Jack looked down the top of the embankment. Below him, the contents of Barry’s rucksack were lit by three mobile torches.

Shit! Jack thought to himself. This is all Ridley will need to put Barry and Mike at the heart of the train robbery.

Any chance he’d had of convincing anyone that The Grange women were the real culprits had just been totally crushed, along with Barry Cooper.

Chapter 29

When Maggie got in from work, breakfast was on a tray in the middle of the kitchen table, along with a single red rose and a handwritten note. On the upside, the tea and toast were still warm—on the downside, Maggie knew that the rose had been stolen from their neighbors’ hanging basket as there was still soil on the stem; the note just said “sorry x.”

Maggie recalled her ultimatum . . . Tomorrow morning, when I get home, I want breakfast in bed and a cuddle regardless of how bad I smell.

Jack had failed.

Jack was waiting for Foxy when he pulled into the police station car park.

“You want to know if you’re related to any more dead people?” Foxy quipped. Then he saw the serious look on Jack’s face. “Shit, really? Barry Cooper’s not your long-lost brother, is he?”

Jack handed Foxy a battered old baseball cap, sporting the Isle of Man TT Motorcycle race logo, complete with the three legs of man—although time had taken its toll on the embroidered stitching and the iconic symbol now only had two legs. Foxy took the cap and headed indoors.

“You owe me several pints, Jack. Don’t die before I can collect them.”

Jack was sitting at his desk when Ridley walked in. Ridley ignored him and went straight into his office. Jack sat silently at his desk and waited for everyone else to arrive.

Ridley led the briefing.

“Barry Cooper died yesterday, as you all know. In his rucksack was just short of five million in twenties and fifties from the ’95 train robbery. We know this because of the information on the bands used to hold the bundles of cash together. The shoe print found at the side of Mike’s Range Rover, from where the petrol was siphoned, has been matched to the sneakers Cooper was wearing when he died.”

Ridley looked at the jam-packed evidence boards and, without hesitation, removed the photos of Angela Dunn, Julia Lawson, Connie Stephens and Ester Freeman. He replaced them with pictures of Mike Withey and Barry Cooper.

“Barry’s initials were written in Mike’s diary, identifying the person he was meeting at Rose Cottage on the night he was murdered. Thomas Kurts, otherwise known as Topper. Rashid Wassan, otherwise known as Stan, as in ‘Paki-Stan.’ And Dennis Marchant, otherwise known as Dennie. These three are wanted for questioning in connection with aiding and abetting a fugitive and likely for a connection to the train robbery. They’re physically capable, they have the skills, the organization, the weapons experience and the track record for this kind of crime. We have Topper, ’cos he was Reserve training at Colchester Garrison. But we don’t yet know where the others are. I want you to work with the Essex Police to locate them. Check their military records to get their whereabouts for the night of the robbery—I don’t want to discover any unbreakable alibis later than today. Barry’s death is currently being withheld from the public so as not to scare his accomplices into running. Get to work. Find them before they get spooked and disappear.”