Lynda La Plante

Framed

1

Countless times over the years Larry had tried to convince his wife — and himself — that he was a policeman only during the hours of duty. Susan didn’t believe that for a minute, but he offered proof and stood by it: his leisure interests were completely unconnected with the job, he didn’t spend his.

But when he was candid with himself, he knew no leisure regime could change what he fundamentally was. And right this very minute it had dawned on him that a certain old chestnut was true: there is no such thing as an off-duty cop. On the strength of his discovery he was prepared to give in and confess he was a copper in toto. He was Detective Sergeant Lawrence Jackson right down to the bone.

The facts spoke for themselves. He was in Marbella on the Costa del Sol at the height of the summer season; it was a blistering hot day, he was on a sun-zapped beach, there were beautiful women all around him, and what was he doing? He was lying behind his paperback playing detective with the smells.

Years ago, following a sinus washout, he had been told by an ear-nose-and-throat specialist that he had a condition called hyperosmia, which meant he was uncommonly sensitive to odors. The doctor hadn’t said whether it was to be regarded as an affliction or a godsend. Most of the time it seemed a bit of both. Today the aromas from the harbor and the surrounding bodegdnes drifted out past the stacked boats at the Club Maritimo Marbella, wafting low across the scalding sand, mingling with the clammier smells of the beach. Gently breathing the cocktail, Larry estimated that the air around his head carried major traces of Nivea, Uvistat, seaweed, and sweat, with trenchant whiffs of hamburger and car exhaust.

He lowered the book and looked around. Even though he knew he fitted this layout — thirty something in shorts and T-shirt, glazed with sun cream, recumbent under a straw umbrella, surrounded by a chaos of family beach tackle — he felt conspicuous. Spotlit, somehow. The trouble, he knew, was that he didn’t take enough vacations. Sprawling about the place, any place, just ticking over in neutral, was something he was bad at. It made him edgy. It was another kind of stress.

He propped himself on his elbows and took a deep breath, realizing that every time he got a sniff of sun-blocked skin with foody undertones he would think of this beach. He would have vivid recall of blinding sun on the shimmering sea, of hot bone-dry sand and warm lolling bodies — two bodies in particular, powerfully attractive, on loungers only five feet away, playing hell with his plans to get on with his book.

He lay down again, exhaling slowly, feeling clamped by the heat.

Eyes closed, he let the burble of beach sounds wash over him. After a minute he caught the voices of his two young sons. One was crying, the other complaining. Then he heard Susan bark one of her threats. The boys went silent. Larry looked up and saw them approach, soaked from the sea, streaming hair plastered to their heads.

“You take them in next,” Susan said.

She snatched the towel Larry held out to her and patted the blotched skin of her shoulders and arms. He remembered when he had thought her skin resembled the flawless surface of fresh cream. It was different now. Coarser. Everything was, but Susie retained a girlishness, a natural slimness that belied the fact she had had two children; she had the tight figure of a teenager, and it never ceased to attract him. He wanted to reach out to her, hold her there and then, but she was intent on drying herself from her swim.

“What’s the time?” Susan shook out her wet hair, moving on to the next question without waiting for an answer. “Have you got sun cream on?” She nodded at the boys. “Check Tony, he’s looking red.” She pulled open her big straw bag and peered at her watch in the depths. “It’s after twelve. Do you want the first sitting or the second?”

In these phases when she simply threw out statements and questions without seeming to want responses, Larry did nothing to impede her flow. He let her mutter on as he stared dispiritedly at the scatter of belongings around them, picturing the misery of lugging it all back to the hotel.

“Lunch,” Susan grunted, toweling her hair. “I’m not going through that lineup again.”

Larry took a blob of sun cream on his finger and applied it to young Tony’s nose. Susan, maintaining her forward thrust, put on her sun top and jammed a straw hat on her head. She nodded at the boys again, henlike.

“They’ll be moanin’ again in a minute.” She turned in the direction of the hotel. “You stay and keep the umbrella,” she told Larry. “These two are ice-creamed up to the eyeballs, but lunch is inclusive and I’m starving, anyway.”

“I’ll walk you up,” Larry offered.

“No.” Irritation corrugated Susan’s forehead. She pointed at something on the sand beside her bag. “There’s your wallet. Why didn’t you leave it at the hotel?” She turned away sharply, shouting at Tony, “Put your T-shirt on!”

The boy grumbled as his father knelt up and forced the shirt over his head. The older lad, John, was gawping at the seminaked girls on the loungers. Susan grabbed his arm, practically pulling him off his feet.

“He takes after you,” she told Larry, glaring at him. “Right, kids — we all set? Come on. Leave your shovels!”

She moved off across the beach toward the road, keeping to the strip of green carpet as she dragged the boys behind her. Feeling a ripple of relief — tinged, as expected, with the guilt Susan could so easily induce — Larry rubbed more sun cream onto himself, watching one of the near-nude distractions turn over. He smiled at her. For a full two seconds she stared clean through him, then propped up her book, hiding her face.

Being ignored was a rejection, he supposed; it stung like one. He wondered what it would be like when he was older, in his forties or fifties, like some of the desperate-eyed characters he could think of at the Yard. For a split second he imagined the face of the girl behind the book turning away from him with a curl of disgust at her mouth. Suddenly he was all briskness, wiping his hands on his shirt, tucking his wallet into his shorts as he bustled ahead of his thoughts. He gazed out to sea, watching nothing in particular until a sleek speedboat caught his eye, cutting a line of spume from the direction of the harbor. The engine throbbed powerfully as the craft performed an elegant curve away from the shore and back again, drawing with it a bikini-clad water-skier, twenty feet behind, her body a flawless curve as she leaned back against the pull of the rope.

Larry stood up, staring now, narrowing his eyes against the dazzling light. The man at the wheel was deeply tanned, his face shadowed by the brim of his white baseball cap. He tooled the boat casually, one-handed, an arm slung along the back of his seat. A second girl in a bikini sat on the edge, legs dangling, gold bracelets glinting, her long blond hair trailing in the breeze. He could not see the driver’s face as the brim of his cap was pulled down low.

Lucky bastard, he thought, reaching into the straw bag and pulling out Tony’s plastic binoculars. He held them to his eyes and twiddled the focusing knob. It turned with a sandy-grating sound. He took a second to find the boat again, another couple of seconds to wobble a trajectory back along the rope to the skier. The magnification was modest and the distortion put a prismatic halo around everything, but overall the view was an improvement. He watched the girl on the skis posturing as she sped through the water, throwing up a frothy trail.

He heard a small sound escape his throat. Her figure was magnificent. Lithe muscle shifted fluidly under skin with a golden tint he had only ever seen in magazine pictures. She had the kind of upmarket, superbred elegance he had conditioned himself to regard as being above his reach, possibly above his species.

As he continued to peer through the Day-Glo binoculars the girl dropped a ski and began to mono. The spray behind her rose at a sharper angle as she twisted her body to left and right, showing off for the mouth-breathers on the beach. Then abruptly her ski swerved aside and she vanished under the surface with a splash. The boat slowed and stopped. A moment later the girl reappeared, drenched, laughing, beautiful. She was pulled aboard, making elaborate arm movements, and her head bobbing animatedly as she explained to her companions how she came to fall off. Back on the boat she toweled herself. The man got behind the wheel again and brought the boat around in a slow circle, heading back for the first ski, which was still floating in the water. Larry shifted the binoculars, centering the blonde as she bent over toward him to coil in the trailing rope.

“Jesus...”

Her generous cleavage, grading through light tan to deepest brown at its depth, swept down through the narrow field of view, putting an ache across Larry’s heart. He took the binoculars from his eyes for a moment and blinked away stinging sweat. He refocused as the boat came nearer. The engine idled and the man left the wheel again. He hauled in the rest of the rope and put it with the rescued ski at the back of the boat. For a second he paused, facing directly toward the binoculars, then he tilted the peak of the cap up, and Larry had a clear view of his face.

Larry’s heart jolted.

He lowered the binoculars, blinked furiously, and looked again. The man had turned away. Larry dropped the binoculars and scrabbled frantically in the bag. He located his camera and pulled it out. A beach trader appeared and pushed his face at Larry. He was hung with blankets, tablecloths, and beads. He held up a fistful of pseudogold chains.

“Shove off!”

Larry elbowed the man aside, got his hands around the camera and stood up, ready for business. Focus and exposure were automatic. The downside was the wide-angle lens, which meant he had to be really near his subject to get an image of any useful size. He put the viewfinder to his eye. The boat looked like a toy and the people on board were as good as invisible. As he watched he heard the throttle open. The boat rose in the water, performing a swift smooth curve as it turned back the way it had come and disappeared behind the harbor wall. “Shit!”

Larry lowered the camera, urgently interrogating himself. Are you sure? Is the guy on the boat who you think he is? It couldn’t be! Could it? It was impossible, but there was something about him, the angle of his head, the way he moved. Larry was sweating, telling himself he was mistaken, but he fired off half a dozen quick shots in spite of the distance, then he turned to the girls on the loungers.

“Excuse me...” He tried to smile in a way that looked friendly but didn’t suggest he was coming on to them. “You speak English?”

The one nearer him nodded, frowning.

“Can you watch my gear? I’ll only be a minute.”

He was running toward the harbor before she had time to respond. She lay down and buried her face in her book again. The blanket-laden trader crept back. He glanced right and left, then squatted down where Larry had been lying. From a short distance he appeared to be trying out his sales pitch on the girls, who weren’t even aware of him. With a deft economical sweep of his blankets he enveloped Susan’s straw bag. A moment later he backed off, bowing and smiling as he melted into the crowd, taking the bag with him.

In the meantime Larry’s speed and his occasional collisions with umbrellas earned him a few curses in his serpentine run across the beach. Fetching up at a café near the entrance to the harbor he paused and surveyed the water.

“Aw, Christ...”

There were easily a hundred boats out there. He wiped sweat from his lips and chin and began running again, pumping his legs harder, going flat-out as he scanned the expanse of water and huddled boats.

Suddenly he saw it again, the one he was after, the slim cigarette speedboat with the girls on the deck and the tall man at the wheel. They were moving fast now, too fast for anyone to keep up, heading west along the coast in the direction of Puerto Banus. Larry braked, making his trainers squeak. He raised the camera and fired off three more shots in succession, for luck. A little over an hour later he stood shuffling his feet in a little shop near the beach with a sign above the door that said fotos en una hora. Behind the counter a machine throbbed impressively as it processed, printed, guillotined and finally spewed out snapshots. The woman in charge nodded to Larry as his pictures emerged, dropping from the slot onto a tray. They were warm and still faintly tacky as he took them outside and examined them in sunlight. Every shot of the boat had come out, each one dominated by an impressive expanse of blue sea. The subject was discouragingly small; there was no way of identifying the man at the wheel, but the boat itself was reasonably distinct. That could be something.

He stayed on the pavement for a while and canvassed passersby, singling out the swarthier ones who might be locals. Nobody seemed to recognize the boat, although one man did stare pensively for a couple of seconds, then pointed along the shoreline.

“Puerto Banus,” he said, without sounding sure.

Larry wandered back toward the beach, checking his memory as he went. For the hundredth time he pictured the man’s face, rainbow-fringed through the plastic binoculars. Larry closed his eyes for a second and felt the jolt of recognition again.

They’ll tell me I’m off my head.

He had to admit the scenario was touched with craziness. It was the kind of farfetched obsessive crap that burned-out insurance assessors and barmy pensioners came up with every time the weather turned hot. It was the branch of melodrama even the tabloids had grown tired of. But that didn’t matter. Larry was convinced. They could say what they liked; he was in full possession of his faculties and he had seen what he had seen. He had stared through his son’s binoculars and looked straight into the face of the late Eddie Myers.

“Oh, shit...”

He stopped and stared across at the spot on the beach where he had been lying. Susan was standing there. So were the boys, looking on sullenly as their mother bawled out a bewildered-loolang couple sitting under the umbrella. Family vacations, Larry reflected, were never the occasions for unrestrained pleasure that posters and brochures implied. At best they were a change. The boys spotted him and he smiled and made a little wave. He went across, kicking up puffs of sand, his legs shaky from the running. Susan’s scowl turned toward him. He set his jaw and hung on to his smile.

2

By six o clock the boys were changed and waiting to go down to dinner. Susan still raged about the place, moist from the shower, her hair wrapped in a towel. The room, a family occupancy with a double bed and two singles, was too small for strife, especially the shrill, nerve-grating land generated by Susan. This evening she aimed her rancor unflaggingly at Larry.

“I’ve said I’m sorry,” he protested. “Just drop it.” He stepped over the sodden towels left by the family and turned on the shower. At the same time the toilet seemed to flush of its own accord, and water seeped over the basin. There wasn’t a dry towel left, and he paddled out of the bathroom. “There’s something wrong with the ruddy toilet!”

Susan shrugged. “It’s when they flush it in the room above. Is it still overflowing?”

Larry searched around for some underpants, skidded on the tiled bedroom floor. “I’ll report it to the manager, it’s bloody unhygenic... Where’d you put my underwear?”

Susan pointed to one of the rows of drawers, and then looked at her face in the mirror.

“I know they took the bag,” she told him for maybe the fifth time, without producing evidence to back her suspicion. “It’s all gone — the sunscreens, my makeup, the lot. I mean...” She stared at him with stagy exasperation. “All you had to do was sit there. How could you just walk off like that?” She spun suddenly, her antennae alerted. “Tony! Don’t lean over the balcony!”

“It was him,” Larry said flatly, reprising his only excuse. “I know it. If I could just get the photos blown up I could prove it.”

“His head’s the size of a pin, Larry. It’d cost a fortune. You wasted half a roll of film as it is.” Susan spun again. “Tony! I am watching you!”

“Oh! The pair of you!” Larry put in, feeling it was expected. “Inside now.” He moved close to Susan and put a kiss on her back. “I’m sorry.” There was no way to tell if the apology was accepted.

Later, while Susan and the boys braved the dining room, Larry went to the manager’s office and scrounged the use of a typewriter. He put together a brief message, inserting as much urgency as he could, and asked the manager to fax it to London straightaway. Surprisingly, the manager said he would be happy to oblige. He started to say something else just as the Tannoy clicked on; he held up a finger and let his mouth hang open, indicating he would resume as soon as the announcement was over.

“Hi!” a desperately pally voice yelled over the speaker. “This is your Sun and Sea Tours representative. If you want to join the table tennis championship, come to Games Room Four. Games Room Four.”

The message ended with another click. The manager beamed at Larry.

“The toilet is okay now?” he said.

“It was the shower,” Larry told him as he left. The traffic in the foyer was brisk. Susan stood there with John. She was agitated. Tony, she informed Larry, was missing.

“He went to look for you,” she snapped. “The second sitting’s gone in now. Where have you been?”

“Getting the shower fixed.” They walked together to the door and out onto the steps. “I’ll head along the beach and look for him,” Larry said.

The sun was going down, the sky grading from light blue to rich cobalt at the horizon, streaked with pink and scarlet. People’s faces looked burnished; the waves, dark now, glinting dull silver, made rhythmic breathing sounds against the shore. If there had been nothing on his mind, nothing at all to distract him, Larry would have liked to walk along the sand and watch the sun drop below the sierras, letting the night close around him like velvet. It was the kind of thing he would have done when he was single.

“Tony?” His voice died a few yards ahead of him, grounded by the dense air. “Tony! Come on now, your mum’s worried...”

He was sure the boy would come to no harm, but he went through the motions of concerned behavior. Down on the beach he shuffled a couple of hundred yards to the west, then the same distance east, winding up approximately where he started. Apart from himself, a dog was the only other sign of life on the beach. He went back to the steps and climbed to street level, kicking sand from his shoes.

As he stood at the edge of the pavement a white Rolls-Royce Corniche glided past, the top down. He was halfway to noting the registration, out of habit, when recognition hit him again. He stared at the driver. It was him, the man from the speedboat. Myers. He seemed laid-back like before, his eyes behind shades this time, looking elegant as hell in a spotless white open-necked shirt.

The car was past in a second but Larry had it all clocked — the precise lines of the driver’s face, the repeat certainty that it was Myers — even the Malaga plates. He began running, swerving and ducking past market stalls, keeping the Rolls in sight. It was doing no more than twenty but that was roughly twice what Larry could manage. As it turned right ahead of him he stepped into the road and was almost run down by a horse-drawn carriage. He leapt back, fighting to stay upright, apologizing to the scarlet-faced driver.

“Lo siento, senor.”

By the time he got to the corner there was no sign of the Rolls. He stopped, clamped his eyes shut, and made sure he had the number. He had, but he would lose it if he didn’t get it down. Outside a bar he accosted a waiter, borrowed his pen, and wrote the number on his hand — MA 2179 BD.

Deflated suddenly, he wandered back along the road. He checked his watch and decided to find out if the fax had been sent to London. He was leaving the hotel manager’s office when Susan caught up with him. She was dragging Tony by the arm. John walked dolefully behind them.

“He was playing table tennis,” she announced, her tone implying it was a borderline sin. “You’ll have to talk to him, Larry. Where’ve you been, anyway?”

He ignored the question, pocketing the fax okay slip the manager’s secretary had handed him. He gave his sons the heavy-father look.

“Right. Pair of you. Bed. No arguments.”

He watched them walk away, feeling sorry for them, as he often did. He turned to Susan and suggested they use up the remains of the evening in the hotel cocktail bar. The idea was agreeable enough to make her smile, slightly.

They took a table near the center of the room. A group from Bradford at the next table were discussing the dangers of going out on a pedalo without proper protection from the sun, and how easy it was to get a bargain from certain street traders so long as you were firm with them.

Raising his voice to make himself heard above the neighbors and the guitarist, Larry told Susan about seeing the white Rolls and realizing it was Myers behind the wheel. She sucked on the straw sticking up from her fruit-decked drink and frowned thoughtfully. Then she smiled.

“This has got rum in it,” she said.

“I’m sure it was Eddie Myers,” Larry said. He tasted his drink and made a face. “I was on his arrest, you know It was when I was still in uniform.”

Susan flapped her hand, her eyes swiveling to the next table. She didn’t want people knowing he was a policeman.

“He’s a grass,” Larry confided, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “An informer. Put away God knows how many blokes. The thing was, we knew he had more than a million stashed. And then he escaped from custody.”

Susan’s attention flitted around the other tables. Larry broke off to hail a waiter, who indicated he would be there in a minute. Larry got back to his story.

“That was in 1985, had to be about November. I was on the arrest of one of the guys he named, and just after that I passed Myers in the corridor, this close. He was laughing. Maybe that’s why I remember him.”

The waiter came across and hovered, eyebrows raised inquiringly.

“Room seventy-six,” Larry told him over Susan’s head. “Same again there, and a beer for me. Lager.” The waiter nodded and moved off. Larry leaned close again. “Now listen to this. Three years ago, might be more, nearer five I suppose—”

“I’m not really interested,” Susan said.Larry didn’t seem to hear. He looked around then leaned closer still. “We get notification from Italy they got a floater, right? Been in the drink for weeks. The body was eventually ID’d as Eddie Myers. So that’s that. All his files are finito — understand?”

The waiter returned with his tray and put two cocktails, a beer and a lager on the table.

“Aw, here now, hang on...” Larry waved his hand over the glasses, staring at the waiter’s uncomprehending face. He tried to find the words to explain. The waiter moved impatiently from foot to foot. Larry sighed. “Never mind,” he said. He picked up the beer and took a gulp. “That’s better.” He looked squarely at Susan. “It was Eddie Myers I saw today. I swear it.”

Susan glanced aside, her mouth closed around her straw.

“You still don’t understand, do you?” Larry said. “Eddie Myers’s wife ID’d the body. He’s supposed to be dead!”

Later, after more explanation and a widening of Susan’s indifference, which Lawrence continued to misread, they walked along the beach hand in hand, hearing the occasional seabird beyond the sounds of the sea and the grunts and giggles from the darkness around them.

“His wife had the body cremated,” Larry said. “Eddie Myers, good night.”

“Did you see her?” Susan asked. “His wife?”

“I don’t remember too much about her. Blonde — I think she was blonde... Maybe I’m wrong.”

“Maybe?” Susan laughed softly. “You haven’t seen Myers for more than — how long did you say?”

Larry caught the implication.

“I just remembered him,” he said. “He was that kind of bloke.”

Susan stopped walking and snuggled close to him.

“What kind?” she said.

“I was very impressionable,” he murmured, cupping her face.

Their mouths were an inch apart when he heard the sound of a boat moving across the water. He stiffened, peering out at the sea.

“Larry,” Susan said flatly. “It’s a fishing boat.”

His face was suddenly close to hers again. He kissed her once, fiercely, then broke away and began running. Susan ran after him, giggling. For the briefest surge of time, running and laughing there in the twilight, they were just the way they were when they had been on their honeymoon. He caught her in his arms, swinging her around, and they kissed passionately. Larry would have liked to have made love to her on the beach, but Susan drew away; she didn’t want herself all covered in sand... but they walked arm in arm, and three times they stopped to kiss and cuddle. They even kissed in the lift going up to their room. Passion at a fever pitch. She even allowed him to unbutton her dress in the corridor, giggling and flirting.

Larry wished he’d taken her there and then on the beach, because somehow in the overcrowded bedroom, with two kids sleeping within two feet, it cramped his style. Susan half wished he had too. If he’d been a bit more forceful she wouldn’t have really minded, but they did make love, muted, afraid that every bed creak would wake one or other of the boys. They were both sweating, and Susan’s sunburn hurt. All in all it was a fiasco. They lay beside each other, and were about to go to sleep, when they had to stifle their laughs as the creaking began from the room above, creaking and moaning with obvious abandonment, and the more it carried on, the more Susan got the giggles. At last the orgasm came as they heard the couple moaning and groaning with each thrust of their bedsprings. Then they heard the shuffle of footsteps as one or other sex machine went to the toilet, and as it flushed, they heard their own toilet repeat the action. Susan yawned, nodding off. “You’ll have to talk to the manager, Larry, it’s disgusting...”

Larry eased the sheet away from his body; he was boiling up, and there was little air from the open balcony. He couldn’t sleep, but didn’t want to get up and paddle through the bathroom, didn’t want to disturb Susan as she was already asleep, her hands cupped together, like one of the boys. He leaned up on his elbow to look down into her face; he could see the red blotches on her skin, the swimsuit straps, and her hair was damp at the nape of her neck. He gently traced her cheek with his finger, and lay back. He loved her deeply. They had been teenagers at the same school, and had married at eighteen, the full works, white wedding, four bridesmaids, and by then he had already joined the Met. It was a good marriage, and they had two beautiful boys. Susan was training to be a hairdresser when the first baby came, so she had given up her job and remained at home. She had never gone back to work. He liked that, liked the fact that she was at home waiting for him, looking after his sons. The house was always immaculate, she was very house-proud, and often did the decorating herself, sometimes assisted by her dad, who ran a paint shop and gave them wallpaper and paint for nothing. He concluded it was a good thing he had going, he was contented...

Larry closed his eyes and his thoughts drifted back over the evening. He could hear himself telling Susan about Eddie Myers, how he had said, “I just remembered him... he was that kind of bloke,” and that he was very impressionable... that was all true. What he had not said was how all the excitement surrounding Edward Myers had been at fever pitch, all the lads desperate to get in with the in crowd. There had been so many arrests, so many men named by Myers, that most of the officers attached to the case had never even seen him. The arrests went down all over London, and Larry would not have actually met him if it hadn’t been for some problem paperwork, and so he had been instructed to take over the statements to... Larry tried to recall the officer heading the Eddie Myers arrest; he frowned, irritated that the name wouldn’t come to him, because everyone had bandied it around, in fact it had been the main topic of conversation for weeks, months even, especially after Myers’s escape. “McKinnes.” Larry said it aloud and smiled, recalling the big man that had been pointed out to him; it was McKinnes, and he had been in deep water after Myers’s escape from custody. Rumor had it that the escape had destroyed McKinnes’s career and little had been heard of him since.

Larry turned on his side. About six months after the escape he had been at Bow Street magistrates court, taking a leak, when an officer had nudged him, and pointed to a window, a small narrow window high up in the wall.

“Myers got through that, must have dislocated his shoulder, how the hell he did it no one knows, he’s a hell of a size, but somehow he squeezed out of there... soddin’ magician.”

Larry had been impressed; it really was a small aperture, and he was a fair size himself. He reckoned he’d never have got his head through, never mind his entire body. He turned onto his back, and pictured himself, recalling the day he had met Myers. He was in the corridor, St. John’s Row station, carrying the file for McKinnes, looking in one room after another asking for McKinnes. He had been instructed to go up the next flight of stairs and to turn right at the top, and as he was hurrying up, two stairs at a time, he was confronted by two uniformed officers like tanks. They simply shoved him aside. His body was pressed against the wall and he saw the thick, heavyset McKinnes appear at the top of the stairs. He turned, gestured to someone behind him, snapping out an order.

“Excuse me, Inspector! I’ve brought these over from Hounslow.”

McKinnes peered at Larry, held out his big, square-knuckled hand, virtually snatching the file. It was then Larry looked upwards, and saw Edward Myers. Handcuffed, between two plainclothes detectives, the three had difficulty moving down the narrow stairs together. Myers was pushed slightly ahead. He seemed to find it all amusing. He was smiling, his body relaxed and perfectly coordinated. He passed within inches of Larry, and it was not until he was abreast of Larry that Myers turned his attention to the young, nervous uniformed police constable.

... Edward Myers had dark, almost coal-black hair, a slight bend to the bridge of his nose, which seemed to accentuate his chiseled cheekbones, and his smile revealed perfect white, even teeth. He smiled at Larry, but there was no possibility of Larry returning the seemingly friendly gesture, because he was struck by Edward Myers’s eyes. Dark as his hair, they appeared to be almost black, hard, and piercing, and they looked through Larry, beyond into the wall. They scared the living daylights out of him, there was such arrogance, such audaciousness in that single fleeting look, and Myers seemed to know how unnerved Larry was, because he laughed, a deep, gurgling laugh, which continued as the men pushed him farther down the stairs and out of sight.

Larry had slightly embroidered this interaction in the canteen to almost having a conversation with the Super Grass, and as the escape happened shortly afterward, Larry was only too ready to tell anyone who cared to listen that he had actually confronted Myers. Now, in the stifling hotel bedroom, his imagination ran riot. Imagine what it would mean to be the officer that brought him back! Be the man to trace him, discovering he wasn’t dead, but alive. As he fell at last into a deep, sweating sleep, he was seeing himself being congratulated, his back patted, his hand shaken by his Guv’nor, as he was made Detective Inspector Lawrence Jackson...

Larry went to Marbella Police Headquarters early the next morning, and after identifying himself he was granted the information he asked for, though rather coolly. The registered owner of the Rolls Corniche was Philip Von Joel, a dealer in art and antiques. He had a couple of galleries in the area. His home was in the mountainous country to the north of Marbella; it cost Larry a little more persuasion to get the address. He had the feeling — more than a feeling, an annoying near-certainty — that Mr. Von Joel was being discreetly shielded by the local policia.

When he left police HQ he took a taxi out along the narrow mountain road indicated on his photocopied map. It was a bumpy ride on a steady gradient that took half an hour and brought them, after the dust and dirt of the journey, to a magnificent place, a villa larger and more opulent than any of the beauties they passed on the way up.

The entrance was fronted by tall iron gates, flanked by railings set into a surrounding wall that maintained security without obscuring the view. The house itself was mainly Moorish in design, but with deep-sloping tiled rooftops that echoed some of the finer architecture in Barcelona. It filled its setting generously, branching off in double-storied wings from a shadowy, cool-looking central logia. Gazing at the arched entrance and the splendid balconies, Larry was reminded of pictures he had seen of tycoons’ so-called Spanish homes in Bel Air. This looked better than any of them. It was also, he reminded himself, the real thing.

He wandered around the side, getting a closer look, pushing his face to the railings to see the swimming pool, the lush stretches of lawn, the opulence of the sculpted shrubbery that formed shadowy enclosures around the gardens. He tried to catch the attention of a gardener working near the wall, but the man could have been blind and deaf for all the notice he took.

Larry went back to the front gates and stood for a minute gazing up at the blank windows. He could sense somebody watching, but no one challenged him or came to ask if they could help. Somewhere in the grounds he heard dogs bark. Along the lane from the villa he noticed a large double-doored building set back from the road. He strolled up to it, trying to look like just another nosy tourist. There was a discreet plaque outside:

PHILIP VON JOEL

ARTE Y ANTIGUEDADES: ALMACEN

He stood sweating at the open doors, peering into the cool interior. It was a warehouse of Aladdin’s cave proportions, crammed with objects he couldn’t begin to name. Antique furniture stood in tight rows, every item numbered and labeled with a handwritten description. There were dressing chests, tallboys, mahogany fauteuils and Dutch, German, and English side tables from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Beyond them were Victorian davenports, tambour and rolltop writing tables, and gate-leg tables in yew, rosewood, and mahogany. There were cases packed to their glass fronts with jasperware, Staffordshire and Royal Worcester figurines, rare Castilian dolls, jugs and ewers, decanters and snuff boxes in a variety of semiprecious metals. Hanging from the walls and beams were paintings, mirrors, and decorative tabletops; Indian and Persian rugs were folded in thick piles across banisters and low beams.

Amongst it all Larry suddenly spotted a solitary living soul, an elegant Spanish woman sitting at a desk. He approached her.

“You speak English?”

She nodded.

“Is Philip Von Joel around, at all?”

“Today he will probably be at his gallery in Benabana,” she said carefully, as if the words might be damaged if she jostled them. She handed Larry a card with the address of the gallery. “May I ask if you have business with Mr. Von Joel?”

“Maybe,” Larry said. “Thanks for your help.”

Benabana was another dusty ride away, a shorter one this time, bringing them through winding outskirts to a tidy, narrow main street of traditional Andalusian shops and houses, freshly painted and handsomely maintained.

Business around here was obviously good. Larry saw the gallery straightaway, halfway along the street, the name on a sign projecting from the wall. The driver pulled up near the entrance and Larry got out.

The gallery was closed. He cupped his hands around his eyes and peered inside. The place could have been transplanted from Bond Street. It was large and airy with dark, shiny furnishings, the walls hung with expensive-looking pictures.

The sign on the door definitely said cerrado, but Larry tried it again just in case. It didn’t budge. He stood there, waiting for someone to come past, conscious of how damp and parboiled he must look. A young woman eyed him cautiously as he stepped forward and asked her, in English, if she knew where he might find Mr. Von Joel.

“Puerto Banus,” she suggested, pointing back down the mountainside.

The driver had heard and was revving the engine as Larry got back in the car. He groaned with the exertion, feeling the need of a soothing beer. As he leaned back against the warm vinyl he told himself his time hadn’t been wasted. He was learning in advance about Von Joel — or the possibly counterfeit character using that name — and he was getting the feel of the man’s local stature. On the other hand, he could just be kidding himself. Local stature was one thing; proving Von Joel was a fake and doing something about it was something else again. The morning could have been a complete waste of time.

Puerto Banus was an eye-opener, smart and modern, and the harbor was a noticeable step up from its counterpart along the coast at Marbella. The craft tied up here — everything from speedboats and launches to the biggest seagoing yachts — were the toys of an international coterie who came and went throughout the year, a tight society of seriously rich sybarites with the ultimate blessing: they could not suffer material loss, since everything they possessed, however costly, could be replaced.

A barman directed Larry to a shopping lane behind the harbor, a stretch of exclusive boutiques and shops, one of them with the name Philip Von Joel above the high main window. The gallery was as well-appointed as the place at Benabana, and it was larger.

He wandered in through the open door. There was activity, for a change. People were moving through the rooms carrying easels, trestles, and chunky wooden and metal sculptures. Other people were hanging pictures, chattering and singing as they worked. The air was thick with the aromas of varnish and beeswax.

Larry watched a tall, expensively tanned young woman in Yves St. Laurent shorts and a diaphanous top move through the gallery issuing clipped little commands to right and left. She came through from the back and paused at the reception desk.

Larry stepped forward, clearing his throat.

“Excuse me...” It came out a lot quieter than he had intended. The girl took no notice. He tried again. “Ah, excuse me...” She looked at him. “Is this the main art gallery on the harbor?”

“Yes...” Her eyes slid back to the diary in front of her. “But we’re not open.”

“Philip Von Joel’s gallery, is it?”

She looked up again, absently stroking her blond hair.

“Yes, but he’s not here. I’m his assistant.” She glanced at the tiny Rolex on her wrist, then narrowed her eyes at Larry. “Are you from Angelo’s? The crates need to be taken to the back entrance. Did you bring the glasses?”

That touched a tender spot on Larry’s self-esteem. Wherever he went, people were inclined to take him for the help.

“I’m not from Angelo’s, no—”

“Oh, sorry!” the girl chirped indifferently. “We’re expecting a wine delivery — there’s a new exhibition, if you’d like to leave your name.” She handed him a printed invitation and flashed a robotic smile. “You’re most welcome to come, he’s a local artist. Do you want to sign the visitor’s book?” She turned and reached for the padded register. “Mr. Von Joel’s other gallery is at Benabana. If you want to see him he’ll...”

When she turned back Larry had gone.

3

The telephone booth in the comer of the hotel foyer was small, hot, and poorly ventilated. Larry felt bilious after a hurried dinner and he knew he would be sick if he stayed in there much longer. He was wearing a suit, which threatened to add heatstroke to his miseries. Making everything a shade worse, the line to London was bad and there had been a couple of serious interruptions.

“Yeah,” Larry hissed at the mouthpiece, “I’m sure it’s him.” He paused, listening. He could feel his shirt sticking wetly to the entire length of his back. “What? Well, no, not one hundred percent, but— What? Okay, but you get someone from our end to talk to them here, will you? And check out the old files.” He listened again, nodding impatiently, seeing two drops of his sweat land soundlessly on the ledge by the telephone. “Listen, it’s him. I know it! Dig as far back as you can.” He slammed down the receiver and jerked open the door, signaling the receptionist to put the call on his bill.

Susan approached as he was rereading a fax he had been handed before he went into the booth. He tucked it back into his pocket.

“Is this all right?” she held her arms out wide, showing him her dress, an off-the-shoulder number she had brought along in case they went anywhere special. “Only I was wondering, see, because I’ve got strap marks and—”

“It’s lovely,” Larry said without looking. He took her arm. “Come on.”

In less than twenty minutes they were on the harbor at Puerto Banus. Late sunlight threw a flattering pink-gold glow across the waterfront as they walked arm in arm past posturing groups of young men and laughing, hard-eyed girls on the make. The food smells from the open-fronted restaurants were noticeably more fragrant and varied than they were in Marbella, and the heady vapors of Chanel and Hermes were almost common here. Susan was impressed. So was Larry, in his way.

“I’ve seen more ex-cons along here,” he said, “than I’ve ever laid eyes on in London.”

Susan scarcely heard him.

“Look at the boats, Larry. We should bring the boys here to see them. Oh!” She pointed at a brightly lit floating palace at the far end of the harbor where the larger craft were moored. “Just look at that one!”

Porsches and Mercedeses glided by them as they shouldered their way past tanned and sunshaded pussy-prowlers, glittering girls, and an anxious-eyed scattering of the older crowd, finding out how useless money is at canceling time. When Susan wasn’t admiring the boats or being distracted by the more outre passersby, she was stopping at boutiques to coo over the clothes and gasp at the prices. Larry tried not to be impatient, but when they were halfway along the front he took her firmly by the elbow and led her through the back turnings to Von Joel’s gallery.

A small crowd was milling around the entrance, talking and laughing, wineglasses in their hands. They looked as affluent as the people along the harbor, bronzed rather than tanned, minimally attired in the best that taste could seek out and money could buy, and bedecked with expensive jewelry — the men as well as the women. Larry, still holding Susan’s elbow, found a path through the crowd and entered the gallery.

He had his invitation ready but no one appeared interested in checking it, not even Von Joel’s lady assistant, who came by with a tray of drinks. She did not seem to recognize Larry; she smiled mechanically, introduced herself as Charlotte, and urged them to have a drink. When they had each taken a glass of wine she moved on without another word.

“There’s a lot of money here,” Susan murmured, sipping. “Can anyone just walk in then? Larry?”

He wasn’t listening. His attention was wholly taken up by the other people in the place, the small-talking interweaving groups who didn’t seem especially interested in the pictures or the sculptures. Instead, they were engrossed in the business of imposing themselves on each other, smoothly in many cases and with obvious charm, but enforcing themselves nonetheless, making their presence felt. That was what the rich did, by and large. They made Larry uneasy.

“Definitely the in crowd, this lot,” he told Susan.

They made him feel overdressed too. Most of the men wore white or pale sand-colored slacks with loafers and designer-cut T-shirts. A Marks & Spencer lightweight suit was out of its league in this latitude.

Larry began his third scan of the company, checking the faces, starting half-seriously to pray that he would see Eddie Myers. His conviction was having a hard time standing up, although this was a phenomenon he had noticed before: whenever he was out of his depth his certainty dwindled.

He decided on a quick self-boost. Taking a large gulp of wine, he reminded himself there was no good reason why these people should daunt him — richer was not better. Furthermore, he was here on the strength of what he had definitely and unquestionably witnessed; it had not been a delusion or a trick of the heat. He had no reason to doubt himself.

Swallowing more of the excellent wine, he glanced over his shoulder and was suddenly reassured. The two blondes he had seen with Myers — the water-skier and the one who stayed on the boat — were there; they were directly across the room, no more than twelve feet away. One of them was putting a red sticker on the wall next to a painting, indicating it had been sold; the other one whispered something to a middle-aged man who looked dangerously red-faced and laughed with a sound like a tire going down in sharp stages.

Larry strained to hear. After a moment he nodded, then curbed it, hoping no one had noticed. The girls were English, as he’d suspected, though they were not the kind who usually hung out with Costa crooks. These were Sloanies, top-drawer types. There was a third girl who seemed to be part of the team, if team was the word: she was Spanish, small and darkly beautiful. Larry heard one of the blondes call her Lola.

Susan had finally been silenced by the sheer enveloping pressure of wealth and ego. She pushed her empty glass at Larry. He took it and threaded his way to the wine table. As he picked up a fresh drink he glanced through the archway into the adjacent room. A group of men were gathered around an easel on which sat a heavy gilt-framed painting. Facing the frame, with his back to Larry, was a tall man in slacks and a loose-fitting shirt. His hand rested on another man’s shoulder, revealing the only piece of jewelry he wore, a slim gold Cartier watch.

“This one s not for sale,” he said, lowering a drape across the picture.

Larry stiffened at the sound of the voice. He had heard it before. He stared, hardly breathing, running an inventory of the man: his hair was dark, rather long and expertly cut; he appeared to be deeply tanned; his stance and the easy movements of his arms and shoulders hinted at physical fitness. The list added up to recognition. Almost. If Larry’s judgement had not gone wildly off line, he was in fact staring at Eddie Myers. All he needed was a look at the face.

“Name the price, you bastard!” one of the men said, and the others laughed clubbily.

The tall man obliged, whispering. The one who had asked looked staggered.

“You’re kidding!”

More laughter. The tall man began to turn, taking his leave of the group. Larry stepped nearer, ready to print the face on his brain.

The man turned. He surveyed the room. His tanned body was fit and he wore a silk shirt, fawn trousers, and slip-on leather sandals. The hair was as dark as Larry remembered. Was it Edward Myers? The cheekbones, the mouth, they were the same, weren’t they? But there was something different about the nose. Something had been done to his features, almost perfecting the face. Larry licked his lips, sweating, sure he was right, the nose had been straightened, that was it. His hands clenched with nerves, and he thought, “Come on, come on, look this way, let me see your eyes, come on...” The man flicked looks around the crowded gallery, but had still not turned full face toward Larry. He saw someone smile, say something and Larry craned forward, heard the deep voice, and then a soft laugh, but still he could not be one hundred percent sure, yet everything inside him willed this handsome, elegant man to be Myers. Then, at last, he turned, although still not looking directly at Larry, but to someone just past Larry’s left shoulder, and at last he saw the eyes. They were not as dark or as black as he remembered, in fact they were much clearer, were they blue? Larry’s breath caught in his throat. Was he wrong? Could he be mistaken? And still he stared intently as the man kept up a slow, steady appraisal of room. He gradually moved further into the throng of people, and Larry became a bit edgy in case, just in case it was Myers and he would recognize him, and then it happened, somebody said something to him and Larry saw the dark head lower, as if listening to the woman who was pointing out a painting; he seemed to give the woman his total attention, but his eyes roamed the room, they weren’t blue, but dark green, and then the man calling himself Philip Von Joel threw back his head and laughed.

It was him! It was Eddie Myers! No mistake, no question of error! The laugh had given him away.

Larry prepared to turn sharply aside, now even more afraid that he might be recognized, and his whole body was shaking with nerves. Von Joel looked as if he was about to walk directly toward Larry, when Charlotte stepped close to him and whispered something in his ear. Von Joel’s face tightened with a fleeting moment of anger, then that fixed smile returned as he looked across the gallery at a group of paintings, each with a red dot beside it. Charlotte moved back to discuss a purchase as the pretty Spanish girl, Lola, draped herself around Von Joel’s shoulder, standing on tiptoe to kiss his neck.

Larry slipped back, using the crowd for cover, keeping his eyes on Von Joel. Lola moved away. Von Joel turned in Larry’s direction and almost stepped up against him. He put his empty glass on the wine table and squared his shoulders, preparing to circulate, then moved off to the opposite side of the room.

Larry put his back to the crowd and whipped out his handkerchief. Draping it over his fingers he used it to pick up Von Joel’s glass. Susan appeared at her side.

“What are you doing?”

He nearly dropped the glass.

“Shut up!” he snapped.

He turned around sharply, the glass covered, ready to go in his pocket. Susan, no longer entirely sober, continued to gape at him.

“What do you think you’re doing, Larry?”

He felt like belting her. Instead he dropped the glass into his pocket and simultaneously started moving to the door. Susan came after him, whining all the way.

Outside he began to move faster, throwing back terse answers to her questions.

“You’re sending the glass to London? Is that what you’re saying? Larry? Will you listen to me?”

“I’m not sending the glass. I don’t have to. It’s got his prints on it, they’ll lift them here, then send them to London.”

“I don’t believe you!” Susan yelped. “It’s bloody stupid!”

Larry glanced around as a car swept past them. It was Von Joel’s Corniche. He was at the wheel, with Charlotte and Lola sitting in the back. He was laughing at something.

“It’s him,” Larry grunted. “He’s had his face done, but that’s Eddie Myers, all right. Same voice. Same laugh.”

“They’ll be laughing at you!” Susan told him bitterly, trying to catch up.

Comisario Dominguez made an imposing police officer. He was heavy in the shoulders and chest, tawny and hirsute, the kind of man born not simply to be a policeman, but to be a senior policeman. His physical presence was modified by slow, careful movements and an obvious thoughtful streak. For an entire minute after examining the official files on Philip Von Joel, he sat staring at a point on his desk just beyond the papers, his hard, bright eyes far away.

Abrupdy he looked up. Larry nearly jumped.

“He has been here four years,” the Comisario said. His accent was more of an adornment to his English than a flaw. He waved his hand over the documents. “Papers, everything in order.” Folding his hands he added, “He is a wealthy resident.”

“Yes, I know that, and I appreciate your help.” Larry wiped sweat from his forehead with the side of his hand. “But because he’s only been here four years he is not protected by the extradition laws, which state that until someone has lived here for five or more years, the British police are entitled to—”

“That is correct,” Dominguez interrupted, “but nevertheless I will require substantial evidence to warrant his arrest and subsequent extradition. If he is, as you believe, using false documents, then it is obviously an offense by our law, and if such is the case, it will be my duty to arrest him for questioning.”

A uniformed officer came in and approached the desk. He and the Comisario conferred in whispers. Larry wiped his hands on his trousers and looked at the clock. Eleven-thirty. Time always galloped when you felt you hadn’t much of it to spare.

When the officer left, Dominguez tilted his head at Larry and did a one-shoulder shrug.

“We have, senor, only a part print. Left thumb and left index finger. I will have them faxed to Scotland Yard.”

“He’s got a powerful speedboat,” Larry said, hearing his words echo in the grubby little room, realizing how irrelevant the remark must sound. “It’s imperative we don’t tip him off,” he added.

Dominguez glared at him.

“He also owns a Monterey, on permanent mooring at Puerto Banus.” Dominguez blinked once, his eyes unwavering. “You know, senor, this could be very embarrassing. Until we hear from London I suggest we wait.” He tilted his head again. “Do I make myself clear? Stay away from him.”

At eleven-thirty in the morning it was easy to comply with the Comisario’s wishes. As the day wore on, however, and no word came from Scotland Yard, Larry got jumpy. Clear thinking gave way to groundless speculation. It began to seem that the target was too far away from the action; where exactly was he? Did anybody actually know? Was someone watching him? Did he have friends in the local police who were keeping him notified of developments? Was the bugger possibly, even now, making a run for it?

By three o’clock Larry was on the road outside Von Joel’s villa, squashed into the hedge, his rented Suzuki jeep parked a couple of hundred yards down the lane. From where he stood he could see the dogs, two young boxers, chasing each other around the grounds, and once, for just a moment, he caught sight of the Spanish girl, Lola. There was no sign of the master of the house.

Larry waited and sweated. Insects nibbled his skin. Cramp took gradual possession of his legs and back.

At a minute to four the Corniche glided up to the gates. Larry wiped his eyes, took a hard look, and felt a swell of relief. Von Joel was at the wheel, and he didn’t look the least bit worried, or angry, or even upset. In fact he appeared to be smiling.

The gates opened to let the car through and then closed again. Larry slipped out from his place of concealment and moved nearer to the gates, getting a closer vantage point on the car. He saw Von Joel lean over the side. One of the dogs jumped up to lick his face. He got out and knelt on the gravel, fussing with the animals, talking to them as if they were children.

“Hello, boys, hello. Who’s a good boy, then, who’s my big fella? Stay down now, Bruno, that’s naughty. You too, Sasha... Down, now, be good boys.”

Lola came forward from the shadow of the arched doorway. She wore one of the tiniest dresses Larry had ever seen. She held her arms out wide and Von Joel embraced her. As he did, she whispered something. He nodded against her neck, turning slowly as he held her, staring toward the gates. He issued a soft command to the dogs.

Larry leapt back as the animals came running and snarling toward the hedge. They scrabbled at the earth on the other side of the wall, as if they were ready to dig their way through to get him. He tried to step clear of the hedge and realized he had caught his sleeve. He was still untangling it when Von Joel appeared at the gate.

“Do you want something?”

Larry jerked his sleeve free and legged it down the road to his jeep. He leapt behind the wheel, started the engine, and threw it into gear. He had gone five yards when he saw the lane was a dead end. As he reversed past the gates Von Joel was still there, staring at him. There was no way to tell if he recognized Larry or not.

Late that evening, as he sat waiting in the corridor outside Comisario Dominguez’s office at police headquarters, Larry was still intermittently cursing himself.

Idiot, idiot, bloody idiot!

Superstition had driven him. He admitted it, though he tried to excuse himself. He had been the victim of an unreasoning fear, one that afflicted most diligent police officers, an intimation deep in his bowels that the distance between him and the quarry was too great, it was too wide for a link to take shape on the basis of suspicion and investigation. Keeping an eye on a suspect was not entirely a logical procedure, it had its voodooistic element. As often as not it was a submission to the mumbo-jumbo rules that operated in spite of logic and reason.

And it was all bullshit. Bullshit!

He bit his lip, convinced he had said it out loud. He glanced around to see if anyone had heard. There was no one in sight. He took a deep breath and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

Surrender to whims and flights of fancy, he reminded himself, was the worst bullshit of the lot. All it had been aimed at, in this case, was filling in the waiting period while a legal reason was found to take a villain’s freedom away from him. Larry knew he should have stayed cool, he should have gone down to the beach with his wife and kids and played with a ball. He should have floundered around in the water and made a complete fool of himself like any other dad on vacation. He should have done anything at all, really, except what he actually had done, viz, dwell on the case, worry about it until he set his guts in an uproar, and then practically dynamite his chances of getting a result.

He expected retribution to visit him for being such a clown. In his job it was easy to bring down bad luck on yourself — that was more bullshit, but he couldn’t help thinking it.

“Come on,” he muttered, “please, come on...”

He crossed and recrossed his legs, staring at the office door, willing it to open as he had been doing for more than an hour.

It opened suddenly. Dominguez appeared, a cigar clenched in his teeth. He held up a fax sheet.

“Am I right?” Larry got up and walked toward the office, fearing the worst.

Dominguez beckoned him inside and handed over the fax. Larry looked at it, watched the words dance before his eyes for a second. Then they settled identification established on the basis of 10 points of individuality on thumbprint and points on index fingerprint. Confirm subject is EDWARD THOMAS MYERS.

“I knew it!” Larry clutched the paper as if it might try to fly away. The certainty of failure evaporated as sweat rolled down his cheeks. “I bloody knew it!” he told Dominguez. He thrust a victorious fist in the air. “I’ve got him! Yes!”

4

Detective Inspector Jimmy Falcon and Detective Constable Donald Summers arrived at Malaga airport the following morning, along with a huge Saturday intake for the Costa resorts. Larry met them with the Suzuki and on the way back to Marbella he brought them up to date on the situation. Neither Falcon nor Summers missed the fact that Larry was agitated, bordering on hyperactive.

“Myers is at the gallery right now. I’ve got two locals covering the Monterey and the speed boat.” He shook his head like a man confronting something incredible. “He’s rolling in it. His villa’s worth two million, the boat’s worth three hundred and fifty grand, and wait till you see his women...”

His energized state persisted throughout a visit to the police station in Marbella. After that it began to drop away as the red tape piled up. They were eventually told they would have to pursue their business in deeper bureaucratic detail at a nearby government building.

Extradition, it transpired, was not straightforward. It began to look as if it belonged in the category of near-impossible procedures. One sheaf of paper promptly generated another, and each set of regulations they signed — without being offered options — effectively reduced their functional flexibility as police officers on foreign territory. After an hour in the government building Larry said he was going to call the Foreign Office in London and complain. Falcon restrained him.

“Come on now, Larry,” he soothed. “Calm down. We’ve got to go through the procedures—”

“But they agreed! It’s him!” Larry could see victory sliding out of his grasp. It was retribution, the penalty for being a fool. “How many more bloody papers have we got to sort through?”

The bureaucratic marathon finished a few minutes after two-thirty. As the three men were shown off the premises they were given a parting piece of information tailored to send Larry into a spiraling depression. Twenty minutes later, kneeling by Susan on the beach, he tried to explain.

“It’s unbelievable,” he told her, shaking his head. “They won’t let us arrest him. They have to—”

“I don’t want to hear.” She was on her belly, her bathing suit pulled down at the back. The skin across her shoulders had gone deep pink. “I just don’t want to hear. Have you got that?”

“Aw, come on,” he cajoled, “this’ll mean promotion. I knew it was him! I mean, just think what that’ll mean, me spotting him and setting all this in motion...”

DI Falcon appeared, still wearing his tie, carrying his jacket over his arm. He was a young man, only a couple of years older than Larry, with the tailor’s-dummy tidiness of the career policeman. He dropped down on the sand beside Susan, first slackening the knees of his flannels.

“These bastards have got it sewn up over here,” he announced. He had come from ten arduous minutes on the hotel telephone, being updated on the case by Comisario Dominguez. He squinted at Larry. “You remember they picked up Frankie Day? Six months they held him and then let him go. He was on that bullion raid — we know it, they know it, but he’s still here sunning himself. It’s a ruddy fiasco!”

“So what about Myers?” Larry said.

“They’re gonna get a search warrant, charge him with using a false passport. Shit, it’s hot...” Falcon thumbed open the neck of his shirt and flapped a hand in front of his face. “Whatever rap we’ve got, it comes second in line.” He frowned darkly at Larry. “I doubt if we’ll get him out, you know.”

“What?” Larry was incensed. “Myers doesn’t come under their extradition policy!”

“Just calm down.” Falcon said. “I think Dominguez is on our side.” He glanced at Susan and nudged her gently. “You’re looking a bit red.”

Susan rolled over, deftly covering her breasts with a towel. She sat up, scowling.

“It could be rage,” she said. “Larry, just see if the kids are okay, will you? They’re in the water...”

“And get your skates on,” Falcon added. “We’ve got to get back to the station — eef eet ees con-veen-yenti!”

“Don’t bother!” Susan snapped. She scrambled to her feet, furious because Larry still hadn’t moved. She hugged the towel about her. “Tony!” she screeched, marching off down the beach. “John!”

DI Falcon watched her go. He turned to Larry.

“Having a bit of aggro, are we?”

Larry started to say something, then he spotted DC Summers running toward them. Summers stopped in a flurry of sand, panting for breath.

“They’re going to pick up Myers,” he gasped. “The warrant’s been issued. They got guys going over to his villa right now...”

The ensuing operation, monitored at its various stages by the three British policemen, went moderately smoothly. In Von Joel’s study at the villa Spanish police officers carried out a thorough search in spite of noisy imprecations, dire warnings, and physical resistance from Lola. As one of the officers opened a hollow book from the shelf and took out three passports, all with Von Joel’s picture inside, Lola stopped abusing them. She ran to the door and screamed to the housekeeper to call Von Joel at the gallery in Benabana and tell him what was happening.

Events, however, were ahead of anything that could be improvised. Von Joel was in the middle of negotiations with Penaranda, the young Spanish painter whose exhibition had been held at Puerto Banus two nights before. When the housekeeper rang she told Von Joel that rooms at the villa had been searched by the police. Items had been removed, she said, and Lola had been arrested.

Von Joel was on the point of asking which rooms had been searched and what had been taken away when he glanced out of the window and saw two determined-looking police officers about to enter the gallery. He put down the receiver, asked Penaranda to excuse him, and signaled to Charlotte.

“Get back to the villa,” he told her. “Check the passports. You know what to do, just get them to my lawyer. Fast. The police have got Lola, they’re coming for me now, probably you too. Just keep your cool. Smile! That’s my girl...”

From outside the gallery Larry, Falcon, and Summers watched the two Spanish policemen confront Von Joel. He conducted himself calmly, shaking hands and smiling affably at the first officer to enter the gallery. The second one declined the handshake. He stood squarely in front of Von Joel and held up the three passports he had found at the villa. Von Joel took them, frowning delicately, examining them as if he were seeing them for the first time.

“Cool bastard, isn’t he?” Falcon murmured.

Von Joel handed back the passports.

“Come on, come on,” Larry muttered, his face almost touching the window. “Get the cuffs on him!”

Inside the gallery, in spite of Von Joel’s efforts to maintain a disarming calm, the atmosphere was tense. Charlotte, close to tears, was wrecking the mood. When she tried to stand close to Von Joel a policeman restrained her.

“Just a second,” Von Joel said, resting his hand lightly on the officer’s arm. “It’s okay, Charlotte...” He spoke firmly, almost imperiously, willing her to stay in control of herself. “Can you finish the arrangements with Penaranda? I want maybe three canvases a year — do it now, sweetheart!”

He turned to the policemen and asked them, in Spanish, if Inspector Carreras was in charge, and if he might give him a call. He took his wallet from his pocket, opening it and blatantly displaying a wad of money. Stiffly, the officer with the passports told him no, Comisario Dominguez was in charge, and it was not possible to make calls.

Von Joel pursed his lips, looking from one officer to the other, realizing he was against a wall.

“He’s fucked,” Falcon breathed.

As Von Joel was led from the gallery, without handcuffs, he looked directly at Larry. For a second Larry was the young uniformed constable again with his back pressed to the wall and there was that smile on Von Joel’s face. His eyes were terrifying, like the green ocean one minute, turned almost black with a controlled fury the next, but his voice was casual, mocking.

“This one down to you, is it?” he asked Larry.

A policeman pushed him gently from behind. He moved on, leaving Larry with the feeling he had been threatened.

That evening Comisano Dominguez explained to the Scotland Yard contingent what was happening. Von Joel, he said, was being held in the jail at Malaga, a deeply unpleasant place for anyone, but particularly so for a man accustomed to the finer things in life.

“He has asked to speak with his lawyer,” Dominguez said in his careful, deliberate way. “We hold Senorita Lola del Moreno and Senorita Charlotte Lampton also, as we want no one contacted.” He held up the three passports that were found in the study, spread out like a hand of cards. “These were taken from his villa. His photograph is on all three, so they are forgeries. His residency is illegal.”

“If you charge him,” Larry said, “he has to go through a court case...”

Dominguez nodded.

“But that could take months.”

“He is my prisoner,” Dominguez said flatly. “If you wish to have Senor Von Joel formally extradited, then we go by the correct procedure, but—”

“But we know he’s Edward Myers,” Larry cut in. “We’ve got proof.”

Dominguez blinked patiently. “Listen to me. Please. He was arrested in Spain, and legally you cannot just take him back to England...”

Larry threw up his hands and turned away, optimism and patience draining from him.

“It’s bloody stupid,” he said, walking along the beach ten minutes later with Falcon and Summers. He stopped, determined to impress on the other two just how preposterous the situation was. “They’ve got us by the short and curlies. Just picture it. How the hell do they think all the villains get to stay put out here? Legal crap can string us out for months, years. If they grant him bail, he’ll be out of the country like a shot. Have they impounded his boat? They should sort that.”

“Just shut it, Larry,” DI Falcon said, sounding weary. “He said Von Joel had asked to see a lawyer. He didn’t say he’d permitted it. He’s giving us a break.”

“Us? Eddie Myers, you mean.”

“No, us,” Falcon said, starting to sound angry. “I sussed out what he’s up to. He’s got Von Joel — or Myers, if you prefer — locked up in a holding cell. Nobody even knows he’s been nabbed, and they can keep him there. Understand? How long do you think he’s going to wait in that sweatbox?”

Larry was shaking his head, still unaware that anything subtle was going on.

“I just don’t bloody believe it. How long do we have to wait for them to make their minds up?” He almost wagged a finger at the DI, then thought better of it. “I’m warning you, they’re messing us about.”

“Oh, yeah?” Falcon stuck his face closer to Larry’s. “Let’s see how long the bronzed wonder can last in a bug-infested cell with two drunks, a druggie and one bucket to piss in!” He laughed. “Great frigging legal system! See — the Spanish authorities don’t want all the aggro of dealing with him, but they can’t legally release him over to us unless he—”

“He agrees to come of his own free will?” Larry said, catching on. “Right!”

Light dawned full and bright. All at once Larry felt better about everything.

By ten-thirty the sun had gone down and the only light in the cell was from a dim wire-caged bulb set into the ceiling. Philip Von Joel sat on a filthy blanket on the floor. In one corner behind him an alcoholic pickpocket slept unevenly, belching and coughing and keeping up a seamless monologue that was a shade too quiet to hear. It amused Von Joel — though not enough to make him laugh or even smile — that an alcoholic with a bad tremor and no discernible coordination had tried to make a living in a branch of crime that required, above all, slick timing and steady hands.

In a corner by the door the third occupant of the cell, a drug addict who was even smellier than the drunk, appeared to be asleep, too, although he groaned a lot and every two minutes or so his eyes rolled open and a sharp rigor took hold of his body, straightening his spine sharply and making his head strike the wall. He was incredibly thin, dressed only in cut-off jeans. His back, legs, and arms were covered with crops of circular purplish lesions; some of them were blistered, others bled from contact with the cement floor.

The fourth prisoner lay along the wall to Von Joel’s left, swathed in rags. He looked dead.

Von Joel sat erect, distancing himself from this place, separating his senses from the confinement and the squalor. It was not easy. He was a compulsively clean man, acutely fastidious in matters of health and hygiene. In his present situation he knew it would be a mistake to think ahead: it would erode his confidence in his own ability to survive the intentions of lesser people.

What he must do, first and foremost, was cling to his sense of himself. He must remain secure in the understanding that he was above matters of simple confinement. Liberty was his medium, he would gravitate to freedom because his karma was in balance. His fundamental condition could not be withheld from him for long, because such a denial went against nature.

It was hard though. The smells were like a fog seeping into his head, clouding his certainty. The filthiness of the cell was disheartening, and there was not one pleasant thing to look at. He closed his eyes tightly, making his breathing slow and shallow. He concentrated fiercely, remembering the primary code for those who would survive and prevail; he saw it printed in silver letters against the darkness of his eyelids:

cling tightly to your personhood, your dignity, your sense of self.

Sense of self was hardest. In here, kept forcibly from all he loved and craved, it felt like old times, very old times, back in the days when he was the person they were calling him now, Eddie Myers. Those were the hardest days, days of spiritual darkness. They were gone. He was Philip Von Joel, that was his sole identity, his fresh incarnation.

He was a man of substance insulated from the world by deep, tight layers of culture and wealth. All former personas were dead and of no significance.

He closed his eyes tighter as the smell of excrement rose in a dank wave from the gurgling drunk behind him.

I am Philip Von Joel and I do not belong in this place...

The addict grunted sharply. Von Joel opened his eyes and saw him roll on his back, draw up his knees, then turn on his side again and vomit in a steaming gush on to the floor.

Von Joel jammed his eyes shut, trying not to breathe the stink. “Dignity.” He hissed, “Sense of self...”

He told himself firmly, over and over, just who he was, and that he didn’t belong in that place. He whispered his name and imagined his personhood protected by the force of his will.

The addict knelt up suddenly. His chest heaved, his wide eyes cavernous as empty sockets in the oblique light. He vomited again, spewing whatever he had left in his guts across and down his own skeleton chest. Von Joel watched the bloated insects biting, sucking, watched as the ants streamed over the puke, and swallowed, turning away. The stench was horrific, and the heat had to be way over a hundred and ten degrees. His whole body was drenched, his three-hundred-pound shirt dripping, the waistband of his tailored handmade trousers sopping. He could feel the perspiration trickle down from his neck over his belly, drip from his hair, slithering down his neck. He rested his head back against the brick wall, and then out of the corner of his eye he saw the fat cockroach crawling and inching its way along the wall toward him. He shut his eyes and his hands clenched together as he felt the insect moving onto his shoulder, but he made no move to swipe it away. As he felt its clawlike feet easing up his neck, he began to wait, timing it. Now it was crawling to his chin, positioned just below his lower lip... He waited, could feel the cockroach easing onto his lip, and he suddenly snapped his mouth open, biting the creature into two sections, then he spat it out. He had decided if he killed three, his time was up, but only on the condition he did not move a single muscle but his mouth... three: two more to go.

Susan got back to the hotel at half-past eleven. By that time Larry was pacing the floor. He had come back after nine to find the boys tucked up in bed asleep and no clue as to where Susan might be. When she finally swept in, dressed up in her best, her makeup carefully overdone, it was evident she had drunk too much. She closed the door and leaned on it, grinning lopsidedly at Larry.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demanded. “You left the kids on their own!”

“As I recall, you’re the one that said they would be fine, and anyway, they know to call down to the resident babysitter if they need anything.” Susan launched herself away from the door and struck a flamenco stance. “I’ve been to a nightclub.”

“Who with?”

“The waiter, the barman, and the swimming pool attendant.”

Larry did a swift reading of the pang he felt when she told him that. He decided it was annoyance, not jealousy.

Susan executed a couple of dance steps, then stopped, remembering something.

“Got a great joke,” she said, giggling in advance. “There’s these two old Jewish tailors, Morris and Izzy, who retire to Miami. Well, they get themselves all tanned up, looking at the young, sexy beauties, right?”

“You’re pissed as a newt.”

“So, every night Morris scores, but poor Izzy never gets a second look. ‘What am I doing wrong, Morris?’ he says. ‘I got the Bermuda shorts, the tan, the cigar — for what? None of the girls want to know.’ Morris tells him, ‘Izzy, this is what you do. Get two potatoes, slip them down your Bermudas. Okay? Just do what I say, and you can’t fail.’ So the next day Izzy gets two potatoes—”

“Oh, come on, Susie—”

“And that night he gets hold of his pal, he’s in a real rage, and he says, ‘Morris, I patrolled the beach all day with two King Edwards down my Bermudas, just like you told me to do, and all the girls did was laugh!’ Morris takes one look at him and he says, ‘Izzy, you’re supposed to put the potatoes down the front of your Bermudas!’ ”

Larry groaned. Susan began to stagger about, laughing.

“He had them at the back, get it? Like, like he’d done something in his pants.”

“I don’t think that’s funny,” Larry said, talking through her laughter. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

The telephone rang. As Larry turned to answer it Susan pushed him, her face angry suddenly.

“I’ve been waiting for you the entire vacation!” she said.

Larry jammed the receiver to his ear.

“Yeah, this is Jackson.” He listened, nodding, then his eyebrows went up a clear half-inch. “What? You’re kidding! Yeah, sure, I’ll be there. He didn’t last long, did he?” He put down the phone. “Got him!” he said, grabbing his jacket. “Eddie Myers wants to talk to us!”

Susan was at the mirror, plastering cream on her face, a preliminary to removing her makeup.

“Where are you going?” she asked coolly.

“Prison,” Larry said, opening the door. “See you later — Dolores.”

DI Falcon was covered in insect repellent, and Summers had to ease his shoes off, as his feet had swollen. They were waiting for Myers to be brought out of the holding cell. Larry banged in, sweating, his shirt clinging to him, but he was elated.

“They’re bringing him up now...”

Summers tried to get his shoes back on as Falcon pushed the knot of his sodden tie up to his neck and slipped on his jacket. They could hear the footsteps in the stone corridor, and then they were confronted by Edward Myers. His hands were cuffed in front of him, his shirt was filthy, as were his trousers, and his face was dark with stubble. The two Spanish police officers stepped back to allow him to enter the room freely. He had the audacity to lean against the doorframe. He was not in any way angry and there was not a hint of bitterness. He just lolled, as if he had entered someone’s drawing room for a party. He looked from Summers to Falcon, and lastly to Lawrence Jackson, Detective Sergeant Lawrence Jackson, and then he gave that strange smile.

“So, what’s the weather like in London then?”

5

By noon next day arrangements were being made for a triumphal return to London with the prisoners in tow. Larry, DI Falcon, and DC Summers accompanied Von Joel to his villa to supervise the packing for the trip.

They had been there a little under an hour when Summers came down the main staircase to the hall and spoke to Falcon, who was studying a flight timetable.

“He says he s entitled to take as much luggage as he wants — is that right?” Summers looked about him, peering into the richly furnished rooms off the hall as if somebody might be listening. “We’re checking everything, me and Sergeant Jackson, but he’s got his housekeeper packing for him. Is that okay?”

“Any extra baggage weight,” Falcon said, “he pays. Just don’t let him near a phone. You unplugged all the extensions up there?”

Summers nodded.

“Right, then...” Falcon squinted at the timetable.

“There’s a charter at six, I’ll check if they got seats available.”

“Charter?”

The voice came from the top of the stairs. They looked up. Von Joel was glaring at them from the landing. He was still handcuffed but had shaved and was wearing a long white flowing robe.

“No way,” he boomed. “You won’t get me in one of those. I want a scheduled flight.”

Falcon stared at him, anxious to exert some authority.

“You go back any way we think fit, Myers. The British government’s paying for this.”

“Let me call my travel agents,” Von Joel said. “Any extra expense is down to me. You can’t say I haven’t been cooperative, but I won’t get on one of those clapped-out junk heaps.”

Falcon shrugged. “Fair enough. You got the number? I’ll call.”

When the packing was finished Von Joel’s house staff carried the suitcases — Gucci, matching — down to the hall. Larry wandered out onto the balcony beyond the master bedroom. The view was impressive, taking in the entire length of the swimming pool, the sweep of the garden, the wooded land beyond, and the main gates off to the right. As Larry watched he saw Lola drive up in a white Porsche and walk in through the gates, past the policemen on duty there.

Looking down, he saw DC Summers heading across the tiles toward the pool. He was wearing bathing trunks. He looked up and waved to Larry.

“Coming in?” he shouted. “Falcon said it was okay.”

Larry turned away, shaking his head. The curtain behind the balcony doors moved and Lola appeared. She leaned on the doorjamb, folding her arms and staring at him. He began to smile uncertainly.

“You little prick,” she said.

Larry gulped softly. She turned and disappeared into the villa again. Down at the pool Larry saw the white length of DC Summers dive into the water.

Falcon meanwhile was in the drawing room using the portable telephone, trying to make himself understood. Outside the door, on the balcony overlooking the stairs, Von Joel lay back in a chair with his feet on a heavy antique table, lowering his handcuffed wrists around Lola’s neck as she came to him, kissing him and making whimpering sounds against his cheek. Larry appeared and stood a short distance away, wary in case Lola turned the verbals on him again.

“What?” Falcon came out of the drawing room, interrogating the telephone. “Can you speak in English, please? Eh? Today... Tonight? What? Jesus!”

“I’ll do it,” Von Joel said. He took the receiver and spoke softly into it. “Julio? No, no hay ningun problema... Cuatro, si, de primera close.” He laughed. “De acuerdo, a mi cuenta.” He handed back the telephone to Falcon and looked at his watch. “Five o’clock flight. We’ve got plenty of time. I’ll have lunch served out on the patio.” He hooked his arms tightly around Lola and narrowed his eyes at Falcon. “Can I have fifteen minutes?”

Falcon nodded. Von Joel got out of the chair. He and Lola made their way toward the bedroom. Falcon turned, hearing Larry Jackson’s heavy sigh.

“You got a problem?”

“If the Guv’nor got to hear about this...” Larry shook his head. “It’s like a frigging CarryOn movie. He’s up there shafting his girlfriend, Summers is out doing laps in the pool—”

“Ease up, Larry,” Falcon grunted. “We got him, didn’t we?”

But it hardly feels like it, Larry thought, watching the DI walk away.

It was all so idiotically civilized. They were taking a villain, a right bad bastard, back to England to face the music, but first they were going to join him for lunch on the patio, just as soon as he’d finished giving his woman a seeing-to; after lunch — followed, no doubt by some fine coffee and a few brandies — they would get in the villain’s Rolls-Royce and accompany him and his Gucci baggage to the airport, where they would all board a scheduled flight to London. As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, they would travel up front in first class, in seats paid for by none other than the fugitive from justice himself.

It was all haywire. As soon as Larry heard the news from the prison he had pictured Von Joel being bundled, scruffy and unshaven, into the back of a van, given a rough ride out to the airport then dragged unceremoniously onto a scabby old bucket of a plane where he wouldn’t be allowed to undo his seatbelt, and couldn’t take a piss until he was banged up in a shitty old cell at the other end.

“It’s all bloody wrong,” Larry muttered.

He heard a sound from somewhere in the villa; it was a woman’s voice, crying or laughing, he couldn’t tell which. Probably the sexy Lola, going vocal while she gave the Rronzed Rull something to remember her by.

He wandered out to the balcony and saw Summers still splashing away in the pool. He leaned on the parapet, skimming the discontent that cluttered his mind. He wondered how Susan would cope with getting back to England on her own with the boys. He wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the vacation being cut short in the first place, but he could guess. There was bound to be a showdown, but his prospect of a promotion, and the more realistic salary that went with it, might be enough to keep the blood on the walls to a minimum.

Picturing his new status, Larry straightened suddenly, recalling what Falcon had said as he walked away.

Ease up, Larry, we got him, didn’t we?

All of a sudden it was we. How come?

Where did team effort enter the picture? Who spotted the walking corpse in the first place? Lawrence Jackson, that was who, all on his own, entirely unaided. He was the one who followed Myers, got his dabs and clinched the ID. It had been his baby, his operation all the way through. So where did collective credit come into it?

He folded his arms tightly, the way he had done as a kid when something got his goat; he clasped his ribs, feeling his aggravation swell. As you got older, he thought, nothing lived up to expectation. Just about every outcome, even the best, carried a letdown in the tail. He pictured himself being elbowed out of the limelight and began to wish he hadn’t spotted the speedboat that stinking hot lunchtime. If he had concentrated harder on his book, or even the women lying alongside him, it would all have been different. A miserable, uneventful vacation for the wife and kids would have been a less gut-churning, less heartbreaking option. He turned and ran his eyes around the villa, trying to find consolation, knowing this was the last place to look.

Late that afternoon, as they were leaving the villa in the Corniche, Von Joel turned and called back to Lola, telling her to mind the dogs.

“Mind my boys,” he cried. “I’ll be back.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Larry told him.

Von Joel stared for a moment, his eyes glinting darkly behind his shades. Then he began to laugh. It was real laughter, spontaneous and unforced, resounding and deep. It mystified Larry. And it scared him a little. He took a sidelong glance at Myers. He could smell his aftershave and his eyes traveled down to Myers’s fine, strong, tanned hands, relaxed, completely at ease, only the telltale handcuffs giving any indication this man was a captive. He didn’t turn back to the villa again, but stared ahead. His dark glasses gave nothing away, his perfect jawline was not rigid, he appeared to be totally relaxed and on top of the situation. In actual fact he was seething, but timing each breath, forcing himself into an outward show of calmness. The fifteen minutes with Lola had not given him enough time, but she was intelligent, she’d get moving, and while with Charlotte to help her they would be some assistance, he knew he was going to need more, a lot more. He had a moment’s worry about the dogs, but then ignored it, knowing his housekeeper would take care of them. But he’d miss them, he loved his dogs. He breathed deeper, deeper, and his body felt good, strong, he clenched his buttocks, his thighs, could feel the muscles obey him, then he exhaled slowly, feeling the hard stomach muscles relaxing, contracting... his hands remained folded on his lap, no indication that his entire body was working, moving, exercising, perfecting the control he took such pleasure in achieving.

Lola sobbed, and Charlotte eventually had to get tetchy with her. They had to pack and be ready and waiting, as Philip wanted; they would be on the next flight tomorrow, but Lola could not stop weeping, and eventually Charlotte wrapped her arms around her. “We’ll be there for him, we’ll be there... we have to contact his lawyer, arrange for him to be waiting in London. Lola... don’t cry, Lola!”

Lola hiccuped and bit her lips, nodding in confirmation. They must do as Philip had instructed. She crossed to the balcony and watched the two dogs below. They wandered around the gates and then sat, their heads craning forward, looking for their master, waiting for him.

“He will be all right, won’t he?” Lola whispered.

Charlotte nodded from the balcony window, from which they could see the dogs waiting patiently. “Yes, he’ll come back; he’s our magic man, Lola, nobody can take Philip away from us...” They seemed so childlike, and in some ways they resembled the two waiting dogs, their eyes looking, pleading, to the high barred gates, willing them to open, willing the past hours to be a nightmare from which they would wake. Without their magic man the villa was deathly quiet, without him they were at a loss; they both loved him, they both needed him, he was the center of their world; he wasn’t Eddie Myers, they didn’t know him, had never known him, they only knew the man they worshiped, Philip Von Joel, their magician.

Myers was taken from the plane to a waiting patrol car, a blanket covering his head, and not until the car was moving out of the airport was the blanket removed. He was handcuffed to a uniformed officer and accompanied by one more driver and a plainclothes detective who had not said one word.

Larry, Falcon, and Co. were somewhat disappointed, as they had to settle all the paperwork at the airport and were trailing behind in a patrol car, the convoy with Myers aboard way ahead. Larry was pissed off; no one had even said one word of congratulations, it was as if they were the three stooges.

Myers remained as silent as the men seated in the car. Ahead was a patrol car, behind another, their blue lights flashing, sirens blasting as they screamed across London. It was raining, it was cold, and the streets and buildings were as gray as he remembered, if not worse. The night was gray, the people they passed were gray, the flashes of brilliantly lit billboards and advertisements gave splashes of color to the grayness. Myers’s face was half in shadow, the blue lights gave his dark features an almost eerie quality. The plainclothes detective half turned around, saying quietly that as soon as they reached St. John’s Row station he wanted Myers’s head covered up. Myers paid no attention, and it gave the officer a moment to take a good look at him. He was unnervingly still, very composed, staring out the window of the fast-moving car.

They reached St. John’s Row police station shortly after nine o’clock. A group of Special Branch officers formed a flinty-eyed escort as Myers entered the station handcuffed between two uniformed constables, his head covered with a gray blanket. Larry, DI Falcon, and DC Summers, who had traveled behind in an unmarked patrol car, unpacked their luggage from the trunk and straggled into the station, shivering, looking slightly lost.

Myers was marched to the first floor, where he was fingerprinted and photographed. People from other departments stuck their heads into the room, keen to see the root cause of so much sudden upheaval. Myers conducted himself calmly even though there was haste and a certain amount of roughness attending the procedures. No time was wasted at any stage. It was a major priority to have the prisoner documented, charged, and safely locked up as quickly as possible. More and more people were finding some excuse to pass through, everyone trying to catch a glimpse of the famous Edward Myers. There were a few throwaway remarks, mundane, stupid, fatuous — “That suntan won’t last, Eddie!” — but throughout Myers remained aloof and impassive, watching with distaste the black ink rolled over his fingertips. He could see the officer’s head shaking as he pressed each print down onto the sheets. He was offered a damp towel to wipe the ink off. He sat staring ahead as the mug shots were taken, right side, left side, full face. The whispering and murmurs continued as he asked if he could take a leak, make his phone call. No one replied and he was asked to stand and move away from the photographer. As he stood he was head and shoulders taller than most of the men! around him.

The entire area went quiet, and slowly, one by one, everyone turned toward the new arrival. Detective Chief Inspector Jimmy McKinnes walked toward Myers, shadowed by his DI, Frank Shrapnel. They had come to formally charge him, everyone knew it, just as they knew McKinnes had virtually got down on his knees and begged to head the case. Rumors were running like a bushfire. McKinnes had reached retirement age and should have, as some whispered, been put out to grass a long time ago, haw haw. But he had swung it, due to the fact that he had been in charge of Myers when he skipped custody and would thus be on top of all the previous information Myers had given.

The two detectives stepped forward and confronted the prisoner, Shrapnel a discreet step behind McKinnes. They worked as a team and although the master-servant nature of the relationship was obvious, they did look rather alike. Both were bald; Shrapnel had attempted a cover-up with strands of long side hair plastered across the top of his head. They were near-identical in stature and physique, down to such details as their potbellies and large feet. Both men smoked heavily, cigarettes in McKinnes’ case, small cigars for Shrapnel, and their professional style — thrustingly physical, with rhythms of speech to match — suggested an identical permanent urgency, whatever they happened to be doing. In looks McKinnes was the more formidable; he was bearded, with disturbingly mandarinlike features and hard, probing eyes. Shrapnel had a more bland, fat-man’s face, which made it easy for him to hide what he was thinking.

They stood staring at Myers.

“Hello, Mac,” he said, smiling and nodding to McKinnes, ignoring Shrapnel. “Still got the same raincoat, I see. How have you been keeping?”

“In shape,” McKinnes snapped. He jerked his head at the door. “Let’s go.”

The following morning Larry Jackson was summoned to the Superintendent’s office. The interview was swift, too swift for Larry, who was finding himself more and more alert to brush-offs.

“Congratulations!” the Superintendent said brightly, then switched his attention to the papers on his desk. He looked up again, the matter of praise over and done with.

“Okay, Jackson, you’ve got two weeks’ leave. Take it. Make up for your vacation.”

Larry wet his lips. “I’ve got a lot of extra expenses,” he said. “There were phone calls and—”

“We know, Sergeant. Just fill out the expense sheets as per norm.”

The telephone rang and the Superintendent snatched up the receiver.

“It’s not just that,” Larry explained. “If Eddie Myers turns informer again... I mean, I found him, I’d like to see it through...”

“Yes,” the Superintendent snapped into the telephone, “I’ll be right with you.” He put a hand over the mouthpiece and narrowed his eyes at Larry. “I’ll keep it in mind,” he said.

Larry had no option but to go.

At approximately that moment a slim, hard-jawed man wearing an expensive gray suit and a fawn Burberry was being shown into the gloom of Von Joel’s cell. He was Sydney Jefferson, an accomplished and expensive criminal defense lawyer. He waited in silence as an officer closed the door behind him.

Von Joel was stretched out on the hard bunk, one arm across his face.

“How am I doing, Sydney?” he said.

Jefferson hesitated for dramatic effect, flaring his nostrils delicately at the damp odor of the cell. He looked at Von Joel as if he might be something unpleasant to approach.

“You want it straight?” he said. “You are in it up to your armpits.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve got five minutes, so let’s keep all this tight. You’ve a custody hearing in the morning. Normal routine stuff. There’s not a ghost of a chance of bail — the charge of absconding from custody last time will hold you.”

Von Joel eased his legs over the side of the bunk and sat up. He clasped his hands and looked at his lawyer.

“I can’t go down, Sydney. There’s not a jail in this stinking country I’d survive ten minutes in.”

“You can’t avoid it,” Jefferson said impassively. “The question isn’t whether, but for how long.”

Von Joel stared at his knuckles, frowning.

“Will they bite on a deal? Did you feel it out?” He looked up again. “What do you think?”

Jefferson paused, considering how he should frame his remarks to make Von Joel’s predicament as clear as he could.

“There have been a lot of changes since you were last held.” He stepped closer to the bunk. “It’s a lot harder to negotiate now. You need to think about what went down in Italy. Understand me? That’s a different scene all together. That’s a murder charge.”

“Bullshit,” Von Joel grunted. “Brought it up, have they?”

“No, but they could. All I’m saying is, it’s going to be harder bargaining this time. You’ve been out of circulation quite a while, remember. I don’t come cheap — that’s something else to bear in mind. Whatever you’ve got will have to be red-hot. They’d like you to go down for a long stretch, remember. McKinnes hates your guts, he was so desperate to get on this he was down on his knees begging—”

“How much, Sydney, you bloody leech?”

“I don’t know if you can afford me,” Jefferson laughed softly. “There’s a lot to do, I mean, I’ll need to access your accounts — maybe you should grant me power of attorney. I like to be sure I’ll get paid.”

“I said how much, Sydney?”

“Retainer up four grand, and fifty to do the negotiations. Cash. Then bonus same deal as before.”

“Okay.” Von Joel nodded. “Call my place, will you? Make arrangements for Lola and Charlotte, put them up at the Hyde Park Hotel.”

“Business that good?” Jefferson’s eyebrows raised. He stepped back, hands behind his back, businesslike. “I’ll get the papers drawn up. What about Moyra? Do you want me to contact her?”

“No way.” Von Joel shook his head sharply. “I don’t want to see her.”

“They’ll want to question her.”

“She knows nothing.”

“She identified that stiff in Italy!”

“So what? Just keep her out of my hair, I’ve got enough on my mind.” He rubbed his head, sighing, relenting. “Go easy on her. Tell them she... she knows nothing...”

“Maybe they won’t bring her in. The fewer people who know you’re here the better.” Jefferson leaned against the wall and folded his arms. “If you’ve got information, they’ll want to make an application to the court for your testimony to be heard in camera. But you’ve a long way to go before that, because you’ll have to come up with a lot more than last time.” He stared at Von Joel. “Can you do it? Like I said, it’s a lot tougher now. There’ll be no putting you up in a luxury hotel — there’s a new special unit in Reading.”

Von Joel was examining his hands again.

“What was the name of the young guy,” he said, “the one who booked me?”

“Jackson. Lawrence Jackson. It was a lucky break for the schmuck.”

The key rattled in the door, signaling that time was up.

“Until tomorrow, then,” Jefferson said, turning as the door opened. “Start thinking. Hard. Same as last time — names, dates, you know the procedure. But do remember, it’s not going to be easy. I’ll see how McKinnes reacts to your turning Queen’s, and I’ll get back to you.”

When the door closed Von Joel lay back on the bunk. He put his arm over his face again and lay still, thinking, scheming. Then slowly he sat up again.

“Lawrence Jackson,” he whispered, staring into the gloom.

6

For two weeks Von Joel underwent exhaustive interrogation by DCI McKinnes, backed by a team of subordinate officers headed by DI Shrapnel. They worked long hours, going over every major piece of information at least three times, documenting and annotating, using case documents, surveillance logs, mug shots, and even press reports to single out and verify names, dates, and events.

Five years earlier McKinnes had confessed he was surprised by the detailed accuracy and sheer volume of information this one man had been able to give them. This time McKinnes was astonished. A catalog of crimes — none of them minor — that had resisted prolonged, intensive, and costly attempts at solution were suddenly open books. Von Joel handed over the necessary information complete with the names of major perpetrators, particulars of contractors and fences, detailed MOs, and even, in several cases, complete lists of peripheral personnel like drivers and couriers. At every stage, wherever it was appropriate, he included details of his own involvement in the crime under scrutiny.

The pace of the interrogation was punishing on everyone concerned, but nobody worked harder than Von Joel.

Throughout the sessions he answered every question and racked his brain to come up with details, some incredibly petty and seemingly irrelevant, to shore up or authenticate areas of evidence that raised doubts with the officers checking his testimony.

Toward the end of the second week, Von Joel began to look weary. Lack of daylight and exercise, poor diet, and miserable accommodation were taking their toll on his stamina. He pushed himself nevertheless, maintaining the pace, continuing to come up with names and dates, hideouts, aliases, and the whereabouts of particular people and specific sums of money. On the Friday afternoon, as a surprise bonus, he revealed the identities of three “clean hands” operators, businessmen who bankrolled major heists and raked off percentages when the operations were successful.

At seven o’clock that evening a tired and bleary-eyed DCI McKinnes took a thick wad of paper from DI Shrapnel and pushed it across the table to Von Joel. Clearing his throat, McKinnes proceeded to speak in the dead monotone of a man repeating something he had said many times before.

“Will you now read over the notes of today’s interview,” he said, “and if you agree to the contents will you initial each answer, and sign each page.”

Von Joel began signing and McKinnes watched. When Von Joel joked that his pen was out of ink — he had signed so many pages of statement — he was given a fresh pen; his amusement was not mirrored at the other side of the table.

“During this interview,” McKinnes said, “is everything you have said and signed the truth?”

“Yes,” said Von Joel, nodding. For a moment both men looked at the masses of documents piled on the surrounding tables, the product of two weeks of intensive work.

“And you understand,” McKinnes went on, “that a confession to the police which also inculpates codefendants is not evidence against those codefendants but is treated as hearsay?”

Von Joel nodded again.

“If this pans out,” McKinnes said quietly, “we’ll try for a deal.”

Von Joel looked cautiously relieved.

Within days the ripples from the interrogation room began to spread, disturbing the lives of people who had believed, some of them for years, that they were safe and that their tracks were covered.

On his boat anchored in a Spanish harbor, a big heavyset man called Andy Ball sat watching a soccer match on a small color TV set. A goal was scored and Andy’s cheer coincided with the ringing of the telephone. He snatched up the receiver, continuing to watch the game. “Yeah? Uh-huh, this is Andy...” His eyes remained on the TV screen, but his smile dropped away as the caller spoke. The seriousness of the message brought him slowly to his feet. By the time the caller was finished speaking, Andy had completely lost interest in the football. He put down the phone, his face twisting with rage as he drew back his big foot and brought it forward quickly, smashing the television set.

Some time later, in a cozy restaurant in London, a man called Donald Lather was having dinner with his companion for the evening, an attractive and highly pneumatic blond lady who, the head waiter confided to his subordinate, possessed a room-temperature IQ. Lather smiled at his young companion as he dabbed his mouth with his napkin. He reached for his wineglass and sipped, noticing a man approach, a person he knew. The man nodded curtly, leaned across the table, and whispered something to Lather. He then moved off again. Lather shot to his feet, pushing the table aside and toppling his glass of wine. The contents landed in his companion’s lap, making her squeal. Without glancing at her he threw a wad of banknotes on the table and marched out of the restaurant.

The next day, in another part of town, Harvey Hutchinson, in cap and donkey jacket, was arranging fruit on his street corner cart when his brother, Tommy, came forward and spoke briefly to him. They exchanged words for a couple of minutes, then Tommy hurried away. Harvey watched him go with a look of panic on his face.

That afternoon an antiques dealer, Ronald Fairclough, was behind the counter in his shop with a jeweler’s glass in his eye, examining a fine nineteenth-century ruby-and- garnet necklace he had just bought for a criminally low price. A shadow fell across the counter and Ronald looked up. Tommy Hutchinson had come in. The glass dropped from Fairclough’s eye. He looked terrified.

Later still, in his used-car lot, Willy Noakes was being pushed in his wheelchair between rows of vehicles with price stickers on the windshields when a man ran up to the chair, grasped the handles, and leaned close to Willy, whispering urgently in his ear. The man was Donald Lather. As he turned and rushed away again Willy looked about him distractedly, trying to wheel himself forward, failing, trying again, and finally giving up. He stared after Lather, his face taut with fear.

In a hairdressing salon not far from the car lot, a tough-faced blond woman called Doreen Angel sat under the dryer with a cup of coffee in her hand and a magazine on her knee. An assistant came forward and held up a portable telephone, indicating there was a call for Doreen. Looking surprised, Doreen ducked her head out from under the dryer and put the telephone to her ear. She identified herself, listened for a moment, then, to the assistant’s surprise, she dropped the cup of coffee.

Approximately three weeks after his return from Spain, Larry Jackson received his credit-card statement. He studied it at the kitchen table while Susan washed up the boys’ breakfast dishes. “My God! Do you know how much that Suzuki jeep worked out at?” Susan shrugged, slipping a plate into a slot on the drainer. “You’ll get it back, won’t you?”

“I’m not so sure. They’re being tight-arsed about the phone calls, and they said I never got permission to rent a car.”

“I don’t believe it!” Susan slapped down the dishcloth. “It just serves you right!” She screwed up her face, something she did so often nowadays it was practically a reflex. “ ‘This’ll mean promotion,’ ” she squeaked, imagining she was impersonating Larry.

“It will,” he told her. “We’ll just have to wait.”

The telephone rang. Susan went to the hall and answered it. Larry leaned back in his chair, trying to hear what she was saying.

“Is that for me?” he shouted.

He heard the receiver being put down.

“Yes,” Susan said, coming back. “Somebody called McKinnes. Said for you to get over to the station.”

Larry shot to his feet.

“Did he say what he wanted?”

“No.” Susan picked up the credit-card bill and glared at it. “He just said for you to take an overnight bag.”

After ten minutes waiting at St. John’s Row station to see DCI McKinnes, Larry was suddenly being beckoned to follow him along a corridor. McKinnes issued a fragmented, unclear explanation as they walked.

“It all depends, you see, if the magistrate reckons we’ve got enough to warrant making a deal.” He paused to throw open a door and address the officers on the other side. “I’ll be at Bow Street. Tell Frank to meet me at the car, out back.”

Larry, baffled but entirely eager, caught up as McKinnes moved off again. They went down a narrow stone staircase, meeting DI Falcon and DC Summers coming up. They pressed themselves against the wall to let McKinnes and Larry pass. Larry did a swift up-and-down with his eyebrows, indicating he had no idea what was going on.

“Lucky sod’s on it,” Falcon muttered to Summers. “What did I say, eh?”

“I’ll tell you, Larry,” McKinnes said as they reached the foot of the stairs. “Okay if I call you Larry?”

Larry nodded, feeling a fluttery sensation in his stomach. The abrupt reversal of rejection had done something to his digestive system.

“Well, what we’ve got to date, Larry, is making our hair stand on end. You with me?”

Larry nodded again, adjusting his grip on the overnight bag. He thought quickly about his views on the case, feeling some input was expected.

“You come up with anything on the body that was buried as Myers?” he said.

“Hang on, son. One thing at a time, eh? We’re still negotiating for him to turn Royal. That doesn’t mean we got the go-ahead, not like in the old days. It’ll be up to the magistrate.”

They reached the exit to the parking lot. McKinnes pushed open the door and strode across the yard to a black security wagon. Larry could see Von Joel’s face at one of the ventilated windows. McKinnes checked that the driver was all set, then marched to a Granada parked in front of the wagon. He waved for Larry to follow him. He opened the back door, looked around him and decided to light a cigarette.

“A lot of blokes in the frame,” he said reflectively, “would like to cut Eddie Myers’s balls off, never mind slitting his throat.” He nodded at the back seat. “Get in. We’ve got a sealed court.” DI Shrapnel appeared. “You met Frank,” McKinnes said offhandedly to Larry. He turned to Shrapnel. “Let’s go.”

Shrapnel had ignored Larry. He walked around to the driver’s seat and got in, starting the engine as McKinnes eased into the front seat. Larry noticed a second patrol car lined up at the rear. Without any apparent signal the convoy suddenly moved off, fast, the unmarked Granada in front, patrol car at the rear, and the holding wagon sandwiched between them, all sirens blasting.

As they rounded the corner onto the main road McKinnes turned to Larry.

“Sergeant, about the floater in Italy... we only got the frigging ashes, his wife had him — or whoever the poor bastard was — cremated, so it’ll be circumstantial evidence. We need more.”

“If he didn’t bump the guy off,” Larry offered, “he’ll sure as hell know who did.”

“That doesn’t concern us right now, son. Believe me, I want Eddie Myers stitched up.”

Larry thought this might be a good time to ask the question uppermost in his mind.

“Why have you brought me in?”

Shrapnel shot McKinnes a bored look.

“I want him kept sweet,” McKinnes said. “And I want him to keep spewing up what he’s got. He asked for you personally, Larry boy.”

“What does that mean?” Larry asked, baffled.

“He wants you to sit and hold his hand,” Shrapnel grunted, exchanging looks with McKinnes again.

The profound truth dawned sharply on Larry. He was on the case. Jesus. He was really on it! He sat back in his seat, feeling a smile spread.

In the front Shrapnel began to laugh. McKinnes controlled himself briefly, then he grinned, and after a second he began to laugh too.

Larry felt his smile fade, wondering what they knew that he didn’t.

An hour in the sealed court was like four anywhere else. By eleven forty-five Larry was having trouble staying alert. He preferred courts full of people, plenty of faces to dwell on. Variety kept him attentive.

This gathering had the atmosphere of a funeral for somebody who had died friendless, with only a handful of acquaintances grudgingly mourning him. Four uniformed officers guarded the door; Von Joel, handcuffed, was on the podium with his head bowed. His lawyer, Sydney Jefferson, sat in the front pew. Larry and DI Shrapnel were on a bench at the side.

The magistrate, an attractive middle-aged woman with steady eyes and a no-nonsense mouth, sat with her head resting on her hands, a large file open in front of her. She turned the pages slowly, listening carefully to McKinnes, who was standing to her left with a copy of the same file.

“As you can see, ma’am,” he said in his gravest courtroom voice, “pages ten, eleven, and up to page fourteen give details of the fifth offense. This was a particularly violent robbery, and Constable Walter Cronk was shot at point-blank range. To date we have been unable to produce the evidence to enable us to arrest the five suspects named at the top of page fifteen. These suspects have all been questioned over a number of years in connection with the said offense. Edward Myers has supplied us with a detailed route and layout of the robbery, plus the names of four fences used to distribute the money, and he has admitted to being a party to laundering the said moneys.”

The magistrate looked up.

“Did Myers also benefit from the proceeds of the named robbery?”

“Yes, ma’am, he did, and we have access to his private accounts. His lawyer has produced bank statements and details of all financial transactions over a period of five years, proving without doubt that Myers was, even though on the run, very active in laundering moneys from illegal sources.”

McKinnes paused to clear his throat.

“If I may draw your attention to the next page...”

“The Highfield armed robbery,” the magistrate said, making a note. “Continue.”

The officers by the door were wilting but trying gamely not to show it. Sydney Jefferson, on the other hand, had been vigilant throughout, making notes as the various pieces of evidence were discussed. Frank Shrapnel, too, had made a lot of notes. Von Joel, standing with his eyes fixed on the floor, might well have been in a trance.

“This man, the suspect numbered thirteen on your list,” McKinnes said, “disposed of the shotgun used in the robbery. Myers has been very cooperative and is willing to take us to the location. Page sixteen gives details of the bullion raid at Gatwick Airport, June 1987. There are three named suspects. None have been interrogated as a result of the continuing investigation, but they will now be brought in for questioning.”

Larry found himself staring at Von Joel, fascinated by his air of detached calm, the way he managed to look as if he wasn’t really part of the proceedings. As Larry stared, Von Joel turned his head slowly. Their eyes met and Von Joel smiled. Larry looked away sharply.

“The men named by Myers,” McKinnes went on, “have no previous criminal connections, or associations with any of the afore-listed suspects. None have police records and they appear on the surface to be honest, hard-working citizens. The information divulged by Edward Myers is therefore deemed to be of great importance.”

During the lunch break Larry found himself in the toilet at the same time as DI Shrapnel. As Larry washed his hands he glanced at the Inspector.

“So what’s next?”

“Jefferson will have his say,” Shrapnel muttered, stepping away from the stall. “Then we wait for the outcome. In the old days none of this was bloody necessary, as you know. We could make the deal and get on with it.” He went to the mirror and combed his sparse hair. “Now everything’s in favor of the criminals. The deal’s on record, so he’s protected.”

“No mention of the murder,” Larry said, running his hands through his hair. “Doesn’t that come into this?”

“A few flash bastards made promises,” Shrapnel said, as if he hadn’t heard. “When they couldn’t keep them the grasses started screeching, withdrew statements, et cetera, et cetera. Now we have to go through this farce, we’ve got to have him segregated, keep him sweet...”

“What’s he after? I mean, he absconded, he’s going to have to do time, isn’t he?”

“Let’s find out,” Shrapnel said, pulling open the door.

It took Sydney Jefferson an hour to reach the stage where he could draw together the points of his client’s case and submit them to the magistrate in something resembling a summary. The fatigue in the courtroom had become almost tangible. Von Joel sat in the dock looking tired and drawn. McKinnes drooped in the front bench with his elbows on his knees; Shrapnel and Larry Jackson were behind him, Shrapnel alternately yawning and sighing.

“The information my client has produced is, and I quote, ‘of great importance.’ ” Jefferson paused to let the small drama of the point register. “At the same time it would, if it were to be discovered, place my client at great personal risk. He has been totally cooperative, agreeing to return to England from Spain voluntarily.”

“Mr. Jefferson,” the magistrate said, “your client absconded from custody five years ago. He was at that time acting as an informer and had spent sixteen months in police custody. His continued presence was of great importance, and subsequent to his escape from custody, charges against eight of the men now named yet again by your client were dismissed.”

“That is correct, ma’am.” Jefferson glanced at Von Joel, who was now leaning forward in the dock, listening intently. “I assure you my client has every intention of becoming a Crown prosecution witness again, and as his information shows, he will be a worthwhile witness. I ask for this to be taken into consideration at the trial of my client, as his principal motivation for divulging this information is to receive a reduced sentence. May I suggest—”

“I suggest,” the magistrate cut in, “that your client should have considered this when, at great cost to the government, he absconded from police custody.” She sat back in her high-backed chair and looked toward the dock. “Would the defendant please rise.”

Von Joel got up smartly, standing with his arms as straight as he could manage, his face devoid of expression. The magistrate stared at him for a second before she spoke.

“You have stated that you are prepared to give evidence against former colleagues in crime and to assist the police with their inquiries. Have you come to this decision of your own free will, without compulsion?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Von Joel said, “I have.”

McKinnes was sitting up now, watching the magistrate’s mouth as if it might leak a preview of what she would say next. Behind him Shrapnel and Larry stared, too, scarcely breathing.

“I am fully aware,” the magistrate continued, “that your principal motivation for giving evidence against your erstwhile colleagues will be the hope of a reduction in the sentence you are liable to receive.”

Von Joel nodded, the tip of his tongue flicking between his lips.

“However, I am not, at this stage, prepared to indicate any reduction of sentence.”

Von Joel’s face stiffened and he took a fractional, involuntary step back in the dock.

“Nevertheless,” the magistrate went on, “your continued assistance will be recorded and I agree to you being held in conditions of secrecy. This will enable you to continue assisting inquiries, until it is determined what action and charges will be brought against you. Take him down.”

7

Back at St. John’s Row station that evening Larry was given a bundle of heavy files and told that he was being assigned to duty as an interrogating officer. Carrying the files and his overnight bag, he was led by DCI McKinnes deep into the security holding area at St. John’s Row, deeper than he had ever been before, down spiral stairs and along passages lined with numbered cells.

At the bottom of the final staircase they reached an entrance which was, McKinnes explained, the door of the safe house where Von Joel was being held. He pressed a button by the door. There was an answering buzz from the intercom. He leaned close and spoke into it.

“DCI McKinnes and Detective Sergeant Lawrence Jackson.”

The door swung open. DI Shrapnel stood there, nodding with a proprietory air. He stepped aside as they went in and closed the door behind them.

“How did he take it?” McKinnes asked.

“Moody,” Shrapnel said. “Calling the magistrate a hard-nosed bitch and so forth. He’ll play ball, though. He knows a reduced sentence is in the cards, so he’s just going to have to behave himself.”

McKinnes turned to Larry. “You’ve got a lot of reading to catch up on, son.” He tapped the bundle under Larry’s arm. “Familiarize yourself with all these old files.”

They moved along the passage to a small room equipped for sound surveillance. Larry put down the files and looked around.

“Here’s the radio controls,” McKinnes said, “and the tape recorders. We do it in shifts, come and go without aggro, you won’t know we’re here.”

“Where is he?” Larry asked.

“Unpacking,” McKinnes said. “You live together, eat with the guy, and you get to know him better than your own bleeding mother.” McKinnes grinned, poking Larry in the chest. “End of it, you’ll never want to see him again or hear his name mentioned, because that bastard doesn’t move out of here day or night — nor do you!”

The three of them proceeded on a tour of the house.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Shrapnel said when they got to the kitchen. “He’s made out a list, says he eats proteins and carbohydrates only, never together. He wants wild rice — what the hell is wild rice? I mean, I know brown rice—”

“Get him what he wants,” McKinnes grunted. “What the bastard eats isn’t my concern.”

“But we’ve got a freezerful of food! It’s all been costed and ordered. I mean, fresh fish! Who’s going to schlepp out for that?”

“Discuss it with the Super, right?” McKinnes went to the door, beckoning Larry. “Come on.”

Shrapnel stayed where he was, examining Von Joel’s list.

“Peppers, zucchini, carrots. No red meats. No frozen foods. Who does he think he is?”

“Always remember,” McKinnes told Larry, leading him into the sitting room, “when you start a session, make sure you give the exact time — a.m., p.m., and the date...”

The sitting room was spacious and well furnished, the kind of room that invited relaxation; the only rather eerie element was the absence of windows.

“Always give names of officers on duty,” McKinnes continued, crossing the room to the opposite door, “but watch everything you say because it’s being fed back to base. When this switch is on” — he pointed to a discreet unit on the table — “it’ll pick up at quite a radius. Fart in the bathroom and we hear it.” He turned, rubbing his hands. “Okay, let’s go to the sleeping quarters.”

He led Larry along a gray passageway, pushing open various doors and letting them go as he passed.

“This is where you’ll be bunking... Bathroom there... toilet...”

He stopped before a closed door and pushed it slowly open. Gucci luggage was stacked against the wall.

“The guest is here. Let’s hope for your sake he doesn’t snore.”

Von Joel appeared in the doorway wearing slacks and a cashmere sweater. He reached for a suitcase.

“Got any decent hangers?” he said. “Wooden ones?”

“There’s a gym next door,” McKinnes said, ignoring him, leading Larry away.

Shrapnel caught up with them as they were surveying the layout of rowing machines, weights, and cycling equipment. He was still studying Von Joel’s list.

“You ever heard of something called yannis? He doesn’t drink straight tea, only herbal, and whatever this yannis is, it’s a coffee replacement. I’ve never heard of it. Oh, yeah, that’s another thing — he never takes any sugar, just honey.”

McKinnes turned on Shrapnel.

“Don’t give me any more aggro! Give him what we’ve got, if he doesn’t like it he can starve for all I care.” He jerked his head at Larry again. “Come on.”

As they walked back along the passage soft classical music began to play from behind Von Joel’s bedroom door.

“He’s got two dozen tapes and a bloody color TV in there,” McKinnes growled. “Getting like a five-star hotel, this place.”

“How long will I be here?” Larry asked. “Only I’ve not brought much gear—”

“If there’s anything you need,” McKinnes said, “radio it through and one of my lads will go over to your place.”

“Days or weeks?” Larry persisted. “What?”

“As long as it takes,” McKinnes told him. He looked at Shrapnel. “How long was it last time?”

“Eighteen months.”

Larry swallowed hard. He watched McKinnes and Shrapnel exchange snide, humorless smiles, then McKinnes turned, his smile widening as he patted Larry’s arm.

“He’s all yours, Jackson.”

As Larry was settling in at the safe house, a colleague of his, Detective Constable Colin Frisby, was calling on Susan at home. Acting on instructions from DCI McKinnes, Frisby explained that Larry was on special duty which might keep him away from home for a considerable time. Frisby, noted for his style and track record with the ladies, put the news across as soothingly and appealingly as he could. But Susan was not placated.

“I don’t believe this,” she said, handing Frisby a cup of tea. “I mean, he’s not even called me.”

“He will, but it’ll maybe be a few days. If you need him in an emergency” — Frisby fished out a card and handed it to Susan — “this is my direct line. Just call me there and I’ll contact him straightaway.”

Susan flounced to the stove, absently dropping the card on the counter. “It’s all so bloody secretive,” she said. “I know what it’s about, you know. I know it’s to do with this Eddie Myers, or Philip Von Joel or whatever he calls himself...”

Frisby adopted his concerned frown, a slight tightening of the mouth, a gathering of the eyebrows, and a tilt of the head that inflated his charm, he believed, by giving him an air of mature responsibility.

“Mrs. Jackson, don’t mention this to anyone. I mean, anyone, not even close family. For the safety of yourself, your kids — I mean it.”

Susan sighed and peered into a pan on the stove.

“I’ve made some stew, if you’re hungry.”

“Stew sounds good to me,” Frisby said. “I’m starving. Didn’t get any lunch.”

Susan turned up the heat under the pan.

“If you want to point me in the direction of the knives and forks,” Frisby offered, “I’ll set the table for you.”

“All part of the service, is it?” Susan pointed. “Second drawer on the right. I’ll go and call the kids in.”

As she went out into the hallway Frisby turned to the drawers and opened the wrong one. Instead of cutlery he saw a stack of bills. On top was the itemized account for the car rental in Marbella. He sifted quickly through the stack, reading fast, getting the picture.

By nine-thirty Larry had changed into his striped pajamas and was washing his underpants in the sink in the bathroom. Arranged on the shelf before him were Von Joel’s shaving equipment and his toiletries. Larry had never realized that one person — not even a woman — would find a use for so many preparations. There were aftershave lotions, moisturizers, night cream, antiwrinkle cream, hair gel, hair spray, and a variety of shampoos and conditioners all in expensive-looking jars and bottles. Alongside were chunky bars of soap, bath oils, a pair of loofahs, and folded thick facecloths.

When he had rinsed through his underpants and wrung them out, he opened a few of the bottles, sniffed and even tried one or two on the back of his hand. It was only when he realized that certain smells would be likely to linger that he stopped and scrubbed his hands.

He opened the closet to hang up his pants. A soft white terry cloth robe was laid out on one shelf, soft white towels on another. Larry hung up the M&S underpants and shut the door.

At the bathroom door he heard a low, penetrating hum, its source uncertain; at first he thought it might be coming from the communications room. He stepped into the passage, listening. The hum was louder now, lasting ten to fifteen seconds, trailing off, then beginning again. He moved slowly along the passage and stopped, realizing the sound came from Von Joel’s bedroom. For a moment he was unsure about violating the man’s privacy; then he reminded himself this was a prisoner he was worrying about, a grass at that. Moving stealthily, he grasped the door handle, turned it, and pushed the door slowly inward. When it was open almost a foot he slid his head cautiously around the side.

The room was unnervingly tidy. The bed had been dismantled, the headboard, footboard, and base stacked against the wall. Von Joel, wearing a loose, beautifully cut white shift shirt, sat cross-legged on the mattress, which was on the floor. His eyes were closed. He appeared to be doing breathing exercises, his hands lying loosely at his sides, incense burners smoking at either side of the mattress. As he released the air from his lungs in a slow stream he emitted the curious humming sound.

Larry drew the door shut slowly, glad he hadn’t been seen, completely unaware that Von Joel turned his head toward the closing door, opened his eyes, and smiled.

Larry settled down in bed with a couple of the files McKinnes had given him. But he couldn’t focus his mind. It was all too new, too different; concentration was out of the question. He would need time to assimilate the turn of recent events and the consequent change in his working circumstances. Then, he was sure, he would get back to his normal functioning mode.

He punched his pillow a couple of times, put out the bedside light and lay down, drawing the bedclothes close around his neck. With eyes lightly closed he tried to think of nothing at all, especially not the fact that he was in bed alone. Involuntarily he thought of Susan, tucked up alone in their bed. He sighed and turned on his other side.

He began to drift. The day’s surprises and novelties had added up to fatigue. He began to dream about a light shining up toward him from the bottom of a deep, dark-sided pit. He leaned over, farther and farther, trying to see where the light came from. All at once he was out too far and falling. As he waved his arms he came awake with a jolt.

He heard himself panting. As his breathing subsided he could hear something else besides. Music. Loud music. It came from Von Joel’s bedroom on the other side of the wall. It was a remastered recording of Enrico Caruso singing Celeste Aida, a fact entirely lost on Larry, to whom it was no more than an assault, a castigation of his ears and nerves that he hoped was not a foretaste of the days — maybe weeks — to come.

He finally slept, hardly dreaming at all this time, except for a few minutes when he found himself in a concert hall, alone, tied to his seat while a fat Italian tenor sang at him.

Next morning he wandered into the kitchen to find Von Joel squeezing oranges by hand into a glass. Sleep appeared to have restored him. To Larry he looked as fit and alert as that time he had seen him at his gallery in Puerto Banus, charming the crowd. He turned with half an orange in his hand and smiled.

“Good morning. Sleep well?”

“What time is it?” Lawrence squinted at the walls, j looking for a clock.

“Tough to tell in this dungeon, isn’t it? It’s just after eight. Did I wake you?”

Larry got the kettle, not bothering to answer. Civilized exchange at this time of day was an area of deficiency with him.

“You want a cup of coffee?”

“No.” Von Joel was standing by an open cupboard, staring balefully at the contents of the shelves. “No herb tea?” He sighed. “This is all crap, you know that? Look at this — corned beef hash. Can you imagine what chemicals have got to be in this to keep it edible?” He held up the packet and read the instructions, a look of extreme disgust on his face: “Slit along line as directed and place in a frying pan. Use a little oil as required and fry to a crisp golden brown...”

He groaned and dropped the packet. Beside him Larry took the lid from the teapot and dug a packet of teabags from the cupboard.

“Where’s the bread?”

Von Joel nodded to a large plastic container with bread printed on it. Larry opened it and pulled out a white thin-sliced loaf. He tore open the wrapper.

“You want toast, ah...” Larry paused, holding the loaf. “What do I call you? Eddie?”

Somehow he felt that was wrong, even though it was the name on all the documentation. Edward Myers. Eddie to everybody. That was once upon a time. This man wasn’t Eddie. The other name was much more him, it fitted like a glove. Philip Von Joel. It rang better in the head, too, and it even looked special written down...

“Call me whatever you like,” Von Joel said, shaking Larry from his reverie.

Larry put two slices of bread into the toaster, watching as Von Joel sat down at the table with his glass of orange juice. From a transparent dark plastic packet he tipped out tablets and capsules, large and small, sixteen all together. He popped one into his mouth and took a sip of orange juice. Larry came across, frowning, suspicious. He put his hand over the colorful spread.

“What’s this?”

“Supplements,” Von Joel said calmly. He pointed.

“That’s vitamin C, one gram. Linseed oil, always has to be kept in a dark bottle, otherwise it loses its potency to the light. Take these every day, with the C, and it’ll add twenty years to your life.” He touched a red-brown capsule. “This is beta carotene, gives a healthy glow to your skin. You should always start taking these — in small doses — before you go on vacation. You wouldn’t burn up so easily and it’d help you to work up a tan — your nose took a beating, didn’t it? It still looks red...” He popped a tablet into his mouth and sipped some juice. “Ginseng and B₆ and lift your hand! See this one?” He held up a large pill. “This is to counteract the lead poisoning. You ever been tested? Living in London, you should.”

He looked up at Larry, annoyed suddenly at the suspicious way he was still peering at the tablets and capsules.

“They were given the okay by McKinnes.”

The toaster clanged and the bread popped up, burned dark brown. Larry retrieved it.

“You know that has no goodness in it whatsoever,” Von Joel warned him. He pointed at the butter. “You should get a nonfat spread too. If you have to have a sweetener, use honey instead of sugar, it’s much better for you.”

Over the next three minutes, as Larry got together the meager components of his breakfast, Von Joel regaled him with nutritional advice, citing his own dietary practices as the ideal path to a healthy spirit in a healthy body.

Larry, sorely miffed by now, banged out his chair from the table and sat down. He began pouring the tea.

“Do we get a newspaper delivered?” Von Joel asked pleasantly. “I don’t mean in the conventional way, of course—”

“What d’you think this place is?” Larry demanded. “A frigging hotel?” Pointedly he spooned sugar into his tea. “By the way,” he added, spreading butter thickly on a slice of toast, “do me a favor tonight — no music.”

Von Joel finished taking his supplements and stood up.

“I’ll go and do my exercises — if that’s okay with you.”

As he reached the door Larry called him.

“Eddie. Like I said, this isn’t a hotel and I’m not waiting on you. You wash up after yourself.”

Von Joel nodded. He came back to the table, picked up the orange juice glass, and took it to the sink. Larry, keeping up the hard front, announced they would have their first session at nine-thirty. At the door again, Von Joel paused.

“What do I call you? Sergeant? Larry? Lawrence? Mr. Jackson?”

“Larry’s okay. The relief guy brings the newspaper, by the way.”

“Fine.” Von Joel nodded. “Bet it won’t be the Times though. Can you arrange that for me? I like to check my shares in the financial section.” He smiled, watching Larry glare. “Joke,” he said, walking out.

At eight forty-five, while Von Joel was still in the gym, DI Shrapnel appeared in the kitchen with a paper sack crammed with items from the shopping list. Larry, washed and dressed by then, unpacked the fresh fruit, vegetarian breakfast cereal, pure yogurt, rice biscuits, and salt substitute while Shrapnel fished out the odd packet and jar and read the labels.

“Scottish heather honey, natural maple syrup — but no bread!”

“He said he doesn’t eat wheat because it creates acidity, which creates bad moods.”

Shrapnel tutted softly. He looked at his watch and sighed in the unconscious way overweight men do when exertion, any exertion, is imminent.

“I’ll be on my way in a minute.” He waved his hand at the shopping. “Tell him I got most of his list, apart from the yannis thing, they’ll have to ring around the health shops for that. His one hundred percent buckwheat pancakes are there, and the rice cakes — I tried one of them. Like chewing cotton wool...”

Von Joel came in, smiling faintly. He wore sharply creased slacks, a cashmere sweater, and soft leather slippers. He moved with scarcely a sound.

“I am trying to get the wild rice,” Shrapnel said, looking at Von Joel with open dislike, “and the coffee substitute, but the rice in one shop was seven pounds for a pound — that can’t be right, can it?”

Von Joel had begun preparing his breakfast, spooning yogurt over a mixture of nuts, bran, and raisins. He flipped through the herb teas a couple of times and settled on mint. The door buzzer sounded and Shrapnel hurried out. Von Joel turned to Larry.

“Seven pounds is overpriced,” he said. “It should be around three pounds for a pound. In the U.S. you can buy it for under two dollars.”

As Larry turned to leave Von Joel held out his bowl.

“You want to try some?”

Larry shook his head, flustered by charm and civilized behavior where he had a right to expect the manners of a thug. He was still standing by the door when McKinnes walked into the kitchen. He was carrying a bacon sandwich smothered in tomato ketchup. A newspaper was stuffed into his pocket.

“I just came in to tell you your wife is fine,” he told Larry. “Oh, you want this morning’s paper?”

He took it from his pocket and tossed it on the table. It was the Sun. Von Joel laughed out loud. Larry couldn’t help smiling.

“What?” McKinnes looked from one man to the other, mystified. “Did I say something funny?”

8

Larry was ready at nine-thirty, seated in the lounge with pencils, pens, and notepads lined up and the condenser microphone in position. Von Joel appeared at nine thirty-three. He was carrying a bottle of mineral water and a pair of white underpants.

“You want to wear these?” He tossed the pants to Larry. “I noticed your smalls were still wet.”

Larry let the pants lie where they were on the chair beside him. He checked his watch pointedly as Von Joel put his bottle of water on the table.

“They’re handmade for me in Paris, Larry. I don’t know why there isn’t a company in England that designs decent underwear for men. I see these disgusting Y-fronts in the shops here — worse, stretch bikinis. And the colors... oh, man... But those, you can wear linen pants over them, they don’t make that line at the sides. Try them — you’re medium, aren’t you?”

“You want to shut the door?” Larry said.

Von Joel nodded pleasantly, closed the door and came back. He took the cushions from the couch, put them on the floor and sat on them.

“One good thing,” he said. “You don’t smoke. McKinnes and his sidekick in there, they make me sick to my stomach. Fifty a day or more. Chain-smoking. McKinnes used to cough his guts up every morning. Man, I thought, why do you do it to yourself? Why? He’s addicted to nicotine, of course—”

“You know the routine,” Larry said briskly. “When I set the tape on, you will be recorded. Everything you say will be transcribed, all details fed—”

“I know the score.” Von Joel leaned on the coffee table. “Have you smelt his breath? McKinnes? The thought of having to sit in close proximity to his stench was—”

“You need notebooks, pens? No?” Larry pressed a switch on the base of the mike. “Say a few words, just to see if we’ve got a decent level.”

Von Joel nodded, thought for a second, then began singing If You Want to Make a Fool of Somebody. Larry stopped him after a couple of lines. The intercom squawked for a second, then Shrapnel’s voice came on. He told Larry the level was fine.

“I’m all set,” he said. “Ready when you are.” Larry wet his lips and began to speak. “I am Detective Sergeant Lawrence Jackson. The time is one-nine-thirty-five a.m. I am” — he coughed, cleared his throat — “situated in room 4d secure unit provided by the Metropolitan Police, St. John’s Row station. This is a recorded interview, recorded information to be used by the Metropolitan Police.” He cleared his throat again. “Would you please state your real name, age, and address at the time of your arrest...”

In the radio link room DI Shrapnel sat by the master recorder with a cup of coffee. On the table beside him were sandwiches and a Mars bar. He eased down in the chair as Von Joel began to speak and the needles in the level meters danced.

“Right,” he breathed, “here we go again. All yours, sunshine...”

Several floors above them, the incident room was packed with uniformed and plainclothes officers, plus Flying Squad, Robbery Squad, and Drug Squad personnel. At the table in front of the blackboard DCI McKinnes briefed them.

“The most important part of the operation,” he said, “is coordination. You each have separate sections of Edward Myers’s statements. You will each be allocated your suspect. We go on one swoop. Arresting officers look for cash, but collect any evidence of apparently legitimate spending — receipts, car log books, hire-purchase documents, mortgage agreements.”

He paused to suck hard on his cigarette and blow out a long blue plume of smoke at the ceiling.

“We’ve got five teams and we’ve been allocated four armed marksmen. Rut treat it quietly — it’s imperative we take precautions. Use your special channel radio network and check the coded call signs. We must at all times conceal the scale and nature of the operation. They’ve got VHF receivers and scanners to listen in on our network. Remember that and act with appropriate caution.” He ran his gaze along the rows of intent faces. “Okay? I’m on the big fish, George Minton, because I’m the Guv’nor.”

As the operation got under way, Von Joel sat relaxed in the safe house, his voice soothingly confidential as he beguiled Larry Jackson with more stories from the hoard he carried in his head.

“Willy Noakes arrived in Marbella early summer 1987. June. He approached me because he had been given the tip-off that I was semi-interested in financing deals. To be more specific, Willy was a small-time con artist who on occasions carried messages to Spain from certain other parties. He acted as a money courier and contact man for George Minton.”

In 1988, according to Von Joel, Willy Noakes was in Spain to set up a jewelry robbery at Christie’s, an operation that eventually netted 2.3 million pounds. Noakes approached Von Joel to see if he wanted to be involved, but he declined, mainly because too many people were needed; the more personnel involved, the more danger there was of something going wrong before, during, and even after the event.

“They had to have one driver to block the access,” Von Joel explained. “That meant hiring a big furniture van. They had to have someone inside, maybe two men, acting as possible buyers. They needed a big fence to deal with the stones, and it was at the very least a four-man raid. So all in all you’re looking at nine, ten bodies involved. So I passed on it.”

Kenny Greason, Donald Lather, Roger Fairclough, and Doreen Angel, he added, were the money.

“But the guv’nor of them all, the main man, was Min-ton. George Minton.”

“He financed the robbery?” Larry asked.

“He assisted in setting the robbery up,” Von Joel replied, speaking carefully, underlining the fact that he knew Larry was new to the investigation of crime at this heady level. “They all got a cut of the profits. Main slice went to Minton, next cut to Freddy Farmilow, who fenced it. They were in Switzerland the same night the robbery took place. The stones were carried by...”

He paused, closing his eyes, pressing his fingers to his forehead.

“Stones were carried by...?” Larry prompted.

“Girl,” Von Joel said, opening his eyes. “Can’t remember her name. Worked at Christie’s until six months after the robbery. She had a boyfriend, a rock musician. The stones went over in the band’s equipment. The band didn’t know. The girl was paid ten grand.”

“You’ve not mentioned this girl before?”

“Like I said, I can’t remember her name.”

“Can’t remember her name.” Larry played up the scepticism, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek.

“No,” Von Joel said flatly.

“Going back to your previous answer, you said this girl, the one you cannot recall the name of, was paid ten thousand...”

Von Joel’s recall was operating at a different level from Larry’s line of inquiry. He was fishing deep, dredging for names.

“The drivers,” he said, snapping his fingers softly, encouraging the flow of memory. “Little Harvey Hutchinson, his brother Tommy — and Willy carried the shooter. It was a fake.”

Larry was impressed. He looked at the notes he had scribbled.

“Can we just go over each name again?”

“Sure.” Von Joel bowed his head, concentrating. “Kenny Greason, Donald Lather, Roger Fairclough... ah... Doreen Angel, Harvey Hutchinson, Tony Avis, George Minton...”

As Von Joel continued to lay the foundations for further police action, a few miles away George Minton was standing in the hall of his comfortable home, the telephone receiver pressed to his ear, listening to a Spanish housekeeper trying to explain in her basic English that her employer was not available.

“Senor Von Joel is not at home, please. Senor Von Joel away, si? London, si, si...”

Minton put down the receiver, picked it up again and dialed. He lit a cigarette, sucking the mixture of air and smoke deep into his lungs as he waited. The phone at the other end was picked up. No one spoke, but someone was listening.

“He’s not in Spain,” Minton said. Now a voice at the other end spoke softly. Minton shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Can you check around?” He listened again. “She doesn’t speak frigging English, so she could be confused, but she said London.” He nodded at the receiver, frowning. “Yeah, that’s what I thought...”

At ten past one Von Joel was still talking, still listing names and dates and events. When it came to figures, Larry noticed, his memory operated like a fast-access database.

“As far as I can recollect, the moneys went like this — Lloyds Bank job, ’76, fifty grand. There was another Lloyds one at Kennington, ’69, a grand. Security Express, March ’89, one million. Barclays Bank Ladbroke Grove, April ’90, that was eighty-one grand.”

“This Rodney Bingham,” Larry said, his throat dry now, “as far as I can make out, you’ve not mentioned his name in connection with answer number twelve on page forty — can we go back to that question?”

In the radio link room DI Shrapnel sat forward sharply, grabbed a file and thumbed through the lists of names. He found what he wanted and jotted a note: Number 8 — Rodney Bingham.

“Eighth man was Rodney Bingham,” Von Joel’s voice said over the tape monitor. “He fenced cash from the Security Express job. The money went over to Torremolinos... On the Wembley job I don’t know. Willy and Farmilow got carved up, I do know that.” There was a pause, then Von Joel said, “I’m hungry.”

In the radio link room Shrapnel rolled his eyes. “Hungry?” he muttered, staring at the tape machine. “Sold nine men down the nick, and the bastard’s hungry.” He leaned forward, pressed the intercom. “Call a break,” he said.

Larry and Von Joel went to the kitchen. Von Joel began putting together an elaborate salad. Larry poured a can of spaghetti into a bowl and stuck it in the microwave.

“So,” Von Joel said, chopping carrots at an impressive speed, “how does the first morning feel like it’s going, Larry? I put nine in the frame for you. That’s a man every half hour.”

“You tell me how it feels.”

“About as fit as your stomach after that.” Von Joel nodded at the spaghetti. “You want some salad? I’ve made enough for two.”

Larry declined. When the microwave pinged he scooped a stiff tangle of the spaghetti onto a plate, got a fork from the drawer and started eating.

“What about Sam Kellerman?” he said, keen to keep the talk on business lines. “You didn’t say anything about Kellerman on that last job, but he’s in Dartmoor, he admitted it.”

Von Joel didn’t appear to be listening. He had taken vinegar, lemon juice, and pepper from the cupboard and now he was searching along the shelves, pushing items aside, growing agitated as he failed to find what he was looking for. Finally he slammed the cupboard door shut.

“I specifically asked for Moutarde de Meaux,” he said, his teeth barely parting. “This” — he held up a small jar of Colman’s English — “is not French mustard.”

Larry blinked at him. “It’s mustard, isn’t it?”

Von Joel hit the cupboard so hard with the flat of his hand, the rim came away and crashed to the floor. He turned on Larry, his face twisted with rage.

“I can’t make my dressing...” he hissed. Larry almost choked. He couldn’t believe it, Von Joel going ape shit because of a jar of ruddy mustard. He was about to stand up, just in case Von Joel went for his throat.

DI Shrapnel sauntered into the kitchen. He looked at Larry, then at Von Joel. There was no response from either of them. He got a plate and put half the remaining spaghetti on it.

“Everything okay?” he said.

Von Joel walked to the door. He paused, looking at Larry. “When we break, no questions. And incidentally, Sam Kellerman was innocent, he wasn’t on that job.” ToShrapnel he said, “Fill our friend in, will you? Tell him everything’s got to be taped.”

He walked out. Shrapnel looked at Larry questioningly.

“He can’t make his salad dressing.”

Shrapnel went and closed the door.

“My heart bleeds,” he said. “What do you make of him?”

Larry shrugged. He tipped the bulk of his lunch into the waste disposal, then opened a carton of creme caramel.

“You taken a look at his gear?” Shrapnel said. “You don’t think he’s queer, do you?”

“Eh?” Larry froze with the spoon halfway to his mouth. “He had great-looking women in Spain.”

Shrapnel appeared to have forgotten the spaghetti. He opened the fridge, lighting one of his little cigars as he nosed around inside. Loud operatic music started suddenly. Shrapnel looked up, shaking his head.

“He’s playing that crap again. And I don’t know about you, but the stink of those joss sticks gets on my chest.”

Larry nodded absently, watching Shrapnel flick his ash on the floor.

At two-fifteen Larry went into the gym. Von Joel was there. He had on a pair of boxing gloves and was hammering a punching bag. Larry got himself into the line of vision and looked at his watch.

“Go again in about ten minutes,” he said.

Von Joel nodded and slammed a straight left into the bag. He stepped back, breathing through his mouth.

“You ever boxed?” he said. “Good exercise...”

Larry began to say something, then checked himself and walked out.

Foreground police activity, meantime, carried on at top speed. In the incident room the fax machine didn’t stop, the telephones rang continually, and the drafted-in clerical staff found themselves each doing the work of three people, instead of two as they had been led to expect. To one side of McKinnes’s desk a man sifted a mountain of files, on the other side two officers worked at computers. McKinnes was on the phone.

“We need more details,” he was saying, waving his free hand, making a smoke trail. “He’s a flash git in the city. We also need more information on the weapon they used, and more details on the fence. What? Okay!”

He threw the receiver down and looked around sharply, taking in the activity, checking for slack. Telephones warbled and jangled, data was steadily added to the corkboards, and keyboards clacked without a break. On the far wall was a collection of mug shots of men already named by Von Joel. McKinnes was staring at them, memory working, as a WPC came in with a stack of files and put them on a desk.

“Maureen...” McKinnes beckoned her with a curled finger. “Our boy was throwing a wobbly about some mustard. Have a word with Sergeant Jackson, sort it out...” He turned to the fax machine, stared at the output, then looked up and addressed the room at large: “Has anybody found out Minton’s address yet?”

The telephone on his desk rang. The WPC picked it up. Across the room, DC Summers waved to attract McKinnes’s attention.

“Mac...” The familiarity was tolerated at times of stress and high activity. “Willy Noakes is in Brighton. He’s in a wheelchair and his wife says he’s got a doctor’s letter to say he shouldn’t travel...” Summers checked his notes. “He had bypass surgery two years ago. What you want me to do?” Before McKinnes could say anything, Summers added, “I hear we didn’t get Minton.”

“Oh, you heard, did you?” McKinnes glared at him, scratching his beard. “Whole goddamned pack runnin’ around like blue-arsed flies and the prick’s moved! You bring in Noakes in his chair or his walking frame or whatever. Just get him locked up.” He turned, yelling at the whole room again. “Anyone raced Bloody George Minton’s residence? See if he’s on the polling lists! The bastard’s bound to vote Conservative!”“Guv?” The WPC held up the phone. “Sergeant Jackson.”

“Give me a minute,” McKinnes said to Summers, and grabbed the receiver. “Larry — get cracking. We want more details and fast. He gave us the wrong info on bloody Minton! We want an address! What?” He listened, frowning. His eyes widened. “Jesus! Yes! Yes! He’ll get his sodding mustard all right!”

Von Joel continued to talk late into the evening. By nine-thirty he was growing tired, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his head resting in his hands. By that time Larry was on the floor, too, with cushions propped behind him.

“Arnold French, Jimmy Sullivan, and George Minton were on the job. Minton organized the gig — he’s got a brother-in-law who works in the baggage terminal at Gatwick. The bag never went through customs, it went straight on the plane to New York.”

Von Joel stopped. He yawned, stretched, and stood up. He lit an incense stick, which struck Larry as oddly inappropriate at that point.

“At Kennedy,” Von Joel continued, “he paid a baggage handler twenty-five thousand dollars to take the bag off the truck from the plane. Minton’s crew made the plates. The dollars were in small denominations to begin with — tens, fives, ones, but in November, the exchange day, the bag contained samples of fifty-and hundred-dollar bills. Two million dollars.” Von Joel stopped and stared at Larry. “You should use deodorant,” he said sharply.

Larry didn’t respond, but his neck and ears turned pink.

“Where did you fit into all this?” he asked.

“I took five hundred thousand,” Von Joel said, “laundered it through my antique store and art galleries. Minton’s got a time-share deal, an apartment block. I got twenty-five percent — cash. Minton’s your big fish.”

Larry looked up.

“You gave us a bum address. He’s not at Weybridge.”

“Oh, I remember...” Von Joel rubbed his head wearily. “He moved. Try Totteridge. What time is it? I can’t think straight.”

The intercom clicked. Shrapnel’s voice came on.

“Call it quits for the day, Sergeant.”

“Thank you, Frank,” Von Joel said. He leaned over the intercom, winking at Larry. “When I say I’m tired, that’s your cue. Means I could be getting scrambled, doesn’t look good on the transcripts — right, Frank?”

They waited in silence for the tape machine to be turned off. Von Joel looked at Larry again.

“You play chess?”

“No.”

“Checkers? No? Scrabble?”

“No,” Larry said curtly, standing and stretching.

“Rummy? Poker? Bridge?”

Larry shook his head.

“Do you fuck?”

“What?”

“What do you do, Larry, to let off steam? You play squash?”

“I’ll go and fix something to eat.” Larry went to the door. “What do you want?”

“I won’t eat with—” Von Joel pointed in the direction of the radio link room. “And I’ll cook my own.”

“Suit yourself.” Larry opened the door. He glanced at Von Joel before he left. “I, ah, I’m on the boxing team.”

He went out, closing the door. Von Joel laughed softly. He brought up his fists, did a quick one-two and some nifty footwork that brought him to the door. He moved like a dancer, really light on his feet considering his size. He listened a moment, could hear Jackson and Shrapnel conferring. He wondered if Shrapnel was telling Jackson about the conversation. Von Joel had been asking nonchalant questions about sports, though looking at Shrapnel’s bulk he doubted if he had ever done any, and then he had asked about Jackson. Shrapnel had mumbled that he was on the boxing team, but then Von Joel had changed the conversation fast, discussing his vitamins. He already knew Jackson liked boxing; he was testing, feeling around for anything that could get him closer to the boy, because he had so little time. He had to get under his skin, and he had to do it fast.

Von Joel moved away from the door, began a slow, strange walk around the room, like a caged animal, every muscle tensed, then relaxed as he kept up the slow, steady pacing, until he stopped, turned on his back, and lay flat. He stared up at the ceiling, his breathing gradually calming down after the exertion, until he held each breath for six beats and released it... He liked to feel the thudding of his heart, counting the beats, as he slowly began his relaxation program, feeling the flow ease through his body. As each limb relaxed, his body grew heavy, and then he closed his eyes. Von Joel slept, a clean, dreamless, fifteen-minute sleep, giving not a single thought to the list of men, some of them his friends, whom he had just betrayed.

9

At seven forty-five on Wednesday evening, as Larry lay reading on his bed at the safe house, there was a tap on the door. It opened and Von Joel put his head around the edge.

“Come next door,” he said. “Come on...”

Larry got off the bed warily, hanging on to his book. He followed Von Joel into his bedroom, noticing the change at once. The process of simplifying and rearranging had given the place a powerfully masculine feel; in the candlelight it looked Spartan and austere. Pillows were nested on the mattress on the floor. A punching bag swayed near one corner and along the wall books and videotapes were stacked neatly. Laid out on a white cloth in the middle of the floor were rice dishes in bowls with chopsticks beside them. Nearby was an ornate chess set on a thick rectangle of marble.

Von Joel lowered himself slowly until he was cross-legged on the floor. He picked up a bowl and held it out to Larry.

“I’ve eaten,” Larry said.

“I’m not offering you dinner. Sit. Sit down, I’ve got something to show you...” Von Joel took a black re-mote-control unit and pointed it at the television set in the corner. “Tapes of all the ex-heavyweight champions, from chat shows and interviews.”

The screen image was a momentary scramble of lines and colors, then it stabilized into a picture of Mike Tyson. He was laughing. Larry looked away sharply.

“Another time,” he said. “I’m reading.”

Von Joel tilted his head to read the title of Larry’s book.

“Dick Francis. Ah well, better than Catherine Cookson. That’s what they lumbered me with.” Von Joel picked up a pair of chopsticks. “The last guy must have been a psychopath.”

Larry glanced at the TV again. In truth he wanted to stay but wasn’t sure if he should. Of all his enthusiasms, boxing was the one that endured and held his interest whatever his state of mind. Just then he could have used the distraction of the tapes, but protocol had to be considered — and also, he didn’t want to look like a pushover.

“Best world heavyweight in history,” Von Joel said. “He’s a giant, and he’s twenty-five years old. Look at the size of his neck. And his feet. He’s like a human tank.”

Von Joel grabbed a pillow and threw it to Larry. It landed at his feet. He looked at it, thought, Well, this once won’t hurt, and sat down awkwardly, keeping his eyes on Tyson.

“He’s also crazy,” he told Von Joel. “You follow the rape trial?”

The bedroom door opened. DI Shrapnel looked in and stared at the tableau of the two men sitting on the floor with rice bowls, watching television. He went away again without a word.

“Try this...” Von Joel passed Larry a bowl. “I know you’ve eaten, but just try it. It’s wild rice, a little tomato, onion, lot of seasoning. Here.” He passed over a set of chopsticks. “Use these.”

Larry had to take his time. He could use chopsticks, but not particularly well. He got a small portion of the food into his mouth and chewed it carefully.

“This is great,” Von Joel said, pointing his chopsticks at the television set. “Watch old Muhammad Ali get under Foreman’s skin.”

“You ever see him fight?” Larry said. “Ali, I mean?”

“I was at Las Vegas, man... And you know, even now when he comes into the arena there’s a standing ovation. He was the King.”

Larry gazed at the screen as he ate. Von Joel watched him, smiling. Larry held the chopsticks halfway along their length, as if he were using a fountain pen. Von Joel gripped his at the very end. Larry noticed this; Von Joel saw that he noticed.

“I was in Japan,” he said, “had dinner with this sumo wrestler. Halfway through dinner, he turns and says something to his business associate. I said, What was that he said. And he explained. See the way I hold the sticks? He said I must be a prince. I use them from the top, see? I didn’t know it was royal.”

Larry looked at the screen again, chewing steadily. It was as if he had been doing this all his life.

“When I was a kid,” he said, “I didn’t rate Ali. Now... I’m still not sure. He turned it all into a circus. And Tyson — he got twenty million for his last fight. All that dough, and he screws up.”

Von Joel laughed.

“Wasn’t the dough that screwed him, Larry. It was the screwing.”

“You think what he did was funny?”

Von Joel’s grin faded. He shook his head. “You and your wife,” he said, “got a good scene, have you?”

“Leave my wife out of it.”

Von Joel smiled again and continued to eat. He looked around as Shrapnel passed the door carrying his dressing gown and a hamburger. Larry swallowed the mouthful he had been chewing, started to pick up more, and paused.

“Why have you refused to see your wife?” he asked, half expecting an answer like the one he had just given.

“I’m dead,” Von Joel said. “She buried me.”

“Moyra, isn’t it?”

Von Joel leaned forward and picked up another bowl.

“Try this. It’s shrimp and fresh vegetables — steamed.”

Larry took a portion on the chopsticks. The food was almost at his mouth when a piece fell off and landed on the front of his shirt.

“Shit! It was clean on today.” He picked away the food, seeing the stain it left. “Will it come out?”

“Yeah, sure.” Von Joel cocked his head at Larry. “You out of clean shirts?”

Later, inspired by the videos and the running chat about fights and fighters, they went to the gym and worked out for half an hour. At the center of Larry’s mind the enigma of Von Joel was growing steadily. How could this man, he wondered, this awful man with his horrendous history — a history that quite possibly included murder — be simultaneously the charming, gifted, civilized individual whose company, Larry had to admit, was among the most interesting and enjoyable he had ever shared? Where, in an extensive life of crime, had Von Joel found the time to acquire his culture, his armory of talents, his sheer breadth? Larry was still wary — he intended to make himself stay that way — but he could no longer fail to acknowledge that this was an exceptional man. And tonight there was a pleasing shift in their relationship. Von Joel, it appeared, was not nearly so good a boxer as Larry, though it did not occur to Larry to wonder if he was being led to believe that.

“See, what you’re not doing is carrying the punch through,” Larry said, panting, shining with sweat as they broke and stood back from one another. “If you hit like this...”

He threw a punch at the air, putting his bulk squarely behind it, letting the centered mass of his upper body be the driving force behind his arm.

“Weight has always got to be forward, see? It means your punch is carrying the whole body weight. Feet apart, that’s important. Come on now, let’s see you again.”

Von Joel took up his stance in front of the bag and asked Larry if he was doing it right. Larry nodded, told him to go for it. Von Joel launched a powerful punch, sending the bag swinging.

“That’s it!” Larry said. “Feel the difference!” He took the bag between his hands, beginning to imagine himself every inch the coach. “Don’t swivel your hips, keep the feet apart... and again!” He took the shock as another punch landed on the bag. “Good one! Yeah!”

Von Joel stepped back, wiping sweat from his face. He grinned.

“Tell you what, Larry — you work out with me half an hour a day, and I’ll teach you how to play chess. Deal?”

“Okay.” Larry nodded, pulling himself back, still trying to keep the semblance of a proper distance, the copper-villain divide. It was becoming harder. “I better get some sleep,” he said uneasily, moving to the door. “Homework to do, as well...”

At the door he half turned, gave Von Joel a shy smile and walked out. Von Joel held the big black leather punching bag as if it were a woman. Hugging it to him, he brushed his lips against the leather; he was breaking through, he knew it, could feel it, and he planted a kiss on the hard leather and chuckled. Then he stepped back and gave a perfect punch, a hard single uppercut, that dented the bag and sent it swinging... that punch he would save for the right time, the right place.

Early that morning DCI McKinnes, in a buoyant mood, had stepped out of a patrol car near the front of an elegant house in Totteridge and paused, standing back to admire the house, the neat garden, and the immaculate Jaguar standing by the front door.

As he stood there two children came out wearing school uniforms and carrying satchels. They were accompanied by an attentive, attractive woman who was obviously their mother. She got into the driver’s seat of the Jaguar and the children climbed in the back. A moment later they drove away.

“Well, now,” McKinnes said expansively, turning to the patrol car and tapping the windshield with a rolled-up warrant, “that’s the wife, so we got the right sodding place this time.” He bent down and looked at the officers in the car. “We all set? Let’s go then. Two around the back.”

Two officers ran to the rear of the house and McKinnes marched up to the front door with two others. He rang the bell, waited, then rang it again. They waited for a count of thirty, then McKinnes gave the signal to break down the door. It was a strong door and it had to be smashed to pieces before they could get into the house. When finally they did get in, they found no one there.

That had happened before nine o’clock in the morning. At ten to eight in the evening McKinnes was again driven up to the front door. A police van was visible at the side of the house and a second patrol car, DC Summers leaning against the hood, was parked in front beside the Jaguar. McKinnes wound down his window.

“He showed up yet?”

“No.” Summers shook his head glumly. “Not a sign of him. His wife’s giving us an earful. We got his passport and a wad of money. If he took off, he can’t get far.”

“Did he play golf today like she said?”

“He had a game booked for nine-thirty this morning, but he never showed.”

“Anyone check his locker?” McKinnes registered the empty look on Summers’s face. “At the bloody golf club!” he explained. “They have lockers, maybe he’s got gear stashed there.” He opened the door and struggled out of the patrol car. “Go on,” he told Summers, “do it now, I’ll have a word with his wife. I could do with a cup of tea.”

“She’s not offering,” Summers said.

The front door was open. McKinnes let himself in and immediately saw Mrs. Minton standing in the hallway, sobbing into a handkerchief. There were sounds of heavy, serious movement from the region of the kitchen, where police officers were removing the fittings and methodically using hammers to tap lengths of pipe as they were uncovered. When Mrs. Minton spotted McKinnes her eyes hardened. She clutched the handkerchief against her breast.

“I’m telling you again,” she said, a tremor behind her voice, “I don’t know where he is. He went out to play golf early this morning and I’ve not seen him since. How many more times do I have to tell you?”

Three officers came past carrying bags and boxes. McKinnes stood by the front door, watching them go out. He turned to Mrs. Minton again, his face almost sad.

“The thing is, love, he didn’t play today,” he said. “So we’re just going to have to hang around until he comes back, or you can tell us where he’s gone.”

“I don’t know where he is!” Mrs. Minton screeched. There was a rumble, then a crash from the kitchen. She looked behind her fearfully. “You bastards!” She glared at McKinnes. “They’re bloody pulling down my new kitchen units! What d’you think he’s done, eh? Swum down the frigging drain?”

“What about making a pot of tea?” McKinnes suggested. His pager buzzed. He took it out, canceled it. “Can I use your phone?”

“No, you bloody can’t!”

McKinnes leaned out the open front door and waved to catch the attention of the officer in the squad car.

“See what the Guv’nor wants, will you?”

Two more officers emerged from the kitchen carrying wooden panels. Mrs. Minton rounded on McKinnes again.

“I want you and your lot to sod off!” she yelled. “I’m keeping a record of every scrap of damage. They broke the door down. If you’d waited I’d have been home. That’s a solid wood door, made to measure, and you can get it replaced — that’s five hundred for bleeding starters.”

DI Falcon appeared from the kitchen. He held up two thick wads of banknotes.

“Guv? We hit the jackpot. Fake pipe.” He handed the money to McKinnes. “I’ll get on to HQ,” he said, heading for the front door, “we’ll need some photos...”

There was a flicker of uncertainty in Mrs. Minton’s eyes. She swallowed visibly and folded her arms, keeping up her front.

“I know nothing about that,” she told McKinnes.

“Tell them back at base we’ll hang on here,” McKinnes was telling his driver outside. “We just struck lucky.”

Somewhere upstairs a child began to howl. McKinnes listened straight-faced, looked pointedly at Mrs. Minton, then turned and examined the alarm by the front door.

“This working, is it?”

“Yeah.” She moved to the stairs. “It’s connected to the local police station. All right if I go up to see my kids? They already turned their bunks upside down this morning”

“You didn’t have it on this morning?” McKinnes said. “The alarm, that is.”

“I was only taking the kids to school!”

An officer came forward and handed over another bundle of bank notes. McKinnes took them. Mrs. Minton, halfway up the stairs, stopped in her tracks and watched.

“How much more is there?” McKinnes murmured, weighing up the bundle. “A lot?”

“I’d say so, sir,” the officer said, nodding.

“Good. Keep at it then...”

He lightly thumped the stair paneling with the side of his fist, turned to walk into the kitchen, then stopped. He moved further along the paneling, struck it again, and frowned. He turned to the officer in the kitchen doorway.

“Get this down.”

The man set to the job at once with a claw hammer and a chisel. DI Falcon came back carrying a roll of plastic bags.

“The Super’s a bit edgy about us not finding Minton,” he said. He jerked his head toward Mrs. Minton, who was watching stiffly as the stair panels were prized away. “Her local police station called in...”

McKinnes watched as a complete section of panel came away. There was a door behind it. McKinnes looked up at Mrs. Minton.

“You know you’ve got a cellar, love?”

Her face had frozen.

McKinnes paused long enough to tell DI Falcon the business with the Superintendent could wait until morning, then he crossed to the door and turned the handle. The door opened. A light filtered up from the cellar. McKinnes smiled.

Five minutes later Mrs. Minton stood in the hall, crying as she watched her husband being handcuffed. Officers emerged from the cellar carrying bundles of papers and bulging plastic bags.

George Minton was shaking with anger. As the cuffs were tightened on his wrists he glared at McKinnes.

“Who put the finger on me?” he demanded. “Come on, you bastard, you wrecked my house, what’s it to you?”

McKinnes waved to his men and they took Minton away.

“You tell whoever it is,” Minton shouted, “he’s a dead man! You hear me, you son of a bitch? He’s a dead man!”

McKinnes looked over Minton’s drawing room. Ready to go back to the station, he half turned, crooked a finger to a uniformed officer, and pointed to a photograph.

“I want that; get Mrs. Minton to give us the okay.” It was a framed photograph of two men seated in what looked like a bar, somewhere like Bermuda. A row of boats could be seen behind the bamboo and ferns. Both men were suntanned, both wearing evening suits. Min-ton’s was black, Edward Myers’s jacket was white, and he had one arm around Minton, smiling to the camera. Minton was laughing.

10

Shortly before ten o clock on Thursday morning, a police patrol car drew up outside the small terraced home of Phil and Moyra Sheffield. DI Jimmy Falcon got out of the car, checked the address with his notebook, and walked up the path. He rang the doorbell. A moment later Phil Sheffield opened the door; DI Falcon showed him his ID card and was then invited into the house.

Forty minutes later DI Falcon left the Sheffields’ house. He hurried out to the patrol car and got in beside the uniformed driver. The car moved off.

Inside the house Phil Sheffield turned away from the window. He was a big man, gaunt-eyed, blunt in his speech and manner. He looked at his wife, sitting on the sofa twisting a damp tissue between her fingers. Her eyes were rimmed with red.

“Well? You going to tell me what all this is about? Moyra?” He came closer, bending forward, trying to make her look at him. “Moyra?” She was on the point of saying something, then she began to cry, losing control, her shoulders heaving. Phil sat beside her and drew her close.

“I’m sorry, love...” He smoothed her honey blond hair, hooked a finger under her chin. “Moyra. Look at me. What did he say?”

She turned away and began to sob harder. Phil stared at the back of her head, exasperated, clenching his fists to keep himself under control. After more sobbing and snuffling, Moyra finally blew her nose and was able to speak.

“I told him about the phone call,” she said.

“Well, I bloody know that — I told you to call them. Did they know who it was?”

Moyra shook her head.

“So what did the copper say? Is it somebody playing silly buggers? Moyra, for Christ’s sake tell me what the bastard said!”

“He’s alive, Phil,” she said huskily, swallowing hard. “They... they picked him up in Spain.”

Phil sat back, staring at her. His mouth was open a clear inch.

“He seemed more interested in the phone call, asking me if the caller told me his name.”

Moyra stood up by the mantelpiece, her shoulders hunched. She stared balefully at her collection of Capo di Monte and Lladro figurines.

“I told him how the man kept on asking about Eddie,” she said, “kept on asking if I knew where Eddie was. I said I couldn’t take it in, because all I could think of was, I’m scared, I’m so scared...”

Phil had been staring at the carpet as if he couldn’t understand where it had come from. He stood up suddenly.

“That cop told you? Moyra, did he actually tell you Eddie is alive?” He watched her nod. “Jesus Christ. What about Italy? Did he ask about us?”

“Oh, God.” Moyra groaned. She hadn’t heard his question; her head was filled with confusion and turmoil.

“He’s been alive all this time.” Her arm shot out and swept the ornaments off the mantelpiece. “The bastard!”

“You missed one,” Phil snarled, knocking the remaining figure flying. He looked at Moyra. “I’ll bloody kill him.”

He could hear her sobbing her heart out as she ran up the stairs, heard the bedroom door slam shut. He went into the kitchen for a pan and brush to sweep up the broken china. He tipped it into the bin outside, then went back into the spotless kitchen and sat at the pine table, sat on the pine chair with the blue and white frilled cushion that matched the curtains. She was still crying, he could still hear her and he wanted to go up to her, but knew it was best to let it all come out.

He had taken her to Italy, it was a real tough journey, she hadn’t seen or heard from her husband in years, not until the call to say his body had been found. All the way there she had clasped Phil’s hand tight, chewing her lips, sighing, and repeating over and over that she was glad, glad they’d found him... it meant they could get married.

Phil had been with Moyra for three years before that Italy trip. He adored her and wanted to marry her, had wanted to after the very first date. Moyra had been the pampered only daughter of a wealthy builder and she had been just seventeen when she met Edward Myers. They had married six weeks later. Myers had just appeared one night, she told Phil, in a pub her crowd used to go to, and she had no memory of anyone even introducing them. Phil had had to coax the background of her marriage out of Moyra. She found it hard to discuss, harder still ever to come to terms with Myers’s leaving her. Her parents had been against the marriage but had bought them the house as a wedding present.

Phil looked around the kitchen he’d redecorated. In fact, he reckoned there wasn’t much left of the bastard, it was their home now, but while he could throw out all the objects, the furniture that had been part of Myers’s life with Moyra, what he had never been able to do was rid the house, or Moyra, of her memories. Phil had even made her put all the wedding photos in the trash, and she had agreed, but what he didn’t know was that she had retrieved them later, and hidden them. She couldn’t part with them, and even though she had married Phil, there was some part of her that had never let Eddie go, some part of her that always hoped he would come back. But that had ended after Italy.

After the Italy trip, after seeing the body, it was easier, she had no hope, and she had agreed to marry him. Phil made a pot of tea and fetched a tray, which he carried up the stairs. He stood outside the bedroom and listened. She was still crying, so he went back to the kitchen and drank the tea alone. He didn’t know what to do, how to comfort her, he knew it must be a terrible shock. It was to him. Christ, they weren’t even legally married. He shook his head, wishing he could have just ten minutes with the bastard. He’d like to squeeze the life out of Eddie Myers, thump the living daylights out of him, not just for himself, but for his Moyra.

Moyra never knew, would never know how tough it had been for him. It had taken so long for her to forget Eddie, so long for her to admit that she loved Phil, but even when she had said it, it wasn’t quite what he had wanted, or hoped it would be like. She was so beautiful, like a perfect china doll, and that bastard had broken her heart. Her parents had told him she’d had a nervous breakdown after he’d walked out, she’d refused to eat, would stay up all night waiting, sure he was coming home again.

“How can you still love him, Moyra, after what he did to you?”

She had given that sweet soft smile, turning away from Phil, and he had gone to her, put his arms around her tightly. “I love you, Moyra, you got to forget him, if you don’t we don’t stand a chance together.”

Moyra had turned in his arms, rested her head against his big wide chest, and it was as if he held a fragile bird, her whole body quivered and shook. “I will love you, Phil, I do love you, but don’t ask me about Eddie, don’t keep asking me, because every time I hear his name, something happens in my heart. It’s like somebody punches me all the time, and it hurts, no matter how long ago, you just say his name and... and I hurt inside... Oh, Phil, I loved him so very much, it was like he had some kind of magic.”

Phil had tried to make a joke of it, saying he was no competition for a magician, he was just an ordinary bloke, a plumber, and all he had was his love...

Moyra had reached up and touched his face. “I don’t want magic, just honesty, I want to care for you, and I want... I do love you, Phil.”

He had contented himself with that, it was enough, but it had taken the body in Italy to make her agree to marry him. They would get through this scene, get over that bastard coming back from the dead.

At the interrogation session that same morning — conducted with both men sitting cross-legged on the floor, Larry looking particularly crisp in a borrowed cotton shirt — Von Joel confirmed the details of three more robberies with which he’d had a slender connection, all of them committed over a fourteen-month period. He also mentioned an incident concerning a shotgun, bought by George Minton for use in a robbery, which turned out to have been used earlier to kill a security guard during a raid in Hounslow. Minton had thrown a fit when he found out the gun was hot, and eventually he threw it into the Thames at Tower Bridge. The story was important and as the lunch break drew close Larry went over it again. He was curious to know if the gun might still be recoverable from the water.

“You said in your first statement you can remember the exact spot...”

“That’s right.” Von Joel nodded. “I was with Minton when he chucked it, wrapped in a sack with a weight to keep it in the drink. It took only a second — he stopped the car, got to the parapet, flung it in.”

“Do you know who sold Minton the shooter?”

“I don’t know.” Von Joel rubbed his chin, thinking. “It was definitely the same gun that knocked off that security officer.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Maybe...” He looked at Larry. “Bingham. Yeah, it could have been him.”

It seemed to Larry a good time to stop. They withdrew to the kitchen, where Von Joel insisted that he make lunch for them both. He prepared rice dishes again, plus an elaborate salad and — the French mustard now being on hand — a spectacular dressing. The heart of the meal was monkfish with steamed fresh vegetables.

Larry confessed his misgivings. He had never eaten monkfish — in fact he had no clear idea what it was.

“Monkfish are any of about ten or twelve species of shark,” Von Joel told him. “They all form the one group with the Latin name Squatina. The one we’re having today, which tastes like very superior scampi, is a Mediterranean variety called Squatina squatina — angel shark.”

Larry tasted a piece. It was delicious.

“That’s something else I’ve found out I like,” he said.

Von Joel winked. “Wait till you taste my calamari.”

As they sat down to eat Larry asked if Von Joel’s wife had taught him to cook. The question appeared to amuse him, but apart from saying no, he had nothing further to offer on the subject. As before, he moved nimbly on to something else. He put two small capsules on the table in front of Larry. They were B vitamins, he explained.

“Take them tomorrow before warm-up. Keeps your blood in good condition. Food okay?”

DI Shrapnel put his head around the door.

“They picked up Minton,” he reported brightly. “Bastard was hidden in his cellar all the time. He said he was doing some home improvements!”

Larry watched Von Joel. For a moment he registered sadness, perhaps remorse; he recovered quickly and carried on eating.

A few minutes later, as they were finishing the meal, Von Joel said, “I hope McKinnes’s security’s tight. Minton’s got a lot of friends.”

“Scares you, does he?”

“It’s not me I’m worried about, Larry.” Von Joel chewed in silence for a moment. “You’ve got a wife and kids.”

Larry stared at him, his appetite dying.

Later that afternoon DCI McKinnes paused to watch a small procession of uniformed officers lead three handcuffed men along a corridor outside the incident room at St. John’s Row station. As he stood there DI Falcon appeared at his side. They waited until the prisoners passed, then walked together down the corridor.

“Did you get the message?” Falcon asked. From McKinnes’s expression it was obvious he hadn’t. “Eddie Myers’s ex-wife, she got a call, doesn’t know who it was from, but the caller asked if she knew where Eddie was. No name, like I say, but she freaked. So. Her husband contacted the local police, who contacted us. I went along to see her this morning. She was hysterical, howling her eyes out. I’m running a check on her husband, he looks a tough bugger...”

A moment before Falcon had finished speaking, George Minton was led out of an interview room at the end of the corridor. He glared at McKinnes.

“I’ll be out!” he shouted. “You’ve got nothing, McKinnes!”

The DCI studied the toes of his shoes.

“Hear me, you bastard? You tried this six years ago...”

McKinnes turned away and practically bumped into DC Summers. “Guv...” Summers paused to swallow. He always seemed to be in a hurry. “We got this Rodney Bingham coming in, and he’s with his solicitor.”

“So?”

“It’s bloody Jefferson — Eddie Myers’s man.”

“What?” McKinnes blinked.

“Straight up.”

“I don’t believe it!” McKinnes turned toward the incident room, then turned back to Summers. “Get Jefferson in to see me! Now! Jesus Christ! What the hell does he think he’s playing at?” He caught DI Falcon by the arm. “You didn’t say anything to Myers’s wife about the stiff in Italy?”

Falcon shook his head.

“Good. Now check out her husband, and get a local to keep an eye on them. I think the ruddy cat’s out of the bag.”

That night, sprawled at one side of the mattress on the floor in Von Joel’s room, Larry stared at the chess board lying between them and wondered if there was anything the man opposite him did not know, or at least didn’t have an opinion about.

“Checkmate,” Von Joel said, capturing Larry’s king with a soft click. He looked up, smiling. “Think you’re getting the hang of it?”

Larry nodded. Spending time with Von Joel had to be a better move than joining the Open University. Earlier, while he was preparing dinner — tonight it had been carrots in orange and brandy sauce, with bowls of spiced rice on the side and a chicory and watercress salad with a pink peppercorn mustard sauce — he had explained the scientific basis of his diet.

“There are two main constituents in our food, Larry — proteins and carbohydrates. Proteins are essential constituents of your body; they make up the building blocks of muscles, tissues, and organs. Carbohydrates are the sugars and starches, the sources of energy. Now, we need both protein and carbohydrates in order to survive, no doubt about that, but the body digests and distributes them best if they aren’t mixed when we eat them. So, the rule is, never have proteins and carbohydrates at the same meal. The system likes to deal with them separately and it’s no trouble to make sure it does. You just have to be organized.”

He dictated a list of dos and don’ts, which Larry scribbled down on the cover of one of his official notebooks.

“Try to eat only one kind of protein or carbohydrate at each meal — fish, meat, eggs, or cheese for the protein, and bread, rice, pasta, or potatoes for the carbohydrate. Always buy food in season, it’ll be fresher and cheaper. You should eat a little salad of raw vegetables before every meal — that’s important for a lot of reasons; I’ll tell you about something called free radicals another time. Oh, and when you’re putting together your salad, try to pick two or more vegetables that have grown below the ground and combine them with the same number that have grown above the ground. What else? Oh, yes — when you’re cooking vegetables they should be steamed in their own juices with as little added water as possible. The exceptions are cauliflower and asparagus.”

All that, plus sparkling conversation over the meal, and then this. Chess. Until now, Larry had managed to go through life without knowing the game. Apart from being able to identify the pieces by name he had never felt inclined to learn anything else, feeling it was inappropriate for the likes of him to get into a game that had such highbrow associations.

He looked at the board now and smiled. In the space of two hours it had come to mean something. It was no longer an opaque code. With a minimum of concentration on his part, the arrangement of pieces translated itself into the lines of a strategy; the avenues of attack and defense, devious and tricky, were nevertheless apparent, they could be visualized. Already, the richness and density of the game were suggesting themselves to him.

“That was a straightforward little exercise,” Von Joel said, replacing the pieces on the board. “Just something to get you started. Now then” — he rubbed his hands — “how about a swift Q and A session on the moves, then we’ll call it a night, huh?”

Larry nodded. “Fire away.” He was enjoying himself.

“Right. Tell me about the king.”

“Ah...” Larry scratched his nose, staring at the board. “The king moves in any direction, one square at a time.”

“The rook?”

“He can move all the way across the board, as long as there’s nothing in his way. He has to do it in straight lines.”

“He moves on the rank and file. Correct. What about the bishop?”

“He’s a long-range mover, too, but he does it diagonally.”

“And the queen?”

“A combination of the rook and bishop — she can move on any open line.”

“One more. The knight.”

“Let me get it right, now...” Larry stared at the board again. “His move is a kind of L-shaped affair covering two squares at a time, one straight, one diagonal. He can jump over any black or white piece that’s in either of those squares, and if the piece is an enemy he can capture it.”

“You catch on fast.” Von Joel put his hands behind his head and lay back on his cushion. “By the time I’ve finished with you, you’ll be able to teach your wife to play.”

“I don’t think she’d fancy it.”

Larry glanced sidelong at Von Joel, tempted to bring up the subject of his wife again, just as he kept making glancing references to Susan.

“Did you teach your wife to play?”

“Nah.” Von Joel stared at the ceiling. “We never got near enough to being emotionally or intellectually matched, if you get my drift.”

“Sorry?”

“I got married when I was eighteen. It was over after a few weeks; it was a mistake. She was a good girl, but” — Von Joel shrugged — “a night out for her was a trip to a home furnishings shop.” He shifted his head on the cushion and switched his gaze to the wall. “I was the end of her growth. She was satisfied with being married, didn’t want anything else except fixtures and fittings. I could never understand how she could look at one of those crap women’s magazines, and her voice would grate, ‘This is nice, Eddie.’ ” He held up his hand, forefinger and thumb an inch apart. “Her sphere was this big.”

“She stood by you,” Larry pointed out.

“So did my Labrador. She’s better off never seeing me. I hurt her enough.”

He jumped up suddenly, crossed to the wardrobe, and swung open the door.

“Feel this,” he said, bringing out a beautifully cut jacket. Larry came across, fingered the fabric gently. “That’s pure cashmere,” Von Joel said. “Two thousand quid. My wife would have had heart failure just running her hand down the sleeve.”

“How much did those shirts set you back?”

“Well, Maestro Fabriani made-to-measure linen shirts can go up to a few hundred each.” Von Joel snatched up a pale blue one. “Try this!”

Larry shook his head, embarrassed by the generosity. He stared into the wardrobe, slightly appalled that one man could spend so much money on clothes. “Any time you want, Larry, just try something on.” Von Joel went back to the mattress and sat down. “I love women, Larry.” He smiled broadly, opening the fresh topic without preamble. “Young, fresh-skinned, tight-arsed women. Their lean limbs, that special shine on their hair — and the teeth, white perfect teeth. Their smell, Larry, nothing is as sweet... nothing compares with the beauty of a female body. The curves, that wonderful sweep from hip to thigh... Aaah! What am I doing to myself?” He clamped his hands over his eyes in comic agony, but underneath he was watching Larry. “Tell me about your wife, Susan...” He began to sing, “Oh, Susanne, won’t you tell me...”

Larry turned from the wardrobe abruptly, checking his watch.

“It’s late,” he said, and went to the door. “See you in the morning.”

“Sweet dreams,” Von Joel said, laughing softly.

As the door closed he got to his feet. He stood with his hands on his hips, face taut with concentration. Crossing to a calendar hanging on the wall he flipped through the leaves, studying the dates. All the days up to the present had been crossed off. As he stared his eyes became distant. His mouth tightened to a grim line. Anyone seeing him would have said he looked uncommonly tense, even dangerous.

11

On Friday morning the document traffic in the incident room hit a level that threatened to overwhelm every effort at containment. A flurry of case papers, generated by arrests based on Von Joel’s evidence, collided with a corresponding increase in the movement of information, most of it computer activity centered on the criminal record banks. New and updated information was input as fast as old data were retrieved; stepped-up surveillance of suspects produced an intake of queries and status reports that threatened to block the telephone and fax lines.

DI Frank Shrapnel could not reach DCI McKinnes by telephone, so at ten-thirty he came up and delivered a summary of the progress report he would be presenting later in writing. McKinnes liked to do things that way, in case preediting was necessary. The meeting was conducted at the center of the pandemonium in the incident room. In view of the pressure on the Chief’s time Shrapnel kept his remarks brief, and ended on a welfare note. “I’m not putting it in the record, Guv, it’s just a suggestion — give Jackson the weekend off. Let him step aside for a breather. Not that anything’s up, you understand. He’s pretty fresh, they’re getting very pally, but that could be a problem if there’s no break. He’s doing the job every day, just the two of them down there head-to-head. Then they eat together, talk for hours every night — they’re hardly ever out of each other’s sight. It’s just an observation, Guv, it’s very claustrophobic down there—”

“He should try it up here!” McKinnes waved his arm at the frenetic activity going on around them. “You hear about that dickhead Jefferson defending Bingham? We had nothing on the geezer, we had to pull him in on nonpayment of parking tickets! Jefferson looked a bit green around the gills. He’s as bent as hell, but he knows if he mouths off about Myers we’re all going to be in trouble. I’m pushing the dates forward to get Myers out to show us the location of the shooter, just in case.”

McKinnes snatched a fax that was being pushed at him. He read it, his face turning red.

“Shit!” He turned to Shrapnel. “Minton’s been released! Can you frigging believe it? Fifty grand bail!”

A dark thought occurred to Shrapnel.

“Have we got a good bloke on Jackson’s place?” he asked.

Before McKinnes could reply the Superintendent appeared before them. He looked delicately pained.

“I’ve just been told about the Bingham situation. It stinks. Represented by Jefferson, indeed...”

“Not anymore,” McKinnes said. “Jefferson’s backed off, said he didn’t know it had anything to do with Myers. Jefferson’s an oily bastard, but he knows to keep his mouth shut.”

“So how’s Jackson working out?” the Superintendent said. “He give us anything new?”

“So far so good,” McKinnes said. “We got a lot in from last night. It’s all tallying up.” He waved the fax he had just read. “This is bad news about Minton, Guv. Nothing on that cash we found? It’s got to be hot.”

“Nothing,” the Superintendent said.

“Can’t we hold him on not declaring income, then? He said it’s his tax money. Twenty-five grand? Do me a favor.”

The Superintendent, looking even more pained now, had picked up a clipped bundle of fax sheets and was flipping through them. He looked up sharply at McKinnes.

“We better get onto that shooter fast, Jimmy. We need to nail him this time. He’s got very strong alibis and last time they held up.”

DC Frisby appeared as the telephone rang. The Superintendent picked it up. Frisby handed McKinnes a sheet of paper, explaining that British Telecom had been asked to give details of all calls going out from Minton’s home.

“I thought you’d better have a look, Guv,” Frisby said. “Second call down.”

“Jimmy...” The Superintendent covered the telephone mouthpiece. “Good news. Bill Richards, Brian Tyler, and Henry Vosper have admitted their part in the Heathrow robbery...”

McKinnes looked up from the BT report, his eyes wide.

“Minton’s been calling his pals in Marbella.” He showed the Super the sheet of paper. “These calls go back to just after we brought Myers over.” He stared at the paper again. “Minton must have been tipped off we got Myers.”

“Put an extra man on Jackson’s home,” the Superintendent snapped. “And do it now.”

“I’ll let Jackson off for the weekend,” McKinnes said.

DC Frisby, a known opportunist, was all ears. On his single visit to the Jackson house he had managed to ease himself on to chummy terms with Susan. The chance of a second visit was not something he would pass up.

“Can I do anything, Guv?” he said, his face creased with concern. “He’s got two kids—”

“I know!” McKinnes shouted. “You think I don’t know?”

Susan was creaming her face at the dressing-table mirror when she heard the front door bang. She froze, listening, her hands held in front of her, fingers up, like a surgeon at the operating table. The bedroom door opened suddenly and she jumped.

“Hi!” Larry said brightly.

“My God...” Susan almost put a hand over her heart, then remembered the cream on her hands. “Why didn’t you let me know you were coming?”

“I didn’t know myself. The Guv’nor just said I could take home my dirty washing.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Susan stood up. “How long are you here for?”

“I go back Sunday night.” Larry dumped his bag at the foot of the bed. He opened his arms. “Come here...” Susan stepped close and he wrapped his arms around her. “Missed me?”

“What do you think?”

They kissed, moving toward the bed. Larry noticed two women’s magazines open on the duvet; memory produced a jarring note. He closed his eyes, kissing Susan harder, pressing her down onto the bed. After a moment she disentangled herself.

“Check the kids,” she said. “I don’t want them barging in.”

Lawrence went to the door. He paused, looking at Susan.

“You fancy anything apart from me?” he said. “I’m a bit hungry.”

The boys were fast asleep. Larry closed their door softly, crept downstairs and put on the kitchen light. He opened the fridge. The shelves were crammed; there were meat pies, fish fingers, beef burgers, instant custard, cream cakes, cans of Coke and two bottles of gold-top milk. He shut the door again.

The cupboard shelves offered a variety of tins: baked beans, beans and sausage, burgers and beans, savory mince, spaghetti hoops, meatballs in gravy, and frankfurters. He shut the cupboard, looked around and spotted the fruit bowl. He helped himself to an apple.

As he put out the light again he peered through the window. A uniformed policeman was walking slowly down the street behind the house.

The homecoming did not work out as he had expected. From the moment he reentered the bedroom, munching his apple, the mood of events drifted from marital intimacy toward tight-lipped hostility. All he had done, as far as he could recall later, was remark that they should eat healthier food. Susan had taken exception to that, regarding the comment as a slur on her talent as a cook, a black mark on her dietary judgement and a thumbs-down on her overall capability as a housewife. In his defense, and to set the record straight, Larry told her what he had been learning about nutrition and health, and how he had found the practice as convincing as the theory. That did no good, in fact it appeared to make Susan worse. After that the interchange descended into bickering, the pair of them taking turns at defending themselves as they lay side by side in bed, not touching.

“The kids happen to like baked beans,” Susan said, “and if you had wanted salads I’d have got some in, only I didn’t even know you’d be home!”

“Susan, there’s no need to get uptight, I just said—”

“I know what you said, but the kids won’t eat vegetables.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just, well, sometimes you should try a few rice dishes.”

“Rice!” Susan punched the mattress at her side. “You want rice, go down to the Chinese or the Star of India. And anyway you’ve lost weight, for all this oh-so-special cooking you’ve been dished up.”

“I needed to lose it. I’m fitter than I was when I—”

“Oh, are you!” Susan’s voice cracked, her temper giving way. “Some job! What are you doing with this guy? I thought you were supposed to be interrogating him.”

“I work out with him too,” Larry said, trying to keep the tone reasonable. “We sorted out a program—”

“I have enough workout getting the kids their breakfast and taking them to school,” Susan wailed, “and then I come back to all the housework, the washing, the ironing—”

“All I meant was, you should find the time,” Larry said, “time for yourself.” He turned to her, putting out his arm. “Come here.”

Susan didn’t move. She lay on her back, rigid, talking up at the ceiling.

“I don’t believe I’m hearing you straight, Larry. What time are you talking about? I don’t have any time.”

He tried to kiss her.

“Don’t.” She pushed him roughly away. “Just leave me alone.”

By breakfast time they were almost talking again. Their exchanges were brief but polite. Susan explained that her day, up until mid-afternoon, was already planned, and plans for the boys were naturally incorporated. Larry said that was fine by him, there was shopping he wanted to do. Susan looked at him strangely, but made no comment.

He was back home by four. In the hallway he stopped and listened. Over the noise of the TV in the living room he could hear the boys yelling. He went straight upstairs to the bedroom with his shopping. From the largest Harrods bag he took a new camel jacket, unfolded it carefully and hung it in the wardrobe. He then folded the bag as small as it would go and stuffed it into the bottom of the waste basket. Taking the other bags with him, he went downstairs to the kitchen.

“Oh, you’re back, are you?” Susan was ironing. She held up the cotton shirt she had almost finished. “This isn’t yours, is it?”

“No,” Larry put his bags on the worktop. “I borrowed it — spilled some food over mine.” He realized he sounded evasive, in spite of trying not to. “I’ll cook dinner if you like.” He smiled appealingly. “I thought maybe we could take a walk first, take the kids over to the park.”

Susan raised her eyebrows in mute surprise. She carried on ironing, watching Larry askance as he unpacked groceries from his bags. He had bought wild rice, celery, a large lettuce, a fresh chicken, grapes, herb tea, sea salt, Dijon mustard, and other items Susan couldn’t identify because the labels were either too small or nonexistent. She found herself becoming annoyed again.

“After dinner, if you fancy,” Larry said, making space on the cupboard shelves, “we could maybe go out. They’ve got the new Alien film on—”

“I’ve seen it,” Susan said. “Anyway, it’d be nice if you spent a bit of time with the lads.” She watched Larry fish about at the back of one of the shelves. “What are you looking for?”

“We got any nuts?”

“Only you. Here’s the shirt.”

Larry took it from her and laid it carefully on the back of a chair.

“Who did you see the film with?” he asked, then like Susan herself he moved on without waiting for an answer. “Spinach,” he said, poking about in the vegetable basket by the sink. “Have we got any spinach?”

“The kids hate it,” Susan said, trying not to sound edgy.

She packed up the ironing board and began leafing through the newspaper, keeping herself from flaring up. Larry turned to the deep freeze, heaved up the lid and stared inside. He shook his head at the contents.

“You know,” he said, “everything you’ve got in here has additives, or preservatives, or both.”

Susan rustled the paper, pretending she hadn’t heard.

Later, sitting on a bench at the playground in the public park, they watched Tony and John on the swings while Larry delivered a condensation of his newly acquired knowledge about nutrition.

“Take vitamins,” he said. “They’re absolutely essential for growth and development in kids, and for sustained health in grown-ups. The body can’t make them itself, so we have to get them from our food.”

“Is that a problem?” Susan asked coldly.

“No, it’s not, but see, it’s possible to eat a whole load of junk and get hardly any vitamins at all. On the other hand, if you know where to get your vitamins, you can take small, lightweight meals that are packed with all the goodness you need.”

Susan yawned, waving to Tony and John as they left the swings and moved across to the roundabout.

“Vitamin A,” Larry pressed on, “that’s vital for normal growth, clear vision, clear skin. You get it in large amounts from sardines, herring, liver, and fish liver oils. Vitamin B is really a whole complex of different vitamins — they control the release of energy from starchy foods, and they promote a healthy nervous system. You get Vitamin B in different forms from cereals and all fresh meat but especially offal, and from fish roes, yeast, milk, and eggs. Vitamin C is the one that helps to make healthy skin and connective tissue. It helps you to absorb iron too.”

“Listen...” Susan stifled another yawn. “Since you’re suddenly such an expert, how come they don’t go on about fiber the way they used to? One time, it seemed the know-alls were saying if you didn’t eat plenty of fiber you’d drop dead prematurely from any one of a dozen different things. Now you hardly ever hear about it.”

Larry assured her fiber was still as vital a component of a healthy diet as it ever had been.

“You see, you are what you eat. Now, without the correct amount of fiber, natural fiber—”

“Oh, shut up,” Susan said, without malice. She smiled at him. “I’ll race you to the swings.”

She got up and ran across the path and onto the grass, Larry galloping behind her. She skirted the sandpit and rushed to the row of swings, jumping onto an empty one. Larry caught up and tried to climb on behind her, standing, gripping the chains.

“It won’t take the weight of us both,” Susan giggled. “Just push. Go on. With all that natural fiber in you, let’s see how much wind you’ve got...”

She howled with glee as Larry pushed the swing, sending her high, legs flailing as she came down again. Larry extended his arms, bending them ready to take the impact and push her even higher. He glanced aside as the swing met his hands; he bent his elbows a fraction more, then pushed with all his strength. At the same moment an alarm sounded in his head. He stepped back from the swings, staring. Young John was talking to a man by the roundabout. As Larry watched, the man bent down and appeared to be offering John something.

The swing came back, but Larry didn’t push it this time. Susan twisted around and saw him running toward the roundabout. He got to John’s side and almost knocked the man off his feet. From Susan’s point of view the incident looked ugly; the man stepped back, stumbled and fell. John began to cry.

Susan stopped the swing and got off. She ran across the playground.

“Larry... Larry, what are you doing?”

He was hanging onto John, frantically looking around for Tony. He saw him by the chute and waved.

“Come here! Tony! Get over here!”

Susan ran up, looking puzzled. She watched the young man pick himself up off the ground. She glared at Larry.

“What did you do that for?”

“He was messing around with John.” He turned aside anxiously. “Tony! Tony!”

“He wasn’t messing around with him,” Susan said, shaking her head, looking at Larry now as if he were something pitiable. “You know who that is, don’t you?”

Larry frowned. “It’s Freda’s boy, from the newsagent’s. He’s simple. All the kids know him. What did you hit him for?”

At one stroke Larry felt like a monster. He looked at the cowed, hesitant lad getting up and moving away to the swings.

“I didn’t hit him, all right? I just... I just...”

“I just think it’s time we went home,” Susan said coldly. “Come on, love.” John was still snuffling. “Daddy didn’t know it was Eric...”

Tony finally came and joined them. Susan took both boys by the hand and walked away toward the gates. Larry, not able to explain why he had overreacted, stood for a moment to catch his breath and let his emotions recede. As he finally went after Susan and the boys, he glanced across at the stricken Eric, who was watching him from behind the swings.

“Sorry, mate. No harm meant, okay?” Eric gave a small wave, making Larry feel ten times worse.

12

On Sunday morning, after he had spent an hour working out in the gym, Von Joel had a leisurely breakfast in the kitchen. He then bathed, dressed, and went to the sitting room, where he sat cross-legged on the floor and played chess against himself. It was strange to have been quiet for such a long time, after so many days spent talking endlessly. It also seemed that time had gone into suspension and nothing moved; that was a feeling he did not like.

At mid-morning DI Shrapnel wandered into the room carrying a mug of coffee. A small cigar smoldered between his knuckles.

“Frank,” Von Joel said, without turning from the chessboard, “the air down here’s bad enough without you polluting it any further.”

Shrapnel, unconcerned, slurped his coffee.

“Sydney Jefferson waltzed in with your pal Bingham,” he said brightly. Von Joel was shocked. He felt himself stiffen, going defensive without trying.

“Let’s hope he keeps schtum,” Shrapnel said. “We need more information on Rodney, by the way. Have a think on it, will you?”

Von Joel stayed motionless, struggling to hide the tension that had gripped him. He waited until he heard Shrapnel leave the room, then slowly and very deliberately he leaned forward and swept all the pieces off the chess board.

Later that day, a similar tension began to make inroads on the nervous system of George Minton’s wife. She was with George at his junkyard, standing among the battered, rusting hulks, watching him as he made a detailed inspection of a vehicle that was not a wreck. It was a dark blue Transit van, recently painted and minus number plates; George walked around it, touching it, kicking the tires, peering at it like a trainer with a promising horse. As often happened, his wife felt she was being kept in the dark.

“One minute you tell me to get packed,” she said, her voice on the thin edge of hysteria, “next, I don’t know where the hell you are. George? Do I take the kids out of school?”

“Just get their passports and their gear packed,” he snapped.

Mrs. Minton’s imagination, fed by hard experience, began to frighten her.

“You’re in trouble, aren’t you?” She stepped closer to him. “Aren’t you?”

“I’m in it up to here!” he snarled, banging the side of his head. “But I’ll sort it. Now get out of my sight.”

He pushed her roughly away from him and stamped off toward the office. Mrs. Minton took a deep, shuddering breath, standing still for a moment, driving down the impulse to scream. She walked stiffly to the Jaguar. As she opened the door a thickset man in his late fifties came threading his way through the wrecks toward her. She recognized him, though she knew nothing much about him apart from his name — Jack. She opened her mouth to say something, a polite hello, but behind her George was beckoning from the office, urging Jack to hurry, which he did, ignoring Mrs. Minton. She got into the Jaguar and drove out of the yard.

In the office George spoke quietly and urgently to Jack.

“I don’t know how long I’ve got before I’m in the frame.” He looked around him at the piled wrecks, like a man preparing to say good-bye to something beloved. “Eddie Myers is rapping again.” He looked Jack straight in the eye. “You know what that means. That shooter’ll take you and me both down.”

“Are we going to get the shooter?” Jack said.

“No. We’re going to get Myers.”

If Larry Jackson were ever asked to say, honestly, what he considered to be the symbol of his marriage, he would probably think of confrontation — although he would say something else just to save face.

It seemed that everything turned into a showdown. Even a kitchen tap left dripping could come to a face-off. That Sunday evening, as he got ready to go back to the safe house, he found himself on the defensive again. He was standing in the living room in neatly pressed shirt and slacks, his new jacket over the back of a chair. His overnight bag was packed and at his feet. Susan stood three yards away, knuckles on hips.

“I wasn’t hiding anything from you!” Larry yelled. “Shit! I can’t do anything right this weekend. I just put the bag into the waste basket.” He spread his hands, trying for sweet reason. “It’s my money.”

Susan’s chin jerked as if she had been punched.

“You want to spend half your salary on a bloody jacket, it’s my business as well.”

Larry glanced at her, rummaging for a come-back.

“He’s filling your head with a load of rubbish,” Susan said. “He’s rotten. What kind of man rats on his friends? And ditches his wife?”

“I know what kind he is. This has nothing to do with him and you keep your mouth shut about him!”

Susan shook her head. She had her look of disdain on again, as if he were more to be pitied than shouted at.

“Who do you think I’m going to talk to about him? He doesn’t interest me, Larry.” She took a step nearer, her head tilting at a sharper angle. “But you be careful. Because he seems to interest you, and don’t try and tell me it’s all down to police business. He’s twisting your head. That’s what it was all about in the park, wasn’t it?” She glared at him. “Well? Wasn’t it?” Another thought seemed to occur to her, more urgent, making her angrier. “If you’re putting your kids or me in any danger, then—”

“Get off my back, Sue!”

“I’m not the one that’s on it!” she shouted as he grabbed his jacket and hurried out of the house.

Later, still feeling raw and put-upon, Larry stood in Von Joel’s bedroom and glumly submitted to an inspection of his new jacket.

“Why didn’t you use Fred the Stitch? Best tailor in London.” Von Joel fingered the material and frowned at the way the shoulders hung. His critical tone was light, but even so it annoyed Larry. “Fred makes all the suits for the Royals. I gave you his number, he’d have given you a good price...” He touched the material again. “How much?”

Larry turned away sharply. Von Joel looked surprised.

“What’s the matter with you?”

Larry didn’t reply.

“Aah,” Von Joel winked. “Didn’t get laid, is that it? Well, nor did I!”

Larry jerked open the door.

“I got laid all right, Eddie,” he said petulantly, slamming the door behind him.

The following morning DCI McKinnes and the Superintendent had a policy-and-progress meeting in the Superintendent’s office, facing each other across the cluttered desk. It wasn’t yet noon, but both men drank whisky, bowing to a departmental tradition that equated bold maneuvering with strong drink.

“We’re moving a hell of a lot faster than we anticipated,” the Superintendent said, summarizing the first half hour of their meeting. “Out of eighteen arrested, we’ve got eleven who are going to plead guilty. And the rest — they know we’ve got them dead to rights, it’ll just be a matter of time.”

“We don’t have it,” McKinnes said, swirling his Scotch, “not with this Minton on the loose. It wasn’t me that let the bugger walk...” He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. “He knows we’ve got Myers, so the sooner we get him picked up for good, the better.”

“Of course.” The Superintendent’s thin features seemed to narrow a little further. “I don’t like taking Myers outside, Mac. But maybe we’ll have to.” He sighed. “I can’t budget dragging the whole bloody river.”

McKinnes nodded sympathetically.

“Myers could be bullshitting us — anything to get out and about. But he reckons if he sees the location it’ll jog his memory. And we need that shooter to get Minton.”

McKinnes took a measured swallow of whisky, drumming his fingers on the desk as it warmed its way to his stomach.

“What if we do it at dawn, cut down the risks? Can you arrange that?”

The Super thought about it, then nodded.

“Okay. I’ll get the river mob sorted. Now, I’m not pushing, Jimmy, but as matters are moving at a good lick, we’re going to have to start questioning Myers about that body found in Italy.”

“That’s got to be a complete and separate investigation,” McKinnes said, speaking with the firmness of a man who had thought the matter over thoroughly. “I’m taking it in three stages.” He watched the light sparkle golden in his glass. “One — get the lot of them ready for trial. Soon as we’ve drained Eddie Myers dry, we start to push him for the whereabouts of that one million cash he got away with...” He looked up, his eyes narrowing. “And I’ll squeeze him till he talks, because he knows he’s looking at fifteen straight. As a prosecution witness, he could get away with as little as five.”

McKinnes sat back, swirled his whisky once, then knocked it all back in one gulp. He gasped, his eyes moistening.

“I want him on trial,” he said, almost smiling. “I want to hear his sentence, want him to think he might even walk. Then, just as he’s going down to the cells” — he put his empty glass carefully on the desk — “I’m going to charge him with murder.” He smiled tightly. “I dream about that. Seeing that son of a bitch’s face. Lovely. What a retirement bonus.”

The Superintendent said nothing. He sipped his Scotch, showing no outward sign that McKinnes was beginning to worry him.

13

At six o’clock on Tuesday morning Larry was dressed and ready to leave. He waited in the hallway outside Von Joel’s room with DI Shrapnel leaning on the wall beside him, smoking pensively, his eyes puffy from sleep. At five past six Shrapnel jerked his thumb toward the bedroom door and asked Larry if he thought Von Joel was on the level. Larry did not comprehend.

“He gave me these folicacid capsules...” Shrapnel took a small brown bottle from his pocket. “Said they induce hair growth. That’s what they’re for, apparently. Healthy hair...” He patted the sparse covering on his scalp. “You think it’s okay if I take them?”

Larry shrugged. He didn’t feel like talking.

“Last night,” Shrapnel went on, “he gave me vitamin B₆. Supposed to induce dreaming. I went out like a light.”

He put the bottle back in his pocket and looked at his watch. Suddenly he was in his customary mode, edgy, impatient. “What the hell is he doing?” He folded his arms and began tapping his foot. “We have him between us going out,” he reminded Larry. “Cuff him to you.”

The bedroom door opened and Von Joel came out. He wore a track suit, a donkey jacket, and a black woolen hat. He held his hands out in front of him for the handcuffs.

“Ready when you are,” he said, yawning. “Early for a trip upriver, isn’t it?”

They left the safe house, walked ten yards along the passageway to the external door and came out at the back of the station. A Granada waited with its doors open. They walked across to it smartly, Shrapnel in front, shielding Von Joel who was cuffed on Larry’s left side. When they reached the car Shrapnel got in beside the driver; Larry and Von Joel slid into the back.

The car moved off at once, entering the courtyard where McKinnes waited, seated in an unmarked car beside the driver. The main gates opened and McKinnes’s car turned out onto the narrow lane behind the station. The Granada followed closely. A third car moved out from an underground car park as they passed and slipped in tight behind the Granada. As the convoy picked up speed there was a movement at a window in a building overlooking the back of the station.

“There’s something going down,” a voice announced over a radio link. “Shit! It’s him! They’re moving him, it’s Myers... They’ve got McKinnes in a car up front, patrol car at the back. Our man is sandwiched between them. Steve! You on them? Steve?”

Sudden loud static crackled across the frequency. It took several seconds to die down.

“Can you hear me? HB to base. Hello?”

The crackle came back, rising and falling in waves. Then, abruptly, it faded almost to nothing.

“Are you receiving me? They’re heading out to the Edgware Road. Keep your eyes on the center car, a red Ford Granada... Did you get that?”

“I’m on him.” The reply came from a motorcyclist on a courier bike, heading into the narrow lane just as the convoy disappeared at the other end. “Looks like they’re going toward Marylebone Road.”

There was an immediate response at George Minton’s yard, where “Big” Jack pulled back the gates and ran as fast as he could to the blue Transit van, a walkie-talkie clutched tightly in his hand. He leapt into the van, started the engine, and put the walkie-talkie to his mouth, thumbing the switch.

“Where are you now?” He threw the engine in gear and accelerated one-handed to the gates. “I’m on my way...”

Inside the Granada, Shrapnel was growing tense. He turned to Larry.

“Just remember, now — we wait for the signal, then go straight to the jetty. No dawdling.” He looked at Von Joel. “Pull your collar up. Here, wear these...” He handed back a pair of dark glasses. “Pull your bloody hat further down...”

“Doesn’t suit me, luwie,” Von Joel lisped.

Shrapnel wasn’t amused.

The convoy reached Covent Garden, staying on the back streets, the motorcyclist still behind them, keeping his distance.

“They’re heading past Bow Street,” he reported. “Did you pick that up? Where the hell are you? They just passed Essex Street...”

At that moment George Minton was shutting the gates of the yard from the inside. Securing them, he hurried off, weaving his way toward the rear of the sprawling piles of scrap. A minute later a car started up on a street behind the yard. It drove off fast.

When the convoy had moved through the Aldwych it headed down toward the river. The streets were quiet, practically deserted. The biker had dropped back still further.

“It’s Tower Bridge,” he reported. “They’re heading for Tower Bridge, moving down to the Embankment...”

The three cars took a side turn toward the riverside. A speedboat waited by a jetty. McKinnes jumped out of his car the instant it stopped and ran back to the Granada. He banged on the roof. Shrapnel was out immediately and a second later the rear door swung open and Larry climbed out, Von Joel moving smartly with him, collar up, hat pulled down to his eyebrows and wearing the dark glasses. The speedboat engine churned the water restlessly as the three men hurried along the jetty and climbed on board.

George Minton’s voice came over the motorcyclist’s radio.

“Can you hear me? Steve? What’s going down? I’m just coming into the Strand.”

“They’re putting Myers on a speedboat, Guv. They’re heading downriver toward Tower Bridge. Should have brought water wings. What do you want me to do? We’d never keep up on the road side...”

“Wait,” Minton snapped. “I reckon they’ll bring him back the same way, so we’ll wait. Are you there, Jack?”

“Right there, Guv,” Jack’s voice cut in.

“I’m coming to you,” Minton told him.

The wind off the river felt icy cold as it sliced across the deck of the speedboat where Von Joel stood handcuffed to Larry. Up on Tower Bridge the motorcyclist slowed and stopped, watching them pass under the bridge, then do a careful U-turn. The boat slowed down and its engine was cut.

Von Joel studied the bridge, taking his bearings. He frowned, running his gaze left and right, drawing his jacket collar around his face to shield himself from the wind. Suddenly he pointed.

“Okay, that’s the place,” he said. “Between the arches. Minton dropped it from there.” He glanced right and left again. “Can you get closer?” he asked the man at the controls. “There was a barge he said was always anchored... That’s it, see.”

The boat engine started again and they moved slowly toward the stanchion between the arches where a pleasure launch was anchored.

“It’s going to be a bitch to drag this entire area,” McKinnes said. He turned to Von Joel. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. You drag there, you’ll find it.”

McKinnes turned away and spoke on the radio.

“Get the frogmen standing by, we’re dropping the markers... over.” He closed the mike switch and looked around, gazing along the bleak yellow-gray expanse of the river. “Let’s take him back,” he said. “We’re too vulnerable.” He opened the mike again and put it to his mouth, crouching, turning his back to the wind. “We’re not waiting on the search,” he reported. “Coming in now. Stand by.”

The engine revved and the boat began to cut through the water again, heading back to the jetty. As they picked up speed Von Joel had his mouth to Larry’s ear, informing him again, teaching him.

“Minton is a real fanatic about weapons,” he said. “He has a hell of a collection. Got a Smith and Wesson Model 39, with psionic suppressor — that’s a silencer, Larry. The gun was developed by the U.S. Navy Special Forces Seal Teams. They used them in Vietnam. They can take out sentries, guard dogs... You need a special shoulder holster. De Santis in America make the best underarm holsters — they custom-build them...”

As the boat sped back along the river, the blue Transit van with Big Jack at the wheel was parked at the end of a side street that opened onto the main riverside road back to town. As he sat there a maroon Volvo saloon drew up alongside. The front passenger window rolled down and George Minton put his head partway through the gap. He was wearing a flat cap and his coat collar was turned up. He wore rimless spectacles.

“Even if they change the return route,” he told Jack, “they’ve got to pass you. Steve’ll give you the go-ahead.” He winked, the merest movement of his eyelid. “You know what to do. Go for it. Steve’ll take you back to the yard. See you.”

The Volvo slid away. Jack fired the Transit engine and backed up the narrow street.

The speedboat returned to the jetty without incident. Larry and Von Joel got back into the Granada; this time Shrapnel got behind the wheel, the police driver taking the passenger seat. McKinnes got into the rear escort vehicle. From where he sat he could see Von Joel talking animatedly, still lecturing Larry about ballistics in the age of high-tech firearms.

As the convoy prepared to move off, the motorcyclist, Steve, drove by on the main road at the end of the jetty. At some distance past them, and a couple of hundred yards from the road where the Transit waited, he veered to the right, stopped, got out his A to Z and stood with his head bowed over the opened pages. To all appearances he was a motorbike courier straddling his machine, checking a route.

In the Granada, Von Joel paused in his explanation of metal resonance suppression. He sat back and smiled expansively.

“How’s about stopping off at a nice little restaurant for breakfast? I know a good place two minutes from here. Savoy Grill. You ever been to the Savoy, Larry? Good service, very convenient for the theater.”

“Get stuffed, Myers,” Shrapnel snapped from the front seat. “Is the back-up vehicle ready, Larry?”

Larry peered through the rear window.

“Not yet, he’s just moving up behind.” He waited. “Okay, we’re all set.” He looked at Von Joel. “What do you mean by wave suppression?” he said, taking up the thread of their discussion. “Something to do with the gun silencer, is it?”

“In a way.” Von Joel nodded. “The sound signature from a weapon can arise from three main sources. One, the mechanical sounds of the working parts, right? Two, there’s the report of the cartridge and cases, and three, the supersonic crack of the bullet. The Model 39, Larry, makes virtually no extraneous sound. Its design diminishes the ballistic report...”

Larry nodded, intrigued, scarcely noticing as a dark maroon Volvo overtook the convoy, gaining speed to pass them and the opening where the blue Transit van waited. In the front passenger seat of the Volvo, George Minton sat with his eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, monitoring the police cars as his driver calmly tooled past them. Lying in Minton’s lap was the radio booster control, his hand resting on it lightly.

From Jack’s position behind the wheel of the Transit, he saw a segment of the main road and the river beyond it. Buildings on his left prevented him from seeing the police convoy approach. He shifted nervously in his seat, staring at the empty road, gripping the wheel and glancing at the radio lying on the seat beside him.

Out on the road Steve had a clear view of the convoy in the wing mirror of his motorcycle. He spoke into his mike loud and clear.

“On the count of five, floor it. It’s the second car — repeat, the second car you see, and it’s heading toward you now...”

The first car swept past the bike, then the second. The third was some way behind, traveling at a good observational distance.

“Five,” Steve counted, “four, three...” He realized he had mistimed, the second car was too far from the road end. “No! No!” he yelled. “Hold it... Two, one... Go!”

Steve dropped his A to Z, flipped down his visor and kick-started the bike. At that moment McKinnes was telling his driver to take a look at the motorcycle ahead. It was off and accelerating before they could reach it. As Von Joel was explaining about the loss of muzzle velocity caused by conventional silencing devices, Larry glanced out the window to his right and saw a blue Transit van come screeching out of a side road straight toward them. Shrapnel saw it at the same time and nearly swerved but there was no room, he was too near the river.

“On the floor!” Von Joel yelled in Larry’s ear. “Move!”

The Transit van loomed to their right, seconds from impact, the driver’s face gaunt behind the wheel. Von Joel tried to open the door on his left. Larry brought up both hands to protect himself, automatically jerking Von Joel across him. The van hit the side of the car with a bang and a jolt that lifted the right wheels clear of the road. Panels tore and glass smashed. The folded metal of the mangled door drew inward and hit the top of Von Joel’s skull. Blood spurted and gushed down over his neck and onto Larry’s chest where he lay pinned underneath.

Shrapnel slammed the gas pedal to the floor. The car surged forward with the noise of metal grinding on metal, but the damage was done, the rear right side was caved in. The Transit van remained locked against the Granada, shunting with its reinforced bumper. Up ahead, Steve had his motorcycle directly across the road, revving, waiting for Jack to make a run for it.

The third police car with McKinnes inside came screeching to a halt five yards ahead of the crippled Granada. McKinnes dived out and ran toward the Transit van, which was relentlessly grinding forward, dragging the Granada.

Jack was pulling open the Transit van’s door, estimating his distance from the bike. He inched into the gap, ready to jump, watching McKinnes as he got nearer. He jumped. His body went forward toward the road, feet spread for the landing, then he abruptly changed direction as his sleeve caught on the door handle. His knees slammed the side of the still-moving van, his hands went up and the sleeve ripped with the tension. Jack went down, his back hitting the road a second before his head. The rear wheel ran over his chest and face with a sound like bursting fruit.

McKinnes jumped into the van and pulled on the brake. Five seconds more and the Transit van would have sent the Granada through the wall and into the river.

Up ahead Steve had seen what happened. For one horrified second he stood frozen, seeing the blood and brain smeared on the asphalt.

“Jesus Christ almighty...”

He jerked the bike around and screamed off, his head level with the handlebars, the tires leaving a skin of rubber on the road.

“They got him!” Shrapnel was screaming, clawing at the Granada’s twisted metal. “They got Von Joel! Oh, shit! They got him! Larry! Larry!”

Von Joel’s skull seemed to be cracked open, the blood was in a congealed nightmare mass over the top of his head, running in rivulets down his face and obliterating his features.

Larry, in a state of shock, fumbled to feel for the pulse at Von Joel’s neck. His finger sticky with blood, he started crying, partly in shock, partly in genuine grief as he could find no pulse.

“Oh, God!” He looked up at Shrapnel. “I think he’s dead.”

The handcuffs were unlocked, two ambulance attendants carefully eased the unconscious man onto a stretcher, and Larry was assisted out of the crushed car, staring stupified at the ambulance as Von Joel was gently carried aboard.

“He’s dead, isn’t he? I couldn’t feel any pulse. Is he dead?”

Shrapnel seemed not to hear, his own face had deep lacerations from the smashed windshield, and an attendant was checking him over, encouraging him to accompany him to the second ambulance. The body of the driver was still crushed beneath the patrol car surrounded by a group of officers and attendants. They were ascertaining exactly how they should lift the car up and off him, as his body seemed to be ingrained into the wheels and front of the vehicle. He was obviously very dead, the blood was like dark, heavy pools, running like a river toward the water’s edge.

Larry leaned against the car and his body began to shake with delayed shock. Again, as if replaying a video, he saw the Transit van coming for him, heard himself screaming, heard Eddie telling him to get down, and then, like a punch to his heart, he felt, as if it were happening again, the weight of Von Joel’s body covering him, protecting him, saving him.

McKinnes walked slowly over to Jackson. The boy was ashen, his body shaking badly, and McKinnes put a fatherly arm around his shoulders.

“Let’s get you to hospital, son, come on, get into the ambulance. There’s a good lad!”

“He saved my life, Mac, he... saved me.”

McKinnes made no reply, guiding Larry to the ambulance, stepping aside as an assistant took over. As he turned away, Larry asked if Von Joel was dead. “He’s dead, isn’t he, Mac?”

McKinnes still made no reply. He joined Shrapnel and looked back to see his sergeant, seated in the ambulance, holding his head in his hands, sobbing his heart out.

“Well, this is a major fuck-up, isn’t it?” McKinnes said flatly.

Shrapnel nodded, and refusing to go into the ambulance went with McKinnes to the patrol car. They sped off to the hospital in silence, because it was, as McKinnes had said, a major fuck-up.

Nobody paid any attention to the man standing on the bridge, nor could they have heard him, but Minton was a very happy man, singing softly.

“Good night, Eddie; good night, Eddie; it’s time to call it quits...”

14

The Sister in charge of Intensive Care was briefed by Dr. Moore, a registrar from Accident and Emergency who had monitored the one serious surviving casualty of the crash from the time the ambulance got to the scene until its return to the hospital twenty-six minutes later.

“I filled in his name on the sheet, but it’s a false name, and there’s no address,” he told Sister. He leaned across the desk and signed the paper for the transfer of the patient to Intensive Care. “I tried to milk some information about who he really is and what he’s supposed to have done, but no dice. You know the police.”

Moore was a tall, thin, hunted-looking man who glanced over his shoulder continually while he spoke to Sister. As he pocketed his pen he stepped to the office door, looked both ways along the corridor and came back to the desk. “I’ll tell you something — since I started my present tour of duty with the blood wagon, I’ll swear I’ve been on a run of bizarre emergencies.”

“How come?”

“On Sunday I’d an attempted suicide by hanging. The rope broke and all he did was put his back out. Then yesterday a woman accidentally Super-Glued her knees to a window ledge, and later I got a bloke who’d swallowed two cubes of billiard-cue chalk. Now this.”

Sister watched the paramedics transfer the unconscious patient to the bed in the cubicle on the other side of the window. A nurse carried the drip bag and hooked it to a stand by the side of the bed. Other nurses came forward and busied themselves around the bed, setting up system-support lines and monitoring equipment.

“What’s bizarre about this one, then?” Sister said. “Not the fact that he’s in police custody, surely?”

“No, it’s not that...”

Dr. Moore scratched his chin, gazing intently at the floor as if he had been asked to give a verdict on something crucial and was choosing his words with the greatest care.

“There’s a strange feel to the whole clinical picture,” he said finally, “but if I had to pin it down, I’d say he’s got deeply creepy physiology. I mean, he took a crack on the head that would have fractured any ordinary skull — which says a lot for his anatomy, too, of course. But that blow would definitely have produced a big hematoma on my brain or yours, even if it hadn’t caved in the skull, and it could certainly be expected to crush a few cervical vertebrae. What I’m saying is, normal individuals don’t get a bash on the head like that and come out of it without serious complications.”

“Actually, he doesn’t look too good to me,” Sister said, peering through the glass. “And I notice he’s wearing a neck harness.”

“The harness is a precaution, I couldn’t find any cervical damage. As for the grim evidence elsewhere on his person, I think you’ll find most of it will wash off.”

“No major damage at all, then?”

“None that I was able to trace. I did a swift neuro-obs, but it didn’t turn up any aberrant brain activity and there’s no evidence of diminished response to stimuli. When they do a CAT scan they might turn up something I missed, but frankly I doubt it.”

“What’s the clinical picture, overall?” Sister asked, picking up a pen and notebook.

“Starting at the top, there’s a cluster of lacerations to the scalp, frontal and parietal. Substantial blood loss, as there usually is with scalp injuries. Nothing complicated there, the tissue parted cleanly, it should unite again with only basic surgical help. There’s a minor dislocation of the right shoulder with probable tearing of the teres minor and infraspinatus muscles — he was handcuffed to a policeman at the moment of impact, so the shoulder came under some uncommon traction in the hurly-burly of the crash.”

“The handcuff explains the tissue injury on the right wrist, I suppose.”

“Right. There’s also some damage to the deeper structures — a dislocation of the wrist with possible bruising of the scaphoid and triquetral bones. Moving down, the chest and abdomen appear to be sound. Both legs are badly bruised, again with probable tearing of muscle fiber.”

“Systemic shock?”

“At first, Sister, it seemed pretty extensive. When we got there the carotid pulse was weak, and my first thought was that we’d lose him if we didn’t act fast. I checked there was no hidden bleeding and got an airway in place double quick. But just about then his vital signs started to improve. All of them, and without any further help.”

Behind them in the office doorway DCI McKinnes shuffled his feet and cleared his throat. Dr. Moore spun around, startled.

“Pardon me, Doctor, Sister. I was eavesdropping; it’s an occupational vice and I’m too old to fight it. Am I to understand, from what you just said, that our man here is in the clear?”

“His head took a hell of a thumping,” Moore said, “but it seems to be an uncommonly strong head. He’s also got excellent neurological and biochemical backup. So, barring unforeseen relapses, I wouldn’t expect his condition to get any worse. He really does seem to have a marvelous constitution.”

McKinnes narrowed his eyes as he peered through the tinted glass into his cubicle. “The devil hardens his own. What’s that going in through the back of his hand?”

“Gelofusin,” Dr. Moore said. “It’s a plasma expander.”

McKinnes frowned at him.

“Nothing serious,” Moore assured him. “Where there’s the chance of shock due to a loss of blood volume, a plasma expander is used to put back some bulk. It improves cardiovascular function and helps the transport of oxygen.”

“Does that mean he might regain consciousness soon?”

“It’s likely. There’s no reason — none that I’m aware of — why he should stay unconscious for long.”

“Good, good.” McKinnes nodded absently for a few seconds, then he stepped out into the corridor. “It could all have been a lot worse,” he murmured, taking his leave with a tight smile and an abbreviated wave.

In another part of the hospital, sitting on the edge of a cot in the emergency cubicle, Larry Jackson sipped hot tea and examined his bandaged hand. He was pale, his skin yellowish and waxy under the fluorescent light. The hand holding the tea mug was trembling. A nurse had told him the pallor and the shakes were normal after an accident: she said he wasn’t to worry. He did not think he was particularly worried, but he was certainly depressed: the sleeves and front of his new jacket were streaked and stained with dark dried blood. It was a write-off.

He took a long gulp of the tea, not minding that it scalded his throat. His throbbing headache was beginning to lift, and now that the bandage had been put on his hand the cuts didn’t hurt any longer, although the hand felt three or four times heavier than normal. He was staring at it again when DI Shrapnel pushed the curtain aside and came in. He had several ugly-looking cuts on his cheeks and there was a row of neat stitches on his forehead. His right hand was bandaged.

“Bloody hell,” he growled, doing a swift visual check on Larry, “did you see the van driver’s head? It was like a squashed tomato. Completely squashed.”

“Shut up!” Larry demanded. He had caught one glimpse of the body lying on the road and had been trying to suppress the image ever since.

“Eddie Myers must have a concrete skull,” Shrapnel said. “Did you hear the bang? Christ, I thought I was a goner.”

“I almost was,” Larry said.

Shrapnel kept the curtain pulled back so he could watch the casualty traffic.

“The guy in the van,” he said, craning his neck to see the face on a stretcher going past, “he must have been trying to spring Myers.”

“Or kill him,” Larry said. He finished the tea, put down the mug and stood up. “How could he have known what was going on? I mean, how could he know we were going out, or where we’d be at a particular time...”

With that question hovering over them they left the cubicle and walked along toward the main entrance.

“Maybe it was an accident,” Larry said.

Shrapnel glared at him. “That was no bloody accident!”

No, Larry thought, it probably wasn’t. At the front door he told Shrapnel he wanted a word with one of the doctors. He said he would come straight to the station when he was through.

“Make sure you do. You’ll have to fill out a full accident report. You know how long that’ll take.”

When Shrapnel had gone Larry took the lift to the second floor. He waited half an hour in the corridor outside

Intensive Care until a nurse came and told him he could have a couple of minutes.

The Intensive Care cubicle was very dim, with only a small lamp switched on near the bed; green light from the screen of a monitor radiated eerily into the shadows. Von Joel lay very still, propped on a rigid angled support, his head bandaged and his arm in a sling. A sheet-draped cage protected his legs; drip lines fed into canulas on the backs of his hands. Larry leaned over the bed, listening to the quiet breathing.

“You awake?”

He drew up a chair and sat down. Von Joel’s lips moved.

“Close shave, huh?” he whispered. His eyes opened and he smiled weakly.

“My new jacket’s ruined,” Larry said. “Covered in your blood, mate.”

Von Joel swallowed and gently cleared his throat, a dry sound like crumpling paper.

“You’ve got to call Professor Wallard...”

“Who?”

“He’s my herbalist doctor. It’s important. See, my system is purified, I want to know what I need to take. He’ll give you a list of vitamins, some stuff for bruising, things like that. I won’t take the hospital painkillers or the antibiotics.” His eyes swiveled toward Larry. “Please...”

“Okay.” Larry shrugged. “But for Christ’s sake keep schtum about it.”

There was a tap on the door. The nurse pushed it open and waggled a finger at Larry, telling him it was time to go. Von Joel seized Larry’s hand suddenly and squeezed it. In the intensity of the moment Larry was able to say what he had come to say in the first place.

“Thanks, Eddie...”

The nurse closed the door behind him. She turned to the bed as Von Joel laughed softly. He appeared, suddenly, to be wide awake and highly alert.

“Can you do something for me, Jackie?” he said.

She blinked at him coyly, stepping closer to the bed.

“How do you know my name?”

“It’s on your lapel.” He gave her his widest, warmest smile. “Maybe you can do me this favor — take a message to my mum. Tell her I’m here, and not to worry about me. I don’t want any of my colleagues calling her, putting the fear of God into her. Can you do that little thing for me, Jackie? She’s at the Hyde Park Hotel.”

The nurse made a half-reluctant frown. She looked at him. His smile washed over her again.

“Have you got a pencil?” he said.

“Sure.” She handed him one from her pocket. “I suppose you want paper. I’ll get some from Sister’s office...”

By the time Larry had written up his reports of the accident, typed them in a slow, two-fingered, deliberate hammer that matched his headache, it was past two in the morning. He let himself in, shutting the front door quietly, and then crept into the living room. He didn’t want to wake Susan or the kids, didn’t want to have to go into all the details of the accident again, he just wanted to crash out on the sofa, but his head kept up the throb, and he had to get some aspirin. He sat at the kitchen table, gulping down the tap water as he popped one aspirin after another into his mouth. He reckoned five’d shift it, but an hour later, with a cushion under his head, his jacket over his chest, the headache persisted, felt, if anything, worse. An aspirin felt as if it had lodged itself in his chest.

The sofa was uncomfortable, too soft. His back began to ache. He sighed, tried curling up on his side, then he felt cold, really chilled.

The fake gas logs gave the room a warm glow, and as he sat staring into the bluish flames, he wondered how Von Joel was. He could still feel, or thought he could, the strange moment when Von Joel had gripped his hand. He’d seemed vulnerable, almost afraid... Larry rested back on the sofa and closed his eyes. At last he was getting drowsy, and he dozed, but after a moment he woke with a start as it happened all over again. The voices shouting, the terror when he’d seen that blue Transit van hurtling toward the car. It all flashed in his head, fast brilliant pictures: he heard Von Joel calling, screaming for him to get down, felt Von Joel throwing his body across the car, the screech of tires, the cracking, crunching sound of the splintering glass and twisting metal. He recalled the awful moment when Von Joel, protecting Larry, saving Larry, took the main impact of the truck as it rammed the side of the car. He could feel Von Joel in his arms, the weight of him held against his own chest, as the blood streamed down his smashed and gashed head. If Von Joel hadn’t leaned over, Larry knew it would have been his own head, his own face slashed by the glass. He would have been in the Intensive Care unit...

“He saved my life.” It came out, but softly, and it shook Larry that he had spoken the words aloud. “He saved my life,” he repeated, and he looked to the mantel where the photographs of his sons smiled at him. It was then he wept, part delayed shock, part relief, and his sobs he kept muffled, hugging the cushion, as he had held onto Von Joel, holding it tightly, not wanting Susan to hear, not wanting anyone to know just how scared he had been.

Early the next morning two frogmen, searching the bed of the Thames at a stretch beside Tower Bridge, hauled up a heavy cylindrical object encrusted with silt, gravel, and decomposing matter from the riverbed. It was taken on board a police launch for examination. When it had been soaked in clean water and gently scrubbed, it was found to be a length of heavy-gauge hessian sacking, wrapped tightly around a shotgun.

Later in the morning, in a discreet office building near Wigmore Street, Larry Jackson was shown into the consulting room of Von Joel’s herbal specialist.

Professor Arnold Wallard was a lean snowy-haired man, magnificently tanned, with a broad natural smile and bright, intelligent eyes the color of flint. His age, Larry thought, would have been impossible to determine from his appearance alone. He wore a gray Italian wool suit, a pale blue broadcloth shirt, and a dark flowered silk tie.

The receptionist closed the door behind Larry and the Professor beckoned him to sit by the magnificent George III desk and unburden himself.

“And do take your time, Mr. Jackson. Haste is bad for the spirit. It plays havoc with the digestion too.”

Larry explained Von Joel’s condition in as much detail as he could, and answered most of the Professor’s questions about the extent and degree of his injuries. The Professor listened carefully, nodding, scribbling an occasional note. When Larry had finished he tented his fingers and stared at the window.

“I believe,” he said slowly, “that I can best serve my patient by making sure that his vital functions, particularly those of the liver and kidneys, are reinforced and quickened during the healing phase — they are, after all, the very functions that will be crucial to the complete recovery of his system.”

He opened a drawer, took out a sheet of notepaper, and set it in front of him. Carefully he unscrewed the cap from a black fountain pen and poised the gold nib over the paper.

“I will make a list, Mr. Jackson, which I want you to take to a herbal dispensary. I will also give you some preparations of my own to take with you. They are what we call cholagogues — preparations to encourage the flow of bile from the liver — and there are teas and tinctures to stimulate kidney function. Then of course there is the important task of detoxifying the system...”

Over a fragrant cup of herbal tea Larry found himself learning again. Between jotted additions to the list, Professor Wallard explained the necessity of removing waste products — he called them metabolites and chemical toxins — from the system, and the importance of accelerating the cleansing process in a body which is injured and therefore vulnerable to the buildup of harmful substances.

Larry also learned something about alternatives, medicines designed to change the metabolism to help the tissues deal better with nutrition and elimination. And there were the aperients, cardioactives, and carminatives, all with their roles to play in restoring and maintaining health.

“The catalog is practically endless, Mr. Jackson, but so is the inventory of human ailments...”

A multitude of hazards had to be considered in a case of physical injury, he said. There was, for example, the danger of low hemoglobin levels, leading to the reduction in the circulation’s ability to carry oxygen, which could lead to anemia.

“Vitamin B is the stuff for that, Mr. Jackson. We must see he does not go without it...”

And there was, of course, the matter of pain relief. Herbalists in Britain, the Professor explained, are nowadays forbidden by law from making use of the analgesic j’ properties of the opium poppy. But there are other natural painkillers, all of them highly effective in the hands of j a skilled prescriber — substances like gelsemium, California poppy, aconite, which is sometimes called wolfsbane, and wild lettuce.

“And the bruising,” Professor Wallard said, “will respond best to arnica — I don’t know if you’re familiar with it at all? It contains certain vasoactive substances — that is, they exert an effect on the caliber of the blood vessels — and although these substances are of frankly uncertain identity, they are extremely effective against bruising, sprains, and swelling...”

The Professor, with infectious enthusiasm, went on for longer than the allotted thirty minutes, filling Larry’s head with snippets and summaries, throwing out hints and tips as he produced neatly packaged preparations from boxes and drawers and put the names of others on the list.

By the time Larry left, he had listened to more about herbalism than he’d believed he ever could. If a tenth of it stuck, it would be acres more than he had known before today. He went off clutching a bag of herbal preparations in one hand and the list in the other, with a map drawn on the back showing him where to find the herbal pharmacy.

He whistled as he hurried along the road, relishing the continuing change in himself and the widening of his horizons. He felt powerfully elated. Knowledge, he thought, was a wonderful thing. And so was herbal tea.

At three-thirty that afternoon, as Larry parked his car outside the house, Susan was sitting at the kitchen table, tittering girlishly at a story DC Colin Frisby was telling her. He was on his hands and knees on the floor by the sink, trying to repair a faulty cupboard door. He found the position no drawback to his style. When he talked to a woman he used his head a lot, moving it this way and that to accompany his parade of expressions; he used different expressions to give his face some animated appeal. He was sure women loved the way he did that.

“No, no, straight up,” he protested, as Susan laughingly dismissed a detail of his yarn. “She said, ‘Well, if you think you’ve got the right girl, search me.’ So I’m doing the business and it’s pat-pat here, pat-pat there, and my Guv’nor walks up: ‘Morning, ma’am,’ he says...” Frisby froze for the punch, his face a masterpiece of loveable fallibility. “She was the new DCI! No kidding!” He waited until Susan’s delighted giggles died away. “You got a screwdriver at all, love?”

In the meantime Larry had let himself in. He opened the door from the hallway and came into the kitchen. The presence of DC Frisby was a surprise. Larry froze by the door.

“Hi!” Susan got up, waving a hand toward the visitor. “I persuaded him to fix the door on that cupboard.” She kissed Larry’s cheek, a light touch of her dry lips. “How are you feeling?” She nodded at Frisby again, who was smiling chummily. “When he came back yesterday, he—”

“I’m fine,” Larry told her, his elation gone, a coldness moving in his stomach. “I’ll pick up the kids if you like.”

“No need, they’ve got football practice until seven. Do you want a cup of tea?” Susan turned to Frisby. “Refill, Colin?”

Frisby was doing an impression of a man suddenly engrossed in a tricky job. Larry asked Susan to give them a second together. Susan went out, pulling a face at Frisby.

“Thanks for dropping by,” Larry said when the door closed.

Frisby mumbled something.

“McKinnes put someone on my kids’ school, is that right?”

Frisby nodded, eyes half-lidded, implying he knew more.

“Well” — Larry gave him a buddy-buddy wink — “don’t let me interrupt you.” He glanced at the cupboard. “Now you’ve started, you might as well finish.”

Frisby nodded again. Larry left the kitchen and went upstairs, taking the bag of herbal preparations with him before Susan poked her nose in and started grilling him. When he had tucked the stuff in the bottom of the wardrobe he stood by the window, hearing Susan and Frisby talking downstairs.

“Little fart.”

Larry heard Frisby laughing again, Susan’s voice answering him about which way she wanted the cupboard to hang, and it irritated him — he didn’t really know why. Frisby and he had never particularly got on and now he seemed to be making himself well and truly at home. Larry was about to go downstairs again, when he thought, “Sod it, I’d never get that ruddy cupboard fixed anyway.” Instead he wondered how he was going to get all Von Joel’s herbal kit into the hospital without DI Shrapnel or one or other of the officers asking him what the hell he was doing. He reckoned a few pounds of grapes’d cover the bag. He knew he shouldn’t be taking even the grapes in, but somehow he felt he owed Van Joel, and besides, he told himself, the stuff’d probably get him cured and out of the hospital faster.

As he passed the kitchen, calling out that he was on his way, Frisby was standing back admiring his handiwork with the cupboard door. Susie beamed from the doorway.

“It’s on the other way around now, much better than the old one, means I don’t keep banging the fridge.”

“Great, I’ll see you later then.”

She gave him a kiss and went back into the kitchen, not even seeing him off. Larry slammed the front door. Maybe having Frisby around was a good thing, they needed the hall redecorated. Maybe he’d mention it to the snide bastard when he saw him at the station. Frisby was certainly making himself at bloody home.

Larry stopped off at the local grocers and bought two and a half pounds of black grapes. He balanced the bag, carefully placing it on top of the herbal medicines in the plastic carrier bag, and went on to the hospital.

15

A moment before the door opened Von Joel was joking with the late-duty nurse, coaxing her to undo a couple of buttons at the top of her uniform. When he heard Larry Jackson outside talking to the Sister he lay back and closed his eyes. His smile faded away. The nurse looked at him curiously.

Larry came in almost on tiptoe, peering at the still figure on the bed.

“Is it okay?”

The nurse nodded. “But don’t be too long.” She smoothed the bedclothes, leaned close to Von Joel. “Will you want a sleeping tablet tonight?”

“You know what I want,” Von Joel said, his voice barely audible.

The nurse left the room, smiling secretively. Larry lifted the bag, showed off his grapes, and then placed them on the bedside table. He then looked down at the cabinet and stuffed the herbal gear inside. As he did so, Von Joel opened his eyes.

“Stuff you wanted from the herbalist,” Larry said, pulling a chair up to the bedside and sitting down. “The Professor said to use the arnica as directed — there’s liquid, a pot of cream, and some of it in tablet form. He sent you a few herbal teas, too, and other stuff. I got the items he put on the list from a pharmacy. There’s instructions with everything.”

Von Joel smiled his thanks. He seemed very weak. His eyes followed Larry’s every move with a strange unfathomable hooded stare, as if he didn’t quite trust him. It was a bit unnerving, seeing him so vulnerable, so dependent.

“Listen” — Larry glanced at the window — “nick any hospital labels you can get your hands on and stick them on the packets and bottles. If it gets out that I brought in anything, I’ll be for it.” He sat back and folded his arms. “So. How’s things?” Larry gave a gentle smile, unsure of himself. A guilty feeling was lurking behind the smile he tried to make so casual.

Von Joel’s dark eyes kept searching Larry’s face, and when he spoke his voice was husky with emotion.

“Sometimes...” He stopped and frowned. “It’s something in your eyes but sometimes, you are so like my kid brother.”

Larry shifted uncomfortably. Without warning or any obvious reason, Von Joel’s eyes filled with tears.

“I need to talk about something, Larry. It’s not about grassing, nothing to do with that. It’s just — just something I want you to know. About Mickey, my brother.”

Larry felt even more uneasy now. He unfolded his arms, then folded them again when he couldn’t think what to do with his hands.

“That stiff they found in Italy,” Von Joel said, “it was Mickey. And listen — I didn’t kill him.”

There was a pause. Von Joel closed his eyes, breathing carefully, tears coursing down his cheeks. Larry leaned forward, about to say something, but Von Joel spoke again.

“We were sent to foster homes, me and him, but he got a raw deal. I was adopted by a well-to-do couple, they used to travel a lot. I lived in Canada, New York...” He opened his eyes and smiled wanly. “She was a flake, but they treated me okay — well, for a while they did. But Mickey, poor bastard...” He wiped his eyes with the back of his free hand. “The people he was put with, they beat the living daylights out of him. He kept on running away, and nobody tried to find out why or where he was running to. He kept all my postcards — it was as if they were all he had of me, all he possessed of a real family.”

Larry pulled a tissue from the box on the bedside cabinet and handed it across.

“He was always trying to find me, and he got so messed up. In his head, you know? He was on the street, boozing, doing dings. Mickey was a born loser. He died one.” Von Joel’s head jerked around on the pillow. He looked directly at Larry. “I’ve got that stolen money stashed. McKinnes must have told you about it.”

“Come on, now,” Larry warned him, “don’t—”

“Mickey was the only one I could trust with picking it up. I gave him my word he’d be okay...” Von Joel let out a shaky breath, drawing his hand down over his eyes. “All he had to do was get his act together.”

“Listen...” Larry was getting agitated. “You shouldn’t be telling me this.”

“I couldn’t get back into England to collect. I was trapped, hunted by the cops, and by the blokes I’d screwed. So I needed Mickey. The dough was stashed in the trunk of a girlfriend’s car.” With a half smile he added, “In a police pound.”

He started to cough, his chest rattling ominously. Larry helped him sit further up against the pillows.

“All he had to do,” Von Joel went on, “was deposit it in a safety box, then fly to Italy to join me, bringing the key with him, of course. I had to know it was safe, you understand? Then, when the heat was off me, I’d collect it.”

Larry had given up trying to protest. He would save it for later. Meanwhile he sat and listened. He was fascinated.

“I had hired a boat, it was moored off the harbor, and I waited for him. See, I couldn’t be sure Mickey could handle bringing the cash, I didn’t want to get him in trouble. Anyway, I waited most of the night, and then, after hours of just sitting there, I heard him. He was singing, actually singing, and shouting out my name. He was so eager to see me, waving his arms around, standing up in his little rowboat, drunk out of his mind. He’d already dipped into my dough, he’d got a flashy suit on. He kept on yelling, ‘We did it, Eddie, I did it, Eddie...’ ” Von Joel’s eyes pressed shut for a second. “Then he fell.”

“Christ,” Larry breathed.

“I jumped in, of course. The current was a real bitch. I couldn’t see anything, everything was cloudy and murky. I was in the water for hours trying to find him. For a while I could actually hear him, ‘Eddie? Eddie? Eddie...’ ”

Larry had to lean forward to catch the words choked in Von Joel’s throat. “He was calling me, kept on calling me, and it got fainter and fainter, but I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t find him, and I clung on to the stupid bloody boat he’d rowed out in, hanging on, hoping I’d see him, find him...” His voice was no more than a whisper. “I never found him, Larry, I never found him. I kept up the search all night, but he just disappeared... My brother, in that fuckin’ stupid suit, and all the past, our past, kept coming back, like when we were kids crying and holding on to each other because we had no one else. I could see him, Larry, when he was... eight, maybe less. He had this spiky hair, you know, the kind that no matter how many matrons spit and lick it down, still sticks up at the back, and I remember him sayin’ ‘Don’t go, Eddie, stay with me.’ But when I was adopted, they didn’t even let us say good-bye. Mickey was up in a window, shouting out, ‘He’s my brother, don’t take my brother away...’ and I couldn’t wait, never even turned back. I just wanted to get the hell out of that shit hole!”

Larry didn’t know what to say, so he remained silent, watching as Von Joel continued. His voice was flat, unemotional now.

“The Coast Guard found his body two weeks later. I went to identify him. Then it came to me. Why not let Mickey be me? That was when I did the switch — my watch, my wedding ring...” Von Joel shook his head. “The key went in the ocean with Mickey and it stayed there. That’s the crazy part! The dough, it’s still sitting in the bank vault.”

Larry picked at the edge of the bandage on his hand.

“Why are you telling me this?” he said.

“When you smile you remind me of Mickey. No other reason.”

Von Joel rubbed his damaged shoulder while Larry tried to see matters straight, tried to ignore the distortions of flattery and sentimentality.

“I’ve never killed anyone, Larry. I fence cash, I make deals, but I never hurt anybody. On my life. But Mickey...” Von Joel’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I still hear him some nights, calling out for me, and I can’t find him.” He shook himself. “I’m not all bad.” He sighed. “At least I saved you, Larry.”

“I’m glad you did,” Larry said, wondering how much of this he should tell McKinnes.

Next morning, talking to the chief in the busy operations room at St. John’s Row, Larry decided to keep the details of his visit sketchy. He told McKinnes that Von Joel was fairly weak but appeared to be mending. He added that there was no apparent breakdown in the rapport he and the prisoner had established during their time together in the safe house.

“I think he relies on me, in a way,” Larry added.

“Keep up the visits,” McKinnes told him. “It’s good he trusts you.” A telephone on the desk beside them rang.

McKinnes snatched it up. “Yep!” He covered the mouthpiece. “Nothing on the shooter we found,” he told Larry, half listening to the caller. “Ballistics are still working on it. Serial number’s been filed off, of course.” He jerked his head at the door. “Go home. Take a break.” He stiffened suddenly, giving the caller his full attention. “What? Shit! No, no, nobody’s mentioned it. I’ve got no option then, have I? I’ll sort it.”

McKinnes slammed down the phone as DI Shrapnel appeared to tell him the car was ready. McKinnes pulled him aside.

“They need all the safe cells,” he muttered. “They’ve got a bunch of IRA suspects coming in off the boat. We’re going to have to find a place for Myers.” He watched Shrapnel make a sour face. “You think I like it?”

“Do they get priority, then?” Shrapnel demanded as they moved away. “This is a bad time, Jimmy. We need all the men we’ve got...”

Larry watched them go. All at once he was feeling ignored again. Excluded. He had forgotten what an unpleasant sensation that was.

He looked around the room, watching men and women hurrying around in overlapping circuits, waving paper at each other and shouting down telephones, sustaining the drama of a top-level operation against the frenetic background of computers and radio links and fax machines. Larry wanted to be a part of this productive maelstrom. He needed to be a cog, because involvement was essential to his sense of himself. He was not one of nature’s loners.

He stared at a deskful of stacked files and photographs, wondering at the amount of activity one man could set in motion. It occurred to him that maybe there was something to be said for loner status after all. Especially when there was no alternative. At its best, solo operation made for focused efficiency. And properly handled, it meant the incidental glory did not have to be shared.

He had an idea.

The Sheffields’ house was small and neat, with a smell like a freshly opened tin of wax polish. Moyra Sheffield showed Larry into the lounge, explaining that she had been about to have elevenses when he rang the doorbell. While she went to the kitchen Larry put his coat over the back of a sofa and sat down.

He looked around the room, imagining himself in a G-Plan advert where they had used too much colored ink. The floral curtains had the same pattern as the matching two-seater sofas; the carpet was floral, too, though darker and with larger flowers. There was a strenuous sense of pairing and mirroring, as if nothing could be allowed to stand out on its own. The window ledge and sideboard were crowded with vases, posy bowls, and tiny porcelain knickknacks; in the corner was a display cabinet filled with Capo di Monte.

Moyra reappeared carrying a tray. She set it down on the coffee table in front of Larry. The teapot, cups, saucers, and a plate of chocolate biscuits were arranged on a crisp linen cloth.

“There we are then...”

She poured the tea, put a cup in front of Larry, and sat on the sofa beside him. She placed a plastic-covered photograph album on his knees. He waited for an explanation; when none came he opened the album. On the first page was an eight-by-ten color print of a man and woman standing arm in arm, smiling frozenly at the camera. At first the faces didn’t register.

“That’s me and Eddie on our wedding day.”

She had been an attractive girl, Larry noticed. The man beside her was practically unrecognizable. He hadn’t exactly aged since the picture was taken. It was more dramatic than that. Time had worked a transformation. Or something had.

“How long were you together?”

“Five years.”

Larry turned the page, trying to grasp the notion of Von Joel getting into bed with this woman every night for five years. Imagination wouldn’t stretch to it.

Moyra inched closer and pointed to a picture.

“That was Rex, Eddie’s dog. He died years ago, in fact just after he... Poor thing used to wait at the door, wouldn’t go out, or eat. He missed him, you see. Eventually he forgot him, but he didn’t live long after. The vet put him down in the end. Eddie broke his heart. He broke mine too.”

Larry continued turning the pages. The pictures were commonplace, no more than off-center and occasionally off-focus slices of dead times, a mundane record of a relationship that had ceased to exist outside the covers of the album.

Moyra clasped and unclasped her hands. The flick-flick of the thick album pages turning brought back memories, but she wasn’t really looking. It was the picture of Rex that stayed in her mind. Rex sitting outside the gate, his head strained forward as if listening, waiting to hear Eddie’s familiar whistle. The whistle never came, and Rex never gave up. Day after day he sat there. When she had taken out his bowl of food and water, he had refused it, and wouldn’t come back indoors. Then, after a few days, he had started walking up to the end of the road, standing there, waiting. At night she would slip the curtain aside and see him, back at the gates, lying with his head resting on his paws, and her pity turned to anger. It had been Moyra’s decision to have him put down. The vet had suggested he would in time come back into the house, but by then Moyra didn’t want him, couldn’t stand the sight of the dog. She had insisted the vet put him down. She hadn’t wanted another home to be found for him. She wanted him gone, as if all her anger and feeling of betrayal were directed to the mute animal who pined for Eddie.

“Eddie was different.” Moyra sounded wistful. “He said everything around here felt predetermined. He’d say the worst thing was knowing how you’re going to be and what you’ll be doing years before it happens.” She drank her tea with a soft slurp. “I think he got into robbery out of frustration, like he wanted something to happen. I tried to talk to him, but he’d say what’s the alternative? He was a car salesman with Kenrick’s, not bad money, and they liked him, said he would make manager. But he left.”

Quite suddenly Moyra began to cry. Larry wasn’t sure what to do. He decided to sit tight, go on staring at the album and wait for her to gather herself.

“He had his breakfast,” she said, wiping her eyes with a tissue, “kissed me, like every day. I was making the bed when I saw this black rubbish bag, you know the garbage can liners, and it had an elastic band tied around the top. When I opened it, it was full of his clothes, the ones he didn’t want. I never saw him again. No letter, no reason.”

“Did you ever meet his brother? Mickey?”

Moyra frowned, looking puzzled.

“He didn’t have a brother,” she said. “When I met him, all he had in the world was what he stood up in! I don’t even know where he came from. Not from around here. I used to ask him about his past, but he’d just go silent.” She sniffed. “I hated it when he did that.”

“Are you sure he didn’t have a brother?”

“He never had so much as a letter from anyone, Mr. Jackson. I know he’d traveled a lot, mind you. I saw his passport once — Canada, America even...”

Larry began to find the sofa restricting for his legs, the seating angle put leverage on a few of the bruises he had picked up in the crash. He stood, stretched for a moment, and went to the window. He peered out at houses identical to this one.

“Tell me about Italy,” he said, turning to face Moyra. “It’s very important, Mrs. Sheffield. What happened in Italy?”

A muffled bump in the hallway heralded the opening of the living room door. Phil Sheffield came in. He was wearing overalls. “What’s this?” He glared at Larry, then at his wife. “You all right, Moyra?”

“This is Detective Sergeant Jackson,” she said, striving for polite formality. “Phil, my husband...”

Larry nodded, noticing the man was fully on his guard, his big hands clenched into fists at his sides. “Hasn’t she been put through enough?” he demanded. “Ah, I’m just trying to establish a few facts, actually.” Larry came forward to the center of the room, coughing diffidently into a furled hand. “There’s no need for anyone to get upset. Were you with your wife when she identified the body of Eddie Myers, Phil? Okay if I call you Phil?”

“Suit yourself. But your crowd should leave us alone.” Phil turned sharply to his wife. “Moyra, take the tray out. Go on, love.” She did as she was told. Larry believed she looked frightened.

When she had gone he stood staring at Phil Sheffield, hoping his rank would make up for any lack of authority the man found in his appearance. “What happened in Italy?” he said, making it serious but not too stern. “It’s important.” Phil shrugged. He walked a slow oval between the door and the window, coming back to stand near Larry. “She was in such a state, she couldn’t have ID’d her own mother. The body was all bloated and it stunk to high heaven. She was hysterical.”

“So you identified him?”

“I got a photograph...” Phil gestured vaguely with his hands. “They showed us his watch, it looked like him, yeah.”

“And you gave permission for the body to be cremated?”

“I couldn’t. She had to do that.” Phil lowered his head, looking up at Larry from under his eyebrows. “You going to get him for murder, are you?” Larry said nothing. “If it wasn’t Eddie Myers’s own body in Italy, then he must have killed the bloke.” Phil shook his head. “He’s a dirty grass.” He leaned closer to Larry, raising a finger. “I hope you lock him up for life and let the ones inside punish him. Nobody likes a squealer. Nobody.” Larry nodded. It hadn’t occurred to him, until now, that Phil Sheffield might have done time. Moyra watched Jackson leaving, hidden behind the draped curtain in the front bedroom. The room had been redecorated since Eddie had left, the whole house had, but it was as if his presence had suddenly returned, as if Rex was still waiting at the gates, as if... Phil knocked on the door, an irritating light tap she didn’t answer.

“You want a cup of something, love?”

Moyra stared at her reflection in the dressing-table mirror, not answering, not caring, and when he knocked again she pursed her lips.

“Leave me alone, Phil!”

“What?”

Moyra clenched her hands. “I said just leave me alone for a bit.”

She heard him banging down the stairs, then heard his footsteps coming back. This time there was no light tap on the door, and he kicked it open.

“I’ll leave you alone, Moyra, but any more of this carrying on and I’ll go down to the pub, and I’ll bloody stay there...”

“I just need to get myself together. It’s all—”

“All what?” he snapped.

She sat on the edge of the bed, plucking at the bedspread that matched the floral curtains. She just wanted to be left alone. He came and sat just behind her and she stared at him through the mirror, looked at his concerned, confused face, watched as his big hand reached out, to touch her back, a gentle, sweet move that made her cringe, but she managed a smile.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, love...” He inched closer and wrapped his arms around her. Her body was stiff and unresponsive. “I’ll put the kettle on, make you a cup of tea, yeah? You’ll feel better then.”

She nodded, and felt relief as he got up and walked out, closing the door behind him. She flopped back, turning to bury her face in the coverlet, afraid he would hear her, hear the sobs that shook her body. After all these years, the pain was as raw as it had been when Eddie left. She had loved him, loved him so much, and nothing anyone said made it easier. Time didn’t heal her pain and neither could sweet big-hearted Phil. It had been better when she believed he was dead, then at least she knew no one else had him. But Eddie was alive, had been alive all these years. No letter, no explanation why he had left in the first place. Had she really meant so little to him? Had she done something to him, said something that had made him go? All the questions came back as fresh as they had been when he had walked out, and they were still unanswered.

“You don’t know anythin’ about him, Moyra!” That was her father.

“He’s very handsome, love, but, you know, you’re so young, your whole life is ahead of you. Wait. Why don’t you wait? It’s just a few weeks, Moyra, you can’t know what you want in that short time.” That was her mother.

“You don’t know anything about him.” That was her father again. But Moyra hadn’t listened to anyone, even her friends. They’d all been suspicious of the dark handsome boy who just suddenly appeared in their local pub one night. It had not been Eddie who had made the first move, but Moyra. She’d watched him standing, leaning against the bar. It had been Moyra who had gone up to him, after passing him twice to go to the ladies, and he had not given her so much as a second glance. Moyra wasn’t used to that. She was exceptionally pretty, a daddy’s girl. Only daughter of a wealthy builder, she’d even been given a new car for her seventeenth birthday, all tied up with a big blue ribbon... Moyra had virtually always got what she wanted, all the local boys chased her, her mother had said she could have had her pick of any one of them, but Moyra had gone after Eddie.

The tea was a bit stewed and Phil sat smoking, the ashtray piled up with cigarette butts. She walked in and sat down, drawing the cup with the rose pattern closer. She was about to reach for the sweeteners when Phil said softly he’d already put one in. Moyra looked into his concerned face. His eyes seemed a little afraid, almost unable to meet her wide, baby blue, daddy’s baby’s eyes.

“I love you, Moyra, I love you so much...”

“Yes, I know,” she whispered.

“You do love me, don’t you?” Phil asked, flushing.

“You know I do...” and his smile made her want to weep, because it was so unlike Eddie’s. He was so unlike Eddie.

“They’ll lock the bastard up well and good now, he won’t get out for a long time, if ever.” Phil’s mouth turned down, his face, a moment ago flushed with embarrassed love, was now taut with anger. “I’d fuckin’ like to strangle the shit.”

“So would I,” said Moyra, as she sipped the cold tea. But she knew, if he walked in the door, looked at her with that half-mocking wonderful smile, she would, like she had all those years ago, walk out with Eddie, run away with him, to the end of the world if that’s where he wanted to go. But he hadn’t wanted her — no letter, no phone call, nothing. She would never understand why he had hurt her, when all she had ever done was love him.

16

In the sitting room of Suite 340 at the Hyde Park Hotel Lola del Moreno was taking a telephone call. It was nine o’clock in the evening; she had just stepped from the bath when the call came. Now she stood wrapped in a towel, listening as Detective Sergeant Jackson explained himself. Charlotte Lampton stood beside Lola. She was grinning.

“You are in reception?” Lola said. “You want to come up and see me?” She wriggled, making Charlotte giggle. “I’m all alone. No! No! Please come up.”

She put down the receiver and screeched with laughter.

“I don’t believe it!” she howled. “I do not believe it! He’s here... He’s here! At the Hyde Park Hotel!”

“Brilliant.” Charlotte was suddenly bustling and businesslike. “Okay...” She grabbed her handbag. “I’m off. Put some clothes on.” She picked up her coat as Lola hurried into the bedroom. “No, on second thoughts, don’t.” She went to the door. “Get whatever you can out of him,” she called. “I’ll get them to send up food. And open the champagne, it’s chilled already. Who’s the lucky girl?”

Lola emerged from the bedroom in a smoky see-through wrap.

“Don’t you mean lucky boy?” she said, winking. “Go on, hurry! He’ll be here — oh!” A thought occurred. “Oysters! Get oysters!”

Less than three minutes later Larry was standing outside Suite 340, combing the fingers of both hands through his hair. He took a deep breath and tapped the door with his knuckles, trying to make it soft, nothing like the harsh rap he used as the bearer of tough tidings. Coming up in the lift he had asked himself, again, what he was doing here. Beyond the superficial excuses it wasn’t simple to rationalize. There were several reasons. For a start, he didn’t want to feel excluded from the case, even during a lull when there was no option but to suspend questioning. And now there was incentive to keep himself involved, because he had either been made privy to an important secret, or he had been spun a cynical lie by a man he had begun to trust and respect. There was, too, the undeniable fact that Larry was a changed person — changed and still changing — and he wanted to explore the limits of the alteration in himself. To do that he had to skirt his normal patterns of behavior. It was also true that he didn’t really want to go home yet, but he refused to let his mind do any probing in that area.

He knocked on the door again, unaware that Charlotte Lampton was peeping at him around the corner of the corridor.

The door opened and Larry felt something like a blow at his solar plexus. Lola, small and beautiful, stood before him in her diaphanous wrap, her golden body a shadowy glow through the folds.

“Hi!” she said brightly, smiling, showing him her perfect teeth. “Come in.”

She turned away sharply and walked back into the apartment, leaving Larry standing in the doorway. Awkwardly he straightened his tie and stepped inside, closing the door. His feet were silent on the rich carpet Lola settled herself in the corner of a chaise longue, folding one leg beneath her with a flash of thigh. She indicated a chair opposite. Larry sat down, quietly dazzled by her, hardly able to believe this was the same woman who had radiated such malice and called him a little prick the last time they met. He began, haltingly, to explain why he was there, but Lola interrupted him wordlessly by getting up and wandering out of the room. She i came back carrying an ice bucket between her small hands, a bottle of Cordon Rouge sticking up out of the ice. She put the bucket on a side table, snatched up the champagne bottle and opened it with an admirable lack of struggle. Larry took up the thread of his story again. He explained how he had managed to trace Lola to the Hyde Park Hotel. “I called the villa, you see. The housekeeper said, after a bit of difficulty, because I don’t really speak Spanish... anyway, she explained that you—” Lola handed him a glass of champagne. “How is he?” she said, shortcutting the narrative. “He’s okay. He... there was an accident, a car crash. But he’s fine.” Lola sipped her champagne and lowered herself onto the chaise lounge again, elegantly blasé, exposing so much leg this time that Larry had to glance away. When he looked at her again she was smiling pleasantly, apparently unconcerned by the news about Von Joel.

“So what brings you to London?” he asked. “What do you think?”

Lola sipped from her glass and appeared to hold the champagne in her mouth for a moment before she slowly swallowed it. “I also needed some new clothes. Azzedine Alaia is divine.” She tilted her head. “You like sexy clothes, yes? This man is special because he has, how do you say, finesse? Yes? Class.” Larry let that wash over him. He took a cautious sip from his glass, savored the mellow tang, then took a bigger sip.

“How long have you known Eddie... Philip?”

“Two and a half years,” Lola said. “We lived together for the past eighteen months.” She leaned forward, displaying quality cleavage. “Can you give him a message? Will you tell him Bruno and Sasha are fine? They are the dogs. Do you have a dog?”

“No. Tell me, have you ever heard Philip mention a brother?”

“No.”

“His name was Mickey.”

“I’ve never heard of him.” Lola got up and brought over the champagne bottle. As she topped up Larry’s glass the door buzzer sounded.

“I hope you haven’t eaten,” Lola said, putting down the bottle. “I ordered for two.”

She went to the door and opened it. A steward brought in a trolley covered with silver dishes and wheeled it to the center of the room. He locked the wheels and deftly flipped out the leaves, turning the trolley into a table. He put a chair at either end, and as he arranged glasses and cutlery Lola told him he could open the wine. She pointed to the leather folder with the service bill.

“You want me to sign?”

The steward opened the folder and held out his pen.

“No, no...” Larry came forward, flapping his hand, embarrassed at the mounting generosity. “I’ll do this.”

Lola stared at him as he took the pen.

“I insist,” he muttered.

“Gracias.” Lola smiled. “Excuse me, one minute...”

As she walked off to the bedroom Larry looked at the bill and felt a thump in his stomach for the second time that evening. He looked up, gave the steward a strained smile.

“Will you take a check? I’ve got a card...”

The steward inclined his head gently, just once, assenting with the merest shadow of a smile. Larry, fighting down speculation about how he would explain this one, fished out his checkbook and flipped it open.

When the steward had lit the candles he left. A moment later Lola came out of the bedroom wearing a skimpy black evening dress with a semitransparent top. She turned a dimmer switch on the wall, lowering the lights until the warm candle glow was the brightest illumination in the room. She sat at one end of the small table and motioned for Larry to take the chair at the other end.

“This is delightful, yes?” For a moment she gazed at the dishes set out before them, then pointed at one, an iced tureen, and lifted the lid. “Oysters.” She smiled at Larry, her teeth lustrous in the candlelight. “Do you like oysters?”

“I’ve never had one.”

Lola scooped a little champagne into the bowl of a dessert spoon. With her fingers she placed the flesh of an oyster on top, being careful not to spill any champagne.

“Allow me,” she said, leaning toward Larry with the spoon. “The first time must be savored, and you will either love it or want to puke. Open your mouth, Sergeant...”

Larry drew back his head, squinting at the unlovely presence under his nose.

“Come on,” Lola coaxed, “open wide.”

Larry opened his mouth, simultaneously closing his eyes. Lola pushed the spoon gently into his mouth, tilting it to make the oyster slide onto his tongue. A trickle of champagne ran down his chin.

“Swallow. Swallow it, don’t chew, that’s not the point. The whole point is the sensation, the texture of the oyster slithering down your throat.”

Lawrence gulped as the cold flesh touched the back of his throat. The oyster slipped over his tongue and was gone. He stared at Lola, dabbing his chin with his napkin.

“Well?”

“Nice!”

“The second is as important as the first,” she said. “If you liked numero uno, the next qualifies the experience, so that the memory, the total taste sensation, will be conjured up every time you order them.”

As delicately as before, she eased the spoon past Larry’s lips and let the oyster and the champagne glide onto his tongue.

“They are also an aphrodisiac, taste being one of the main senses of the equilibrium. Now...” Lola poured Larry a glass of red wine, then one for herself. She picked up Larry’s glass and held it close to his face. “Smell. No, no, don’t drink it, smell it, tell me what it’s like... the bouquet.”

Larry sniffed, sniffed again, then shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

Lola put her elbow on the table and leaned forward, eyes lowered confidentially.

“My father,” she said, “can tell twenty-two different vintages just by sniffing the cork.” She paused. “He is an alcoholic.”

They both laughed. As the sound of it died they stared at each other across the table.

“Well, Sergeant,” Lola said, “are you going to screw me or not?”

Larry felt his mouth drop open.

During the next ten minutes, or it could have been twenty, Larry revisited the sweating tensions of his adolescent days, the gland-locked period of his life when just the closeness of a girl put his mind and body in such a ferment that he could neither think nor act rationally. Sex in those days had worked on him like a brain solvent, wrecking his coordination and obliterating his sense of right and wrong; when the urge struck, all that mattered was the headlong drive to penetrate and climax.

At some point in the proceedings music had started to play, sexy music with a strident beat, flawlessly reproduced and pulsing through the scented air of the bedroom, which they had reached by a process unclear to Larry. He fell back across the bed, mildly surprised at the effect of only two glasses of champagne. He tried to stop Lola as she began unbuttoning his shirt.

“I’ve got to go,” he protested. He hadn’t been this excited over a woman in years, and in one ludicrous respect this time was unique: he was the one resisting. “This is crazy.”

Ignoring his protests, Lola pulled the front of his shirt wide open and began licking his nipples. As he groaned she stopped and looked up at him.

“It isn’t crazy.” She touched his lips. “You’re not doing anything wrong. I am eighteen.”

“What?” Larry stared at her, stricken. “Eighteen?”

“I consent,” Lola said, kissing his neck. She began undoing his belt. “And I have banana-flavored condoms.”

Lawrence cupped his hands around her face, drawing her close to him.

“I can’t do this,” he said, his voice agonized. “Please...”

“You don’t have to do anything,” Lola whispered, easing her face from his grasp, unzipping his trousers. “Think that you can and you will. It is all in the state of mind.”

Larry’s lips drew back in a taut rictus as the tension between lust and a sense of responsibility leveled out. Eyes wide, scarcely breathing, he watched Lola’s dark little head move down. She paused. It was a moment of almost holy intensity. Slowly, her wicked mouth encircled him. He gasped.

Two miles away, in Von Joel’s dimly lit room at the hospital, the nurse called Jackie had come in carrying a kidney dish covered with a folded cloth. She put down the dish, drew the blinds on the connecting window, then took a chair and eased the top under the door handle. Von Joel pushed himself up in the bed, smiling at her. Jackie turned to face him, undoing the buttons on her uniform dress. “Not too many,” Von Joel whispered. “I want you to keep it on.”

“Kinky.”

“What a lovely old-fashioned word.” He beckoned her to the bedside. She came and stood beside him. He realized she was trembling. “You’ll have to indulge an invalid, darling.”

He put his arm up around her hips. She bent down and he kissed her softly on the mouth. His arm began drawing her forward, gently unbalancing her. She looked at him.

“Are you sure about this?” she whispered. “I don’t have very long and I mean, you’re hurt...”

“It’ll be a terrible day when I’m hurt that badly,” he said. “And it’s not as if I’m handicapped, is it? I mean, they took away the cage from my legs, and look” — he held up his right hand, bandaged thickly at the wrist — “no sling.”

“You were supposed to keep that on.”

“I’ll put it back after.”

“After what?” Jackie said coyly.

He squeezed her hip once, firmly, before letting his hand drop away from her.

She drew back the bedclothes, looked down at him. “Jesus...”

“I said I wasn’t handicapped, didn’t I?” He pulled her down on top of him and held her by the wrists, guiding her hands to the sides of the bed, making her grasp the security rails.

She panted against his neck as he pulled up the hem of her uniform, exposing sheer black stockings and the garters she had put on for his benefit. His knees probed between hers, spreading her legs until she was astride him.

“Don’t move,” he whispered in her ear. He kissed her mouth and shifted his body, the slightest motion of his hips. Suddenly he was inside her.

She gulped. “My God...”

“Don’t move!” he insisted. “I told you!”

She groaned as his hips drove against her, a measured thrust, jiggling her, making her hang on tight to the rails. As he began moving faster Jackie tensed her legs, dug her knees into the mattress. His hand crept around her hip and spread out flat on her rump.

“Okay,” he whispered as she began to moan. “You can move.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. She began bouncing on him, drawing him to her, her neck taut as she cried out.

“Oh, yes! Now, baby! Now!”

Out in the corridor a night-security guard stopped near Von Joel’s room, listening, convinced he had heard a woman scream. As he listened he heard it again, softer this time, more of a dying howl. He heard it one more time, muffled, and now it seemed more like the kind of sound cats make in the dark. He stood there for another minute, straining his ears. Everything had gone quiet.

Inside Von Joel’s room Jackie was standing by the bed tucking strands of hair under her cap. Von Joel lay back under the covers, serene, a faint smile on his lips.

Jackie patted the cap to make sure it was centered. At the door she removed the chair from under the handle. She picked up the kidney dish she had brought, took it to the side of the bed, and whipped off the cloth with a magician’s flourish, revealing a portable telephone.

“You know I could get into trouble for doing this,” she whispered. “You can have it until I go off shift.”

She put the telephone on the bedside cabinet. On her way to the door she stopped.

“While I remember, will you thank your mum for the brooch? It was very kind of her.”

Von Joel nodded. “She’s a very sweet lady,” he said. “Sadly, she can’t get around so much lately, but if you take another little note for me tonight, I think she’ll appreciate it. Just leave it at the hotel reception.”

As Jackie opened the door he held up the phone. “Thank your sister for me!”

Faint daylight glowed on the curtains as Lola opened her eyes. She turned her head on the pillow and saw Larry bending over a chair, peering down behind it.

He was fully dressed.

“Where are you going?” she said.

“Home. I can’t find my tie.”

He went through to the sitting room, closing the door behind him. Lola turned and saw that the light on her telephone was blinking. She picked it up. Waiting, she noticed Larry’s wallet lying on the bedside table and flipped through the contents.

“Hello? Senorita del Moreno, you have a message for me?” She scrabbled for a pencil and wrote down a number. “Yes? What time did the call come? Thank you. Any other messages left for me at the desk? No? Oh, gracias... Thank you, no, no, I’ll come down to the desk. Good-bye.”

She sat up properly, wedging a pillow behind her, then dialed the number she had written down. After the second ring Von Joel answered.

“Oh, my love, my love,” she whispered, snuggling down. “Dios mio, te echo de tnenos...”

She continued to croon to Von Joel in Spanish, telling him first how she missed him, then turning to practical matters and explaining that, almost at the same time as she and Charlotte sat planning how to locate Sergeant Jackson, he had shown up at hotel reception.

“He was here, yes, the little sergeant... Honestly!”

Larry walked into the bedroom, holding up his tie.

“Found it,” he said. “Oh, sorry.” He froze in the doorway. “You on the phone?”

“Hang on,” Lola said into the telephone, “my friend is just leaving.” She looked up at Larry. “It’s my papa — say hello.”

Larry shook his head and backed away.

“Oh, come on,” Lola coaxed, “he won’t mind me having someone in bed with me... Say Buenos dtas...”

Larry, feeling distinctly silly, leaned down over the bed and let Lola put the receiver to his mouth.

“Buenos dias,” he said.

“That’s good morning,” Lola told him as he straightened again. Into the phone she said, “You would like him muy bien, Papa.” She mouthed little kisses at Larry as he went to the door, knotting his tie. “Don’t forget your wallet, Sergeant Jackson,” she called.

He came back, took the wallet, and squeezed her shoulder. She pouted at him and pulled the duvet over her head. When he left she tossed the duvet aside and giggled into the telephone.

“He came all by himself, in the literal sense. No, he’s gone.” Her face became serious as she picked up her pencil and pad. “What’s the next move?” She nodded. “No problem. He said he would contact me tomorrow. Bank?”

She lay back, nodding again, making notes, cradling the telephone as if it were Von Joel himself.

17

At nine-fifteen that same morning, his head still feeling charged and imprinted with Lola, Larry faced DCI McKinnes and found himself staring down both barrels of the chief’s rage.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re playing at?” McKinnes stood like a fighter on the attack, one shoulder forward, jabbing a finger at Larry. His voice rose above the hubbub in the incident room. “If I’d thought it was necessary for you to visit Myers’s wife I would have organized it!”

“I just reckoned it would help with my interrogation if I had—”

“Anything you needed to know,” McKinnes yelled, “You should have discussed with me! You should have put it through the right channels!”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry. Jesus. Listen. You, Sergeant” — McKinnes jabbed with his finger again — “have access to Eddie Myers. You’ve also got a wife and two kids. Think, man! Eddie Myers’s ex-wife is married to a bloke who’s done time! If this new husband starts yapping — who knows who he frigging knows? I said I would deal with Italy at the right time! My time, not yours!”

DI Shrapnel sidled up to McKinnes. He was holding up a fax sheet.

“The shooter’s the one used in the security raid, Guv. They’re bringing in George Minton. We got nothing on the portable in the Transit, it was part of a shipment that was nicked eighteen months ago. So was the van. Been sprayed recently but it was lifted from the Bake-O Bread Company.”

McKinnes snatched the fax and turned to Larry again.

“Myers played around with heavy bastards, Sergeant, and he’s putting even more in the frame.” This time the finger made contact, prodding Larry squarely in the chest. “You got the break of your career when you clocked Myers. You got the second one when you were put with us. But you just blew it, son. Go home. Just get out, and stay out of my sight.”

Larry left the building in a daze, something less than shock. Today he felt insulated. Outside he walked along the street slowly, not thinking, simply letting his reactions settle into place. After a while he decided that a cup of coffee would be a good idea. He looked across the road and spotted a cafe. As he waited for the traffic to thin he tried to get a clear overview on what had happened to him. He supposed he should have been seething with resentment by now. He should have been feeling badly hurt. Gutted. Depression should have been looming just over his shoulder, ready to envelop him as the sense of failure seeped in. But he still felt untouched by what had happened in the incident room. His life, since some time early that morning, felt larger than the pygmy-sized considerations of the job. He was beyond the need for the tussle and muscle-flexing, the competing and jockeying, the arse-182 licking and all the other maneuvers necessary just to stay level.

In body and spirit he felt immunized from life’s vexations. Lola had given him a nerve-rending shunt along the path of change, and now he felt like he was on dope. Crossing the road, he discovered he was humming something from the charts.

Sitting at a corner table with a bacon sandwich and a mug of tea, Larry felt the lurch in his groin. The oysters, the champagne, his whole body felt on fire. He pushed the bacon sandwich aside. lie even found the hot tea difficult to swallow. It was as if the entire episode with Lola had been a dream, but it wasn’t. It was a reality, one he wanted to taste again, and it freaked him. He stared out the window. If Mac had known what he’d been up to, he would have got more than a bollocking, a lot more. He began to feel ashamed, foolish. He had never been unfaithful to Susan, maybe thought about it once or twice, but he’d never done more than just the odd bit of flirting. All the different emotions came rapidly on each other’s heels, until at last he felt angry, angry at his own stupidity. Then even that veered toward bitterness.

He had trusted Von Joel. Christ, he had taken in all that gear to him, been almost in tears when he’d been told the story of his brother, and all the time the bastard was lying. What was he doing? Making him out to be a total arsehole?

The swing of anger went back to the flush of Lola, Lola’s sensual lips, everywhere, kissing, biting. Larry suddenly shot up his hand to his throat. Shit, was he marked? Had she left love bites on his neck? He tried to see his reflection in the steamy cafe window, but gave up, pulling his collar tighter, feeling the knot of his tie. He gave a tight, vicious smile. Von Joel might have pulled one over on him about his brother, but he reckoned he’d never believe he’d pulled his girlfriend.

Larry didn’t finish his tea, but decided to head back home, think about what Mac had said. He was sure Mac’d come around, sure he didn’t mean he was really off the case, but he wasn’t that sure, he knew he’d have a lot of crawling to do. He somehow made it a feasible reason why he should, instead of returning home, go back to the Hyde Park Hotel to requestion Lola. In truth, he hadn’t really asked half the questions he had intended, but then he had been otherwise occupied.

“I was just passing,” Colin Frisby said, pointing to the new cupboard door he was carrying. He smiled at Susan, who was standing by the back kitchen door. “Larry not here?”

“No,” she said, “he was on very late — well, all night, actually. I’ve not seen him.”

She stepped back and Frisby brought the cupboard door inside. He knelt on the floor and began unwrapping it, his mind working as fast as his fingers: Von Joel was in hospital, so Larry was not on the job, whatever else he might be doing.

“Tell you what,” Frisby said, “you make me a bacon sandwich, I’ll fix the door. That a deal?”

Susan nodded and threw in a knowing little smile. As she moved past Frisby she ruffled his hair.

“I thought Larry would be here,” he said lightly. He watched Susan get the frying pan from a cupboard. “You say he was on duty?”

“Yes.” She closed the cupboard and put the pan on the cooker. “It’s all he ever really thinks about. I don’t mean Myers, I mean his work.”

“Then he’s a stupid sod,” Frisby said, modulating the remark carefully, making it sound just serious enough, with no more presumption than he thought he’d get away with.

Susan took the bacon from the fridge. As she closed the door she turned and saw him still looking at her. Her knowing little smile expanded.

Just as Larry was about to have an argument with the doorman at the hotel about parking, Lola walked out. It was fate.

Looking at her, he was tempted to use the old line about scarcely recognizing her with her clothes on. It was true. In Spain he had seen her only in flimsy, abbreviated garments; last night she had worn very little to begin with, and finally nothing at all. Now she was in smart street clothes, entirely appropriate for the West End of London, and she looked like a different woman.

She asked Larry to come with her to a bank he had never heard of. It was in the City, an opulent place furnished more like the reception area of a hotel than a banking hall. Larry stood by and watched as Lola spoke to the cashier. He almost forgot to breathe as he listened to the figures she was airily throwing about.

“Can I have five in fifties, three in twenties, then tens and fives? Always have to have big tips,” she told Larry. “Nowadays they look as if you have spit in their hand if you give small tips.”

He nodded, as if it were a problem he shared. “What kind of bank is this?” he said, looking around.

“Mmm...” Lola didn’t seem sure. She opened her Gucci bag and began pulling out wads of Spanish currency, passing it to the cashier to be changed into sterling. “Papa has an account here for when he is in London. He travels. Paris, New York — I don’t know where he is now. My mama and him, they hate each other, she wouldn’t divorce him, she didn’t want him, she don’t like to travel any place. Always fighting. She has a big villa in Fuengirola, many rooms and a private beach, but” — Lola shrugged, still passing money to the cashier as she chattered — “she don’t like to sit in the sun, she don’t like lots of things...”

Larry watched as the cashier deftly checked the amounts and passed back wad after wad of currency, which Lola stuffed into the soft leather bag as if she were handling groceries. She paused and looked at Larry.

“I’m not holding you up, am I?”

“No.” He frowned at the bag. “You should be careful carrying that amount of money around.”

Lola gave him a brief deadeye look. He wished he hadn’t spoken. She probably knew more about the safe handling of cash than he ever would. But I’m a copper, he thought, I say these things...

As they turned from the cashier a teller approached Lola, obsequiously smiling. He said if she would like to see the safety-deposit facilities she should follow him. She nodded, hooking her arm through Larry’s. As they followed the man toward a large oak door, Lola was chattering again.

“You know how much that suite at the Hyde Park is per night?” She rolled her eyes. “But Papa insists he knows I am safe there, he can always find me. He has a few pieces of jewelry from the family, so sometimes I sell something for him...”

“If a suite at the Hyde Park Hotel costs anything like that dinner...” Larry laughed, feeling extraordinarily at ease with Lola, and with himself. “You know, I almost had heart failure, honest I did...”

A couple of hours later, in the incident room at St. John’s Row, DI Shrapnel brought DCI McKinnes the news that the doctor supervising Von Joel’s progress had said he could be moved. McKinnes nodded, adding the information to an influx he was juggling, trying by every means he could muster to make things happen. He tapped the shoulder of a WPC who was passing.

“Get another check on the driver of the truck,” he told her. “See if there’s any kind of tie-in with Minton.” He turned and saw DC Colin Frisby walk in. “Oy! Frisby! Anything out of order at Jackson’s?”

“Well...” Frisby came across, looking wary. “Jackson’s wife said he didn’t come home last night. Something up, is there?”

The telephone rang and Shrapnel answered it.

“We’re moving Myers,” McKinnes said distractedly, to no one in particular. He stared at Frisby suddenly, as if he had just heard him. “What did you say?”

“Guv,” — Shrapnel covered the mouthpiece — “it’s the Super. He wants you ASAP.” McKinnes scowled and turned away, muttering that he was going to get a sandwich first. “He’s on his way up,” Shrapnel told the Superintendent, and dropped the receiver.

“Frank...” It was DC Frisby again. “Is Jackson off the Myers case? If he is, can you get me to replace him?”

Shrapnel raised his finger and flicked his own ear.

“Too much of this, Frisby,” he said, “can land you in it.”

In the Superintendent’s office McKinnes was required to furnish a case update. It would have been easier if his men were still acting on fresh information, or if the existing evidence and circumstantial developments would come together in a way that equaled progress. Matters were not static, but they were moving too slowly. The Superintendent didn’t want to hear that, so McKinnes did all he could to make it sound as if significant breakthroughs were imminent. He ate a sandwich as he delivered his report, gesturing with a still-sealed cup of coffee in the other hand. When he had talked himself dry-throated he tugged off the cap from the plastic cup and spilled coffee down his jacket.

“Shit!” he spluttered, spraying crumbs. “You got a tissue?”

The Superintendent handed one over. McKinnes dabbed at himself, managing to spill coffee on the desk as he put down the cup and the tatters of the sandwich.

“That shooter killed the security guard,” he assured the Superintendent. “That’s enough to hold Minton. I think he was on the job and I think Eddie Myers has more. Now we’ve got him back, I’ll put the pressure on him.”

There was no more to report about the case. McKinnes moved to the door before the Superintendent could think of any questions that might detain him.

“Oh,” — as he pulled the door open he pretended to remember something unimportant — “Jackson’s off the case, he’s too inexperienced.”

The Superintendent frowned. “Have you got a problem with him?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. Give these youngsters an inch and they’re ruddy Perry Masons...”

The Superintendent turned to the desk as McKinnes left. He looked down and sighed, gazing at the spilled coffee and the mutilated remains of the sandwich.

As the day wore on, Larry Jackson’s awareness of his position began to harden. Away from Lola — she was busy, things to do, people to see — he no longer walked with his feet an inch above the ground, though terra firma wasn’t so hard as it might have been. In spite of a new layer of resilience he found himself missing the case again, craving the involvement. There was, too, the aggravation of being cut off from contact with Von Joel, which was no small nuisance.

He got home deliberately late. He picked at a semi cold dinner alone in the kitchen, while Susan and the boys watched television in the living room.

At nine o’clock the phone rang. He wandered out to the hall and answered it. It was Lola. All at once he was on the defensive, watching the door to the living room. He was so nervous about being caught he could hardly hear what she was saying. The change in him hadn’t gone so deep as he had thought. There was still a chicken, a small one, flapping about in his psyche.

“I can’t,” he snapped into the mouthpiece. “I’m sorry.”

What was she suggesting, anyway? What exactly was a scene? “No, really, I can’t, and don’t call again. I said I can’t.”

He looked up and saw Susan come into the hall.

“I’ve got to go,” he snapped. “Good-bye.”

Susan watched as he practically threw down the receiver.

“I’m going to make some cocoa,” she said. “You want some? I said the kids can stay up and watch the end of the film.” She nodded at the telephone. “Who was that?”

“Just work,” Larry said — too fast, he was sure. “No, thanks.”

The telephone rang again. He snatched it up.

“Hello?”

Susan walked into the kitchen as Lola began begging him to come to the hotel.

“Cut it out!” he grated through his teeth.

She was babbling at him, her voice a fluctuating squeak in the earpiece. He swore silently toward the ceiling. This wasn’t romantic adventure, it was bloody-minded mischief. It was troublemaking. He had heard about coppers driven half mad by girlfriends deciding to make problems for them at home. It nearly always started with the telephone.

“I said no! Don’t call me here again!”

He slammed down the phone. Susan came out of the kitchen.

“Did you say you wanted one or not? Only we don’t have much milk...”

The phone rang. Larry grabbed it.

“I said no!” he snapped without listening. “I mean it! Stop messing around!”

He pressed the cradle buttons, released them, and left the receiver lying on the table. Susan came close, staring at him.

“Is someone threatening you? Us? Larry? Who was it?”

“Just leave it off the hook for a while!”

“You wouldn’t lie to me about it, would you?” Susan’s eyes had their prehysterical glint. “They suspected someone would try and—”

“It’s nothing!” Larry hissed. “Nothing at all!”

“Don’t snap at me! I don’t know what’s got into you, but whatever it is, don’t take it out on me and the kids.”

“I’ll get them to bed,” Larry muttered, heading for the living room.

“I’m just making their cocoa,” Susan said. “Did you want one?”

“Jesus Christ!” Larry stiffened, staring at the living room door. “How many more times? No! No! I don’t want any frigging cocoa!”

Susan was lying in bed, face turned to the wall, eyes tight shut and not asleep. Larry got in beside her, turned off the bedside lamp, and bashed his pillow.

“I said I’m sorry. There’s no need to act like this!”

Susan gritted her teeth. “Like what? How am I acting, Larry?”

“You know.”

“No, I don’t know,” she snapped.

“Yes, you do, and I said I’m sorry.”

“You do nothing but yell at me, at the kids; I never know when you are in or out or what the hell you are doing. All I asked was if you wanted cocoa or not, and you.”

“And I have apologized, okay?”

“Then there were those phone calls, who were you yellin’ at on the other end of those?”

“Mac.”

“Who?”

Larry leaned up, and sighed. “Look, it’s tough at the moment, with the accident. I mean, I dunno if I’m on the case or not.”

Susan turned toward him. “But they wouldn’t put someone else on it, would they? I mean, you were the one who found him, why would they do that?”

Larry lay back again. “I dunno... Mac’s an odd bugger.”

Susan cuddled up, hooking her leg over his, and he had that awful feeling that maybe there was a love bite, something of Lola on his body. “I’m knackered, good night.” Susan curled up on her side of the bed again, “good night.” He reached out and patted her back, and she muttered, “Sooner this case is over and done with the better. Good night.”

“Good night.” He lay awake until he heard Susan’s breathing deepen as she fell asleep. The warmth of her body next to him made him think of Lola.

He couldn’t stop thinking of her, wanting her, but he knew he had better not see her again, ever.

18

Von Joel’s shorn hair looked lopsided and rather strange, and a few bruises were still visible on his face, but for a man who had been through major trauma and had only just come out of the hospital, he looked remarkably fit. As his handcuffs were unclocked he ran his gaze around the seedy bedroom. He sighed quietly as the police officer pocketed the cuffs and left him. As a comedown this place was spectacular. It was not simply seedy and scruffy and terminally downbeat; it was dirty. The rug was colorless with ingrained dirt, there was dirt on the window ledge and walls, he could smell dirt when he inhaled. The light in the room came from a single weak bulb coated with a film of dirt. McKinnes appeared at the doorway. He held up a sheet of paper. “Where’s Jackson?” Von Joel asked. “Your pal Min ton says he wasn’t on the robbery. He’s don’t an alibi. Same one he had last time.” Von Joel delicately pinched the skin between his eyebrows with his forefinger and thumb. He looked at his narrow bed with weary eyes. “His word against mine,” he said.

“Oy, look at me.” McKinnes came into the room. “I’m not here to play games, Eddie. You’ve got more, I need more.”

“And I’ve got a headache.”

McKinnes considered the situation. It was Saturday night. It was settling-in time. On top of that, all things considered, the prisoner couldn’t be feeling too grand. McKinnes decided he would go easy until they got down to the organized, on-the-record questioning first thing Monday morning. From then on there would be no kid gloves, no cotton wool. One way or another, easy or the hard way, Mr. Smartarse would come up with the goods.

“Sweet dreams, Eddie.” McKinnes walked out of the bedroom. Von Joel glanced at his bags, made a face as he sniffed the air again. He went to the window and peered out past the curtain. There was nothing to see through the streaky grime. He dropped the curtain back in place and turned to the door again, frowning. He knew the set-up had been radically changed, too radically, and he would bet not all of the changes were visible yet.

“Where’s Jackson?” he whispered.

Larry had nursed his wrath for the entire weekend. He brought it to the Hyde Park Hotel fresh and still simmering on Monday afternoon, after hanging around the station all morning trying, without any luck, to get a word with McKinnes. He drummed his fingers on the desk as the receptionist called Suite 340.

“It’s ringing, sir.”

Staying mad had been easy. The kids had played merry hell with his nerves and Susan had managed to say and do all the wrong things, over and over, in every permutation. Disruption and aggravation had been piled on his brooding. The brooding itself had been bad enough; isolation from the case had begun to give him a degree of unrest amounting to actual pain. All weekend, every time he thought of what had been done to him at St. John’s Row, he wanted to yell. He wanted to lash out and hit something and pretend he had smashed the hairy vindictive kisser of Jimmy McKinnes.

There had been no corner of peace for Larry. Home was a bear garden, a noise-pit with the kids yelling and banging and Susan alternately squeaking and whining. Whenever he tried retreating into himself, thinking of his breakthrough night with Lola, the sexual jolt was short-circuited by the recollection of her malicious antics on the phone. All in all, the weekend had been undiluted misery, and now he wanted to share some of that.

“You can go right up, sir.”

He hadn’t rehearsed what he would say to Lola, he knew it would come out under its own steam and at the right pace; all he had to do was aim it. Leaving the lift he strode along the passage and knocked on the door hard, twice. He tensed himself.

The door clicked and swung open. He saw Lola walking away from him. She was barefoot, wearing a silk robe, her hips swaying like a voluptuous metronome to the pulse of the music pouring from the stereo unit. It was turned up full blast, a recording of Caruso that Larry had heard before, blaring through the bedroom wall at the safe house.

He followed her into the sitting room, slamming the door behind him. Lola stopped in front of the stereo, gazing down at it, swaying, her arms wrapped around her tight little body. “Listen to him,” she said without turning. “Listen to the way he reaches the high notes with such softness. It’s magic. Pure magic. The decrescendo to pianissimo on the final B flat — oh, Pavarotti and Domingo can’t touch him...”

Larry was furious. He had been ready to explode all over her and she had deliberately pulled this defusing tactic. He leaned forward and hit the stop button on the tape deck. He spun Lola to face him and held up a warning finger to her face.

“You don’t call my home. Ever. You hear me?”

For one beat she stared, wide-eyed, then she flew at him. Her left fist cracked on his ear and her right hand delivered a stinging slap to his right cheek. He reeled back.

“If it wasn’t for you,” she screeched, “he wouldn’t be locked up! It’s all your fault!”

“I...” Larry blinked at her, rubbing his cheek. “I just don’t understand you—”

“But I understand you, Larry.” The tightness of anger vanished from her face. Her eyes softened as she stepped closer to him. “I know what you came here for.” She took his hand. “Well? You want it?”

With her other hand she undid the sash of her robe. It fell open. Larry tried not to stare. Her body was a compact miracle. She stood with her hips thrust forward, the smooth line of her belly drawing his gaze to the compelling darkness at the junction of her thighs.

There was a sound behind the bedroom door. Larry looked at it, looked at Lola, then strode across the room. He twisted the handle and threw open the bedroom door. Charlotte Lampton lay on the bed. She was naked.

“Hi,” she said, smiling, her hand coming up from the far side of the bed with a bottle of champagne. “Want a drink?”

Lola turned on the Caruso tape again. She crept up behind Larry and put her arm around his shoulder.

“If you orgasm to Verdi’s B-flat aria in Aida then you will never believe opera is boring. It will give you...”

The rest was a moan as Lola wrapped herself around Larry, her hands sliding over him like small busy animals, her mouth hot with sighs and groans against his ear. Larry tried halfheartedly to extricate himself, his anger completely gone. Embarrassment and discomfort melted toward arousal as Lola fitted herself around him and he watched, over her perfumed hair, as Charlotte stretched out along the bed, still smiling at him.

A few miles away, while Larry’s afternoon became a sensual tangle, DCI McKinnes was two thirds of the way into a bad day’s interrogation. He was in the grubby, damp-smelling living room of the substitute safe house with Von Joel. They sat at opposite sides of a prosaic square dining table, their fingers flat on its scarred surface, each confronting the other with his stubbornness. The day had gone terribly, and now it was simply disintegrating.

“Don’t mess me around,” McKinnes snarled, knowing it was a powerless warning, saying it because it was all he could think of. He leaned close across the table, bunching his fists, trying for an air of authority. “So you can’t help me with Minton. What about this Rodney Bingham?”

“I don’t know him,” Von Joel said, his voice flat. “I must have been mistaken.”

“I’ve warned you,” McKinnes growled.

“Listen!” Von Joel jerked forward suddenly, his teeth set hard. “I just got out of hospital and you bring me to this shit hole...” He turned his head aside sharply, addressing the microphone. “I’m a sick man! I gave you all I know!” He sat back a fraction, moistening his lips, glaring at McKinnes. “Anything else, I’ll give it to Jackson, not you. That was the deal.”

He got up from the table and walked out. McKinnes watched him go, feeling angry, getting angrier. It was one thing to be resisted by a dirty grass of a villain like Von Joel, to be slagged off by him and treated like any old clumsy piece of plod. It was quite another thing to be forced into a corner so tight that you seriously had to consider compromising. That didn’t sit well with McKinnes. Making concessions wasn’t his way and to think about it gave him a pain. But realities had to be faced. It wasn’t as if he was weighed down with choices.

Larry’s day had been transformed from a hot ball of rage to a hedonistic mix of sex, good drink, and laughter, all of it enjoyed against a backdrop of lofty music. More surprise entered the picture when he was sent home at six o’clock to put on his best suit. He complied without even thinking of arguing.

Champagne, he discovered, made him an imaginative and plausible liar; by the time he left the house again he could not remember what explanation he had given Susan, but he knew she had accepted it calmly. Lola and Charlotte, as promised, picked him up at the end of the road in a taxi.

“So where are we going, girls?”

They wouldn’t tell him, and three guesses would not have been enough. Less than an hour later he was sitting in a good seat at the Royal Opera House, between the girls, his mind not entirely in touch with his body as the music swelled and flowed over him, doing things of such emotional intensity that at one point, to his surprise, he found himself shedding tears. The visit to the Crush Bar was memorable. It seemed like hundreds of people were there, all talking at once, arms working overtime as bottles of wine, trays of glasses, and the occasional ice bucket were passed back above the heads of the crowd. A man standing near Larry told his companion, a big woman in shiny salmon-colored taffeta, that the trouble with opera in general was that it had strayed too far from the simple notion of a play set to music. “It has turned its back, I fear, on the liturgical drama of the Middle Ages, where its true origins lie.” Larry could hardly believe real people spoke like that, but there the man was, in three dimensions, the living proof. It would have been a hoot to eavesdrop when he got around to suggesting that he and his date get into bed together.

“Follow me,” Lola told Larry, shaking him out of his reverie.

He did his best. She was a fast mover. Being small and lithe she was able to weave in and out of spaces where Larry had to force his way through, smiling and apologizing, followed closely by Charlotte hanging on to the back of his jacket.

“Ah, hang on, Lola,” he called out, “you’re going the wrong way. Lola...” He bumped into a woman and apologized. “Lola! The bar...”

Hectic as all this was, Larry felt marvelous. The high life suited him, it meshed precisely with who he was. He was only sorry he hadn’t discovered it earlier. Lola stopped by a small corner table and turned, brandishing a bottle of Moet. Three glasses lay waiting for them. The bottle had been freshly opened and Lola poured.

“It’s not as cold as it should be...” She passed over the glasses. “For you, for me...”

The trio toasted each other. Larry couldn’t stop grinning, knowing what a social bonus it was to be seen with the girls, who looked marvelous. Feeling champagne bubbles burst softly against his lips, he felt blessed. Charlotte’s arm was through his, Lola was standing very close, sliding her hand down the back of his trousers. He supposed it was possible to be happier than this, but he couldn’t imagine how.

It wasn’t imagination he needed, but stamina, because Lola insisted he return to the hotel suite. She was hungry, demanded they all eat, and as Charlotte flicked through the room service menu suggesting more and more desserts and cocktails, Lola began ordering a confusion of ice creams, hamburgers, French fries, strawberries, melons...

They were like two kids let loose in a toy store. They giggled and snuggled each other, and then both made Larry choose what he wanted to eat. He was in a hot flush, wondering if he could get up to leave, never mind get anything else up, which seemed the girls’ obvious intention. They continued to flirt with him, giving lewd double meanings to the array of sickening desserts that sounded richly orgasmic... “banana diced with a thick caramel sauce and succulent fresh cream with brandy...”

The opera was blasting from the stereo again — Wagner. The room service trolley, laden with enough to feed ten, was set in the center of the room. There was wine and yet more champagne. Larry watched in awe as they picked at french fries between spoonfuls of ice cream and fresh fruit, then stuffed themselves with chocolate fudge, eating with their fingers, sometimes spooning food into each other’s mouths. They were like his two boys — well, not quite, but they, too, went crazy at McDonalds.

Thinking about the boys made Larry determined to leave. He did try, albeit halfheartedly, but then Lola wouldn’t give back his jacket, and as he tugged and said he really had to go, Charlotte seemed to disappear. Lola suddenly let the jacket go, and Larry teetered backward.

“We’re alone, she’s tired, we-are-aloooooooooone.”

“So am I, tired. I’ve got to go.” He had got one arm into a sleeve, when she began pulling his shirt out of his pants.

“If you are tired then you had better sleep.”

“I’ve got to go home.”

Lola shrugged, pointed to the door, undressing herself as she slowly walked across to the bedroom.

“I have to go home,” he repeated lamely.

Lola threw off her dress. She wore nothing beneath it, she stood in just her high black sling-back shoes.

“Go home. Good night.” She shrugged as she kicked one shoe off, then the next, and, stark naked, went back to the stereo. She nonchalantly began sorting tapes, humming and swaying and then bent over to place in a new tape.

Larry turned away, she was driving him crazy. “I won’t... I mean I can’t see you again.”

Swan Lake drifted out. Lola turned like a ballerina. “Oh! Are you still here, would you like to see me dance?”

She moved beautifully, her delicate arms and beautiful hands made the motion of the swan. She stood on tiptoe, every curve, every muscle taut in her perfect body, apart from the swaying fluttering hands.

“I am dying,” she whispered. “The swan without her prince, she dies.” She began to dance.

Larry closed the door quietly behind him and had to lean on it because he wanted to go back to her, wanted to hold her, wanted her. He could still hear the music, knew she would still be dancing, perhaps. Even knew she didn’t really care if he stayed or left.

“I think he’s quite attractive,” said Charlotte to Lola, who was now spread out on the sofa, eyes closed.

Lola’s voice was husky, hardly audible. “I miss him, Charlie, miss him so much, it’s like a pain inside me. I miss him.”

Charlotte turned off the stereo, looked at Lola. “You’re drunk.”

“Yes, and” — Lola giggled — “you know he is quite attractive... in a straight way.”

Charlotte cocked her head to one side. “Well, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you...?”

Lola walked into the bedroom, leaving Charlotte to turn off the lights and stereo.

Charlotte picked up the Caruso tape, held it in the palm of her hand. Lola was childlike, her emotions swung like a pendulum, but Charlotte really did miss Philip. He occupied her thoughts every minute of the day and night, and just feeling the tape of the music he loved to listen to made him feel close. She remembered the first time he had asked her about music, what she liked to listen to... He was so attenitive as she shyly said she had never really thought about that kind of music, mostly it was rock and roll. The classics had never even interested her. He smiled, asked softly what she meant by classics, and Charlotte listed a few of the ones she could remember the names of. She was embarrassed, wondered if he would think her stupid, desperately trying to think of something she had heard that would make her seem intelligent, wanting him to be interested in her. He gently touched her lips with his forefinger. “You’ve heard nothing. I will open your ears, and your mind, free you to listen...”

She stood blushing, head bowed as he threw cushions onto the floor. He turned all the lights out and lit row upon row of candles. Then, taking her by the hand, he had whispered to her to lie down and to breathe deep breaths... until she felt as if she were floating, dizzy almost. She was afraid to open her eyes, not hearing him, not knowing where he was in the room. Then she knew he had lain down beside her, no more than six or seven inches away. She could feel the heat of his body, hear that he, too, was breathing deeply, and she began to time her own breaths with his, as first Beethoven, Bruch, Chausson, Saint-Saens, Sibelius, and lastly Tchaikovsky violin concertos wafted through the warm night air. The music played softly, at times hardly audible, and she felt her body begin to open to the sounds, her mind full with a strange exhilaration. She felt a strange uplifting sensation, she didn’t want it to end, ever. It was so peaceful, so all-embracing that when the room was filled only with silence she wanted to weep.

He had gone. The candles were burned low. She could not believe he had not touched her, fondled her, made love to her. She did not even hear him leave, and it was not until she had crept to her room that she understood that he had, or it had, begun. He was drawing her to him, into his world, and all she knew was that she wanted more. Had it been the same for Lola? Charlotte never asked, but noticed that Lola often played the same music to fall asleep to at night. For a while at the beginning Charlotte was the one he centered his whole attention upon, and she had, like the proverbial butterfly, stepped from a cocoon that she had not even understood had been wrapped around her. Von Joel made her feel free, and an important part of his life. She ached for him, on one of those candlelit musical nights, to take her in his arms, to kiss her. But Von Joel did not touch her, was it for weeks or for months? It felt like years of longing. Was he fucking Lola? Lola lived in the villa, had been there before Charlotte, but had never shown any jealousy following Charlotte’s arrival. In fact, Lola had welcomed her with such warmth, accepted her like a sister.

The ache inside Charlotte grew to such intensity that one night she waited, watching where Lola went — to her own room or to his? She was almost weeping with sexual frustration, wanting him, not knowing how to reach over and touch him. They could sit opposite at a table and eat, laugh, work alongside each other at the gallery, but that moment of reaching him, embracing him seemed almost impossible to attain. She did not know if he wanted her sexually, or if he even cared. She saw him go into Lola’s bedroom, and he did not leave until dawn. Charlotte sat on the stairs crying; she wanted to be in there with him, wanted to be with him.

The following night, Lola was in bed. She was feeling sick, and Charlotte had taken her some hot milk to her bedroom. Von Joel had been gone all day, and Charlotte heard him running up the stairs two at a time as Maria called out Lola was ill.

“I think she has a temperature...” Charlotte placed the milk down, leaning over the bed, and Lola sat up smiling, reaching out for him like a child. “I’m fine, just hot... very hot, it must have been something I ate.”

Von Joel gently dipped a cloth into some iced water and patted Lola’s face. Charlotte stood back as he washed Lola like a father might wash a daughter. Then he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her on the lips. “Sleep, sweetheart, you’ll feel better in the morning. I’ll get Maria to look in on you in the night.”

Maria, Von Joel’s housekeeper, respected him, his privacy, and asked no questions. It was not her business how many houseguests he chose to have, male or female, young or old.

Charlotte listened as he gave Maria careful instructions to look in on Lola in the night. If her temperature went up, Maria was to call him and the doctor.

Charlotte was standing at the top of the wide spiral staircase in the villa. Von Joel looked up, saying, “You must be hungry. I’m going to make some pasta...”

He was very adept in the kitchen, neat and methodical, and an excellent cook. Charlotte sat at the table, watching as he placed out the knives and the forks, talking to Maria, who was flustered because she felt she should be cooking. Charlotte watched him tease Maria, saw how she became coy and girlish, and then excused herself to go to her own small apartment in the far wing of the villa. Her husband, Juan, was Von Joel’s driver and general handyman. He was as discreet as his wife, and as deeply attached to Von Joel. The villa with its sprawling gardens and pool was, like everything in each room, tasteful, and kept in immaculate order. The kitchen was spotless, and Charlotte noticed how clean Von Joel was, as he carefully washed everything after he had used it before stacking the dishwasher and wiping down the marble surfaces where he had been chopping the tomatoes. She noticed everything about this man, his long beautiful hands, his lean body, and the way his dark hair curled at the nape of his neck. How in the morning the faint dark shadow on his chin accentuated his cheeks, making his face sharper, more dangerous in some way. She had, when alone in the villa, spent hours in his bedroom, which was devoid of a single photograph. The bedroom consisted of a stripped pine floor, a futon bed, and a vast array of polished old Spanish wardrobes. Each garment in the wardrobes was covered. Every shirt was neatly, meticulously folded.

Hand-stitched shoes, made for him in London, were placed on racks beside his worn rope sandals. There were silks and fine pure cottons, cashmere sweaters in soft fawns and pale creams, black and navy silks in separate drawers. Von Joel rarely wore any brightly colored garment. As soon as he returned from work he always bathed and changed into his pure white dressing gown and his long handmade cotton shifts. He was usually barefoot, his body deeply tanned... and Charlotte lost count of the laps he did in the pool every morning. She loved to watch him with his dogs, Sasha and Bruno. It was as if every day were carefully regimented: up at five, swimming, and then he would walk his dogs for an hour, always feeding them himself. He made it clear he preferred, at these times, to be alone. He discouraged her from using the phone and hated anyone else answering it when he was at home. There was no answering service but there were phones in every room. Often he let them ring, choosing not even to answer them himself, and often there were calls during the night. These were answered.

The food Von Joel had prepared was placed in front of Charlotte with a flourish. The wine was uncorked, and he poured a glass for her, but drank only water himself. He rarely, if ever, drank, and loathed anyone smoking.

Charlotte waited for him to be seated. He had once quietly suggested to her that it was polite to wait for him to sit before she ate, and when they all dined together they waited until Maria had served the meal before beginning to eat.

“You like it? Maybe too much garlic, not enough basil? What do you think?”

Charlotte shrugged, and he stared at her. “I asked if you liked it or not...?”

“It’s fine!”

“Fine? Does that mean you like it, or it’s just so-so?”

“It’s nice.”

“Nice?”

She flushed, and he gave an irritated sigh, and then began to discuss a new painter he had discovered and for whom he would arrange a show in his smaller gallery. Charlotte by this time had lived in the villa for one month. She had gone into the gallery for the first time six weeks previously. Von Joel had been standing viewing a painting, and had turned to watch her as she, too, looked over the canvases. He had been charming but dismissive, and had talked a few moments to Lola before he had left. Lola had asked if she was staying in Marbella, or just on vacation. Soon Charlotte was offered a job working in the gallery, and she didn’t return to England until the arrest of Von Joel.

Charlotte turned off the lights and went into the bedroom. Lola was sleeping, hugging the pillow in her arms, her face like an innocent child’s. Charlotte quietly washed her face and cleaned her teeth in the en suite bathroom.. Von Joel’s bathroom at the villa was like an Aladdin’s cave of perfumes and creams. He was almost obsessive about cleanliness, and because he spent a lot of time in the sun, and swimming, his body oils took up an entire shelf. The sudden realization that he was in the hospital hurt, and unexpectedly made her want to weep. She sat on the edge of the bath, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn’t cry out loud, she didn’t want to wake Lola. She missed his presence so much. She missed his strength, his whole being with such intensity that she began to shake uncontrollably.

Von Joel had chosen all her dresses, shoes, even her underwear, but without her really being aware of it. He had also chosen Lola’s clothes, but it had been such fun, the three of them going on mammoth shopping expeditions, returning to the villa laden with purchases, all designer labels. But at no time did he ever say, I want you to wear this, or that, he just smiled when they paraded in front of him, and that was all the indication the two girls required. He had a smile that made the darkness in his face boyish, and often when that sweet smile appeared he was the vulnerable one. Even his wide dark green eyes seemed different when he smiled; they were so clear, yet she had seen them become frightening, like chips of hard granite. The sweet smile that appeared so fleetingly was often a tight hard line. That was the cruel face she saw when something, usually someone on the end of the night telephone calls, said or did something that made him unleash his anger. Yet he rarely raised his voice. He enjoyed the control he had over his emotions and it was that control she had found impossible to break, or to see through in order to understand if he ever had any feelings for her.

Charlotte, under Von Joel’s instruction, began to run the small gallery; Lola ran the larger one. He would make fleeting appearances, and often he would disappear for days on end. They never knew where he was, and he never divulged his whereabouts. There was the vast antiques warehouse, and shipments were constantly arriving, but neither Charlotte nor Lola had any knowledge of that part of his business. The galleries ran at a loss, but it did not seem to concern Von Joel, and it was never the girls’ job to bank or settle the accounts. Money was never short, it was always in supply, and in their innocence both girls believed him to be a man of private wealth. They rarely, if ever, met any of his contacts or friends, and they had no idea that he was laundering vast amounts of stolen money, that he was a criminal. Von Joel used his powerful Monterey boat on weekends, sometimes for simple fishing trips, and then the girls were welcomed aboard. At other times he made it clear he wished to be alone. They knew he was well known in Marbella, and many evenings watched from the balcony as he drove out in the Rolls, waving to them as if they were his children rather than one his mistress, the other besotted and desperate to become his lover. They even saw him occasionally with other women, older, sophisticated women, but he never brought them back to the villa. Social invitations were stacked on his desk, he was exceptionally popular, and his art shows were always well attended, the champagne flowed, and he was as charming to every guest as he was to his two little girls. Lola did not seem to mind, but it became torture for Charlotte. Her eyes followed him, jealous, envious of any woman he was attentive to, until, after one of his art shows, she could not stand it a moment longer.

Perhaps the champagne had given her the courage, but she went to his bedroom, didn’t even knock, but walked in. He was lying facedown on his bed, deeply asleep. The pure Egyptian cotton sheet was draped across his buttocks, his lean muscular body stretched out, his arms wide. Charlotte let her nightdress fall to the ground, drew back the sheet, and slipped in to lie beside him. He stirred, half turned, and rolled over.

“I love you, I love you...”

He looked into her determined, quivering face, reached up, and traced her cheek with his forefinger.

“Do you now?”

“Yes, and I can’t bear it another day, another hour, without being close to you. I want you...”

“Do you now?”

“I don’t know what you feel, if you like me, I don’t understand you, I don’t understand what you want.”

He leaned his head on his elbow, looking down into her young, beautiful face. “You are living in my home. Doesn’t that mean anything to you — that you are inside my home, my territory.”

“I don’t understand why... why you let me here, when you don’t seem to... I know about you and Lola, so why have you got me here?”

“Don’t you like it here?”

“Yes, I’ve never been so happy...”

“Ah, you are happy, are you?”

“No, no, I am... I want...” She just couldn’t get the words out, couldn’t say she wanted him.

“What is it you want?”

“You, I want you...” She’d said it.

He spoke so softly, it was hardly audible. “I am here.”

There were no more than seven or eight inches between them, but he never moved. He kept on looking at her, watching her. She felt as if she were about to explode. Did she only have to reach out? Was it that simple...? She could feel her short, sharp, panting breaths. She moved a fraction closer, closer... she could feel the heat from him, was about to touch him, when she drew back.

“No, you come to me...”

She threw the sheet aside and all her sexual frustration turned into blazing anger. Did he want some slave, was that what he was after? The clothes? The villa? She wanted to hit him as he lay there smiling, watching her, playing around with her when he knew, knew how she felt.

“ ‘I am here!’... Is that all?... Fuck you! I’m not some kid you can turn into your little whore! Is that what you want?... Is that what you’ve done to Lola? I’m leaving...” He rolled onto his back and laughed. She threw herself at him, fists flying. He was so strong he simply gripped her wrists tightly, and drew her down beside him. He bent his head to bury it in her neck, and emitted what sounded like a low growl. His bite was hard, hurting her, and she struggled, kicked out at him. Then he released her wrists, and gently cupped her face between his hands. He kissed her. He was a gentle lover, an aggressive lover, a man who made love to the sweetest creature he had known in years, a frightened little girl he had turned into the woman he wanted. He knew she would never betray him and that was more important to him than anything else. He lived on an edge, always looking over his shoulder, and now he had and knew he had another pair of eyes that would watch his back, that would join with Lola’s like his two guard dogs; his two beauties would be wary of strangers, be protective, guard him, obey him.

Late the following morning Charlotte went down to breakfast. Lola was sitting, eating a thick wedge of home-baked bread. The coffee was steaming, the kitchen smelled of fresh-ground coffee. Maria was singing somewhere in the villa. There was the aroma of fresh beeswax and the gentle perfume of the hanging blossoms on the verandah. The dogs barked lazily. Lola turned, her face smeared with Maria’s homemade jam. She looked at Charlotte, threw her bread aside, and held out her arms. Charlotte felt the sweet, sticky kisses on her cheeks, and then Lola drew her to the table and pulled out a chair.

Charlotte could not remember a time when she had felt more complete, happier, and above all safe. The villa was so strong, like a fortress, and it was... for the first time it felt like her home. Beneath the table Lola’s bare feet rested against Charlotte’s, and she smiled...

“He’s swimming, and then we are going to the boat. He is going to take you fishing.”

There was no jealousy between the two girls. They both loved him, both felt loved. It was enough. What might have happened at a later date they would never discover, because the following week Philip Von Joel was arrested.

Charlotte eased herself into the bed beside Lola, and lay on her side. Lola cuddled up close, slipping an arm around Charlotte, drawing her into the curve of her body.

“It’ll be all right, we’ll find a way to see him. If he was able to get messages to us here, then we’ll be able to help him, I know it.”

“I hope so,” whispered Charlotte. “I don’t think I can live without him.”

When Larry got home it was well after one. He was standing in the darkened bedroom, taking off his jacket, when Susan snapped on the bedside lamp. She peered at him through puffy slits.

“McKinnes called,” she said. “It was urgent. He’s left his home number. Where’ve you been? It’s after one...”

“I had some reports to finish,” Larry said, pulling off his tie, hating being there.

Susan threw back the bedclothes and swung her feet over the side of the bed. She stood up, reaching for her dressing gown. Confrontation time, he thought. Again. He went to the door.

“Where have you been?” Susan demanded.

He paused. “I just told you.”

“But McKinnes couldn’t find you!” Larry walked out, leaving his jacket over a chair where he had dumped it. Susan picked it up and took it to the | wardrobe. She smoothed the collar, disturbing something in the fabric. Perfume. She sniffed. Her brows tightened. She felt the pockets and pulled out three ticket stubs. She could hear Larry down in the hall talking on the phone. She stared at the flimsy slips of paper. Her mind i raced, but it had no direction. She was mystified. The door opened and she jumped. She hadn’t heard Larry put down the phone.

“Something happened?” she said, pocketing the stubs.

“It must have,” Larry said. “He wants me.”

She put her arms around him so swiftly and tightly that she surprised herself.

“You’re not going anywhere tonight,” she told him.

He looked at her awkwardly. She stood on her toes, lips puckered to kiss him on the mouth. He turned his head aside; it happened, he couldn’t avoid it. Susan released him and stood back.

“I’ll check on the boys,” he said.

Susan watched him walk out of the room again. She sighed, though it was hardly a sigh of resignation — she would never resign herself to being kept in the dark. She I slid back into bed and pulled the bedclothes up tight under her chin. She was careful to stay well over on her own side.

Next morning at eight-thirty McKinnes took Larry to the new safe house. Although it was clear that Larry had been reinstated, McKinnes had not actually said so, and he had not hinted at any reason. Larry thought it best, for the time being, to let events unroll without asking questions.

They sat in the unmarked patrol car for a minute, looking out at the sordid apartment block. Larry couldn’t believe it.

“Are we here?” he said, knowing they must be.

McKinnes sniffed. “What do you expect? A five-star hotel?”

Larry turned sharply, his defenses up, then realized it was only McKinnes’s baleful humor. The chief, fortunately, was hung over and didn’t notice the little flare of paranoia.

They got out of the car and entered the building. McKinnes used two keys to open the door of the apartment where Von Joel was being held, then he stood aside. He said he would be in touch later.

Larry went in and closed the door behind him. He found DI Shrapnel in a room that had obviously been designed for occupation by a child. A folded, forlorn-looking cot stood by the window; a tiny gas fire was built into the begrimed wall opposite. The two men nodded at each other. Their relationship, still profoundly basic, precluded the need for introductory daintiness. Shrapnel dangled a key.

“We keep him locked up when we’re off duty. This one’s for you, I keep the other. There’s two blokes out front, one at the back and another near the main entrance.”

Larry took the key. “How is he?”

“Same as ever.” Shrapnel shut the door. “I want to ask you something,” he said, his eyes hooded.

“What?”

“This herbal stuff, is it all for real?”

Larry made a face that didn’t say yes or no.

“You see” — Shrapnel moved closer, as if somebody might overhear — “I’ve had this problem, for years...” He broke off, cleared his throat. “This is personal, Jackson.”

“I appreciate that.”

“The thing is, I can’t get it up, know what I mean? And he...” He jerked his thumb at the wall. “Well, have you ever heard of this — he said I can get them from this guy he knows.” He fished a slip of paper from his pocket. “Patches. Put them on my dick. Tet... tetzozerone or something.”

Larry looked at the paper. “Testosterone,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Shrapnel took back the paper. He looked embarrassed. “They all know I’ve got the droop.” He shrugged. “Fact of life, nothing to be ashamed of. It’s overrated anyway.”

“Sorry?” Larry turned. He had been looking out the window. “What did you say?”

“Sex. I said it’s overrated.”

“No, it isn’t, Frank. Get the patches.”

After a hurried cup of coffee, which Larry promptly wished he had never drunk, he went along the passage and unlocked the door to Von Joel’s room. Von Joel was standing on his head against the wall. He came down, smiling. Larry went in and closed the door.

“Good to see you!” Von Joel punched Larry’s arm lightly. “I got you back on the case.”

“It’s not yours,” Larry said flatly. “You don’t give the orders, you don’t make the rules.”

Von Joel continued to smile, but there was a hardening in his eyes.

“Did you tell McKinnes about my girls?”

Larry stiffened. How could he possibly know...?

“Hey, come on.” Von Joel was frowning now. “What have I done to you that’s so bad?”

“You lied to me,” Larry said coldly. “I met your wife. Moyra.”

“Ah. I see. Moyra.” Von Joel smiled again, faintly. “You met Moyra.” He stepped closer. “Did you tell your wife about Lola? You tell some things, some you keep quiet about. Mickey? I never talked about Mickey. Not to anyone but you.”

“You never had a brother.”

Von Joel gripped Larry’s arm tightly. “I never lied to you,” he said.

Larry jerked free. He walked out of the room, banged the door shut, and locked it. Von Joel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, grinding a fist into the palm of his ^! hand as he scanned the flaw in his strategy.

Jackson was not the pushover he had thought. He started to control his breathing, forcing himself to rethink how he would approach Jackson now. Time was running out. He had to make his move fast, faster than he had anticipated. He had already heard Shrapnel talking about Reading. He knew about the holding cells there, and if he was moved it would be even more difficult to get out, if not impossible. Time was short. This shit hole might prove a better move than he could have anticipated. It was just Jackson. He had underestimated Jackson. That was a big mistake.

19

“They were in his jacket pocket,” Susan said, suppressing a little belch as she leaned across and handed the ticket stubs to Colin Frisby. They had been drinking wine for half an hour and now Susan believed she had had too much. In the circumstances it didn’t trouble her. “He was out until way after midnight.”

Frisby looked at the stubs, then at Susan. “Opera?” He had just been passing again and had decided to drop in so that he could, as he put it, “make sure everything’s all right.” Susan was glad he had called, she needed to talk to someone. Colin, for his part, was glad she had suggested the wine. Each time he visited, his mission went a little further toward its goal.

“The night before,” Susan said, pushing back a nonexistent strand of hair, “there were three calls. He said they were something to do with the case, then he left the phone off the hook.” She picked up another slip of paper, a receipt, from the table beside her. She handed it to Frisby. “The Hyde Park Hotel, of all places...” She took a big gulp of wine and wiped her lips with the side of her hand. “Colin, I wasn’t going through his pockets like some jealous idiot. It was just an accident.”

He nodded, frowning delicately, eyes crinkled, a look that said he understood perfectly. They were developing a nice self-righteous complicity, he and Susan. Larry’s deceit was a mystery they were determined to crack.

“No other calls?” Frisby said, looking at the receipt.

“No.”

“Anything else?”

Susan put down her glass. She brought her cupped hands up around her head, as if it were suddenly too much for her neck to support.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this,” she said. She let her hands drop and looked at him. “It’s just, since he came back from Spain, it’s like I don’t know him.”

Frisby, sure of his timing, reached out and took her hand. He held it.

“You want me to check out this hotel receipt?”

“No.” Susan shook her head. “Forget it,” she said, sounding cold suddenly. “I wish I hadn’t told you.” She took back her hand and stood up. “I’ll make some coffee.”

She went to the kitchen. Frisby took out his notebook and jotted down the waiter’s number from the receipt. He put the notebook back in his pocket, took a swig from his glass, stood up and crossed to the mantel. He yawned, gazing at the framed family snapshots, making a mental note to bring the wine himself next time. Mood swings weren’t such a hazard with decent wine.

Larry unlocked Von Joel’s door quietly, hoping for a measure of surprise. It was late evening and there had been no sounds coming from the room, not even music. He turned the handle and threw open the door. Von Joel was sitting in the center of the room, his back to the door. He turned, smiling, and held up a joint. Larry saw the blue smoke in static layers above his head.

“Want a drag?”

“I don’t believe this.”

Von Joel drew hard on the joint and held on to the smoke, taking it deep into his chest. He let it out, still smiling.

“You better believe it,” he said. “You brought me the gear.”

Larry frowned, not understanding.

“My herbal medicine. Frank’s really getting into it. I make him tea with it in.”

“What?” Larry was appalled. “You mean he’s drinking the stuff? Oh, my God!”

His tough demeanor had fled. He stood there looking awkward and helpless. Von Joel began to laugh, a deep, friendly sound, warm and infectious. It rumbled on, and after a while it began to get to Larry. He struggled to keep his face straight, then gave in. He closed his eyes, shaking with mirth.

“Help yourself,” Von Joel said, indicating a small bag beside him. “You look as if you could do with a drag. You’re so uptight. Loosen up.”

Larry’s face straightened suddenly, as if someone had thrown a switch. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he said.

Von Joel opened the bag of grass. Larry leaned down and grabbed his wrist.

“Hey, steady!” Von Joel protested. “I’m just going to roll you one.”

He jerked his wrist free, bringing his arm up sharply so that his elbow struck Larry on the testicles.

“Aah! Jesus Christ...”

As Larry doubled over Von Joel jumped to his feet and held him tight with both arms.

“I didn’t lie to you, Larry...”

Larry pushed him away, using more force than was needed.

“Oh, I see.” Von Joel’s voice had gone cold. “Come on then...” He started squaring up. “You think you can take me?”

Larry backed off, still doubled over, catching his breath. He had no fears about his chances in a scrap. He just didn’t want to get into this.

But Von Joel was determined. He was in the boxing stance, bouncing on the balls of his feet, facing three-quarters-on to Larry, beginning to dodge around him. After a minute he realized Larry wasn’t going to be drawn. He ducked and dived a couple of times, throwing fall-short punches, then he straightened up and held out his hand. He was holding the door key.

“You want it,” he said, “come and get it.”

Larry tried to snatch the key. Von Joel clipped him on the shoulder, hard. Larry reacted with a fast right jab.

“Getting really pissed now, huh?” Von Joel bounced around, getting on Larry’s right side. “Come on...”

Larry moved forward, taking steady steps, delivering short hard punches to Von Joel’s head and shoulders. Von Joel moved back, still smiling, until he was touching the wall with his shoulder.

Larry stopped and put his hands up, indicating that was it, it was over. Von Joel sprang forward and landed a right hook on Larry’s chin. It sent him across the room and he couldn’t stop himself from crashing against the door.

“What’s going on in there?” Shrapnel yelled from the passageway. “You in there, Jackson? You okay?”

Larry rolled his head sideways against the door, panting.

“Go back to bed, Frank. We’re just having a bit of a workout.”

They listened, hearing Shrapnel confer with another officer. The voices faded and a door closed.

“I never lied to you about my brother,” Von Joel said quietly. “You want to check him out, go to Somerset House. You’ll find him. His name was Mickey but we had different surnames. Look up Johnstone, born Bradford, 1955. You should trust me, Larry.”

Larry fingered his jaw. Von Joel handed him the door key.

“I just want to be friends.”

Larry moved away from the door. “I’m not your friend, Eddie.” He opened the door and stepped out into the passage. “I’m on the other side.” He shut the door and locked it.

Von Joel sighed. He guessed Larry would never check out the new information about Mickey. He’d made it up on the spur of the moment anyway, but all he hoped for was that Jackson would trust him again. He had to get his trust back. It was imperative. The little prick was far too cocky... unless... did he know something that Von Joel didn’t? Trapped, cut off from any contact with the outside world, he felt the walls stifling him. He paced the squalid room like an animal. If Jackson had seen him, if any of them watching the safe house had seen him, they’d have been wary. The eyes were hard, his mouth clenched tight. He looked more dangerous, much more openly dangerous than he had ever allowed any one of them to see... Time was running out.

Next day, at the behest of DCI McKinnes, Larry joined him for lunchtime drinks at a pub in the Chalk Farm district. It was a place with a friendly feel, the kind of bar that was difficult to leave after a couple of pints. To enhance matters the Chief was in expansive mood, treating Larry like a favorite, candidly filling him in on the interdepartmental gossip and feeding him background on current events, finally getting around to the topic of the life and crimes of Eddie Myers, alias Philip Von Joel. When they finished their first drink Larry tried to order another round, but McKinnes insisted it was his.

“Two more pints, love...” He nudged Larry and pointed to a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates on the bar beside him. “Don’t let me forget them, they’re for the wife’s birthday.”

He leaned back on his stool, easing out a fiver without taking his wallet from his pocket. When the fresh drinks came he paid for them, told the barmaid to have one herself, and turned to Larry again, picking up the narrative where he had left it.

“Have you any idea what Myers’s escape did to my career? Eh?”

He paused to have a coughing fit and stubbed out the half inch of cigarette that had brought on the attack. He drank down almost half a pint of beer and dabbed at his eyes with his handkerchief.

“They don’t pin it up on the notice board: DCI McKinnes is a schmuck. You just stay out in the cold, till the powers that be reckon you paid your dues.”

He stopped again, took out his cigarettes and lit one. He puffed thoughtfully, enveloping Larry in smoke.

“I paid mine,” he said, “and now I’m going out in the proverbial blaze of glory. We’re going to be set up for the trial way ahead of schedule.” He drank more beer, wiped his mouth. “Now it’s phase two. Myers thinks he’s done us proud — and he has, I admit that. But he also thinks he’s got away with murder. Like he got away with more than a million. It’s stashed somewhere, and nobody knows where it is, right? Right?”

“Right,” Larry murmured.

“Wrong. Eddie knows. See, he’s put a lot of men in the frame, they’ll all go down, and now we’ve clobbered Min-ton, he might even get less of a sentence — you with me? He won’t even need to frigging abscond. He’ll walk. Straight to his stash. Now, you found him, you’d better reel him in. Quick.”

So that’s what it’s all about, Larry thought. A pep talk. A soft-edged warning that he was expected to work even harder from here on in. Well, that was no skin off Larry’s nose — he enjoyed hard work if it got him somewhere. He gulped his beer, feeling he should contribute something to the meeting.

“He said there was a nurse, Guv, one of the staff nurses, that he’d been screwing.”

McKinnes erupted with sudden and harsh laughter. Larry nearly jumped.

“The bastard,” McKinnes said, when he was able to speak. He wiped his face. “Is that the truth? He was shafting one of the nurses?”

“That’s what he told me.”

McKinnes shook his head, muttering something, then picked up his glass and swallowed the remainder of his beer. He got off his stool and snatched up the flowers.

“So,” he said, wagging a finger at Larry. “Phase two — and this is your job — get to his hidden stash.” He winked. “I want to strip him down to the knuckles.”

McKinnes was chuckling as he walked out of the pub. Larry gulped down his pint and hurried to the door, then came scurrying back for the box of chocolates. He ran outside with it. McKinnes was nowhere in sight.

In another part of London, at the heart of Covent Garden, DC Frisby was presenting himself at the booking office of the Royal Opera House. He flashed his ID at the clerk and explained that he was trying to get details of a recent ticket purchase.

“I phoned earlier. The girl I spoke to said she would look up the booking for the particular night.”

“Oh, yes...” The clerk was looking at a sheet in front of him. “Three seats on the night of September 28th, yes?”

“Right.” Frisby nodded. “I want to know if they were paid for by check or—”

“Credit card,” the clerk said. “Mr. Philip Von Joel.”

Frisby stared. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes.” The clerk passed over the sheet. “They were row E, 22, 23, and 24. Mr. Von Joel asked for a box, and the reason I’m certain of the booking is because we were to call the Hyde Park Hotel if a box became available.”

“Thank you very much,” Frisby said, turning away, his head buzzing with the implications.

That evening Larry and Von Joel had another game of chess. Von Joel was full of constructive aggression, playing strongly, at the same time encouraging Larry to try harder and take every opportunity that showed itself. As the game approached its close Larry nearly made a disastrous move and Von Joel jumped on him.

“No, Larry! Your rook, he’s supposed to act as a wall, to prevent my lone king moving out to the center of the board. Bring your king up. If you want to beat me, get your king to face mine, check it with your rook, you’ll force me back...” He watched Larry make the revised move. “That’s it.” Von Joel moved his king. “Good. Keep pushing me back to the edge of the board. Good. Now it’s... what?”

Larry turned aside and began thumbing through his Beginner’s Chess book.

“It’s checkmate, you don’t need the book.” Von Joel tapped his forehead. “Think. The defender has two ways of delaying. You can’t avoid the mate, you attack with the rook.” He sighed. “Look up ‘Waiting Moves.’ ”

Larry frowned, studying the book, cross-checking the information with the layout on the board.

“It’s cash,” Von Joel said, almost whispering. “Nearly one million, give or take a few grand, split it fifty-fifty.”

Larry stopped thumbing the book. He felt sweat break out on his face. This was informal, no tape was running.

“Larry, you and my little girl were this close to it.” Von Joel held up his finger and thumb, a fraction of an inch apart. “This close.”

They stared at each other. Von Joel looked down at the board again.

“The enemy king will return opposite your king. I’m defending, so force my hand. I’m making the attacker’s job easy.” Von Joel’s voice went low again. “Sitting there,” he said, “but we can’t get to it.”

“We?” Larry asked, trying to sound nonchalant. “You mean you and Lola?”

“No, I mean you, Larry, me and you.”

Larry stayed cool. He put his book aside, stared at the board, then reached forward and made his move. Checkmate.

“Good,” Von Joel said. He looked up. “You’re learning fast.”

Larry smiled, pleased with himself, in a nervous kind of way.

Late that night Susan Jackson stood in her sons’ bedroom, making sure they were asleep. When she left she closed their door soundlessly and tiptoed along the landing to her own bedroom. She slipped inside, closed the door, and put a stool in front of it. She turned to Colin Frisby, who was already under the bedclothes.

“There’s no lock,” she whispered. “I don’t want them waking up and walking in.”

“They didn’t see me come back,” Frisby said, by way of reassuring her. He lifted the side of the covers and leered, although he believed it was a grin. “It’s nice and warm.”

Susan dithered at the side of the bed. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Nor have I,” Frisby said. “Not with you, anyway.”

“Oh, thanks.” Susan sat on the edge. “You go to bed with all the people you’re supposed to be watching, do you?”

“No way. Some of them are blokes.”

They both smiled awkwardly. Frisby held out his hand. Susan took it.

“It’s not too late to change your mind,” he told her, kissing her hand. “I don’t want to.”

“Thank Christ for that,” he grunted. “Come here...” He drew her under the covers, his hands everywhere at once. “You’re driving me nuts...”

20

Frank Shrapnel walked into Larry’s bedroom at the safe house and found DI Falcon turning out the contents of the drawers and sorting through Larry’s belongings. Shrapnel stood back from the doorway a moment; he had a feeling he wasn’t catching Falcon doing anything he hadn’t been told to do. There was nothing furtive about the way he was tossing that room.

“What’s all this about?” Shrapnel said lamely. “Larry’s with the Guv’nor this morning.”

“Yeah, I know.” Falcon paused with his hand in a drawer. “Mac said to give his room a thorough once over...” He picked up a camomile tea box and flipped open the lid. He sniffed. “Bloody hell!” He stared at Shrapnel. “Do you know what this is?”

Shrapnel cocked his head to read the box.

“High-grade marijuana,” Falcon said. “Jackson must be out of his head.”

Shrapnel looked profoundly shocked. And worried. Later, when a certain amount of dust had settled, DCI McKinnes explained the new situation. He delivered the explanation in the Superintendent’s office at St. John’s Row station, pacing back and forward in front of the Superintendent as he spoke, puffing hard on his cigarette.

“He admits he went to the Hyde Park Hotel, and he admits he went to the bloody opera with the women. I think he got it on with the Spanish bird.”

“The ruddy idiot.” The Superintendent was white-lipped, imagining he could already feel waves of repercussion. “This is getting out of hand. It’s insanity.”

“Unbelievable,” McKinnes agreed. “I don’t know what the hell he thought he was trying to do.”

“Whatever, Mac — get rid of him.”

McKinnes stopped pacing.

“No can do,” he said, his voice rich with regret. “I need the bugger. And I reckon Myers is going to need Jackson to get his money.” He spread his hands. “Give me audio on the place. Give me surveillance. Let’s wire the prat up.”

The Superintendent stared. “Are you crazy? Bloody Jackson’s screwed up not just once but... Listen, if we don’t watch it, he’s going to take us both down.”

McKinnes stubbed out his cigarette and lit another one.

“I got down on my sodding knees for this,” he said, “and I’ll go down on them again. I won’t let Jackson foul up, I promise you. Just let me finish what I started. I’ll be right here...” He tapped his shoulder. “You know why I want Eddie Myers.”

“You’ve already got him, Mac.”

“No!” McKinnes said it vehemently, almost glaring at the Superintendent. “No, I haven’t. Not all of him. But I will have.” He looked straight at the Superintendent and pointedly tapped his shoulder again. “Because I’ll be right there... Okay?”

Ten minutes later McKinnes was marching along the corridor with Larry beside him. DC Summers, running as usual, caught up with them by the lift.

“Boss,” he panted. “Sydney Jefferson’s downstairs.”

“He can wait.”

Summers melted away. McKinnes pressed the lift button. He and Larry waited. Larry was partly in the picture, far enough to know he was in the kind of trouble that did not easily go away. He also knew, without being told, that Colin Frisby was an element in his predicament. One look at Frisby’s devious mug in the operations room had made it crystal clear.

“You must never coerce,” McKinnes said now, keeping it strictly business. “You just listen and ask pertinent questions, but do not encourage or make suggestions about any part of the robbery to Myers. Any unrecorded information you are privy to can go against you. You must at no time appear to aid or give incitement to any illegal activity. You taking this in?”

“Yes, Mac.” The lift arrived. Larry got in. “Ah, about everything... I’m sorry, I want to—”

“All I want is Myers, son. I put myself right in front of the firing squad keeping you on this.” McKinnes pointed straight up. “Get up there! And get your sodding head straightened out!”

The lift door closed. McKinnes turned along the corridor and saw Sydney Jefferson being shown into an interview room by DC Summers. When Jefferson saw McKinnes striding toward them he stopped in the doorway.

“Chief Inspector McKinnes,” he called, “I’ve been waiting for over an hour. It is my right to have access to my client—”

“Is it?” McKinnes didn’t break step. “He can’t just hop on a bus, you know. It takes a lot of organization. Just have patience. Myers’ll be here.”

McKinnes strode on past. Jefferson went into the interview room and sat down. As Summers came out McKinnes gestured to him. He ran to catch up.

“Search Jefferson,” McKinnes said grimly. “Down to his Y-fronts if necessary.”

Upstairs in the Radio Control Division a departmental technician gave Larry rudimentary instructions in the deployment of bugs and body wires. On a trestle table in front of them was an open briefcase with plastic foam compartments. Beside it were a number of miniature receivers, several two-way bugs and a pair of radio microphones. Two of the department’s specialists hovered nearby, watching the tackle on the table like hard-eyed mother swans keeping an eye on their young.

“Try not to touch the heads,” the technician said, pointing to the radio mikes. “They’re very delicate. This one you use for outside work only, it’s got a good wide radius. This is the internal one, it’s good for two miles, then it distorts. Tape it to your chest or just here...” He pointed to his armpit. “Now, every time you set yourself up for the day, check with this.” He held up a small black box fitted with a dial indicator. “If the needle remains between these two points, you’re on air.”

Larry nodded, taking it all in, trying to be a professional in the teeth of his anxieties; after today’s events, he couldn’t shake a gnawing suspicion that the alterations to his life — so sudden and so many — had plunged him into bad currents.

“Do remember,” the technician said, packing the gear into the briefcase, “this is valuable equipment. Try not to damage any of it.”

“I’ll do my best,” Larry promised.

I’ll maybe even do better than that. He had to motivate himself. If he could make this phase of the operation work without confusion, the prestige might rub out some of the black marks that had accumulated against him.

Two floors below, meanwhile, DCI McKinnes and the Superintendent were looking at a street map.

“I’ll need men across the road,” McKinnes said. “We’re sorting a good surveillance flat and a surveillance vehicle. The entire flat will be wired and—”

“This is costing, Mac.” The Superintendent’s faraway look had been there since McKinnes came back with the map. “I had to put it before Fretlow, and he had to take it even higher. My budget’s wiped out.”

“Are you saying I can’t go on?”

The Superintendent looked cagey. The whole truth about his negotiations with the brass would not be forthcoming.

“They want — and I knew this would come up — they want Myers taken to the Reading Secure Unit.”

“So I lose him?” McKinnes didn’t hide his indignation. “Doesn’t matter that he’s planning a bloody robbery?”

“Oh, come on, now, Mac...”

“Jefferson says his girls are cleaning him out. He’s got to go for it.”

“We don’t know that for sure.” The Superintendent smiled sourly. “You just want him to.”

“You said it.” McKinnes glared at the window. “Five years I’ve waited for this.”

Twenty minutes later DI Shrapnel, DI Falcon, and DC Summers looked up from one of the desks in the incident room to face DCI McKinnes as he marched in. They looked sheepish.

“Frank,” McKinnes said, “I want Jefferson tipped off that Myers has just two more weeks in our custody. In the meantime we hold Myers here until I’ve got the safe house wired...” He stopped, taking in the group expression. “What’s up?”

Falcon held up a camomile tea box. “We found this in Jackson’s bedroom.”

McKinnes looked at the box with a so-what expression. Shrapnel put it down and held out a box of Black Magic chocolates.

“These were in the kitchen,” he said. “I can have the lab boys check them out. They could have drugs in them, I don’t know how the hell he got them in—”

“The chocolates were for my wife,” McKinnes snapped. The three detectives looked at each other. McKinnes snatched up a plastic bag from the tea box and sniffed it. He appeared to freeze.

“It’s marijuana,” Shrapnel said, pronouncing it mari-jewana.

“I know what it bloody is, Frank!”

Larry appeared. He was carrying a briefcase, gingerly, as if there were eggs in it.

“I’m all set to go back, Guv,” he said.

“Oh, are you?” McKinnes turned to him, holding up the bag of grass between finger and thumb. “What’s this, Jackson? It was found in your room at the safe house.”

Larry stared, his throat tightening. For the moment he couldn’t summon an excuse. He went on staring, his hopes of redemption melting. There was no way to avoid the obvious. His life was turning to shit.

Jefferson was tight-lipped with fury. His ratlike eyes were gray as flints. He had been searched, left waiting, and no one had listened to his clipped demands as to how long it would be before he had access to Von Joel. Then, just as he was about to really fly off the handle, the thud of footsteps heralded Von Joel’s arrival. Two uniformed officers remained in the room throughout the short interview. Jefferson had demanded the meeting as his client’s right. Von Joel, as agreed, had signed over power of attorney to Jefferson, giving him access to Von Joel’s bank accounts. DI Falcon sat in on the meeting. In fact the room was so filled with bodies, it became stifling. Every single move that went between Von Joel and Jefferson was watched. Each document Von Joel was required to sign was checked carefully. The men watched and listened almost gleefully as Jefferson informed Von Joel that both his girlfriends were, as he had told McKinnes, cleaning him out. They had used his check cards, and spent thousands on a suite at the Hyde Park Hotel... Jefferson, however, appeared to the onlookers to be more worried about his own fees being met, and when they heard the amount due to him, the men exchanged shifty looks.

Von Joel’s appearance had slightly shocked Jefferson. He seemed quiet, exceptionally subdued. There was stubble on his chin, a scruffiness about him that Jefferson had never detected before, but he made no reference to the obvious discomfort of his client, and the fading bruises on his face. The cuffs were never removed, even when Von Joel signed the documents. Falcon noticed that Von Joel seemed almost about to crack up, especially when Jefferson repeated the amount of money the girls had got away with, and admitted that he was unsure how long he could continue taking care of Von Joel’s business transactions since Von Joel was broke.

Jefferson gave Von Joel a strange half smile. “The villa in Spain was bought in Lola’s name. Well, the little bird has it on the market, and there is nothing you or I can do about it. The Monterey was in the other girl’s name and that, too, is on the market. Again, as they have proof of ownership, I cannot stop the sale going ahead.”

Von Joel swore under his breath about cheating bitches, and kept his head bent down, as Jefferson checked over the papers, preparing to return them to his briefcase. The locks snapped shut.

“Any complaints? Food all right, is it? They’re getting your vitamins to you?”

Von Joel nodded, then sighed. “I am held in a shit hole, but apart from that I don’t have too many complaints. There’s no exercise area, and I’m getting sick. I need some fresh air. Can you arrange for me to have at least a walk? I’d like a run if possible. The place is close to Regent’s Park, somebody must be able to arrange it. Can you talk to McKinnes? I’m going crazy in that dump.”

Jefferson nodded, said he would do whatever was possible, but he doubted if Von Joel would be allowed out for a morning jog. He gave a twisted smile. Falcon couldn’t help but smile as well; bloody nerve of Von Joel, asking to go friggin’ joggin’, next it would be a night out at the theater.

The meeting lasted no longer than fifteen minutes. A report was sent back to McKinnes that nothing unforeseen had happened, apart from Von Joel looking like hell, and obviously being depressed. The news of Von Joel’s girlfriends stitching him up good and well traveled fast, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh. So much for the Super Grass, his own little darlin’s were rippin’ him off, and his brief was doing an even better job.

McKinnes had a few moments with Jefferson, and he almost laughed in Jefferson’s face when he passed on Von Joel’s request that he be allowed to go running or walking to get some fresh air. Jefferson carefully made no reference to the fact that Von Joel had let slip the location — that he was being held within the vicinity of Regent’s Park. McKinnes almost told Jefferson to piss off, but then excused himself, and walked out into the corridor. Von Joel wanted a run, did he? Or was he already planning to do a runner? Maybe they should let out the leash a little bit more. If they kept an eye on him, maybe, as McKinnes had said, he’d give them a lead.

After seeing Von Joel at the police station, Sydney Jefferson called on Lola and Charlotte at the Hyde Park Hotel. Their business was brief, hardly more than an update, concluding with Jefferson’s account of the meeting at St. John’s Row station. As he was preparing to leave Lola asked him if Von Joel had asked after his girls.

“Every word we said was monitored. And he’s not supposed to be enamored of the situation, is he?” Jefferson smiled. “You’re taking him to the cleaners, remember?” He picked up his attaché case, went to the door and opened it. “I’ll contact you here as soon as I get a result.”

“But you haven’t found out where they’re keeping him,” Lola said.

“I did my best,” Jefferson replied testily. “All I know is what I told you, he’s somewhere close to Regent’s Park. And McKinnes agreed that he could exercise early each morning.” He looked from one girl to the other. “The rest will be up to you.”

Early that evening Larry fitted bugs in the safe house, under the moody eye of Frank Shrapnel. He worked his way along to the kitchen, taking his cues from sketchy notes he had made at the station. Throughout the flat he had positioned each bug so that its pattern of receptivity overlapped that of at least one other bug in the vicinity. He wore an earpiece as he worked, to monitor signal strength and pick up any howl that might result from putting bugs too close to one another. He walked slowly around the kitchen with the last-but-one device, a transceiver the size of a ten-pence piece, deciding where to put it.

“Testing, testing...”

Shrapnel checked the dial on the small black box. The needle moved gently between the two markers. He gave a thumbs up. Larry stripped the wax paper from the adhesive on the back of the bug and positioned it under the overhanging trim at the base of a wall cupboard.

“Look,” Shrapnel said throatily, finally spitting out what had obviously been on his mind, “thanks for not spilling the beans about the herbal tea. If Mac and the lads had got to hear...”

Larry prodded him. He pointed to the dial on the box. Shrapnel slapped a hand over his mouth. Larry handed him an earpiece.

“It’s called skating, Frank — on very thin ice. I just hope I don’t fall through the cracks.” Larry moved close to the nearest bug and spoke directly to it. “Just one more, in Myers’s bedroom, then that’s it. Over.”

By five-forty the safe house was comprehensively wired. In the surveillance flat in a block across the way, reel-to-reel tape machines, binoculars, cameras, and dark-light monitoring equipment had already been set up. A surveillance team was in place.

At nine o’clock Von Joel was finally brought back to the safe house by a posse of plainclothes policemen. He was taken directly to his bedroom and locked in.

After undressing for bed, he turned off his light and stood by the window. He could see the solitary officer posted near the entrance to the block of flats, and it was easy to spot the unmarked patrol car at the roadside with two men sitting inside, silhouetted against the lamplight. All very reassuring, he thought, but there had to be more than that. The ball game, after all, was changing.

He waited.

Long minutes passed, then a man came along the street and stopped by the police car. He bent low and spoke to the men inside. When he moved away he entered the apartment block opposite.

Von Joel began examining the windows of the block one by one, taking his time, scanning each of them from top to bottom, side to side. Halfway up the block his eye was held by a dark-draped window with a tiny gap between the curtains. In the gap was the small but telltale glint of a camera lens.

“Gotcha!” Von Joel whispered.

He went to bed.

At ten the following morning there was a team changeover in the surveillance flat. The officer taking over the audio equipment was removing his jacket when the night-shift officer, still wearing headphones, beckoned him to the table. He turned up the sound on the external monitor speaker.

“Listen to this.”

They sat motionless, scarcely breathing, as Larry’s voice said, “Five hundred grand for me and five for you, that right?”

The policemen leaned closer to the equipment, their faces tense. There was a rattling sound, then Larry spoke again.

“Six,” he said. “Okay, that’s me to go. I’m feeling lucky.”

The officers looked at each other, smiling foolishly as they realized Larry and Von Joel were playing Monopoly.

Over in the safe house the two men sat cross-legged on the living room floor with the Monopoly board between them. Von Joel had a notepad; as he talked and played he simultaneously drew pictures and made notes.

“Now,” he said slowly, shaking the dice, “do I go for the bank?” The dice landed. “Oh, yes! Double six! Very nice. Walk straight to the vaults.” He made his move on the board. “Very easy access, and nobody gets hurt. You saw for yourself, it’d be no problem.”

“Hang on,” Larry said. “One, two, three — that’s jail.”

“No way,” Von Joel said, staring at the board. “It’s not as if I would be stealing. It’s my money. Your turn.” He watched as Larry threw the dice. “Oh, very nice! Double four. But not good enough, my friend. Check my score. You see — when you’re desperate something always turns up.”

He handed Larry a drawing of the interior of the bank, the same one Larry had visited with Lola. He studied it, marveling at the detail.

Von Joel gasped suddenly.

Larry looked at him. “You okay?”

Von Joel blinked, rubbing the side of his head.

“Give me a hand up, would you? I feel lousy.”

As Larry helped him to his feet Von Joel swayed, holding on with one hand, letting his slack knuckles slide and trail across Larry’s arm and chest, feeling for his wire.

“I think I’ll go and lie down, I don’t feel so good. How could my little girls do it to me? I’m sick, Larry, sick...”

Over the next hour his condition appeared to get worse. The pallor of his face made his tan a light waxy brown; his eyes were dark-rimmed and feverishly bright. At eleven o’clock Shrapnel decided to call in a police doctor. He came at once and made a thorough examination. Afterward, standing at the front door with Larry, he explained the position.

“If his headache continues, he should be whipped back in for another X-ray. There’s nothing I can do, really. He says he won’t take aspirin or codeine.”

“Has he got a temperature?”

“One degree above normal, that’s all. But keep an eye on him. If it goes any higher then he should be in hospital.”

Behind the locked bedroom door, as they spoke, Von Joel was on his feet. From under the bed he fished out a bottle of water. He uncapped it quietly, shook it over the pillow and bedclothes, then used it to soak his hair. When he was finished he recapped the bottle, put it back in its hiding place, and climbed into bed.

When he was found in his sorry condition half an hour later, babbling deliriously to himself, Larry and DI Shrapnel changed the bed linen and his night clothes.

“That’ll hold him for now,” Shrapnel said. “No sense making a lot of fuss unless we have to.”

It happened again, two hours later. They changed the bed, dried Von Joel off and decided, one more time, to give the condition a chance to put itself right. It was a long shot, but it was preferable to telling the boss and getting embroiled in one of his rages. Both Shrapnel and Larry knew that if Von Joel’s illness persisted, they would catch the blame.

At nine in the evening Larry came into the kitchen. Shrapnel was there in his dressing gown, standing by the cooker waiting for a pan of milk to boil.

“His bed linen’s soaked again,” Larry said. “I don’t like the look of him. We should contact Mac.”

“You call him,” Shrapnel said.

“No. I’m not taking the responsibility. You call. That man should be taken to the hospital.”

Von Joel was behind the bedroom door, listening. The talking in the kitchen stopped, then he heard footsteps coming along the passage. He turned in the darkness and made a run for the bed. His toe slid under a rip in the old rug and he went down, hitting his face on the bedside cabinet. Pain flared in his nose and the cabinet fell over with a crash.

“Shit!”

He threw himself into the damp bed and tried to pull the covers up over him. He touched his nose and felt warm blood.

“Oh, nice one...”

As the door was unlocked he flopped back on the pillow, half in and half out of the bed. The light came on and Shrapnel stood there, gaping at the sight of Von Joel, spread eagled on the bed, his eyes closed, blood streaming from his nose.

“Oh, Jesus, Larry...” Shrapnel was stunned. He turned and yelled. “Larry! Get in here!”

Larry came hurtling along the passage. He stopped in the doorway, holding the frame, staring. Shrapnel went forward and slapped Von Joel’s face.

“Don’t,” Larry snapped. “Don’t do that.”

“He’s bloody unconscious!” Shrapnel was panicking, flapping his arms. He glared at Larry. “He’s soaking wet — look at the sheets.” He glanced again at the deathly still face, at the blood channeling down from the nose across the mouth and neck. “I’ll call an ambulance,” he said. He ran off up the passage.

Ten minutes later an ambulance with Von Joel and Larry inside was blue-lighting westward across London. Shrapnel followed in a patrol car. In the back of the ambulance an attendant leaned across Von Joel, trying to stabilize him against the shocks and bumps of the racing vehicle.

They had been traveling a couple of minutes when Von Joel sat up. He grinned across at Larry, who had been panicking nearly as badly as Shrapnel

“I’m okay,” Von Joel told the attendant, who stared, not seeming to comprehend. “Larry” — Von Joel looked around the man’s bulk — “I need to talk. Get him to sit up front!”

The attendant was looking from one to the other. He narrowed his eyes at Von Joel and asked him what was going on.

“Shut it! Tell him, Larry.”

It took Larry a moment to gather himself. He turned to the attendant and nodded curtly.

“Do it,” he said.

The man edged reluctantly into the driving cab, his eyes darting from Larry to Von Joel.

“It’s okay,” Larry assured him, getting out his warrant card. “This is my ID. I’m a police officer. Now shut the door. Do it!”

The attendant huffily slid the door shut. Larry put the ID back in his pocket and got out his handcuffs. He told Von Joel to hold up his hands and clasped the cuffs on him.

“I’m going to give you one last chance,” Von Joel said.

Larry sat back. “You’re giving me?”

There was room to cultivate some drama in the situation. Larry had taped on the outdoor transmission gear before they left the safe house. He knew he would be picked up loud and clear.

“Eddie, when they hear about this, do you know what McKinnes will do to me? You bastard!” Larry let that part soak in, then he said, “You want to talk?”

“Half a million,” Von Joel said calmly. “That’s what I will be giving you, Larry. You could spend the next twenty years in the force and never make that much.” His voice was warm and beguiling as he pushed himself up on the bunk, leaning closer to Larry. “I’m offering you the chance of a lifetime. You’ve only got one life, and already you’re halfway through it.” He held Larry’s eyes. “You’ve got a map, it’s a walkover. Listen to me, Larry... I’ll arrange passports, tickets. If you want your wife and kids along, that’s fine by me.”

Von Joel gasped suddenly, his face twisting. “No violence,” he said, panting softly. “No guns. We walk in and take it, Larry.”

He gasped again, then dropped back, his eyes rolling upward and closing.

“Eddie?” Larry shook him carefully. “Eddie, are you messing me around?”

There was no way to know if this was more playacting, but Von Joel appeared to be unconscious. Larry went to the front and banged on the partition door. The attendant turned and glared at him.

“Get back in here. He’s passed out.”

Attempts to bring him around did not work. He still appeared to be unconscious when they arrived at the hospital. He was rushed directly to an X-ray suite; X-rays and CAT scans were taken, then he was transferred to an observation room in Accident and Emergency, where monitors were set up.

When McKinnes arrived, his face congested with anger, he ignored Larry and DI Shrapnel and demanded that someone in authority tell him what kind of state his prisoner was in. After some administrative flurrying he was taken into an X-ray viewing room and introduced to a radiologist who tried to clarify the position.

“If you’ll take a look at these...” The doctor pointed to a row of backlit X-rays, showing Von Joel’s skull from a number of angles. “There’s no fracture, but you can still see the indentations from the crash.”

McKinnes stared at the plates, discerning nothing.

“You don’t think he’s conning us, do you?”

“Does he have a reason to?”

McKinnes shrugged.

“This is from when he was first brought here.” The doctor hooked a frontal skull plate on to the viewing screen, “he’s very lucky his skull wasn’t crushed. Lucky, too, that there was no cervical or brainstem damage. Given the degree of impact his skull actually withstood, and taking tonight’s episode into account, it would be reasonable to assume he’ll continue having spasmodic blackouts and severe headaches for some time to come.”

“But...” Panic sparkled behind McKinnes’s eyes. “He’ll be all right, will he? To stand trial, that is?”

“Unless he blacks out,” the doctor said, half smiling. “It could happen again, as I said, but it’s not really a debilitating factor, and he’s a fit man, in very good shape...”

Later, McKinnes sat down with Larry in the corridor outside Von Joel’s room. Behind them, through an opening in the curtains, Von Joel was clearly visible, lying on the bed with a blanket over him. His face was turned aside, his eyes closed.

Larry explained to McKinnes what had happened earlier in the day, immediately before Von Joel had been taken ill. He showed the boss the map.

“That’s the bank. See, he’s marked out the escape route. He used the Monopoly game for cover — have they got it on tape?”

“Yes, they have,” McKinnes nodded. “Did he talk in the ambulance?”

“What?” Larry stared at him.

“Was he unconscious? We didn’t hear a word, Jackson, just a lot of static...”

“In the ambulance?” Larry blinked. “You said you got it on tape. I’ve got the mike taped to—” He touched the front of his shirt and shot to his feet. “Shit...”

McKinnes stared as Larry frantically patted his shirt and pulled it out of his trousers.

“Shit! Aw shit!” He looked helplessly at McKinnes. “It’s got loose, I... Christ...” He threw up his hands. “I don’t know where it is.” He stood there with his shirttails hanging below his jacket, trying to think. “I put it on, I remember, Frank was there. Then we helped carry Von Joel out of the bedroom to the stretcher...” He looked at McKinnes, distraught. “It must have come loose around about then. I just don’t know where it is.”

Larry turned and stared at Von Joel, a thought occurring to him. Von Joel’s eyes remained closed.

“He was unconscious when you took him out of the flat,” McKinnes said, standing up and facing Larry. “So I take it he didn’t say anything in the ambulance. Is that right?”

Larry bit back his panic, wondering which way to jump.

“I had the cuffs on him, Mac.”

McKinnes sniffed, dismissing that as irrelevant guff.

“Did he say anything in the ambulance? Or do I have to go and bloody ask the ambulance attendant? Did he or didn’t he?” McKinnes’s color began to rise. “Was he or wasn’t he unconscious?”

“Yes,” Larry blurted. He swallowed hard. “And no, he didn’t say anything.”

McKinnes nodded. He turned and walked away. Larry glanced into the room. The pale head turned slowly on the pillow until it was facing the door. The eyes opened, staring eerily. And then Von Joel smiled.

21

At lunch time the following day, a Saturday, Larry had another informal meeting, in a pub, with DCI McKinnes. The first chance he got, Larry made an admission of defeat. His statement was plain and unequivocal: this case was too much for him, he was not the man for the job. He waited for a response as the barmaid brought a I portion of leaden shepherd’s pie and put it in front of McKinnes. No answer came. For the moment McKinnes seemed more interested in attacking his lunch.

“Myers twists my head around,” Larry said, making the point a second time. “I keep on fouling up.”

“That’s an understatement,” McKinnes told him. “Pass the HP sauce.”

Larry handed over the sticky plastic container. “I’m being honest, Mac. I can’t tell when he’s lying.”

“So.” McKinnes forked shepherd’s pie into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “You want off it? Yes?”

“Yes.”

“And what about the court case?” McKinnes shook sauce liberally across his plate and thumped the dispenser down on the bar. “I’ll tell you something — what with the bleeding marijuana, then screwing Myers’s girlfriend, you’re lucky to be still on the job.”

“I don’t want to quit the force, Mac, I just—”

“You just want to get out from under your involvement in this case, right?” McKinnes reamed his teeth with his tongue and pushed his plate away. “You think you can pick and choose, do you? I want Myers, Larry. I’ve got two weeks to get him before I lose him to Reading. If I have to get him via you it’s still okay, even if you make me sick to my stomach.” He shook his head wearily. “You want out, yet half the lads in the Met would give their eyeteeth for this caper.”

Larry swirled his beer, realizing he could have saved his breath.

“Take twenty-four hours and pull yourself together,” McKinnes said. “I’ll forget what you just bleated to me.” He nodded at the door. “Go on. Hop it, before I change my mind.”

Larry finished his drink and left. McKinnes caught the attention of the barmaid.

“Give us a Scotch, love. A double. It’ll make up for your shepherd’s pie. I think they left his crook in it.”

Larry went home. The house was empty. He went upstairs, got undressed, and climbed into bed. Within five minutes he was asleep.

At ten-fifteen that night Susan went into the bedroom. She undressed, put on her nightdress and dressing gown, and watched Larry slowly wake up. She asked him if he would like a cup of tea. He said that would be nice. She came back ten minutes later, carrying a tray with two mugs of tea.

“Larry,” she said, pushing the door shut behind her, “we really need to talk. I don’t think I can take much more.” She looked at the bed. He was flat out, facedown, the pillow over his head. “Larry?”

She put down the tray, sat on the edge of the bed, and lifted the pillow. He was fast asleep. She looked at him for a while, wondering if she would wake him. Finally she decided against it, and took the tray back downstairs.

Early on Sunday morning McKinnes was waiting on the pavement outside the safe house when a plain patrol car brought Von Joel back from the hospital. A covering car drew up sharply behind them as DI Falcon, handcuffed to Von Joel, pushed the prisoner out of the car ahead of him. DI Shrapnel climbed out of the front passenger seat. McKinnes smiled coldly as Von Joel paused beside him.

“Jefferson’s been wittering on about you wanting exercise, Eddie. You’re only just out of hospital. Fit for the morning jogs, are you? Is that what you want?”

“Anything for fresh air, Mac,” Von Joel said, grinning. “Where’s Jackson?” McKinnes nodded to Falcon. “Get him out of my sight.” Shrapnel came forward as Von Joel was hustled away. He looked at the boss uneasily. “What about Jackson? Is he in or out?”

“I’m thinking about it,” McKinnes said, getting into the patrol car.

“We just lost two days, Guv.”

“You’re telling me!” McKinnes yelled through the open window. “You think I don’t know? Sod off!”

Shrapnel watched the car move away. He turned and walked toward the apartment block, looking to left and right as he went.

At approximately the moment Shrapnel shut the safe house door behind him, Larry Jackson was climbing out of the bath at home, feeling wide awake and more alert than he had for days. He stood on the mat, toweled himself, then wrapped the towel around his waist. At the basin he soaped his face and began shaving. He had done one side when the telephone rang. It rang several times before the front door opened and he heard Susan pick up the receiver.

“Larry...”

He carried on shaving, removing the lather from his cheek in tidy strips, rinsing the razor after each stroke.

“Larry! It’s the phone for you! Larry!”

He was still shaving when Susan burst into the bathroom. She was still wearing her coat.

“Didn’t you hear me? It’s the phone for you. It’s Mac.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you answer it?”

She flounced out again. Larry put down the razor and dabbed his face dry. He tightened the towel around his waist, followed Susan downstairs, and picked up the phone.

“Dad.” Young Tony was standing at the open front door. “Will you come to football practice? Dad?”

“Mac?” Larry pressed the receiver to his ear. “You were right. I was just tired out. I want back on him. This time I won’t—” He paused, listening. “What? Have I been jogging? What? Oh, I see. Yeah, sure, yeah, I’ll pack em. Okay.”

The two boys were now hurtling up and down the length of the hall, kicking a ball. Susan came stomping out of the kitchen.

“I told you not to kick that around in the house!” she screeched. “Take it outside! Not in the street — the garden! Go on!”

“Hey!” Larry yelled, as the boys continued to play with the ball. “Shut it! I want none of that when I’m on the phone! Get them out,” he told Susan. “Go on.”

Susan, glaring at him, pushed the boys toward the door.

“Sorry, Mac,” Larry said, his mouth close to the receiver again. He listened, nodding. “Right. Fine. Will do. And Guv, thanks. I won’t let you down.”

He put down the phone and went back upstairs to get dressed. A few minutes later Susan came and leaned on the door frame as he stood by the mirror combing his hair.

“You seem very happy,” she said.

“I am.”

“Well, I’m glad one of us is.”

Larry picked up his small weekend bag and laid it open on the bed.

“Have I got any clean shirts? I need some socks, too, and my tracksuit, and my good trainers.”

Barely containing herself, Susan yanked open the wardrobe and began tossing shirts out onto the bed.

“You treat this place like a hotel,” she snapped. “I don’t know when you’ll be home, or when you’re going — and one minute you’re biting everyone’s head off and the next it’s all smiles.” She came and stood close to Larry, forcing him to pay attention. “One of these days you’re going to waltz back here and—”

“And?” Larry tried to embrace her but she pushed him away. “Oh come on, Sue — you know how important this case is to me.”

He turned away and started packing the bag.

“And me and the kids?” Susan said. “How importantare we? Don’t try and tell me you’re doing this for us. God!” She put her hands to her temples. “I’m beginning to sound like a tape recorder.” She glared at Larry. “Do you think I like being this way? If it wasn’t for Colin I wouldn’t know what the hell is going on.”

“Colin?” Larry stiffened. “You mean Frisby? What’s he j been saying?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does!” Larry grabbed her by the shoulders. “What’s he told you?”

“Larry!” Susan jerked herself free. “You see? Look at you! ‘What’s he been saying?’” Again, as so often, she imagined she had performed an accurate impersonation. “This is me, your wife! You don’t speak to me as if I’m under interrogation!”

“Sue, listen...” He had his hands up. “I’m under a hell of a lot of pressure. I mean, last night I tried to quit. I did. But I can’t, not even if I wanted to...”

“Why not?”

Larry tried to stay calm. With two words Susan managed to convey her belief that packing in this case — perhaps even the job — would be a good move.

“Eddie Myers interacts with me, he refuses to talk to anyone else but me. I have to—”

“Larry! There’s police hanging around the kids’ school. They’re parked outside the house. I’ve been told not to let the boys play in the street. I mean, how long is this going to go on for? Do you ever think what I’m going through? Does it occur to you that maybe I need you at home?”

Larry closed his bag and picked it up. He tried to put his arm around Susan and kiss her. She backed away.

“Just go, Larry.” Her voice was cold — even colder, he thought, than her premenstrual snarl. “Go on, get out!”

He paused at the bedroom door.

“If it’ll make you feel safer, I’ll have a word with Frisby. Okay? It’s just two more weeks, I swear...”

He went downstairs. Susan heard him talking from the hall.

“John, Tony, come and say good-bye.” The boys mumbled and she heard him kiss them. “Now, be good boys and look after your mum, okay?”

A great bubble swelled in Susan’s chest. She ran out of the bedroom and hurried down the stairs.

“Larry. Larry, wait.”

The front door slammed shut.

As the week started and time began to tick down toward the zero point where McKinnes would have to part with Von Joel, the Superintendent began to see this stage of the operation as an all-or-nothing exercise in expectations that were not, by any sane measurement, justified. He told no one he thought this, of course, and in his heart hewished the best for the long shot, because success here could be good for him as well as McKinnes. It could be a formidable professional boost, the kind that would not be forgotten — the kind that could yield a lot of mileage.

In his imagination he saw himself and McKinnes in fanciful terms, as two astute seismologists waiting for a particular boulder to roll off a ledge and start a landslide against which every advance precaution had been taken; the problem, the hellish big maybe was that the boulder, poised on the edge as it undoubtedly was, might never budge. For all their expert knowledge and accumulated experience, they just couldn’t be sure it ever would.

The cost of the operation was crippling. Men and vehicles were deployed on standby in numbers and on a scale which was unprecedented for a crime that no one could say was going to happen. McKinnes had Von Joel for another two weeks, but the Superintendent knew the manpower backup would not be available for anything approaching that length of time.

“Pray for a result at the earliest,” he told McKinnes, “before the odds against success get steep enough to break your heart.”

On Tuesday morning, at an open-air cafe in Regent’s Park, Sydney Jefferson conducted business with Lola del Moreno and Charlotte Lampton. It was a brief meeting, as always, and the real business was conducted with Charlotte alone, acting as a signatory on Von Joel’s behalf. She signed several legal documents and initialed amendments to others; Jefferson checked everything carefully, then put the papers in his pocket. From another pocket he took something wrapped in a yellow cloth and passed it to Charlotte. She quickly pocketed it. Throughout the meeting Jefferson’s eyes kept darting around the park. When the transactions were completed he seemed anxious to leave.

“That’s it,” he told Charlotte. “I don’t want to see either of you again.”

Lola arrived at the table with two cups of tea and a sausage roll. Jefferson looked about him again.

“No more calls,” he said, “not at home, not at the office, understood? I’m out, until the trial. If there is one,” he added, smiling tightly.

Without a good-bye or even a wave, he turned and walked away, leaving his briefcase on his chair. Lola watched him go, slowly munching her sausage roll.

“Jefferson reckons he’s still in the same place,” Charlotte said eventually. She picked up the lawyer’s briefcase. “He’s allowed to go running early mornings, every morning.”

“Did he give you a shooter?” Lola said.

Charlotte sighed. “Why don’t you say it louder? Maybe somebody didn’t hear you.” She leaned forward across the table. “Yes,” she hissed, “he had it in his pocket.”

“Oh,” Lola said, rolling her eyes and doing her Mae West impression, “I thought he was just pleased to see us!” Charlotte wasn’t amused. Lola nodded at the briefcase. “Is that all the money?”

“Yes,” Charlotte snapped, “all we’ll get, anyway.” She glanced at her watch. “Come on, we’ve got to get moving. He’s a slimy sod, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d bought us out.”

“Well,” Lola said, “I guess at least we’ll be rich.”

Von Joel and Jackson ran stride for stride. They were up to five miles — they’d started at two, upping to three, and on the last two mornings it had been five. They were well matched, almost identical in size. The pair of them were over six feet tall, both wore tracksuits, and apart from the handcuffs that bolted them to each other at the wrists, they looked to anyone watching like innocent joggers, both ever eager to hear the fat Mars Bar-sucking Shrapnel give them their timing from a stopwatch. No one approached them, no one even attempted to pass on a message, a signal. No car tailed them, no cyclist, nothing happened apart from two men taking a very early morning jog.

On Thursday morning McKinnes had a brief, anxious meeting with the Superintendent. For their separate but deeply linked reasons, neither of the men could quite look at the other.

“It’s been four days,” McKinnes said. “Nothing doing. Short of driving them to the bloody bank, I don’t know what to suggest.”

“We can’t keep all these men and vehicles on standby forever, Mac.” The Superintendent stared glumly at the map of Regent’s Park on his office wall. “They’re screaming at the cost as it is.” It was short-fuse time, and it had come sooner than the Superintendent had expected. “This is a waste of time and money — get him over to the Secure Unit at Reading.”

That was not an order. Not yet. But it was time to start making peremptory noises.

“Why the hell doesn’t he make a sodding move?” McKinnes demanded of thin air. “Why? What’s he waiting for? I’ve made it easy enough for the bastard...”

At seven o’clock on Friday morning, under the eyes of more official observers than an outsider would have believed, Larry Jackson jogged around the Inner Circle at Regent’s Park with Von Joel cuffed to his right arm. They kept up a good measured pace around the virtually empty park, and near the end of their circuit Frank Shrapnel put through the same radio message he had been transmitting since Monday.

“Fifth day, no contact. Myers just runs with Jackson, over.”

On this particular morning, on the other side of the park wearing a tracksuit with the hood up, Lola del Moreno was running toward a car parked by the trees. She got in and pushed down her hood. Charlotte, behind the steering wheel, lowered her binoculars.

“It was him!” Lola panted. “It was definitely him! Now what do we do?”

“We wait,” Charlotte said. “We just keep on coming. Hire a different car tomorrow. We’ll tail them again.”

“But maybe he don’t know we’ve traced him,” Lola protested. “Can’t we give him some kind of signal?”

“No,” Charlotte snapped. “We can’t.”

Activity that evening at the safe house was as low-key as it had been all week. The official drill now was that Von Joel simply be supervised and offered recreation; serious interrogation was at an end, since all but the most trivial loose ends, in prosecution terms, had been tied up.

At ten-thirty Larry was in the kitchen reading his chess book while Von Joel cleared up. Among the detritus on the worktop was an ashtray full of cigarette and cigar stubs, and on top an empty matchbox. Von Joel palmed the box as he tipped the other rubbish into the swing-top bin.

Across the way, the late shift was preparing to take over in the surveillance flat. The senior surveillance officer made his customary radio contact with control before handing over.

“It’s ten-thirty, tapes sealed and on their way to HQ.” He listened for a moment, shook his head. “Nope. Nothing. A lot of chess, Monopoly, and Scrabble. Okay.” He turned to his takeover and stretched. “Another riveting session comes to an end,” he said, fighting down a yawn, already more than hallway convinced that his talent and energies were being wasted on a nothing-doing case. Next morning Von Joel and Larry made their circuit of Regent’s Park as usual, running stride for stride, breathing in unison. An unmarked patrol car trailed a short distance behind them, Frank Shrapnel driving. It was an idyllic morning, clear and crisp; apart from a few other joggers the park was virtually empty.

“Like Siamese twins, them two,” Shrapnel muttered to his partner in the car. He yawned. “I can’t take much more of these early sodding mornings.” He looked along the path and nodded. “Okay, they’re coming back.” He picked up the radio handset and switched it on. “DI Shrapnel at oh-seven-hundred hours, sixth day. Still no contact. Returning to base, over.”

The joggers drew level with the car, which was now stationary. They were both spent, heaving for breath. Von Joel leaned over the hood, something concealed in the curved palm of his hand. Shrapnel got out of the car and opened the rear door, checking to right and left.

“Come on, Eddie,” he prompted, “get in.”

Getting into the car, still panting heavily, Von Joel performed a realistic stagger and threw the object from his free hand under the car.

“What time did we make this morning, Frank?” he said, rolling into the backseat. “Did we knock anything off?”

Shrapnel checked his watch. As Larry got into the car the toe of his trainer touched the object Von Joel had dropped. It was a matchbox. As the car drove off toward the exit the back wheel went over the matchbox, flattening it.

Across the park Lola nudged Charlotte.

“I think he dropped something. Did you see him drop something?”

“Wait,” Charlotte said, restraining Lola. “Let the car move out of the park. Don’t go yet! Wait... Okay.”

Lola, tracksuited and hooded as before, started running. She took the same route as Larry and Von Joel, keeping her head down, watching the ground. She stopped after a couple of minutes, looked toward Charlotte and shrugged. Then she began running again, stopped, ran back, stopped, tied her shoe lace. When she straightened she threw back her shoulders, took a deep breath, and ran as fast as she could back to the car.

“Well?” Charlotte leaned across from the driving wheel, looking anxious. “Did you find something?”

Lola was panting for breath, sitting half in and half out of the car, unable for the moment to speak. Charlotte raised her binoculars and gazed across the park, carefully adjusting the focusing ring.

“That park attendant,” she said, “he’s a cop. They’re all over the place. Something about this isn’t right.”

“Matchbox,” Lola gasped. She held it up. “It’s been flattened, the patrol car ran over it. I told you he dropped something...” She slid her thumb under the mashed edge of the box and pried it partly open. “Oh, wow, he did — look!”

Lola carefully peeled the box apart, exposing four sheets of Bronco toilet paper folded neatly together. Every inch of sheet, on both sides, was covered with fine, close handwriting.

22

On Monday morning DCI McKinnes came out of the Superintendent’s office at St. John’s Row station and bore down on DI Shrapnel, who was getting a coffee from the machine in the corridor.

“We’ve only got him until Friday, Frank.” It had been a foregone conclusion, but McKinnes still managed to show pained surprise. “After that they’re pulling the whole operation. What in Christ’s name is he waiting for?”

Shrapnel peered into his coffee cup before he tasted it. He made a face.

“Jackson’s doing his stuff,” he said. “If he tells him one more time we’re taking him to Reading, it’ll sound like the record’s stuck.”

“Eddie Myers is broke.” It was a phrase McKinnes repeated often, like a litany, as if saying it would set wheels moving. “His girls cleaned him out, he’s got to want that cash more than ever. So why the delay? Why doesn’t he make a move?”

“Maybe he can’t, Guv. He’s bound to have clocked the backup we’ve got on him.”

McKinnes lowered his head a fraction, usually a sign that he was considering something, or that he was about to throw a temper fit.

“Frank,” he muttered, “let’s you and me go for broke. Tip him off. Let him know he’s only got one car with him tomorrow.”

Shrapnel looked uneasy, but he nodded anyway.

“And Frank — be subtle, don’t let Jackson know.”

“You’re the boss,” Shrapnel sighed. “But, Guv, this is in the book, yeah?”

McKinnes stiffened indignantly. “It’ll be in the book, Frank. Now piss off.”

By that evening the mechanism of Von Joel’s plan was moving. He leaned by the living room window during a chess game, waiting for Larry to make his move. The curtain was strategically pushed aside. He checked his watch: ten o’clock precisely. Larry muttered something, vocalizing the strategy behind the move he was about to make. Von Joel grunted a response but he wasn’t listening; his ears were tuned to the road outside and the whisper of traffic sounds.

At almost a minute past the hour a car engine started up nearby; it ticked over and stopped. It started again, ticked over and stopped. A third time it started, ran for a few seconds, then stopped. At that point Von Joel watched the window carefully. He saw car headlights come on, then go off. The same thing happened two more times. He smiled and moved away from the window. Larry glanced at him with a faintly smug smile. Von Joel crouched down, examining the board. It was obvious that Larry believed he had the opposing king in check. With one move Von Joel turned the game around.

“You can’t beat me, I’m a master.” He laughed. He ruffled Larry’s hair and began singing: “The sun will come out tomorrow...”

Larry stared at him.

“One car and just you and me...” Von Joel’s voice dropped to a rich bass. “Tomorrow is only a day away!” He laughed again and swept a hand toward the board.

“Checkmate!”

Early the following morning they made their usual circuit of Regent’s Park, running in unison, Larry watchful, Von Joel apparently unconcerned with anything but maintaining his pace.

It was a cool morning with a layer of mist on the ground, broken into swirls here and there by birds and the occasional scampering squirrel. The night’s moisture still lay on the air, filtering out traffic smells, enriching the scent of flowerbeds and hedgerows. Strenuous exercise in such an atmosphere, Larry now realized, paid benefits that went beyond physical health.

As they rounded into the home stretch Von Joel began to move ahead, staying in step with Larry, simply lengthening his stride by fractions to gain a few inches of lead. Fifteen yards ahead of them the patrol car was waiting, engine running, back door open, only the driver inside.

Von Joel put on a spurt as they neared the car. He jumped in through the door, dragging Larry behind him. Larry slammed the door shut and the car pulled away.

Von Joel moved very fast. He jerked up his left hand, handcuffed to Larry’s right, and brought it down over the driver’s head, laying the chain of the cuffs across his throat.

“Keep driving!” he yelled. His right hand came forward, holding a small vegetable knife. He pressed the point against the side of the driver’s neck. “Pass the key of the cuffs to Jackson.”

The driver began to struggle. Von Joel’s eyes swiveled aside.

“Tell him to do it, Larry!”

In that position, his right arm extended over the front seat, Larry was helpless.

“Give me the key, Tom,” he said.

The driver looked panicky as the pressure of the chain increased and the knife point threatened to puncture his neck. He fumbled in his pocket and got out the key. The car swerved as he passed it back to Larry.

“Keep driving straight on,” Von Joel said, “and don’t try to be a hero. Chuck your radio handset on the floor. Come on! Now flick on your radio control. Good man!”

Larry unlocked the cuffs and Von Joel eased his hand free. He flexed his fingers, keeping his eyes on the road. “Now I want you to stop the car.” He pressed the point of the knife deeper into the driver’s yielding skin. “Quickly!”

The car swerved to a stop, the tires screeching. Following Von Joel’s orders, Larry got out and opened the front passenger door.

“Now listen carefully,” Von Joel said, still gripping the driver’s shoulders. “You slide across the seat, son. Facedown. Then you crawl out of the car. Wait...” He reached inside the driver’s jacket and pulled out his personal radio. “I’ll take that. Right. Stand well back on the pavement, Larry!”

The driver crawled across the seat facedown, as he was told, and lowered himself headfirst out onto the pavement. Von Joel scrambled over into the front seat and got behind the wheel.

“You in or out, Larry?” he barked. “You’ve got three seconds.”

Larry jumped in beside Von Joel. He threw the engine into gear and the car leapt forward. Behind them, far enough back to be inconspicuous, an unmarked police car took up pursuit and passed a radio message to the surveillance flat opposite the safe house. As soon as the message was passed to DI Shrapnel he came running out of the apartment block and headed for a patrol car parked at the roadside. He was shouting into his portable radio as he yanked open the car door.

“It’s going down! It’s on! We’ve got him halfway around Regent’s Park Inner Circle! Move! Car four is on him right now! Yes!”

Von Joel was driving with his foot near the floor.

“Where’s the siren?”

“Eddie, this is crazy,” Larry said. “Why go into Baker Street? You’ll smash into somebody.”

Von Joel got the siren howling and a second later the blue light started flashing.

“You’ve got five seconds, Larry. Get your wire off.” He jabbed Larry in the ribs. “Do it!”

Two minutes later, as Shrapnel’s car got on the tail of Von Joel, Shrapnel called to DCI McKinnes.

“Mac? We’re keeping off the car radios. He’s ditched the driver, he’s got Jackson with him. Looks like they’re going for the Baker Street exit from the park. Over.”

Seconds later McKinnes and three plainclothes officers came running out into the car park at St. John’s Row. McKinnes was yelling orders as they went to their separate cars.

“Maintain patrol radio silence! All units switch to scramble position yellow! He’s in Baker Street, we’ve got Jackson’s wire. He’s feeding us the route.” He paused with his car door open. “The bastard will be changing cars somewhere close to Baker Street. Warn all cars — stand by. Do not — not — apprehend. Stay well back!” He threw himself into the car. “Got the prick!” he snarled.

Von Joel drove the patrol car down the middle of Baker Street, siren blaring and light flashing. Other traffic cleared a way as he screamed south. He cut the siren and the light as he swung left into Paddington Street, nearly overturning the car. Along Paddington Street he slowed down, turned into the NCP parking lot entrance, stopped at the barrier, and took a ticket. He drove to the third level and parked the car.

“Right, Larry — out!”

As they left the car two unmarked patrol cars drove along Paddington Street and past the parking lot, heading on into Marylebone High Street.

Von Joel stepped up close to Larry and roughly slapped at his chest. He pulled out the wire, dropped it on the ground and crushed it under his foot. He patted Larry’s cheek.

“Okay. You in or out, Larry? Five hundred grand?”

“I’m in, Eddie.”

“Good. Follow me.”

They crossed to the opposite side of the parking level. Von Joel stopped by a parked red Granada with the parking slip stuck on the inside of the windshield. He bent down and felt under the front nearside wheel arch. A moment later he held up a bunch of keys with an alarm control attached. He opened the driver’s door.

“Let’s go.”

He drove smoothly down the ramp to the pay kiosk and stopped. As he leaned out the window to settle with the attendant, Larry took a coin-sized bumper beeper from his pocket and stuck it under his end of the dashboard. Von Joel told the attendant to keep the change. When the barrier went up he drove out and turned right onto Paddington Street.

Two minutes later, a radio controller was reporting to DCI McKinnes that Von Joel’s progress was now being plotted on the Central London grid. Meanwhile DI Shrapnel was inside the NCP parking lot on Paddington Street, where the parked patrol car had been reported.

Shrapnel got on the radio. “He’s ditched the car. He’s still got Jackson, and we’ve got the remains of his wire.”

DI Falcon came running across the tarmac.

“It’s a red Ford Granada,” he panted. “Registration number.” He had to gulp for air. “Last three letters ATK.”

Shrapnel was meanwhile receiving a message through his earpiece. “Great!” he turned to Falcon. “We’ve got a bleeper. Jackson’s doing his stuff.”

McKinnes issued a message from his car. “Okay, we can now open radio channels. Get that car number out, let nobody touch it, or go near it, or tip the bastard off. I’m heading for the City. Get everything set up, over.”

The radio controller’s latest bulletin went out as McKinnes ended his message.

“Target car crossing into Grosvenor Square. Red Granada, two occupants. We have the registration number, feeding back to grid. Myers wearing a red tracksuit, Jackson wearing dark blue tracksuit, over.”

At that moment Von Joel was steering the Granada into a small mews turning adjacent to the Connaught Hotel. He took a sharp right and drove down into a multilevel parking lot. The maneuver was noted by the driver of a pursuing patrol car who transmitted the information back to radio control. Von Joel parked the car and got out, waving for Larry to follow him. He ran toward the lifts but bypassed them and led the way down the stairs to the next level.

He stopped and looked along the rows of parked cars. Beside him Larry did the same, realizing that since they stopped running in the park and jumped into the patrol car, there hadn’t been one reflective thought in his head. It had been pure reaction every inch of the way. He hadn’t even felt concerned for his safety as they tore through the traffic, he had been too fiercely ensnared in the unfolding events. Von Joel took out the bunch of keys that had been left with the Granada. He flicked the alarm access switch and waited. Nothing happened. He looked about him sharply, turning, moving from foot to foot.

“Are you going to nick a car?” Larry said.

“Do you think I m a thief?” Von Joel walked past a few cars and stopped. “This is the lower basement, isn’t it?” He flicked the alarm access switch again. Ten yards away the headlights of a green Jaguar sports car blinked. “Oh, very nice...”

Larry looked up and down the parking level, anxious to see a sign of life or find some way to leave a clue. He was suddenly aware that Von Joel was watching him.

“Larry, don’t mess with me. If you don’t want in on this, you can opt out now.”

“What are you on about?” Larry gaped at him, all innocence. “I’m just looking out for us, okay?”

Von Joel strode to the Jaguar and opened the trunk. He took out a large canvas bag and looked inside. Gesturing again for Larry to follow him, he led the way toward the door that connected directly with the hotel. When they reached it Von Joel stopped, turned, and realarmed the car with the remote.

“Can’t trust anyone these days,” he muttered.

He led the way to the men’s lavatory in the hotel entrance, issuing instructions as he went.

It was an ornate area, spacious, with plenty of marble and polished brass. Stepping out of a cubicle five minutes after he went in, Larry looked like any of dozens of Connaught clients who would use the lavatory during the day. He wore a gray business suit and a white shirt; for the moment he was carrying the tie. His tracksuit was over his arm.

At the row of sinks Von Joel was shaving. He looked striking in a dark gray pinstriped suit, a blue shirt with a white starched collar, and an old Etonian tie. A leather briefcase was propped on the wall nearby, and beside it a black garbage bag.

“There’s only one pair of shoes,” he told Larry. “Still, we can’t have everything, can we?” He patted his face with a towel. “Okay, give me the case, and stuff the old gear in the trash can.”

Larry handed over the briefcase, bundled his own clothes on top of Von Joel’s things in the bag and took it to the trash can. He shoved the bag inside, but left part of it sticking out at the top. Von Joel did not miss that.

“Push it down, Larry.” He waited until the bag was completely out of sight inside the can. “Are you hungry? They do a good breakfast at the Connaught.”

Larry put on his tie. As he tightened the knot he looked at Von Joel, standing there in his pinstripes, clutching his briefcase. He turned and looked again at his own reflection in the mirror above the basins.

“I don’t believe this.”

“You’d better,” Von Joel told him, “because you’ll have to get used to the good life.” He tapped the briefcase. “Okay — there’s passports, plane tickets — I got three extra tickets, for your wife and kids.” They left the gents and headed toward the dining room. “The plane leaves from Stanstead,” Von Joel said. “This time tomorrow we’ll be in Canada.”

McKinnes, by this time, had reached the City and was sitting in his patrol car in an alley twenty yards from the Rotherhill Merchant Bank. From where he sat he had a clear view of the building. Concealed nearby were motorcycle officers and two unmarked cars. A surveillance team, on ladders, was cleaning windows on the building next to the bank. DI Shrapnel leaned in through the window of McKinnes’s car.

“Anything on the Granada yet, Frank?”

“Traced it to an NCP parking lot.” Shrapnel looked up and down the street. People were beginning to arrive for work. “Waiting for feedback. I thought you might want to see this.” He took a plastic bag from his pocket. Inside was a kitchen knife. “Myers used this. Blunt. It’s a potato peeler.” As he leaned into the car to hand over the bag he said, “Those window cleaners ours?”

“Yeah. And the road sweeper, and the motorbike courier. We’ve got every airport covered. If we lose him this time, Frank, I’ll find a way to cut my throat with that potato peeler.” McKinnes looked at his watch. “Well, they open in fifteen minutes.”

Shrapnel turned to go, then paused as McKinnes pressed his radio earpiece closer to his ear, his face screwed up with the effort of listening.

“They’ve got the Granada.” He listened some more.

“What?” He stared at Shrapnel. “No sign of them. They reckon they’re on foot.”

At a table in a red velvet-lined booth at the Connaught Grill, Von Joel sat with his face behind a menu. Larry, sitting opposite, watched the early customers come and go. A waiter arrived at the table and Von Joel lowered the menu.

“I’ll order for you,” he told Larry. “A little smoked salmon, scrambled eggs... unless you fancy kippers? Do you want a kipper, or do you just feel like one?” The waiter flipped open his pad. “Buon giorno,” Von Joel said. “Come sta?”

“Molto bene, grazie,” the waiter smiled.

Von Joel proceeded to order in flawless Italian.

“Un colazione omellete ala parmigiana.” He pointed to Larry. “Uovo strapazzate, e salmone, un’ aqua minerale, e due caffe. Grazie.”

The waiter went away. Larry continued to look around, feeling shut in by the booth. Now that there was time to think, he could take in the scale of this operation — and the depth of his involvement. He was sweating. Von Joel, by contrast, looked perfectly relaxed. He reached into his inside pocket and brought out a folded envelope. He opened it and removed a key.

“Voila!” He held it out on the palm of his hand, showing it to Larry. “One bank deposit key. Like I said, no guns, no violence, we just walk straight in.” He kissed the key. “One million.”

The sight of the key and the prospect of what it could unlock made Larry even more shaky. He clasped his hands tightly on the tablecloth. His leg was trembling violently, though he was too distracted to notice. “I reckon old Mac wanted me to go for the cash,” Von Joel said. “I wonder if that thirty grand Reward is still on offer. His retirement bonus, eh?” Leaning forward, he put his hand over Larry’s knee and squeezed. “Relax,” he said softly. Larry nodded, trying hard, his eyes watering with the pain of Von Joel’s grip. For one moment of stark, brutal clarity, he realized he could be hurtling down a road with no way back. He pictured his sons and felt a clutching panic in his chest. Across the table Von Joel went on smiling.

23

Cars were piling up at the parking lot exit barrier. Horns were being sounded impatiently and drivers were shouting. Police instructions, to begin with, were that no one should be allowed to leave; that order was quickly countered by DCI McKinnes via radio control, who pointed out that the persons being pursued were not to be detained under any circumstances. A new order was passed to the attendants at the barriers: note the registration numbers of any cars with two males inside, and be particularly watchful for men in tracksuits.

At nine twenty-five Von Joel backed the Jaguar out of its row and drove it to the exit ramps. As daylight hit the windshield he put on a pair of mirrored shades. He was carefully scrutinized as he paid the attendant. A uniformed policeman standing nearby turned and looked at the car, too, then carried on talking to a pedestrian. Apart from glances of incidental admiration, no one paid special attention to a stylish Jaguar sports car with one equally stylish occupant.

A few minutes later, as DCI McKinnes continued to watch the exterior of the Rotherhill Bank, a message was passed along by radio control. McKinnes listened, sighing, watching the buildup of traffic around the bank. He pressed the transmission switch and relayed the message.

“They’ve changed clothes,” he said. “They found their running gear. Say a few Hail Mary’s, will you?”

In a small side street in the West End, Von Joel stopped the Jaguar and got out. He waited for a vagrant to finish searching a trash can and move on, then he opened the door. Reaching over into the tiny rumble seat he pulled out a blanket and uncovered Larry Jackson, painfully doubled over and packed into a space scarcely big enough for a child. His head came up as if it were on a spring. He was red-faced and gulping air.

“Christ, I was suffocating.”

He scrambled into the passenger seat as Von Joel got back behind the wheel and threw the engine into gear. They drove down through Covent Garden into Kingsway and out onto Aldwych, heading east along the Strand toward the City. Von Joel drove slowly, carefully, doing nothing to attract attention. Larry began to look puzzled.

“I didn’t come this way before,” he said.

“Remember,” Von Joel told him, “you leave the chat to me. Keep your eyes on the cashier, there’s an alarm bell at his feet.”

They moved on up Fleet Street, then Von Joel began taking the car through narrow back turnings. At one point, unwittingly, they drove right behind the alley where McKinnes was parked. Von Joel carried on driving as Larry stared at him.

“You just drove past the bank.”

They carried on for a couple of streets, then drew up at a traffic meter with a yellow bag over the top. Larry looked out, taking his bearings. They were directly across the street from Millways Merchant Bank.

Von Joel got out, took the bag off the meter and threw it in the back of the car. He fished in his pocket for change and started feeding coins into the meter. Larry got out, almost getting the door knocked off by a passing cyclist, who told him he was a dizzy prat.

Von Joel brought the meter clock around to one hour, then he leaned down and reached into the car. He flipped open the glove compartment and took out something — Larry couldn’t see what — and slipped it into his pocket.

He stood staring at Larry for a moment. “You’re not going to chicken out on me, are you?”

Before Larry could respond Von Joel was distracted by a police patrol car heading toward them. They watched it cruise past. Larry was sweating. Von Joel slammed the car door shut.

“The keys,” Larry said. “The keys are in the ignition!”

“We might have to make a quick exit,” Von Joel said, taking Larry’s arm, leading him across the road.

As they entered Millways Bank, radio control was passing another message to DCI McKinnes in his car outside the Rotherhill Bank.

“Suspect could have been using a red Scirocco, a white Mini, or a green Jaguar XJL. We have no reg on any of the vehicles — but they were driven by one or two males. Guy in the green Jag was alone, but the parking attendant thinks it could have been our man, over.”

“Bloody marvelous,” McKinnes said with a grunt, lighting another cigarette.

Von Joel and Larry stood side by side at the safety deposit section in the Millways Bank, waiting while a tidy young City clone, the safety deposit clerk, inspected their credentials. Having gone over everything twice, he looked up.

“Well,” he said, delivering a bland banker’s smile, “everything seems to be in order, Mr. Jackson. If you will just wait one moment, I’ll have to get authorization from the manager.”

Larry was appalled. They had a phony account in his name!

He felt his face color as the clerk approached the manager, a small balding man standing behind a grille.

“Just look front, Larry, and ease up,” Von Joel said, his i lips hardly moving. “We go through the door straight ahead of you. Don’t forget the briefcase.”

They watched the manager examine the papers, look across at them, say a few words to the clerk and nod. The clerk came back to the deposit section. He pressed an electronic switch and the dividing door opened.

“Mr. Jackson, if you would come this way, please.”

They followed him through the office section and into a narrow stone-walled corridor painted an institutional shade of green. They made their way to an old-fashioned hand-operated lift with a metal grille front. Beside the lift was a narrow stone staircase. The clerk pressed a buzzer to call the lift. After a moment it began clanking up. Von Joel whistled softly as they waited. Larry was too nervous to do more than stand there. When the lift arrived the clerk drew the grille open and stepped aside to let Larry and Von Joel go in ahead of him.

“A slightly tight squeeze, I’m afraid, gentlemen...”

The grille closed and they moved slowly down to the basement level. Larry noticed the plethora of cables and junction boxes in the lift shaft; they obviously served the main alarm system. He also realized how sensibly the | vault approaches had been designed. A high-speed exit was out of the question down here; it was easy enough to get down, but getting a few people away from the place quickly would be no easy matter, since the only way out was via the lift or the narrow stone steps.

The lift jolted to a stop. The clerk drew back the grille and stepped out. He waited for Larry and Von Joel to get out, then he started to close the grille again.

“Leave it open,” Von Joel said, very softly.

“I can’t do that, sir. No one else can come down.”

“Exactly,” Von Joel calmly reached into his pocket and removed something wrapped in a yellow cloth. He took off the cloth. It was a gun. “What s your name?”

The clerk jerked back, frightened. Von Joel pulled him close again.

“Your name, I said...”

“Jeffrey Archer.”

“Well,” Von Joel said flatly, “we’re in good company. Now, Jeffrey, you do as I say, and you won’t get hurt.” He indicated the corridor ahead of them and they started walking. “I know every alarm pressure pad, so let’s keep this nice and easy.”

Larry had his eyes glued on the gun.

“Do as he tells you,” he told the clerk.

They walked to a studded security vault door. Archer rang the bell.

“Now the code, Jeffrey,” Von Joel said, putting the muzzle of the gun against Archer’s neck. “Five digits.”

Trembling, Archer tapped in the code on a keypad by the door. A mechanism clicked; there was a hum and another click, then the door slid open. They went inside. Von Joel told Larry to wedge the door as soon as the man in charge of the vault was immobilized.

“You’re doing very well, Jeffrey,” he told the clerk. “Let’s just keep it calm and relaxed.” The terrified clerk looked as if he was about to faint, and received a hard, vicious slap. It jerked his head to one side and brought him around.

“Give us a nice smile.”

The poor man managed a trembling, quivering smile.

“That’s it, you are doing very well, Jeffrey.”

A second clerk appeared at the halfway desk. Behind him were the security bars, behind those the vault cages.

“Mr. Jackson?” he said, and Larry managed a nod. “Could I have your key, and your documents?” Larry passed them over. “Thank you. Now if you’d sign here, and here.” He smiled apologetically at Von Joel. “I’m afraid only one person is allowed into the cages.”

Von Joel let him see the gun held against Archer’s neck.

“Put your hands on the desk,” he snapped. “Larry, hop over and pull him away from the alarm.”

Larry wedged the door and slid over the desk.

“Don’t step on it!” Von Joel warned.

Larry pushed the terrified clerk against the wall. He heard a moan and turned. Archer was taking off his clothes. His trousers were already at his ankles as Von Joel helped him off with his jacket.

“Him, too,” Von Joel said, pointing to the other clerk.

During the next three minutes, as both clerks were tied up with their own clothes and had their socks stuffed in their mouths, word reached DCI McKinnes that a green Jaguar XJL had been spotted parked a couple of streets away from his position.

In the vault area of Mill ways Bank the briefcase was open on the floor now, revealing a crowbar, a parachute-silk bag, passports, and airline tickets. As Von Joel bent over the case Larry shoved him.

“You never said anything about using a gun!”

Von Joel took a pair of surgical gloves from a pocket in the bag and pulled them on. He glared at Larry.

“I haven’t used it. Yet.”

“Give it to me!” Larry demanded. “I want it! Give me the gun!”

“Shut it! All I want is my dough!” Von Joel grabbed the vault clerk by the shoulder and pushed him toward the rows of security boxes. “Okay,” he said, “let’s start. Which of these go back six years? Come on, we don’t want to waste time.”

Larry took a quick look at Archer, still securely tied up, then he scurried after Von Joel. The clerk had indicated a row of boxes and Von Joel had jimmied one of them open already, tipping the contents — bundled paper, leather cash books, photographs, cash, jewelry — across the floor. He turned back for the next box, pulled it down and split it open. Within five minutes the floor was littered with broken and twisted boxes and their scattered contents.

Out by the halfway desk where he had been left, Jeffrey Archer was easing down the wall, inch by inch, his movements slow and painful. Directly across the floor from him was an alarm pressure pad. Von Joel split open the top of another box just as the telephone rang. He froze. Larry, who was pulling the boxes off the shelves, stood staring with a box held aloft.

“Right, come on.”

Von Joel grabbed the clerk and dragged him to the telephone. He pulled the wadded socks from the man’s mouth. The telephone rang again. Von Joel’s hand hovered over the receiver.

“Answer it. Take a deep breath, say nothing’s wrong, you’ll be upstairs in two minutes.”

The man nodded, his tongue frantically wetting his mouth. Von Joel lifted the receiver and put it to the clerk’s ear.

“Hello? Yes, sir, I’m sorry. Nothing’s wrong.”

He nodded and Von Joel put down the receiver. Larry immediately started breaking open fresh boxes while Von Joel stuffed the gag back into the clerk’s mouth.

Out by the desk, Archer was inching ever closer to the pressure alarm. On the street outside, a police patrol car had just glided slowly past the parked Jaguar. The officer sitting by the driver radioed McKinnes and told him the vehicle was empty. McKinnes told them to keep an eye on it.

Down in the vaults Von Joel was pushing the clerk back down on the floor when Larry shouted excitedly.

“Blue bags! Blue cloth bags! I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”

Von Joel ran to where Larry was hoisting the bags of money out of a box. Between them they began ramming the money into the parachute-silk bag.

Archer was now very close to the alarm pressure pad. On an impulse he threw himself the remainder of the distance. He clipped the pad and felt it give. The alarm screamed.

Von Joel reached for the gun.

“No!” Larry shouted, seizing his arm.

Von Joel shoved him away, picked up the loaded bag, and started running for the lift. “Briefcase!” he yelled over his shoulder. “Get the case!”

Larry stopped, gathered up the briefcase, and snapped it shut. When he got to the lift Von Joel was already inside with the grille closed. Larry heaved it open and Von Joel tried to stop him, shoving with his free hand, the gun poking out past the side of the grille. Larry drew back the grille two inches and swiftly jammed it forward again, cracking the steel edge against Von Joel’s wrist. The gun hit the floor and Larry snatched it up. As he straightened he saw the lift rising. He tugged at the grille but it had locked. He looked left and right, panic-stricken, the alarm deafening him. He mopped sweat from his forehead and took a tight grip on the gun, seeing Von Joel’s feet disappear above the upper margin of the lift doorway. Abandoning reason, he took a deep breath and hurled himself at the narrow stone staircase.

As the lift arrived at ground-floor level the manager went forward. Von Joel eased the grille open and stepped out fast, hanging on tightly to the bag.

“We’ve been stuck down there!” he shouted, still moving. “The lift’s not working, didn’t you hear the alarm?”

For just a moment the manager was thrown, but then he ran after Von Joel into the main banking hall. At that moment Larry reached the top of the stairs with the gun in his hand.

“Oh, my God, no!” the manager howled. “No!”

Larry tried to appeal for calm, waving the gun. “It’s all right!”

Von Joel had reached the main doors leading to the banking hall. They opened and he was out of the secure area, moving fast, heading for the exit. Larry ran after him. People scattered around them, running for cover. Von Joel realized the sight of the gun was panicking them.

“Stay down,” he yelled. “Stay! Don’t move and you won’t get hurt!” He was almost at the exit. “Please stay down! Back off and you won’t get hurt!”

He made it to the doors just as they were swinging shut, a guard blue in the face as he heaved against the reinforced structure. Von Joel made a spurt and got outside.

“I’m a police officer!” Larry yelled, running at the doors. “Nobody’s going to get hurt!” The door was open less than a foot. “Police!” Larry shouted at the guard. “It’s okay!”

The scattering, screaming clerks and customers were in hysterical chaos, but even so the guard hesitated. Larry hurtled out onto the street after Von Joel.

“Eddie!”

Von Joel was across the street, shoving the bag in through the open car door. He started clambering in behind the wheel just as a police patrol car came screaming down the street in reverse, heading for the bank.

“Eddie! Wait! Wait!”

Larry ran into the road and was almost hit by the patrol car. He jumped clear as it swerved and stopped.

“Get in the car!” Von Joel shouted. “Give me the gun, you asshole! It’s a dummy! Just get in the bloody car!”

The police car was directly opposite. One officer had run into the bank, the other was sliding out, keeping low; he could see Larry with the gun.

“I drive,” Larry said. “I want to drive.”

He grabbed Von Joel’s sleeve. Von Joel shook himself free. During the struggle a radio message was transmitted from the cover of the police car across the street.

“Urgent message! Urgent message! Robbery in progress, Millways Bank, City Road. Two white males, carrying firearms... Suspects driving green Jaguar XJL, index number 658, X-Ray, Kilo, Golf. Any units, urgent assistance. Repeat, suspects carrying firearms.”

“For Christ’s sake!” Von Joel roared, exasperated. “Drive! Get in and drive!” He slid across into the passenger seat. Larry dived in behind the wheel and slammed the door shut after him. He threw the engine into gear and tore away from the curb, taking the whole width of the road to straighten out before he reached the corner.

“I lied about the gun, Larry,” Von Joel said as they screeched out onto the straight. “Put your foot down. Move! Move it!”

McKinnes’s car revved backward out of the alley by the Rotherhill Bank. DI Shrapnel ran toward it, waving it down. It slowed and he yanked open the back door, diving in.

“We’ve got him,” he panted, pulling the door shut as the car accelerated. “Heading for the Blackwall Tunnel. Jackson and Myers in the green Jag.”

Two minutes later the radio intelligence was revised. The Jaguar had appeared to be heading straight for the Blackwall Tunnel, but then it had taken a sharp right turn and backtracked. It was now moving at high speed along the Embankment. The driver had been clearly identified as DS Jackson.

Seconds after the update was issued, the Jaguar was racing down Millbank, headlights on, overtaking traffic. At the lights it took a sharp right on red and headed down Vauxhall Bridge Road. It was spotted by two patrol cars, one at either end of the road. They sped toward the Jaguar from opposite directions, pedals on the floor for the kill, then the Jaguar did a breakneck turn and vanished into a side street. Both police patrols reported that they had lost sight of the target vehicle. Its whereabouts were uncertain.

Soon afterward Larry was tooling the Jaguar toward Liverpool Street Station. Three hundred yards from the courtyard they were clocked by a patrol. An APB went out.

“There’s a train direct to Stansted,” McKinnes announced into the radio. “If you lose him at the station go straight to the platform. Keep your distance, Myers is armed.”

The Jaguar roared up to the station, skidding along the courtyard as the brakes went on. Von Joel was out with the money before they had stopped. Their arrival created immediate mayhem among the taxis waiting to pick up fares, family cars unloading passengers, directionless hitchhikers and vagrants not used to moving fast. Carts were overturned as Von Joel ran for the concourse.

“Eddie! Wait, Eddie...”

Larry was holding his ID aloft, trying to get through the crowd.

Von Joel stopped. “Get the briefcase!” he shouted. “Platform seven. Passports. Get the passports.”

Larry ignored him. Von Joel ran on and Larry followed, shouting at the people as he struggled to catch up, trying to convince them this was an emergency.

Behind Larry, in the station courtyard, two patrol cars had hemmed in the Jaguar. Two uniformed officers were out and already giving chase. A third officer was examining the interior of the Jaguar. He found the briefcase, and on the passenger seat he found the gun. It was real.

“Stansted Airport Terminal train, platform seven,” the PA announced nasally. “Passengers for Stansted, platform seven.”

Larry ran through the barrier. There was no sign of Von Joel. A ticket collector came up to him; Larry flashed his ID and pushed him aside. He began a zigzag run along the platform, eyes darting from side to side, failing to see a flattened soft drink can in front of him. His foot landed on it and he skidded, hitting his chest and head against a luggage cart as he fell. Two uniformed police officers ran toward him. One grabbed Larry and pulled him to his feet. He jerked free.

“He’s on the train!” he shouted. “Stop the bloody train!”

He turned and saw McKinnes at the barrier with Shrapnel at his side and three or four officers behind them.

“He’s on the train!” Larry shouted to them. “Don’t let it move out, he’s on the train!” McKinnes, surprisingly calm, ordered the train to be detained and searched. It took half an hour. The train was delayed, passengers with their carts were kept at the barrier and people complained noisily about missing connecting trains and flights. The barriers were finally opened again thirty-five minutes after they had been closed. Passengers surged onto the train while McKinnes and his officers returned to their cars. They had found no trace of Von Joel on the train. They had lost him.

24

“I drove fast because Myers held a bloody gun at my neck!”

Larry was in the Superintendent’s office, sitting in a straight-backed chair opposite the desk. His breathing was labored and he sounded as if he might start crying. The Superintendent sat on the edge of the desk, watching him dispassionately. Larry was dirty and disheveled, with dark patches on his hands and face, light ones on his clothes. A cut on his right temple had bled. The blood around it, dry now, looked like a dab of maroon paint made with a coarse brush.

He stood up suddenly, agitated, moving his arms.

“If he wasn’t on the train, he had to be in the station. And he can’t get far. We’ve got the briefcase with the passports and the tickets.”

The telephone rang. Larry stared, eyes wide, as the Superintendent answered it.

“I’ll be right up,” the Super said, and put the phone down again. He looked at Larry. “Go and get yourself cleaned up, they’re all coming back in.”

“Have they got him?”

“No!” the Superintendent barked, losing his temper for a moment. “No, Jackson,” he said more quietly, “they have not.”

He turned and left the office.

Larry closed his eyes and clasped his hands to stop the shaking.

In the incident room there was an attempt at bustle as usual. Officers came and went briskly, telephones rang, fax machines and computers brought in new and revised information. At the center of it all DCI McKinnes appeared calm, smoking steadily, trying to stay untainted by the bleak, unmistakable undertow of defeat. At desks and tables around him, furtive looks were darting back and forth like forbidden messages.

Frank Shrapnel looked up from Von Joel’s briefcase, open on the desk in front of him.

“Full of junk,” he said. “The so-called passports are the kind you buy for kids at Woolworth’s. Flight tickets are used throwaways. We had every flight from Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted checked out, he wasn’t on one of them. We’ve still got the airports alerted — customs officers, passport control, the lot.”

McKinnes said nothing. He simply stood nodding, pulling absently at his ear, puffing his cigarette. Superficially, no one had given up hope. The case was still a case. Team members were trying to be serious and responsible in their manner, although at a nearby desk DC Colin Frisby, reading the statements from the bank, was showing ill-timed amusement at the fact that one of the clerks was called Jeffrey Archer. Beside him DI Falcon was on the telephone, taking down details from Hertz Rental on Oxford Street, the company that owned the red Granada. At another desk DC Summers put down the telephone and flapped his notebook to attract McKinnes’s attention.

“Guv... We traced the Jaguar XJL. Hired Thursday morning from Elvaston Motors. It was a woman, she paid cash. Described as young, early twenties, blonde, very slim build. They xerox all the driving licenses.” He consulted his notebook. “Name of—”

“A woman rented the Granada, Guv,” DI Falcon interrupted. “Same description, young, blonde—”

“Good, good,” McKinnes muttered, walking away.

A telephone rang as he reached the door. DC Summers answered it.

“Guv,” he shouted, his hand over the mouthpiece.

McKinnes turned, hope glimmering.

“The cashiers and the manager from the bank are ready for home. Do you want to see them again?”

“No,” McKinnes snapped, turning away again, “they can go.”

Larry was rinsing his face at a sink in the men’s washroom. He heard somebody come in and hesitate by the door. He looked up and saw McKinnes reflected in the mirror over the basins. He looked as if he might be about to leave again. As they stared at each other the station PA sounded its bing-bong signal.

“Detective Sergeant Lawrence Jackson to Commander Havergill’s office immediately.”

Larry shook water from his hands. “What’s going to happen to me, Mac?”

McKinnes had pushed open the door of a toilet stall. He paused, staring coldly.

“Mac, he had a gun stashed.”

“Correction,” McKinnes growled. “You had the frigging shooter. You had it and we’ve got witnesses that sodding saw you with it!”

“I took it off him!”

The Tannoy sounded again and the message was repeated.

“You’re wanted,” McKinnes said with a grunt, going into the stall and slamming the door shut.

Larry made his way up to the Commander’s office. He was shown in at once. The Superintendent stood besidethe desk while Commander Havergill himself, a good-looking, casually dressed man in his late forties, sat behind it, leaning forward on his elbows. Larry stopped two yards from the front of the desk and stood with his hands at his sides, feeling like a prisoner freshly arraigned.

“I’ll make it brief for the time being, Sergeant Jackson.” The Commander’s tone was neutral, with no trace of condemnation. “I think you’re able to see how matters appear from our standpoint. A special investigation is clearly called for. Under the circumstances it will be necessary to have your entire interaction with Edward Myers scrutinized. Depending on the findings, a decision will be taken as to whether or not criminal proceedings should be taken against you.”

“I know how it must look,” Larry said, “but—”

“Jackson, I can’t discuss it. If criminal proceedings go ahead, then you should retain a legal adviser. If they do not, then you will go before a disciplinary hearing. As from today you are suspended from duty, pending inquiries.”

At a little before one o’clock that day, roughly two hours after disappearing at Liverpool Street Station, Von Joel drove a sleek Saab saloon along a quiet country lane in West Sussex. He turned into the sweeping entrance of an immaculately tended estate, past wide iron gates above which a sign said green lawns health farm. As he steered the car along the main drive he smiled at Lola, who sat next to him.

“What name are we booked in?”

“Visconti,” she said. “Room six, ground floor.”

The next morning a new fervor had taken control in the incident room. The aura of defeat and failure had lifted.

In its place a stark, challenging fact was being faced: Von Joel had jumped custody, and to make matters worse, he had robbed a bank. A top priority chase was on; the bad guy had to be found and brought to book. Everyone on McKinnes’s team was committed to catching him. By ten o’clock the place was busier than ever. McKinnes convened a coffee-time huddle so that officers directly concerned in the hunt could pool their information. He started the ball rolling with a fax he had just received from Paris.

“Eddie Myers’s boat left its mooring three days ago. The crew asked the harbor master at Puerto Banus to arrange for them to drop anchor in Cannes. We’ve got Interpol giving us every assistance.”

McKinnes stepped back and DI Falcon came forward. At the same moment the PA sounded.

“Detective Chief Inspector McKinnes to Main Conference Room.”

“We think we’ve got the ID of the del Moreno girl,” Falcon announced. “Her real name is Ana Maria Morales. She was a listed runaway. She’s been busted for thieving in Malaga — part of a kids’ street gang, ripping off the tourists — last seen in 1988. The other girl, calling herself Charlotte Lampton, is possibly a Cheryl Lang, missing from home since 1987 — the description fits, but we’ve got nothing else. She hired the getaway cars with a fake driving license. Their passports are fake, too; they entered England under the aliases del Moreno and Lampton. Both women were interviewed in Spain...”

McKinnes stepped aside, preparing to leave, combing the hair at either side of his bald scalp. The PA sounded again.

“Detective Chief Inspector McKinnes to Main Conference Room — immediately.”

Frank Shrapnel sidled up. “I get the feeling they think Jackson was in on it from the word go,” he said.

“Bollocks!” McKinnes stubbed out his cigarette irritably. “He’s not bent, Frank. He’s just bloody incompetent. We all are. Those two women were right under our noses all the time, one of ’em even under ruddy Jackson...”

“But we had nothing on them, Guv,” DI Falcon said, looking hurt. “They were just his pieces of skirt.”

McKinnes sighed and turned away. He was finding it hard to keep up the energetic drive necessary for a hunt like this. As he made his way to the door he had the stooped bearing of a beaten man. Someone had tacked up a newspaper headline: SUPER GRASS ESCAPES. McKinnes tore it down as he passed.

For Larry Jackson the day went by slowly. He read all the papers, tried to distract himself with television, failed, and read the papers again. By early evening he had decided to stun himself with alcohol. He sat in the living room with a bottle of whisky, the papers strewn around him on the couch and on the floor. At nine o’clock Susan started tidying the place, surreptitiously checking his state of mind. She held up the papers, piled loosely between her hands.

“Do you want to keep these?”

Larry looked up at her, his head moving with the overfast reaction of the inebriated. “Yeah. Frame them.”

Susan put them on a chair by the door to the kitchen. “It isn’t funny,” she mumbled.

“Do you think I think it is?”

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Jail,” Larry said. He frowned as Susan gave a listless laugh. “I’m serious. Look at the facts.” He took a swig from his glass. “I found him, he insisted I was put on the interrogation, I pulled the bloody robbery with him — I even drove the getaway car.” Depression appeared to wash over him suddenly. “Oh, shit...”

“Aren’t you missing something out?” Susan said.

“Isn’t that enough?”

“What about you and his girlfriends?”

Slowed by the drink, Larry was on the point of telling her he didn’t know what she was talking about. Then he looked at her, saw the certainty on her face. The penny dropped — understanding dawned.

“Bloody Frisby!”

“He was always here, Larry...” Defensive now, Susan began to sound tearful. “Those phone calls, and the way you were behaving—”

“What way? I’d been working my butt off!”

“Working?” Susan pulled her head back, helping her voice up to the hysterical register. “Spending the night with Eddie Myers’s tart at the Hyde Park Hotel — that’s working, is it?” Her eyes narrowed. “Enjoy the opera, did you?” She watched his expression cloud over. “Yes, I know all about it, Larry.”

He had stood up, and now he walked the length of the room, his hands in his pockets, brows gathered. He kicked the door.

“Frisby,” he said, as if the name were something revolting on his tongue. “I’m going to have that conniving two-faced bastard.”

“Don’t, Larry.”

“Why not? I might as well get done for assault.”

“I meant don’t lack the door.”

He dug his hands deeper into his pockets and stared up at the ceiling. “Great!” he said. “I lose my job, I could go to prison, and I find out my wife’s going behind my back. So.” He turned and booted the door again. “If I want to, I’ll kick the bloody house down.” He drew back his fist suddenly and punched the door. “I’ve messed up everything,” he said, his voice breaking.

“Oh, please don’t, Larry...”

He slumped down on the sofa, curling in on himself, his shoulders heaving. After a minute he sat up, sniffing, wiping his face with his cuff.

“I’m sorry, Sue. I’m sorry. Oh shit! Shit!”

Susan sat down beside him.

“I wanted to tell you about me and Colin,” she said, “but then all this happened. I never meant to get you into trouble, I never meant it to happen between me and Colin, either.”

Larry closed his eyes, feeling his sense of reality coming unglued.

“But I’ll stick by you,” Susan promised in a small voice, “and, well, Dad would always give you a job in his shop.”

Larry sprang to his feet. He looked elated.

“I mean,” Susan went on, “it’ll be a good thing, you know I never liked you being with the police...”

The front door opened and the boys came in making a racket. Larry went to the hall door.

“Sue, I loved my job,” he said firmly. “It’s all I’ve known since I was seventeen.” He drew open the door and went at his sons with arms flung wide. “Come here, you louts! Who’s first in the tub, then?”

Susan watched him gather the boys into his arms. She wondered what was happening.

Later, when the boys had been settled for the night, Larry went out alone for a walk. When he came back, nearly two hours later, he found Susan upstairs in the bedroom, cleansing her face at the dressing table. She watched him cautiously as he sat down on the bed. He picked up her folded nightdress and lightly touched it to his cheek. Their eyes met in the mirror.

“Do you love me?” he said.

“Of course I do.”

“But you’re not in love with me?” He threw himself back on the bed. “If it makes it any easier for you to give me a straight answer, I’ll tell you this — I’m not in love with you.” He sighed. “I guess we don’t have to make any decisions now. I just wanted you to know.”

Susan, close to tears, continued to cleanse her face.

“I’ll sleep in the spare room,” Larry said, getting up. At the door he looked at her and smiled. “Are you sure you want to take on another police officer? If I was in your shoes I’d think twice.”

He went out, closing the door softly. Susan stared at herself in the mirror. She took a deep, shaking breath.

Her face slowly crumpled as she began to sob, soaking a tissue, using another to muffle the sound.

In his suite at Green Lawns, Von Joel, barefoot and wearing a dressing gown, was pacing the carpet. He had a portable telephone pressed to his ear. On the table by the sofa were several broad rolled bandages and a makeup box. On the sofa Lola was rolling more bandages. A bag packed with bundled bank notes was open on the floor beside her.

“From Jersey?” Von Joel said into the telephone. “Three hundred and eight miles, check — thirteen hours, yes? Saint Nazaire three hundred miles, that’s ten hours, yeah? Saint Nazaire to Corunna, four hundred miles... What? Fourteen hours. Check. Now, on to Lisbon, that’s another three-fifty miles, which is twelve hours.” He listened intently for a minute, nodding. “Lisbon-Casablanca, yeah? Three hundred miles. So what’s that in all? Sixty hours, right? Will she make it? Is she capable of that cruising speed? We’ll have to go over four hundred miles between fuel stops...”

There was the sound of a helicopter approaching. Von Joel went to the window and stared out into the night.

“We’re on our way,” he said, and switched off the phone.

He went to the sofa, circling around Lola, trying to make her look at him. She went on rolling bandages, looking moody. He sat down and put his arm around her.

“What’s the matter, my baby?”

“What’ll happen to him?” She looked up. “To Lawrence?”

“Ah...” Von Joel smiled broadly. “You care? My, my, my — you do, don’t you?” He laughed, hugging her. “Maybe there’s more to him than I thought.”

25

At first light on Thursday morning, two days after the bank robbery, Von Joel’s powerful sea yacht edged through the dispersing mist in Jersey harbor and bumped gently against the moorings. Minutes later a taxi drew up alongside. A stooped, elderly-looking man got out of the rear seat. He wore a wide-brimmed hat and cowboy-style boots, and he moved slowly with a stiff, ungainly walk. Lola, wearing a blond wig, got out of the other side of the cab. Charlotte had come up on deck. “This is what I call perfect timing!” she shouted. Lola ran to the boat and Charlotte came to meet her. They collided and hugged by the rail outside the saloon. The old man watched them for a moment and then, astonishingly, he began to sing and do a stiff-legged dance. “Bless your beautiful hide...” The voice was unmistakably Von Joel’s. The girls ran to him. He waddled forward and put his arms around them both as they kissed and hugged him.

Up close, even though the makeup and the false moustache were effective, it was possible to see that this was not an old man. They went back to the boat together, hugging and laughing, Von Joel still walking stiffly and with obvious difficulty.

As soon as they were in the saloon the girls began stripping off his clothes. When his shirt was opened dozens of stacks of bank notes showered out on the floor. Bandages on his arms and legs were unwound and more bundles of money fell out.

“Did you have any trouble with customs?” Charlotte said, pulling away the final bandage.

“Did I have any trouble with customs?” Von Joel whipped off the false moustache and started to laugh, shaking loose a final torrent of money. He turned to Lola. “Baby, did we have any trouble with customs?”

The roar of engine throttles drowned their laughter. The boat rocked, shuddered, and began easing out of the harbor. When it was twenty yards from the moorings there was a bang like a pistol shot, then Von Joel appeared on deck carrying a frothing botde of champagne. Standing in the stern, watching Jersey recede in their wake, he raised the bottle to his lips and drank deeply, letting the champagne overflow his mouth and trickle freely down his chin.

Larry was called before Commander Havergill at noon on Thursday. He sat stiffly in a chair opposite the Commander’s desk while his immediate professional future was explained to him.

“No criminal charges will be brought against you, Sergeant Jackson,” the Commander said. “You will remain on full pay and suspended from duty until you have been before the disciplinary board. If you wish to be represented, that is your prerogative. You will be informed of the date of the hearing in due course. That’s all. You may go.”

Four days later he was told the date of the hearing; it was to be in two weeks’ time, and he was advised that he should prepare an adequate defense, with the assistance of a lawyer if necessary, since the case against him, if it went unopposed, could be severely damaging to his career. Larry’s response was to go out and buy clothes, and have himself measured for more.

At eight o’clock on the morning of the hearing he stood before the mirror in the bedroom, immaculate in a gray checked wool suit and a white batiste shirt. The square edge of a white lawn handkerchief protruded an inch above the outer breast pocket of his jacket. Lying behind him, on the bed, were several other suits and a number of shirts. As he studied the line of his jacket Susan stood by the door watching, her arms folded.

“I don’t know if you were aware of it,” Larry said, “but Fred the Stitch makes clothes for the Royals too.” He flexed his shoulders. “Great fit. I’m just not sure about this tie.”

“I think you’re crazy,” Susan told him. “You know what they’ll all be saying.”

“They can say what they like.” He centered the knot of the tie, making a face as he tried to decide. “I never instigated that robbery. If they want to treat me like a leper it’s fine by me.” He glanced momentarily at Susan. “Frisby been feeding you all the info, has he?”

She didn’t respond to that. Since their domestic estrangement — no more intimacies, not even the superficial kind, and Larry sleeping every night in the spare room — she had avoided confrontations involving Frisby, or her infidelity in general. Larry believed she was hoping that matters between them would heal, if only the wounds were left alone for long enough.

“Why go in front of them like a tailor’s dummy?” she said, looking genuinely concerned. “If you didn’t get paid off, why look as if you did?”

“Looking is not the same as doing.” He took a step back from the mirror and appraised the total effect. “Maybe not this tie, huh?”

He turned. Susan had gone. For a single unguarded moment, his nervousness was visible.

The disciplinary board, made up principally of senior officers from St. John’s Row and Scotland Yard, convened in the conference room at St. John’s Row station. They sat around the large conference table, Commander Havergill occupying the senior position at one end. In neat piles along the table were thick files relating to the Myers case and associated matters. DCI McKinnes sat at one side of the table. He listened impassively as DI Shrapnel delivered his testimony about what happened at the moment the police car with Von Joel in the back was rammed by the Transit van. A dummy was handcuffed to Shrapnel and seated in the adjacent chair for purposes of demonstration.

“I saw Edward Myers try to get out. He went for the door, but it was over in a second. The truck came from this direction” — he pointed to the right — “straight at the car. Jackson put up his hands to protect himself, and Myers was drawn across his body. Like this.” Shrapnel demonstrated, drawing the dummy across him as he raised his arm. “That’s how he saved Jackson and nearly got himself killed.”

Commander Havergill looked at McKinnes. “Would you say that Sergeant Jackson felt in any way indebted to Myers?”

“I think he felt he saved his life,” McKinnes said. “Unintentionally, of course, he did.” The matter of Larry’s indebtedness to Myers seemed to figure importantly with the members of the board. They made notes and conferred among themselves in barely audible murmurs. The Commander waited until the discussion petered out before he carried the investigation forward. It was important to be fair, he had said at the outset, and he did not care how long it might take to get at the essential truth of the business.

Larry was not called to testify until half past three. By that time the conference room was crammed with officers — those on the board, and those already questioned and therefore permitted to remain. Among the faces watching him as he stood at the end of the table was Colin Frisby’s. Larry threw him a look that said complex things, none of them clear — or comforting — to Frisby.

The Commander conducted a line of questioning that took Larry right from the time he saw Von Joel in the speedboat in Marbella, up to the time of the robbery at the Millways Merchant Bank. The questions became sticky as Larry tried to explain his motives and movements prior to the robbery taking place.

“Sir, at every possible opportunity I tried in some way to leave clues for DCI McKinnes.”

The Commander nodded, folding his hands. “But you changed clothes,” he said, his voice level and reasonable. “You ate breakfast, you were with Myers for more than two hours. Are you telling me there was not one single opportunity to—”

“Sir, there wasn’t. I had to stay with him. In some ways I had to prove to Mac — to Detective Chief Inspector McKinnes — that I could handle the situation. I’d already tried to get released.”

“Wait a minute...” The Commander conferred in whispers with another senior officer; they both looked at McKinnes.

“We did have an off-the-record chat, sir,” McKinnes said.

The Commander thought about that remark. He sat back from the table.

“I think we should have a short break now. Please remember you are under oath. Thank you, gentlemen.”

A few minutes later, in the Superintendent’s office, McKinnes was blustering angrily.

“It was a chat over a pint,” he told the Superintendent, delivering flurries of smoke with his words. “It was after Myers had been taken to hospital.”

“Just cool off, Mac. You know they’ll ask you.”

“What’s with all this asking me? I’m not the one before the disciplinary board. All I wanted was Myers. I had him, and that kid let the bastard loose.”

There was a soft tap on the door. A WPC entered and passed a note to the Superintendent. As she left she said, “They’re waiting in the conference room for Chief Inspector McKinnes.”

The Superintendent read the note.

“They think Von Joel might have been at a health farm, not far from East Grinstead,” he told McKinnes. “A man fitting his description booked in for liposuction.”

“For what?”

“I’ll check it out,” the Superintendent said. “You’ve got to go back in.”

After the break the Commander continued to press Larry for convincing testimony that he had tried, in any way, to thwart or obstruct the robbery at Millways Bank. The presence of a gun in the picture was a complicating issue; the interrogation surrounding it finally had Larry thumping the table.

“I did take it off him!” he told the Commander, practically shouting. “I have admitted I had the gun — at the bank, and in the street.”

“Then why, Sergeant Jackson,” the Commander asked calmly, “if by then you knew all the officers were in the wrong location, did you assist Myers in the robbery? He had the money, why at this stage did you not arrest him?”

“I was scared I’d lose him, because as you just said, I knew everyone was at the wrong location.” He turned, pointing to the wall map with one hand, loosening his tie with the other. “I followed Myers out here. He was already across the street, about to get into the car.”

“And you still had the gun?”

“Yes. I ran toward him. In fact I shouted.”

The Commander read from a document in a folder open in front of him. “ ‘Eddie! Wait! Wait!’ No warning that you would, as a police officer, use the gun. No warning, either, to passersby. Is that correct?”

Larry nodded, swallowing hard.

“So now, explain how you came to drive the vehicle with the gun held at your throat by Myers, if, as you have told us, you were in possession of the gun.”

“I shouted that I wanted to drive,” Larry said, his voice dry and hoarse. “He refused, then he moved across from the driving seat.”

“But you’ve still got the gun, Sergeant.”

“Yes...”

In his anxiety to delivery the exact literal truth of the situation, it appeared that Larry’s memory had locked up on him. He sweated, looked around the table anxiously.

“You see,” he improvised, “I thought that if I drove, I could... I could control the situation.”

The Commander sighed. He began flicking through the statements. The other members of the board started doing the same. The Superintendent came into the room and tiptoed along the table to where McKinnes was sitting. He delivered a whispered update on the health farm story. Von Joel, if indeed it had been him, had left the place in a helicopter.

“The pilot used a chopper from a hire company in the West End. We can’t trace him yet, they’re checking the prints. He used a qualified pilot’s license that the guy says was nicked a few years back.”

McKinnes nodded, taking it in, then he leaned close to the Superintendent. “What the hell is liposuction?”

The Commander had resumed his questioning of Larry.

“The getaway vehicle was driven at a speed of between seventy and one hundred miles per hour. You were the driver?”

“I drove toward the tunnel. The Blackwall Tunnel.” Larry looked exhausted. He rubbed his head. “He said it was a fake, the gun, so I let it go. He got it, released the safety catch, pressed it to my neck.” Larry pointed at the spot. “He said, ‘I lied about the gun, Larry.’ He forced me to drive fast. If I slowed, he said he’d kill me. I just kept hoping, praying, we’d be picked up.”

“You were, Sergeant,” the Commander said coldly.

At five-thirty a WPC told everyone in the waiting room that they were free to leave. “Everyone is cleared to go except Sergeant Jackson.”

For a further half hour Larry waited alone, feeling like a pariah, while the board deliberated. When he was finally called in to face them, he did so with the slightly vacant look of a man worn expressionless with strain.

“I have taken everything into consideration, Sergeant,” the Commander said. “I find you guilty of foolhardiness, perhaps more than gross error of judgement. You acted, I believe, without criminal intent, as has already been determined, but your behavior must be reprimanded.”

“Yes, sir,” Larry murmured.

“You will be fined three thousand pounds. You will lose your rank, and will return to uniform for two years. After two years you can apply to be considered for reappraisal.” Larry nodded once, accepting the board’s decision.

Later that evening, in a local pub used regularly by St. John’s Row personnel, the Superintendent joined DCI McKinnes and DI Shrapnel in a booth with a number of other officers. There was an atmosphere of overdone jollity. DC Summers was announcing, loudly, that Von Joel had nowhere to run.

“I mean, where could he go to? If he tries to get to France we’ve got him, he can’t go back to Spain or they’ll have him. Anywhere he goes in Europe, Interpol’s going to jump on him. I’d take bets we get him back in days...”

Colin Frisby was singing and trying to encourage the others to join in. Shrapnel looked glazed. So did McKinnes, but the Superintendent believed that was partly self-defense. He leaned close to McKinnes and passed him the news he was waiting for.

“Demoted, fined three grand, he’s back in uniform.”

McKinnes nodded solemnly. “All I ask,” he said, raising his glass, “is, live long enough for me to get you, Eddie, because I will, I’ll keep on looking until they ram the last nail in my coffin!” He swallowed all the whisky in the glass and turned to the Superintendent. “What about me? What did I get?”

“It’s as you expected, Jimmy.”

A rapid blink was the only sign that he had been affected. “So I’m out, huh? I suppose they’ll let me get the trial over, and then...” He blew a raspberry. “Ah, well...” He shrugged. “You got Minton, Bingham, and a few other heavies. No news on Myers?”

The Superintendent shook his head.

“Well,” McKinnes said, looking past the Superintendent. “I’ll say this for him, he’s got some guts.”

The table grew quiet as Larry approached and stood in front of the booth. Everyone stared at him.

“It’s all right,” Larry said, “I don’t want to have a drink with you, I just wanted to give you this, Guv.” He put his warrant card on the table in front of McKinnes. “I’ve left a formal letter of resignation on your desk. I’ll clear out my locker tonight.”

McKinnes glared at him. “Sit down, you flashy bugger.” He started waving his arms at the others. “Come on, come on, make room, you lot, he’s not contagious. Oy! Push up.”

Larry stepped back, shaking his head. The jukebox was playing the Kinks — “Dedicated Follower of Fashion.”

“They’re playing your tune, Sergeant,” DI Falcon shouted from the bar. The others roared with laughter. Larry leaned down to McKinnes.

“Thanks all the same. But... sorry. I’m really sorry, Mac.”

There was no drama in his departure. Falcon pushed past him with a flowing drinks tray. The hubbub swelled. People shouted at each other and several of the lads began to sing along with the jukebox. Larry walked out.

McKinnes had the chasers lined up, and the lads kept them coming as they sang at the top of their voices, until it was obvious to all there was nothing to sing about.

The cold night air hit McKinnes like a slap in the face. He refused all the lads’ offers to drive him home, saying he’d prefer to walk. When he was halfway down the street, Shrapnel drew up alongside him.

“Eh, Mac, you sure you don’t want a lift? You got quite a skin full.”

“Piss off!”

Shrapnel looked up at McKinnes, his face flushed red, the ever present butt stuck out of his mouth.

“Well, one good thing came of it all...”

“Oh, yeah, and what would that be? Got rid of me?”

“No, the patches, they work... Tarra!”

McKinnes had no idea what Shrapnel was talking about, wondered if he should be driving — he’d no doubt sunk a few pints. He plodded on, turning into Edgware Boad, and stopped by a large glass-fronted display window of a television shop and showroom. The screens showed all the different channels. He was about to pass on but suddenly stopped. One TV set showed the face of Edward Myers, the most wanted Super Grass. He couldn’t hear what the announcer was saying, as there was no sound. Instead he stood staring at the handsome, arrogant man.

“You got the luck of the devil, Myers.”

The news continued, as Mac plodded on down the street toward a cab rank. He could hear that dark voice again, asking if he was still wearing the same raincoat. He was, he doubted if he’d get a new one.

“How are you, Mac?”

“In shape.” He remembered when he’d said it how he had felt. That gut-tightening feeling. He really had believed that this time he would have Myers locked up for at least fifteen to eighteen years. Myers was free again, but he reckoned it would not be for long. Somebody, somewhere’d grass on him. They always did. Only Mac knew that when, and if, they brought Myers back he himself would be out in his garden planting friggin’ roses, or under the sod himself. He’d not felt well for months. He sighed, looked up and down the road, and then gave a halfhearted signal to flag a passing taxi cab. He stumbled slightly as he got in, and gave the address. That was another thing he’d have to face. The wife. She’d love this, relish it. And her bloody sister. They would, no doubt, be sitting in the kitchen right now with all the papers, and when he appeared they’d give those looks to each other. And he’d sit at the table as the wife placed his Marks & Spencer’s dinner in front of him — since she discovered their bloody food take-away he’d not had a home-cooked dinner. He leaned back against the seat, exhausted, and would have nodded off, but as luck would have it, he’d got a mouth under a cloth cap that slid back the adjoining window. “You been followin’ this Super Grass escape then?”

“Yes,” said McKinnes. “I’ve been following it.”

The noon sun in Casablanca was scorching. Lola, sunbathing on the deck of Von Joel’s motor yacht, rubbed oil into her arms and gazed lazily around. She glanced toward the harbor and caught her breath. Charlotte, coming up from below, heard Lola and followed the direction of her eyes. She stared, surprised. Coming up behind her, Von Joel looked over her shoulder, moved slowly past her, and stopped by the rail. The women came and stood behind him protectively. Nobody said a word.

Walking toward them, carrying a single carry-on, looking fabulous in a lightweight suit and mirrored shades, was Larry Jackson.

The two-man crew appeared at the high steering deck, like guards. Von Joel stepped onto the gangplank and walked to meet Larry. They stopped within handshaking distance. Larry dropped his bag. He took off his shades.

“Hi,” Von Joel said, opening his arms. He embraced Larry cautiously. “We did it.”

“One thing didn’t go to plan, Eddie.” Larry’s voice was soft and icy calm. “They didn’t fire me.”

“What!” Von Joel stepped back a fraction.

“I said they didn’t fire me.”

Larry’s right hand moved slowly and deliberately to his inside left jacket pocket.

“You shouldn’t have lied to me about your brother. You shouldn’t have lied to me...”

Von Joel’s eyes darted right and left. His composure disappeared. He stepped back. Larry’s hand moved in his pocket, taking a grip. On the harbor road behind Larry, Von Joel saw a police patrol car moving slowly. Larry’s hand came out of his pocket. He was holding a huge Havana cigar.

“Gotcha, Eddie! Checkmate!”

They roared with laughter, and Von Joel hugged Larry. Charlotte ran down the gangplank, catching Larry’s hand to draw him aboard the yacht. Lola hung back slightly. Larry dropped his bag and he gave her a wonderful smile, opening his arms for her. Like a cat she sprang forward, wrapping her arms and legs around his body.

“We did it,” she crooned, and then began to kiss every inch of his face, his cheeks, his eyes, and lastly his lips. As they parted she whispered... “Oh, Larry, we did it!”

Larry turned to Von Joel, who was slowly strolling up the gangplank. He wafted his hand to signal the crew to begin to lift anchor, and the chains began their slow, uneasy turn. As he stepped onto the deck, Charlotte called for the gangplank to be drawn up. They were on their way.

Larry was being drawn down into the cabin area by Lola. He never even saw Von Joel deftly remove the gun that had been tucked into the back of his trousers. Ever cautious, he would have, if it had been necessary, killed Larry, just as he had killed the man who had brought him the deposit key all those years ago, a man that Von Joel had trusted, who had suddenly started wanting more than the share they had agreed. He had no idea Von Joel was going to split it fifty-fifty. He had been welcomed on board, had even had a few glasses of champagne with Von Joel before they had strolled up onto the deck, stood looking out over the dark, still waters. Nothing in Von Joel’s manner had given the slightest indication of his intentions. When he had unhooked the guard rail, there had been a moment of dread, terror even. They were miles out, but he thought that having the key still on him meant that he was safe. He had been wrong. Von Joel simply kicked his feet from under him, and as he floundered in the water, had stood watching.

“For Christ’s sake, Eddie, get me up. I got the fuckin’ key. You can’t get the money without it... Get me out... I got the key.”

Von Joel had turned away, walked to the bow of the boat, and sat, listening to the man thrashing around. He didn’t care if he drowned, or if he got the safe-deposit box key back. It wasn’t the money that concerned him, it was the fact that he had trusted this man, like a brother, and he had betrayed him.

When the cries subsided, Von Joel put on a rubber suit and aqua lungs and dived in. He found the body, even searched it, but if he had the key on him, it had dropped way down, fathoms down. It was while he was in the water that Von Joel slipped his own wristwatch onto the dead man’s wrist, emptied his pockets, and then returned to the boat. The body was washed up two weeks later, but he had never identified it, never visited the morgue. By that time the sharks would have had a good go at the man, hopefully not chewing off his arm, with the wristwatch inscribed to “Eddie Myers with love from his wife Moyra.” It had been good night, Eddie, good-bye, Eddie, and Philip Von Joel set out for Marbella... He was setting sail again now. He’d have to change his name, keep on the move. He had a few encumbrances, too, now, such as Jackson and the two girls.

He had to bend his head slightly to enter the cabin. The throb of the engines had started. The boat swayed as the water churned and frothed like the champagne Lola already had open. She was filling four glasses to the brim. She passed one to Charlotte, another to Larry, and lifted her own at the same time Von Joel reached for his. Larry was about to say something, a toast perhaps, but Lola tapped his arm. It was a tiny gesture, but an indication that they were not equals, and Larry was onto it fast. He kept his glass lifted, his eyes met and held Von Joel’s.

“To us, to the future, no regrets, no betrayals...” It was not done with a flourish, a relish even. Von Joel’s voice was husky, and solemn. He looked first at Charlotte, then to Lola, and lastly to Larry. Only then did he raise the champagne glass to his lips, only then did he laugh that infectious, wonderful gut laugh that had stayed in the mind of a young, eager police officer, a laugh that the same police officer, now a sergeant, had recognized all those years later. Larry had known instantly that he was right. The man calling himself Philip Von Joel was in actual fact the supposedly dead Edward “Eddie” Myers.

“You’ll have to do somethin’ about that laugh, Eddie... It’s very distinctive...”