‘You were a fair opponent, Lucy,’ Tucker commented. He’d retrieved Cora’s mobile from her and still clutched the .38 against Lucy’s ribs, but he’d also drawn a handkerchief and was industriously wiping the blood from his face.

‘Don’t you talk to me, Danny,’ she said tightly. ‘That’s all … just don’t.’

‘No, seriously. You gave us a good run-around. After you killed Ruth this evening, you completely dropped out of sight.’

‘I didn’t kill Ruth.’

‘Well someone did,’ Harry chipped in. ‘She was just where you said she’d be. Halfway down Jubilee Gardens.’

‘It wasn’t me.’ Lucy’s eyes fell on Cora, who, perhaps thankfully, was now slumped unconscious in her seatbelt. ‘But I can’t say the same for that hit-team you sent to my mum’s house. You get my mother involved, lads, and all bets are off.’

Tucker gave a mock-frown. ‘We sent no one to your mother’s house.’

‘Whatever … they’re history now.’

‘Real tough cookie, aren’t you?’

‘And what are you lot supposed to be?’ She couldn’t keep the disgust from her voice. ‘Coppers … who’ve carried out a series of violent robberies! What special place in hell do they reserve for the likes of you?’

‘Thing is … some of us need money,’ Harry said. ‘It’s a problem.’

‘Your problem, Harry, is you’re a total idiot,’ she retorted. ‘You’ve made such a bollocks of your life that it costs you a fortune now, just living day-to-day. So, your solution is to steal the money! Jesus, what could go wrong?’ She turned back to Tucker. ‘Makes you a phoney too … and it pisses on your so-called charitable donations.’

Tucker half-smiled as he dabbed at his damaged eyebrows. ‘Some things are necessary evils. We allowed Harry to skim a little so we could acquire his services.’

‘Acquire his services!’ she scoffed. ‘Is this Harry Jepson we’re talking about … the guy who wrote the manual on incompetent coppering? What the hell use could he be to you?’

Harry’s eyes narrowed in the rear-view mirror. ‘There you go, underestimating me again. Trouble is … this time it’s been your undoing, hasn’t it?’

‘Harry’s a handy wheelman,’ Tucker explained.

Lucy snorted, but in truth she could have slapped herself. She ought to have seen that all along. The one thing Harry Jepson could contribute to a major operation was driving skills. Even so, if they’d been forced to recruit a loose cannon like Harry, it implied that there weren’t too many other Robbery Squad officers involved, if any.

‘And that’s the whole thing, is it, Danny?’ she said. ‘You and Smiley were the blaggers, Harry was the escape man. I can dismiss everyone else from my enquires … like Lee Gaskin, for example?’

Harry laughed aloud.