‘Yeah, he’s a crook. Billy Walsh was at the club. He’s doing some business there for the Elephants. That’s how I met this man, Peter Lazenby.’

He sucks his teeth and runs a thumb over the initials. ‘P.F.G.L. You should know better than to take something from a man like that. Someone with contacts. He’ll have people looking for it, as soon as he knows it’s gone.’

‘You’ll have to get rid of it then. Strip it down, sell off the parts, like you usually do.’

Solly shakes his head. ‘I’m not keeping it. The Richmonds offer me protection, but if the Elephants are looking to do business over in Soho, then it sounds as though they wouldn’t stand in the way if this Lazenby came calling. You’ll have to lose it.’

‘I’m not losing it. It’s worth something.’

‘It’s worth a lot. But it’s difficult to sell when it’s got someone’s initials on it.’

‘You won’t take it apart?’ She leans over the table, inspecting it. ‘It’s got diamonds in it.’

He picks it up and cradles it, turning it this way and that. ‘Breaking a watch like this would be criminal, Magpie. It’s a work of art.’

She sighs and snatches it up. ‘It’s a watch, Solly. It’s money. You never worry about picking jewellery apart. You’re getting sentimental in your old age.’ She feels the weight of it, the coolness of the silver heavy in the hollow of her palm.

‘And you’re getting greedy. And foolish. You’ll slip up, if you carry on like this. Find yourself in Holloway with Alice.’

She rolls her eyes and wanders out of kitchen.

She fights the sense of loathing, shakes herself as she walks, and makes her way back over the river to see Raymond Calladine. He doesn’t normally deal with men’s pocket watches, but he’ll know where to sell it. Or at least he’ll look after it, while she decides what to do with it. She can persuade him. She always can.

There’s a couple in the shop browsing when she enters. She recognises, from the way that Ray is speaking to them, that they are not going to spend a lot of money. He’s rushing them into a sale – the best he can hope for is that they will choose a slightly better cut of diamond solitaire, for which he will charge them accordingly. The woman’s skirt is trailing the hem at the back, and the man appears as though he’s still in France in his head – he has that nervous, jumpy look about him, as if he expects someone to shout or point a bayonet at him at any moment.

Ray nods a greeting to her but continues to push his sale.