‘That cop saw you and the vehicle. If she’d also found a dead body, the whole pig pantomime would show up. We’d be in trouble. But if they think it was just a mugging, they won’t be too worried. The van’ll need to be sprayed again, of course.’

Alyssa acknowledged this with a grunt. It would mean a lot of work, but they changed the van’s colour almost as frequently as they changed its plates. It would have been highly unprofessional to keep on using it in the same unaltered condition. And professionalism was the name of this game.

They drove in silence for a minute.

Ivana and Alyssa were nineteen-year-old twins and they resembled each other closely, though Ivana was slightly more severe-looking, with her spiky, red-tinted hair and athletic aura. In contrast, Alyssa had a softer air, though not by much. Shapelier than her sister, she was still obviously an athlete. She wore her fair hair shoulder-length, though at present it was damp and hanging in strings. Ordinarily, she had similar good looks to Ivana, though they were rounder and smoother, but thanks to her foul-up with Lorna Cunningham she was currently battered and bruised, her left eye black and swollen and only partially open.

‘How badly did you hurt the cop?’ Ivana asked.

‘She got up again,’ Alyssa responded.

‘Fair enough. That works.’

Alyssa was amazed that her sister was being so conciliatory. They’d been looking for the dingbat in the habit and veil for days now, Alyssa hating her more and more because she’d somehow proved so elusive. Ivana, though she was calmer and cooler as a rule, had seemed equally angry.

‘I can’t believe you don’t mind that we’ve fucked this up,’ Alyssa said. ‘You reckoned she was with that old duffer down St Clement’s just before we nabbed him. You said you thought she might have clocked us. If the cops are looking into that one, won’t they link it to this? It was virtually in the same place.’

Ivana shrugged. ‘And who’s their only witness to that other grab? A smackhead scrote who dresses like a nun and sells her cooch to get gear. You think they’ll listen to her … if she’s able to tell them anything sensible? Yeah, there’s a vague possibility they’ll connect the two. But none of our plates are traceable, and like I say, we do another respray and we’re sorted.’