By the time Jack left shop twenty-one, he was feeling very pleased with himself. As the high-pitched brass bell marked Jack’s exit, he was immediately faced down by Ridley pretending to do a little window-shopping. Ridley didn’t say a word – he simply walked away, forcing Jack to follow at a discreet distance.

They finally came together on a bench near the Embankment Gardens.

‘Give me the number of your burner phone,’ Ridley said as soon as they were seated. ‘You have to tell someone, always, when you’re making contact with a suspect. You have to have that safety net of someone knowing where you are. You can’t just . . . you can bend some rules, Jack, but not these. What if he’d sussed you? What if I hadn’t called Maggie and what if she hadn’t answered your regular mobile and I hadn’t known that that meant you were with him? Go home.’ Then he walked away, like a disappointed dad who was getting very close to the end of his tether.

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

The journey back to Chipping Norton would have been an arduous one – half by train and half by bus – if Oaks hadn’t agreed to drive to Banbury train station to collect Jack. The twenty-minute car journey covering the final leg began with Oaks regaling Jack about how Gifford and Lee were working hand-in-glove, whilst Mason pined for Jack’s return; how Davidson had had a personality transplant and had become invaluable to the Jacob Mulhern murder investigation; and how Bevan was single-handedly responsible for making all of the whiteboards and case notes make sense. Oaks stopped talking when he realised that his own role had somewhat diminished and he’d fallen back into the routine of being a taxi-driver for DS Warr-from-the-Met. His blushes were saved by Jack’s mobile ringing.

Charlotte, it seemed, was in a terrible state, as Jack listened to her anxious words. ‘Jessica Yardley has fallen off her horse and is bedridden in a back brace.’ Jack waited for Charlotte to take a breath and put this statement into some sort of context for him. ‘She’ll be at home tomorrow, DS Warr. She lives in one of the target addresses I gave to De Voe and now the whole family will be at home!’ Jack’s mind immediately went into overdrive in an endeavour to find the solution. ‘Jess has got a four-year-old brother, Anthony, then there’s the parents, David and Anne. I can’t let De Voe go to that house now!’

Charlotte’s use of the word ‘I’, rather than ‘we’ or ‘you’, grated on Jack’s ears. It sounded like she was attempting to take control of the redemption stage of her involvement. Out of fear and desperation, she seemed to be putting her foot down. Jack took a deep breath, gave her the benefit of the doubt and decided just to deal with the immediate problem.