He decided to call her up and tell her that she was doing a fantastic job. And to ask her how quickly she could eliminate the person whose name he had just added to the list. He was keen for it to happen as quickly as possible, but he appreciated that she would need time to plan it. He didn’t want her to rush it and risk making a mistake.

She answered on the third ring and he said, ‘I just wanted to let you know that you’re doing a terrific job, Rosa. Keep up the good work and I’ll make sure there’s an extra bonus in it for you.’

‘That’s good to hear,’ Rosa said. ‘Is that the only reason you called me?’

‘No it isn’t.’

‘Then I’m guessing it’s about the name you sent to me last night. The one you want added to the list.’

‘That’s right,’ he said.

‘Well, I’m about to recce the target’s home. Once I’ve done that I’ll put a plan together with the aim of doing it tomorrow. Tonight’s hit is all worked out and in hand. It’ll happen in a matter of hours.’

‘You’re a star, Rosa,’ he said. ‘If there’s anything more you need then just let me know.’

‘I’ll do that,’ she said.

She hung up first and he went back inside, closing the balcony door behind him.

He checked the time. One o’clock. He hadn’t yet decided how to spend the rest of the day. He was in no mood to do anything work-related. In fact he had already lost interest in everything other than his vendetta against the Old Bill.

He could get Mike to drive him over to Jasmin’s place for a raunchy session with her. Or he could go and treat himself to a long lunch at one of his restaurants.

But after giving it some thought he decided to hang around the apartment and watch the news reports of how the cops were struggling to deal with the crisis.

A crisis that was set to get a whole lot worse over the weekend when Rosa delivered what would be a crushing blow to the very heart of the Met.

37

Laura

It came as quite a shock to discover that Terry Malone had been Roy Slack’s son. But I had a feeling that it would have come as a much bigger shock to Malone himself.

‘According to Eddie Fowler, Chloe Malone broke her silence after all those years as soon as she learned she might have only a few days to live after her stroke,’ I told Drummond and the team when we returned to the office. ‘Fowler didn’t even know himself until she confessed to him in the hospital. She’d always insisted to him that she didn’t know who Terry’s father was.’