‘Swag! What’s that about? Some kind of joke, do you think?’

‘Gee, I don’t know, Bob.’

The Highland Grouse was singing in old Bob and he stood, circled the bag, then bent down, said:

‘Let’s have a little peek; I mean, the bastards didn’t even pay so it’s not like they’re entitled to our full protection.’

He pulled the zipper back and stared in dismay then said:

‘It’s empty, I could have sworn it weighed a ton, did it seem heavy to you?’

Jimmy’s heart skipped a beat and he tried:

‘No, it was light as a feather.’

Bob eyed the bottle of Grouse, laughed, said:

‘I better ease up, eh?’

Jimmy felt relief flow over him, said:

‘Let’s have one for the road. What do you think, you being the senior man?’

Bob liked that tone a lot and felt they could certainly risk one more. As they closed up, the watching cops noted the time and that they weren’t carrying anything.

One said:

‘The only thing those guys are carrying is a feed of drink.’

A month before, Angie had rented Jimmy a small apartment in Kennington. She’d said:

‘They’ll check the employees and we can’t be living together. I’ll stay with a girlfriend so they can’t connect us up.’

Jimmy was very unhappy about being on his own but she persuaded him it was only for a short time. Once the heat died down, they’d split the money and all get back together. When Ray arrived at the Mews, he had already split the money and when he handed the cash to Angie, she said:

‘This seems light.’

‘Yeah, I’ve taken half and put it someplace safe.’

She was surprised at his balls, asked:

‘Don’t you trust me?’

‘Sure, but if anything happened to you, at least only half would be gone. This way, we need each other.’

She considered getting him into bed, see if he would reveal the location. Instinct told her it wouldn’t work. He was sharper than she’d figured.