‘Look, Jerry … I can leave you in peace right now, but your problem won’t go away. Whoever did you over, they’ve obviously got you marked as someone who knows stuff. Is it really going to make any difference if you spill the beans? They’re bound to come and see you again. And again, and again …’

‘I – have – no – details – Miss Clayburn!’ he shouted. ‘Hence the prolonged beating I received.’

She pointedly didn’t blink at his tirade, her eyes never leaving his unusually florid face. In time, he was the one who looked away.

‘My deduction can only be …’ he made a hapless gesture, ‘that certain associates of the Crew have been robbed in recent days. I have no knowledge who the perpetrators are … I had no clue these crimes had even been committed. The rest you know.’

‘You were right before when you said this isn’t a game, Jerry. One life’s already been lost, and several others have come close. We need to deal with it at an official level.’

‘It’s not just that I can’t help you, Miss Clayburn. I won’t help you.’

‘Jerry … gangs of crims are not going to run around this town doing whatever they want. Now give me something I can take to the bank … start by coming to the nick and making a statement about the assault you suffered. If we can pull those tosspots in, we can at least start cracking down on this wave of retaliatory violence.’

‘Miss Clayburn, if the Crew learn that I have been talking to you … you can count the days I’ll have left on one of your dainty little hands.’

‘Jerry … the way I see it, you need to do anything you can to get these monkeys off your back. So, if you don’t want to help me run their bully boys in, perhaps help me to help them. Give me something on these robbers who are targeting their interests.’

Still he said nothing.

‘Alternatively, of course, we could start looking at you as an accomplice.’

Even the new browbeaten Jerry McGlaglen looked shocked by this. ‘To what, may I ask?’

‘How about murder? Flash Andy Northwood? If you know his killers and won’t turn them in, how else are we supposed to regard you?

‘You think I wouldn’t have given up the murderers’ names if I’d known them when those scoundrels were beating the living faeces out of me?’

‘Okay … how about the murders that haven’t yet happened? The ones the Crew will end up committing if they don’t get their own way?’

He shook his head wearily. ‘I honestly know nothing.’

‘At least tell me who the other victims were … the other people who’ve been robbed, I mean. I know you, Jerry … you’ve always got your ear to the grapevine.’