‘Another glass of wine, miss?’
? ? ?
‘Good evening, Inspector,’ said Jimmy the dip, who had appeared out of nowhere. ‘If you’ve got the gear, I’m ready to earn the other two hundred nicker.’
Ross turned his back on the passing crowd and without a word slipped Jimmy three small packets and a bundle of used notes. Jimmy melted back into the crowd.
A few moments later, Ross spotted him on the far side of the road mingling with the audience coming out of the theatre, before he stopped outside the entrance to the club and asked the doorman the way to Leicester Square.
‘What do you think I am, mate, a fuckin’ tour guide?’
‘Sorry to bother you,’ said Jimmy, who bent down and picked up a watch from the pavement. ‘Is this yours by any chance?’
‘Yeah,’ said the doorman, grabbing his watch and slipping it back on his wrist without a word of thanks.
Jimmy the dip moved on, while Ross stepped into a nearby phone box and dialled a number.
Moments later a voice announced, ‘Inspector Watts.’
‘I’ve just come out of the Eve Club, and the doorman tried to sell me some drugs. I thought you’d want to know.’ He hung up before the call could be traced. Four minutes was considered by the Met’s crack drivers to be a fast response to an emergency call, so when a squad car swept into Wardour Street three minutes and forty-two seconds later, Ross allowed himself a smile.
? ? ?
At first Rebecca didn’t take much notice of the police car as it sped into the street below her. Hardly surprising, she thought, as there were regular disturbances in Soho every night. But she began to take a closer interest when it screeched to a halt outside the Eve Club. Four uniformed officers leapt out and surrounded Carter, whose shocked expression appeared to be genuine.
A small crowd began to gather on the opposite side of the road as two of the officers pinned him against the wall, while a third searched his overcoat and extracted several small packets and a bundle of used notes. The fourth officer, an Inspector Rebecca didn’t recognize, arrested Carter and cautioned him, before he was handcuffed and led away. She could still hear his cries of protest as he was bundled into the back of the police car.
She began to write down everything she had witnessed, pausing only when the owner came rushing out of the club and shook a fist at the squad car as it disappeared out of sight. The crowd had dispersed by the time Jimmy the dip reappeared by Ross’s side, unable to hide a smirk.
‘You did well, Jimmy,’ said Ross, palming him the other two hundred.
‘Happy to oblige,’ said Jimmy. ‘That’s exactly the sort of lowlife what ought to be locked up.’
Ross was about to make a comment about pots and kettles when Jimmy added, ‘Like the flash new watch, Inspector. But how do you tell the time?’ Before he could answer, Jimmy had disappeared into the night. Ross checked his wrist, relieved to find the watch was still there.
? ? ?
Once Rebecca had completed her report, she emptied her glass, settled the bill and left. She would have called the chief at home if it hadn’t been so late. That would have to wait until tomorrow morning. Then she remembered where she would be at six o’clock the next morning. She corrected herself. This morning.
CHAPTER 29
SIX PIPS WERE FOLLOWED BY the news headlines, but neither of them was listening.
‘I don’t enjoy spying on a colleague,’ said Jackie. ‘Especially one I like and admire.’
‘Couldn’t agree more,’ said William. ‘But when you’re your own worst enemy, you need friends.’
‘You’re still convinced he was involved in the Roach and Abbott killings?’
‘You have to admit,’ said William, ‘that his wife’s death gave him a pretty strong motive. Let’s just be thankful the Abbott/Roach file has been closed. But the Sleeman case hasn’t, so it’s important we try to stay one step ahead of Ross. And of Verenich too, for that matter.’
‘My latest intel on Clive Pugh might also interest you,’ said Jackie, as the two of them continued to stare out of the car window at a red door at the far end of the mews.
‘Enlighten me,’ said William, sounding like the commander.
‘I had a call from my new buddy in the Cape Town police department yesterday. He told me I’d got it completely wrong, and I needn’t worry about Mrs Pugh any longer.’
‘How come?’
‘Because her husband keeled over during dinner a couple of nights ago and died before the ambulance reached their hotel. At least we know Ross can’t have been involved in that one.’