She turned and smiled. ‘And what’s going on inside that ugly skull of yours now?’

‘Just thinking how you’re about the best-looking lass I’ve seen in years.’

‘Not much of a compliment,’ she scoffed. ‘Not when you consider where you’ve been lately.’

‘Been reading up on me, have you?’

She shrugged. ‘I caught the final newscast on television. You’d plenty of competition, by the way. There’s been a woman murdered earlier tonight on the other side of Jubilee Park.’

‘Another of these Rainlover things?’

‘Who else could it be?’ She shivered and added slowly. ‘when I was alone in the kitchen earlier I got to thinking that maybe that man out there in the yard …’

‘Was the Rainlover?’ The Gunner shook his head emphatically. ‘Not a chance. The fact that he’s seen off this poor bitch earlier is proof enough of that. They always work to a pattern these blokes. Can’t help themselves. The chap who jumped you had something a damned sight more old-fashioned on his mind.’

She frowned. ‘I don’t know, I was thinking that maybe I should report it to the police.’

She hesitated as well she might. Her father had left mother and daughter a business which was worth in cash and property some fifteen thousand pounds yet he had never considered himself as anything other than working class. His daughter was of the same stubborn breed and had been raised to obey the usual working class code which insisted that contact with the police, no matter what the reason, was something to be avoided at all costs.

‘And what were you going to tell them?’ demanded the Gunner. ‘That Sean Doyle, with every copper for miles around on his tail, stopped to save you from a fate worse than death, so you fed him and clothed him and sent him on his way rejoicing because you figured you owed him something?’ He chuckled harshly. ‘They’ll have you in a cell in Holloway before you know what’s hit you.’

She sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right.’

‘Of course I am.’ With some adroitness he changed the subject. ‘So I was on the telly, was I?’

‘Oh, they did quite a feature on the great Gunner Doyle.’

‘Free publicity is something I can always use. I hope they mentioned I was the best second-storey man in the North of England.’

‘Amongst other things, including the fact that you were the most promising middle-weight since the war, a contender for the crown until women and booze and fast cars got in the way. They said you were the biggest high-liver the ring had seen since somebody called Jack Johnson.’

‘Now there’s a compliment if you like.’

‘Depends on your point of view. The commentator said that Johnson had ended up in the gutter without a penny. They seemed to be drawing some kind of comparison.’