‘They’ve moved me to a recovery ward. If I’m good for that, I’m good for the fresh air … at least, there’s no chance of concealed microphones out here.’

Shallicker nodded thoughtfully. ‘How’s Charlie?’

‘Apparently, she’s going to be all right.’

The big guy looked relieved. ‘That’s good.’

‘But she’s had major surgery, so it’s going to be a long one. Six months, maybe.’

‘Shit.’

McCracken looked up at him. His voice grated as he spoke. ‘I’m more concerned about what the blue fuck’s been going on elsewhere!’

Shallicker raised his hands. ‘First of all, I had no choice … I had to bring you here. I thought you were going to kick it.’

‘I’m not concerned about that. I mean O’Grady.’

‘Well … it was him, Frank. We both saw him.’

‘We’re never likely to see him again, are we! Just tell me it wasn’t you, Mick.’

‘Course it wasn’t.’

‘Because I’d expect schoolboys to do a better fucking job than that.’

‘Yeah, well …’ Shallicker gestured that he would sit if that was okay. McCracken moved up and he plonked himself down. ‘You’re more right about that than you realise.’

‘In what way?’

‘First of all …’ Fleetingly, Shallicker seemed tongue-tied. It was a new experience for McCracken to see his gigantic minder so uneasy, and he wasn’t enjoying it. ‘First of all … I shat myself after I’d brought you here. I knew I should’ve gone looking for one of our own sawbones, but like I say, I thought you’d had it, Charlie especially. Anyway, I didn’t want to hang around waiting for Wild Bill to come to me. So, I went to him … well, I rang him. Told him what had happened. He ripped me a fucking new one, as I thought he would. But he was less pissed off when I told him the shooter was O’Grady, and that it was retaliation for you putting the muscle on him over an earner. He told me to leave it to him.’

McCracken shrugged. ‘There’s nothing wrong with this picture so far … and yet we’ve still ended up with a situ where I might get nicked.’

‘They’ve nothing on you, Frank—’

‘Fuck’s sake, Mick!’ McCracken would have gesticulated angrily had he been able to raise his arm. ‘That bus job was cowboy stuff. They’ve got the bodies, they’ve got the gun that was used against me … which puts us straight in the frame for conspiracy. They’ve even got the body of an innocent bystander. A bus driver, for God’s sake! What did he do wrong?’

‘Think he was just there … just inconvenient.’