‘Jesus Christ, you’ve really got a bee in your bonnet about her—’

‘Lawrence found some shoe prints on the toilet seat, which suggests someone might have been hiding in the toilets waiting for her to close the pub. I’ve got a gut feeling that it might have been one of our suspects.’

‘I’ve spoken to Lawrence and I agree with you.’

‘You do?’ she asked, surprised.

‘I’ve informed the divisional DI who’s investigating her death that as soon as we’ve completed our operation, he is free to interview the Ripleys and the other suspects about Simpson’s death.’

‘Why can’t we, if we arrest them?’

‘Because we deal with robberies,’ he said firmly, indicating the matter was closed.

Cam knocked on the door and popped his head in.

‘The surveillance team are wondering if you want to put anyone on Graham Smith and Carl when they leave work.’

‘Tail them and find out where they live. If they can find an OP or use an OBO van on Smith then watch him until he beds down, but don’t worry about Carl. We haven’t got enough officers for a static observation on him.’

‘OK, Guv.’ Cam left.

‘Carl is George Ripley’s stepson and Tina is his daughter,’ Jane said. ‘He speaks to Carl like he’s a piece of dirt and treats him like an errand boy.’

‘Well, your errand boy went to a builder’s merchant’s earlier and bought some boiler suits. You know, the kind of thing a robber likes to wear.’

‘I was serving them when George Ripley gave Carl some money and said to get some “stuff for Smudge”.’

‘Well, he obviously knew what he meant when George said “stuff”.’

‘I’m not so sure. George gave him a piece of paper with what to buy written on it.’

‘The fact is he bought four, and somehow I doubt they were all for Graham Smith. Anything else of value?’

‘The wedding reception is being held at Farthings in a marquee.’

He gave her a quizzical look. ‘How’d you find that out?’

‘Carl invited me to the wedding and—’

‘Jesus Christ, I hope you said no,’ he snapped.

‘I was caught in an awkward situation. George Ripley had been ribbing him about not having anyone to take to the wedding and Carl asked me out of the blue. It was a bit odd, but I saw it as an opportunity to gather more information about the Ripleys. There’s no OP at the church or overlooking the grounds of the house, so I thought I could blend in at the wedding and take photographs of the guests with a pocket camera.’

‘Well, you bloody well thought wrong. I’m not risking you giving the game away and screwing this operation up in a honey trap! The answer is no and that’s final.’

‘Do you still want me to work in the cafe?’