If she were to marry him, it would mean giving up the job she loved to become an army officer’s wife, produce the regulation 2.2 children, while her greatest thrill would be helping the CO’s wife organize cocktail parties for visiting ‘bigwigs’ (Archie’s word). As she was musing on this vision of her future, she became distracted by a lively bunch of theatregoers pouring out of the Queen’s Theatre to begin wending their way home. The usual reminder that she should also be thinking about calling it a day.

‘Another glass of wine, miss?’

• • •

‘Good evening, Inspector,’ said Jimmy the dip, who had appeared out of nowhere. ‘If you’ve got the gear, I’m ready to earn the other two hundred nicker.’

Ross turned his back on the passing crowd and without a word slipped Jimmy three small packets and a bundle of used notes. Jimmy melted back into the crowd.

A few moments later, Ross spotted him on the far side of the road mingling with the audience coming out of the theatre, before he stopped outside the entrance to the club and asked the doorman the way to Leicester Square.

‘What do you think I am, mate, a fuckin’ tour guide?’

‘Sorry to bother you,’ said Jimmy, who bent down and picked up a watch from the pavement. ‘Is this yours by any chance?’

‘Yeah,’ said the doorman, grabbing his watch and slipping it back on his wrist without a word of thanks.

Jimmy the dip moved on, while Ross stepped into a nearby phone box and dialled a number.

Moments later a voice announced, ‘Inspector Watts.’

‘I’ve just come out of the Eve Club, and the doorman tried to sell me some drugs. I thought you’d want to know.’ He hung up before the call could be traced. Four minutes was considered by the Met’s crack drivers to be a fast response to an emergency call, so when a squad car swept into Wardour Street three minutes and forty-two seconds later, Ross allowed himself a smile.

• • •

At first Rebecca didn’t take much notice of the police car as it sped into the street below her. Hardly surprising, she thought, as there were regular disturbances in Soho every night. But she began to take a closer interest when it screeched to a halt outside the Eve Club. Four uniformed officers leapt out and surrounded Carter, whose shocked expression appeared to be genuine.

A small crowd began to gather on the opposite side of the road as two of the officers pinned him against the wall, while a third searched his overcoat and extracted several small packets and a bundle of used notes. The fourth officer, an Inspector Rebecca didn’t recognize, arrested Carter and cautioned him, before he was handcuffed and led away. She could still hear his cries of protest as he was bundled into the back of the police car.

She began to write down everything she had witnessed, pausing only when the owner came rushing out of the club and shook a fist at the squad car as it disappeared out of sight. The crowd had dispersed by the time Jimmy the dip reappeared by Ross’s side, unable to hide a smirk.