her. ‘OK, follow me. We’re going to go into the long-range shooting area. This is where you learn the military technique of firing when lying down.’

Yet again Jane was stunned at the size of the area, which must have once been a massive underground car park.

They returned to the coffee-bar area, where Elliott was waiting.

‘Dabs has told me you want to have some instruction in small-arms shooting. A .22, is that right?’

Jane nodded.

‘The .22 is one of the oldest firearm calibers in existence. It survived the jump from black powder to smokeless. As a handgun round, it’s pretty much worthless except for training or target shooting. Although you may hear of people carrying these guns for self-defense, this is a horrible idea. Not only is the caliber insufficient, the guns normally designed for this cartridge are not up to standard. On the other hand, the nine millimeter is the most prolific handgun caliber in the world. More cartridges of a nine-millimeter ammunition are produced, sold and fired than almost every other caliber in existence. They are extremely popular because of how cheap the cartridges are and it’s normally considered to be the bare minimum for self-defense. It is carried by most militaries and law enforcement agencies in the United States.’

Jane gave a light cough. ‘I need to practice with a .22, and at some time in the future, go on to a nine millimeter and then maybe a rifle. But right now, I think I need training that would just basically give me confidence in handling a gun.’

‘I’m surprised that the Met don’t give weapons training to their recruits.’

Jane flushed. ‘I doubt that will ever happen. Some specialist squads and police stations have a small number of officers who are trained as “authorized shots”, but even then, firearms can only be issued by a sergeant with good reason. I don’t know of any women officers who are authorized. Personally, I’d just like to learn more about guns and handling them. Then if ever I get the opportunity to apply for a firearms course, I can say that I have previous experience.’

Elliott nodded and pushed his chair back. ‘I should process your application first, but as you’re a police officer I’ll take you through to the range where you can get the feel of a handgun. We’ll do a few basic exercises and see how it goes.’

Jane looked around for Dabs. Vera gave her a warm smile.

‘He’s gone to the long range,’ she said.

Elliott took off his overcoat and checked the roster. ‘Right, Vera, I’m only going to be ten minutes. We’ve got all stalls available.’ He turned to Jane. ‘Club starts filling up at around eight p.m. with people coming in after work.’