“Bugger,” I muttered, looking around guiltily just in case anyone had heard such an unladylike outburst. I picked it up and was relieved to see it was more or less intact. When I went to lift it, to put it back in place, I saw why Bobo had chosen to hang it here, on a wall of her bedroom where it could not properly be admired and got no real light. There was a safe behind it. With trembling fingers I tried to open it. Of course the wheels turned on the dial but it remained firmly shut. No wonder she had nothing of interest in her desk, I thought. It was all in here, and it looked very much as if the police had not yet discovered it. Now all I had to do was find a way to open it.

I had no idea where to find someone who knew how to open a safe, but I knew someone who might. I made my way to Green Park tube station as quickly as possible and soon was heading out of town to Essex and my grandfather.

YOU WANT A what?” he asked me after he had seated me in his warm little kitchen.

“I wondered if you knew how to open a safe.”

“Blimey, ducks. You haven’t taken up burglary now as a hobby, have you?” He didn’t know whether to laugh or be shocked.

“No, but I’m helping the authorities in an investigation I can’t tell you about, and I’ve just discovered a safe in someone’s bedroom. So I thought if you knew how to open it . . .” I let the rest of the sentence hang.

He laughed, a trifle nervously. “My job was apprehending criminals, love. Not joining them. But come to think of it I might know someone who can help us. Willie Lightfingers Buxton. He was reputed to be the best there was. And I know he’s out of the Scrubs.”

“The Scrubs?”

“Wormwood Scrubs. Clink. Prison.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to extend my investigation to include convicted felons.

“A convict, Granddad? I’m not sure . . .”

“Salt of the earth, old Willie. One of the old-style cons. Looked upon safecracking as his profession, just the way a surgeon looks at his. No, you’d be all right with old Willie—if he’ll do it. He’s as old as me and retired and has no wish to go back to the Scrubs again.”

“Would you ask him anyway? I’m not planning to steal anything, just look at the contents and then shut it up again. And I do have the permission of someone really senior in the Home Office.”

“I suppose I could do that for you. Where do I send him when I find him?”