I can hear the siren of an ambulance approaching.

Marks places a comforting hand on my shoulder. ‘Her foot looks really bad and your face is a mess,’ he says. ‘I’m sure you’ll both be okay, though, just be thankful he didn’t kill either of you.’

A uniformed officer is kneeling down next to Tommy searching through his pockets. He holds up a small yellow dongle.

‘Is this it?’ he shouts over to DS Marks, who looks at me for confirmation.

‘Yep, that’s it,’ I mumble. ‘It’s password-protected, but I can give you the password – it’s on my phone.’

The paramedics arrive and tend to Emily. One of them confirms to DS Marks that Tommy is deceased. My cuffs are taken off and I’m led to the ambulance where a paramedic checks me over and starts cleaning up my face. Shortly afterwards Emily is rolled into the ambulance from a gurney and we make our way together to the hospital. I hold her hand all the way there and after about ten minutes her face breaks out into a half-smile.

‘Has anyone ever told you that you are a total shithouse?’ she asks.

‘Funnily enough, yes. In fact, nearly everyone I’ve met this past week,’ I reply.

Emily raises her head slightly to check that the paramedic is out of earshot and half whispers:

‘You know that dongle? I was just thinking, maybe my name is mentioned in it. I did help Tommy with a few jobs here and there. I could be in the shit.’

‘Don’t worry, you’re not mentioned.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I just do. Don’t you worry about it.’

It is hard to know if the conversation is registering with her as she is pumped full of painkillers, but she continues: ‘I’ve been shot in the hip, haven’t I? How bad is it?’

‘Not half as bad as it would have been if you didn’t have that book in your bag.’

‘What book?’

‘The Satsuma Complex. It saved your life.’

She smiles again and asks: ‘Would you really have preferred that he shot you rather than me?’

‘To be honest, I didn’t think it was a real gun, so I just said that to impress you.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ she replies.

She offers me up her lips for a kiss but falls asleep before I can accept.

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