‘I’ll tell you later. I have a plan forming, I just need to speak to a few people to get it moving. Stay out of sight and I’ll call you later.’

‘You’re not giving much away here,’ she said, sounding slightly hurt.

‘Not over the phone, Pet. You’ve done so much for me, I don’t want to expose you any more. Taylor will do anything to get off the hook and the evidence needs to be watertight.’

‘I was so worried about you, Tom. Is your mother okay?’

‘She seems more together about it than Cameron; she is very tough. She’s going to the hospital with a story of an accident with an axe and some firewood. I also want to say, Pet, from the bottom of my heart: thank you. Without you I think my family would be dead by now.’ Once again, Tom surprised himself with a slight jolt of emotion. Was this normal, he wondered?’

‘Tom, I’m just glad you are all safe. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t done everything I could. You’re a good man, Tom.’ There was a pause that seemed like an eternity but, in reality, was probably just a few seconds.

Eventually Tom spoke, all business once again. ‘One last thing: I need a number from my phone. Can you get it for me? Look up a number for “Lucky D” in my contacts.’

Pet sighed, presumably at Tom’s slightly abrupt tone, but she read the number out to him anyway.

‘Thanks, Pet. Speak soon.’ He ended the call.

He immediately dialled the number he’d written down which was answered with a cheery, ‘Hello, who’s that phoning Lucky D?’ in a light, cockney accent.

‘Lucky, my man. It’s Tom Novak.’

‘Tommy-boy, how you been? You’ve been out of sight for months! What’s up? You don’t need the services of your best-ever snitch, eh?’

Lucky D was a career criminal. A car thief par excellence, who Tom had arrested long ago but had managed to turn into a valuable informant. He knew everyone and everything that went on in the Islington area and was happy to pass on anything he didn’t like the look of to Tom when it suited him. Lucky had a big problem with drugs and drug dealers: he couldn’t stand them, probably due to his own mother’s long-term addiction. He wouldn’t grass on anyone other than drug dealers or people connected to murders, but he’d given Tom many good leads in the past that had seen some big dealers locked up and netted many big seizures. That was not the purpose of his call, however.

‘I need to get into a new Jaguar F-Pace without anyone knowing I’ve been in it. Is that something you would know about?’