‘And how do you think we should get hold of it?’

‘There’s only one thing for it. We’ll have to break in.’

‘Oh no no no,’ Becks said. ‘We can’t break into a solicitor’s office and steal anything!’

‘You make it sound bad,’ Suzie said.

‘That’s because it is bad.’

‘It’s not that bad.’

‘It’s illegal! We could go to prison!’

‘We won’t go to prison.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘That’s easy. We won’t get caught.’

Becks waited for Suzie to continue her explanation. No further explanation was forthcoming.

‘That’s it?’

Suzie shrugged. ‘Sure.’

‘I’m sorry, there’s no way I can be involved in something like this,’ Becks said. ‘I’m the vicar’s wife.’

‘You still have free will,’ Judith said.

‘Very funny. And you’re wrong. No vicar’s wife has free will. But what little I have I won’t use to break the law.’

‘It’s hardly even theft,’ Suzie said before taking a sip of her tea.

‘It’s exactly theft. And I won’t have anything to do with it!’

Becks had spoken far louder than she’d intended, and she looked in fear at the door to the sitting room. If anyone else was in they’d possibly have heard her outburst, but the house remained silent.

‘I quite understand,’ Judith said, reaching out and patting Becks on the knee. ‘You have a position to keep up. As you say, you’re the vicar’s wife.’

‘Okay,’ Suzie said. ‘If you don’t want to be involved, that’s your call. But do you have a pen and paper? I think Judith and I need to make a plan.’

Becks went over to the dresser and pulled out some of her stationery. She handed the sheets of paper to Judith, who looked at them in surprise.

‘Maybe they shouldn’t have your name and address embossed at the top of each sheet,’ she said. ‘Seeing as we’re planning a robbery.’

‘Oh, right! And don’t say that. It sounds so wrong when you put it like that. Let me get some A4 from Colin’s office.’

As Becks left the sitting room, Suzie started asking Judith about the layout of Andy’s office, where the main door was, and the precise location of the shredding machine.

By the time Becks returned and handed over some sheets of plain paper, a weariness had crept into her like a cold fog. She couldn’t explain why, because it went without saying that she had no interest in breaking the law. But there was a vitality to the way that Suzie and Judith were talking about ground-floor offices, and the fact that the window at the back of Andy’s office was open on such a hot day, that Becks desperately wanted to be a part of.