Picking her up, Tommy carried her to the big bed and placed her on it gently. Then he lay beside her and murmured to her. They spoke of the trouble in hushed tones as lovers do. Tommy brought out all her grief and bore it himself. He listened to her anguish, to her heartfelt sadness at the unfairness of life. Then, when her sobs were fading, he kissed her long and hard, gradually undressing her with practised fingers.

Briony watched him above her, his hair all grey now, no sign of the shiny blackness of yesteryear, but that was how she still saw him in her mind’s eye.

Together they spanned the years, making love like youngsters, with a sharp abandon, a poignancy, that only the knowledge of age can bring about.

Tommy, for his part, saw the girl in the blue velvet dress, with her startling red hair and green eyes. The girl he had met every afternoon on a park bench. Today Briony was that girl again, though she had always stayed young to him.

They made a long slow loving that crept into the afternoon, and afterwards they held one another tightly, whispering of the old days, laughing at their shared memories of people long gone now and times well past.

They spoke only of the good times. It was a healing, and they both knew that.

Briony slept for a while in his arms, to wake later in the day refreshed and without a shadow of the tiredness she had felt earlier. She awoke to see Tommy looking at her with love and tenderness in his eyes, and suddenly that was enough for her.

Jimmy Granger checked his shotgun.

‘So we go in now then?’

Daniel looked at him. ‘That’s about the strength of it, yeah. But remember, I want that slag Mitchell,1 waste him first. You all got that?’

He scanned the faces of the men in the car and each of them nodded once.

Boysie laughed low.

‘Then I take out Pargolis. You lot just look and listen, keep your eyes peeled on the people in the pub. If any of Pargolis’ blokes try anything, blow them away. That goes for anyone drinking in the pub too. If you think they’re a threat, just blow them away, simple as that.’

Boysie was repeating himself with nerves and excitement. Two minutes later Daniel gave the signal and they all got out of the Rolls-Royce. Six large men, with shotguns underneath their coats and murder on their minds.