Apart from the hefty wall safe, there was no other furniture along the left hand wall. The right hand wall was occupied by an eight foot long heavy-duty workbench, and just beyond that stood a rusted, three drawer filing cabinet that was covered in dents.
What really caught the eye – apart from the huge Nazi flag – was the way that the back wall was set up. It was covered from floor to ceiling with thick sheets of metal, and these were all peppered with small dents and impact craters.
Murray let out a low whistle. “This place looks like a homemade firing range to me.”
Evans nodded his agreement “I reckon we’ve found ourselves a little armoury in here.”
“Look at the wall safe,” Flowers said. “Unless Dobson’s given you the combo, we’re going to have to call out a locksmith to crack that little beauty.”
A thick yard broom was leaning against the wall in the far left corner of the lockup, and there was a metal bucket on the floor beside it. “I wonder,” Bull said, ambling over. He broke into a large grin when he peered inside. “Guess what’s inside here?” he said to the others, beckoning them to come and have a look.
Murray hazarded a guess. “Spent cartridges?”
“Yep,” Bull said happily. “Lots of them.”
Murray sauntered over to join him, his plastic overshoes scraping along the floor with each lazy step. Kneeling down, he inserted the tip of his biro into one of the cartridges and raised it for a closer inspection. Although he was wearing two pairs of latex gloves, he didn’t want to risk smearing any latent prints that might be on the brass cases. He held it up to the light and tilted it from side to side, seeing if he could spot anything of interest with the naked eye.
“Kevin, you better get on the blower mate, we’re definitely going to need the services of a safecracker,” Bull said with a grin.
◆◆◆
The final errand Rodent had to run before heading back to the flat was to stop off at the chemist in Barking Road and pick up some more dressings and bandages. He’d already purchased the thick winter clothing that Garston had sent him out for and some groceries for Winston to take with him to France.
None of the local shops had stocked any coats big enough to accommodate the gangster’s gargantuan frame, and the staff in the shoe shops he’d tried had all looked at him as though he were mad when he’d asked if they stocked anything in size fourteen. In the end, fed up with getting nowhere, he had found a phone box, called Garston and asked him where Winston normally purchased his clothing from. Inevitably, he’d received an ear-bashing for not having had the brains to do that before leaving the flat.
With Garston’s earlier comments about his lack of personal hygiene still bothering him, Rodent had grabbed himself a can of Lynx antiperspirant when he’d stopped off at Tesco to pick up Winston’s food supplies. As soon as he’d returned to the Rover, he’d sprayed himself all over so that he wouldn’t reek of sweat if he was lucky enough to be served by Jenna Marsh.
Just thinking about her made his pulse race. He knew a girl like that could never fall for someone like him, but even being around her made him feel better about himself.
To his delight, Jenna was standing behind the counter on her own, serving an elderly woman. His heart missed a beat when he saw her. Ducking behind one of the display racks so that she couldn’t see him, he had a quick sniff of his armpits. Thankfully, all he could smell was the pleasant musky scent of the aerosol he’d doused himself in a few minutes earlier.
It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t even washed his face or cleaned his teeth before leaving the flat that morning. He self-consciously cupped his hands to his mouth, exhaled into them a couple of times and then sniffed to see if his breath smelled. Then he quickly ran his fingers through his straw-like hair to smooth it down.
He passed the woman on his way to the front of the shop, politely moving aside to let her pass him in the narrow aisle.
“Hello again,” he said as he reached the counter. He could feel a goofy smile spreading across his face, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Jenna didn’t smile back, but she looked relieved to see him. “I was hoping you would come in,” she said.
“Well, here I am,” he said, spreading his arms wide and giving her a twirl.
Jenna’s face remained serious. “I need to ask you something, but I don’t want you to be annoyed,” she told him when he was facing her again.
The smile fell from his face as he realised it was going to be one of those conversations. In his experience, an opening statement like that was usually the precursor to a telling off or a lecture.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, wondering what he could possibly have done to offend her.
“I watched the news on TV last night,” Jenna began, watching him carefully for a reaction. “And I was really concerned when I saw the segment about the man who murdered that police officer at the Royal London Hospital on Monday afternoon and then escaped from custody.”
Rodent didn’t like where this was going. “And what’s that got to do with me?” he asked, guardedly.
He could see that she didn’t like the standoffish tone of his voice, but he couldn’t help that. This wasn’t a conversation he was prepared to have.
Jenna didn’t take the hint. “While I was watching the telly,” she continued doggedly, “I remembered you telling
