‘Don’t the Elephants do that already? Buy stuff, or nick stuff, and sell it on?’

‘The business opportunities are bigger this side of the river and we want to be part of them. Moss wants us to be part of them. The Richmonds have been talking about working with Billy Kimber, but Moss thinks we should move in with Lazenby and his friends.’

‘Billy Kimber? The man from Birmingham? I’ve heard of him.’

‘Of course you have. The whole world has heard of his Brummagem gang. Kimber’s already running the bookmaking at most of the racecourses, and now he wants to move into Soho. There are rich pickings to be had this side of the river, especially in places like this. But Moss thinks Kimber’s overreaching himself. He wants us to be better connected. And Lazenby is very well connected.’ He stares over her head towards the entrance to the club. ‘There’s a man I’m meeting – the meeting you know about – he’s going to sit down with me and discuss some terms for our arrangement.’

‘This one isn’t from Birmingham?’

‘No. He’s from London. Moss has decided we should play quietly, like gentlemen. He thinks we should leave the noise to Kimber and the other ruffs. Plenty of the old gangs are scrapping over the racecourses and dog tracks, attracting attention, getting rounded up by the coppers, you know that. Moss says we should make ourselves useful to a better class of businessman. Which is why I’m here tonight.’

‘Why you? Why not one of the others?’

He grins over his glass. ‘’Cause even with a black eye, I look the part. Ronnie and Bert look like barrow boys or cats’ meat sellers. I look like a man who can do business in Soho.’

There’s more to the choice of Billy Walsh than just his looks. She shakes her head.

‘Pull the other leg, Billy. What’s the real story? Why you?’

He drains his glass and places it on the counter, waving the barman away, not wanting another. He doesn’t look directly at her. ‘They’re men we met in France, Ruby – me and Moss. People we know already. That’s why I’m here.’

‘I thought you were fighting the Germans in France, collecting medals and all that.’

‘We were. Some of the time. But there’s a lot of hanging around in war, much more than you’d think. You meet people. You get talking. They introduce you to other people and it goes on. Word went around very quickly that the Elephants were fighting for King and Country, and we fought proudly, but we were making plans as well, on the quiet, for when we came home – for those of us that came home. These men we met were officers, but when you’re stuck in a field of mud it doesn’t matter whether you were born rich or poor. We made connections.’