Rose looked uncomfortable.
‘He thinks I’m wearing a
‘Like I said, humour him. Please.’
Shepherd sighed and raised his arms. Rose patted him down quickly and efficiently. He made Shepherd take out his mobile phone and examined it carefully.
‘It’s a phone, Rosie.’
‘They can bug them so they transmit all the time,’ said Rose, ‘with or without your co-operation.’ He pulled off the back, took out the battery and the Sim card, then handed the pieces back to Shepherd and continued his search. He missed nothing, even patting Shepherd’s groin and running his hands up and down his inner thighs. If Shepherd had been wearing any sort of transmitter or recording device, Rose would have found it.
‘Satisfied?’ said Shepherd.
‘Don’t get ratty,’ said Rose. ‘We get caught doing this and they’ll throw away the key.’ He went back up the stairs and pressed the bell again. ‘He’s okay,’ Rose said, into the intercom. The glass door buzzed and Rose pushed it open. Shepherd followed him into the hallway. There was a lift to the right but Rose headed up the stairs. The flat was on the second floor and the door was already open.
‘Out here,’ said a voice.
Shepherd walked through what was clearly a rented property. Cherrywood laminated flooring, a beige sofa, a glass-topped coffee-table, a small television and DVD player. There was nothing of a personal nature. The framed prints on the cream-painted walls were as bland and nondescript as the sofa. At the far end of the room, open french windows led to a large square balcony, overlooking the Thames. There were three white plastic chairs and a matching round table on which stood a cafetiere, mugs, a carton of low-fat milk, a box of sugar cubes, and a basket of croissants. The occupant of the flat was standing with his back to the window. He turned as Shepherd walked out. It was Ken Swift.
‘Do you want coffee, Stu?’ he asked.
‘That would be good,’ said Shepherd, casually. Swift was watching him closely, trying to gauge his reaction, but Shepherd played it cool. Swift poured coffee into the three mugs.
‘Milk?’ he asked Shepherd.
‘Black, no sugar.’
Swift poured a dash of milk into Rose’s coffee and handed it to him, then he and Rose dropped on to the chairs.
‘Nice place,’ said Shepherd.
‘I can walk to Leman Street, which is a plus,’ said Swift. ‘Just the one bedroom, but the balcony makes up for it. All I can afford at the moment.’
‘Three divorces?’
‘First wife got fifty per cent, second wife got fifty per cent of what was left. Wife number three is aiming for the house and everything in it, which doesn’t leave me much. You’re better off being single, Stu. And don’t get me started on kids. I’m responsible for them right through university, and at the moment I’m lucky to see them twice a month.’
Shepherd sipped his coffee.
‘Rose says three guys attacked you. Three guys from Glasgow.’
‘They might have been from Manchester. I borrowed the money in Glasgow but it was a Manchester bookie.’
‘You were lucky.’
‘Rosie helped me. If it hadn’t been for him, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
‘You had a gun?’
‘For my own protection.’
‘You know the guy you shot is dead?’ said Swift. ‘There’s a full-scale murder inquiry on the go.’
‘No one saw us. No forensics. Rosie and I can alibi each other if necessary. No way will they pin anything on us.’
‘And you owed them money?’
‘Thirty grand.’
‘Gambling debts, Rosie said.’
‘I was a twat, I know. I just kept getting in deeper and deeper.’
‘So you’re up for what we’re planning?’
‘I don’t know what it is,’ said Shepherd. ‘Ripping off a drugs-dealer is all I know.’
‘But in principle?’
‘In principle I’m more than happy to relieve them of their ill-gotten gains. So long as we don’t have to go in with guns blazing.’
‘We don’t intend to hurt anyone,’ said Rose. ‘We’re not vigilantes. It’s not about putting them out of business. It’s solely about money. They have it. We take it.’
‘Count me in,’ Shepherd said. ‘But I could do with knowing one thing.’
‘What’s that?’
‘You’ve done this before, haven’t you?’
Swift and Rose exchanged a look. Then Swift nodded. ‘Once. We hit a crack-dealing crew in Harlesden.’
‘And was Andy Ormsby involved?’
Swift’s eyes narrowed to slits. ‘Who the fuck told you about Andy?’
Shepherd returned the man’s stare. ‘Andy disappeared. You and Rose barely mention his name. You’re a man short, which means you’re a man down, and you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Andy’s the missing link.’
‘He took a bullet. We did what we could but he died before we could get him to a doctor. We buried him.’
‘Just like that?’
‘
‘And if he hadn’t died, would you have taken him to hospital?’
‘There was nothing we could do,’ said Rose.
‘That wasn’t what I was asking,’ said Shepherd. ‘If you screw up again and I get shot, what happens to me?’
‘We didn’t screw up,’ said Swift.
‘Every time shots are fired, someone’s screwed up,’ said Shepherd.
Swift stood up. ‘This isn’t about what happened to Andy. It’s about where we go from here.’
‘I understand that, but I need to know exactly what I’m getting into,’ said Shepherd. ‘Where did you bury him?’
‘Why do you want to know?’ asked Swift.
‘If there’s a body out there that could lead back to me, I want to know it’ll never be found.’
‘The New Forest,’ said Swift. ‘And don’t worry, no one will find him.’
‘He didn’t have anyone close,’ said Rose. ‘It’s not like he was married or had kids.’
‘Like me,’ said Shepherd. ‘No one would miss me either. But that’s not to say I want to end up buried in the New Forest.’ He sipped his coffee. ‘I don’t mean to sound negative, but it’s not every day you get an offer to take part in an armed robbery.’
‘We don’t look at it that way,’ said Swift. He picked up a croissant. ‘We’re stealing from drugs-dealers. Bad guys. The money we take is drugs money. If we didn’t take it, they’d only be using it to wholesale more drugs.’
‘So we’re sort of Robin Hoods?’ said Shepherd.
‘The only way it can go wrong is if someone gets hurt,’ said Rose. ‘If we get away clean there’s no way they can report it.’
‘And three is enough?’ asked Shepherd.
‘Three’s best,’ said Rose. ‘Two to go in, one to drive.’
‘And my role would be?’
‘You come with me, Ken stays with the car,’ said Rose.
‘And weaponry?’
