‘We were DCs by then, me and Ruth,’ Tucker added, oblivious to her inner turmoil. ‘But we never caught the trigger-man. We had our suspicions, but … we couldn’t prove anything.’ He snorted with disgust. ‘Some people lead a charmed life, don’t they? Not just later, when they reach the top level of criminality, but when they’re first starting out too … when they’re wild men looking to make quick scores. But you know, even gangland bosses can get what’s coming to them! And that doesn’t necessarily mean at the end of a gun. Sometimes it’s not possible just to shoot them. Sometimes it’s not even desirable. Much better, I think, to do it by slow torture.’ He smiled again, very broadly – it really was a much uglier sight now with bloody gaps between his teeth. ‘Much better to whittle them down gradually, one cash stream gone here, another gone there. Their finances drying up, an empire cracking, coming apart … imagine the end result of that.’

‘You seriously think that by hitting these juniors, you’ll undermine the senior?’ Lucy said, scarcely able to believe this degree of irrationality. ‘How long do you think that’ll take?’

Harry chuckled. ‘You’re aware Danny’s one of the lead investigators on this case? It’ll go on as long as necessary, because no one’s going to solve it.’

‘Seriously, Danny?’ she said. ‘You think the Crew are so fragile? They’ve got a thousand ways to earn money. You shut down a couple of conduits, they’ll just develop new ones.’

‘Oh, I think you’ll find they’ll be ready to turn on their own long before then,’ he replied. ‘Even the most powerful players can’t withstand failure indefinitely.’

‘Danny …’ She shook her head, though it baffled her that she cared enough to say this; the chances of talking them round when they’d come this far had to be minimal. ‘You’re getting carried away with your own hatred. I mean, you may think you’re doing the right thing … hurting the mob, hurting one mob boss in particular, and cleaning out a few mice in the process. But where’s the endgame? What’s going to happen to you?’

‘Well, I’ll be able to pay my debts,’ Harry said.

The simple stupidity of that response was a hammer blow to what remained of her hopes, faint as they were. What other kinds of debt were these guys running up during the course of this madness? If Harry couldn’t see that …

‘Nothing for you to worry about, Lucy,’ Tucker replied. ‘Nor your mum. I’m sorry she got involved in this, by the way. I really don’t know how that happened.’

‘If you’ve got any sense you’ll let her go,’ Lucy snapped. ‘You’ll let me go too … as damage limitation. Tonight’s been a catastrophe across the board …’