Berry began to pick his nose as he gave me a long, hard
stare.
“Was he kidding, would you know?”
“Kidding about what?”
“Carrying guns.”
“Worry you?” I said, taking a page out of his book.
He laughed, although his eyes hardened.

“Just curious, that’s all.
Well, I can’t waste any more
time. Ed’ll be in tomorrow.”
“What was the idea leaving Joe here all night?”
I was watching him closely and saw his eyes flicker.
“He was on the job.”
“In the dark?”
“Why not? Good time to work at night, pally. No
interference.” He turned away and walked back to the
partitioned room.

A few minutes to seven o’clock, Bill returned. I had
changed and was waiting for him. Berry had gone, but I knew
Joe was in the partitioned room behind the locked door.
“All set?” Bill asked.
“Coming now.”

He helped me close the double doors. I locked them, and
then we walked down Eagle Street to Oxford Circus, caught a bus to Soho, and walked along Greek Street until we came to
the small Greek restaurant where we usually had supper on
our nights out.

While we were waiting to be served Bill said suddenly,
“That bloke Berry doesn’t look like a radio expert.”
“Well, you don’t look like a guard on a mail van: so
what?”
Bill grinned.
“He looked like a Spiv to me, Harry.”

I very nearly told him then about my suspicions, but on
second thoughts checked myself. Gloria would be at Berry’s
party tonight. She would probably get back to her flat around midnight.

I would be able to get rid of Bill by that time, and I planned to go to her flat after I had left Bill and have it out with her. It would be unwise, I argued to myself, to tell Bill what I suspected until I had talked to Gloria.

“Newly everyone looks like a Spiv these days,” I said
carelessly, and was glad when the waitress brought the first
course.

After the meal, we walked over to the club that was in a
street off Tottenham Court Road.

“When’s this big consignment of yours coming off, Bill?” I
asked, as we waited on the kerb for the traffic lights to change to green.

“What consignment?” he asked sharply.
“Didn’t you say you were expecting to escort something
big this week?”

“That’s right, but I’m not supposed to talk about it.”
“So they have security even in the Post Office. Seriously,
Bill, do you carry a gun? I know you were kidding, Bill, about the grenades, but do they let you have riffles?”

“Not a hope. I have a club that’s about as good as a sick
headache, and my wits: that’s all.”
“Doesn’t it worry you?”
Bill laughed.
“Not a scrap. We take precautions. If we’ve got anything really big, we alter our routes and our times.

Anyone planning to rob a van would have to know when we start and that’s
something they just don’t know. We haven’t had any trouble in
years.”

“You were up and about pretty early this morning.”
He looked a little startled.
“Did you see me?”
“I heard the van and I looked out of the window.”
“Between you and me, Harry, that was a rehearsal for
the big day: keep it under your hat.”
“When’s the big day?”

Bill shook his head.
“That’s something I can’t tell you. I don’t know myself.
Well have it jumped on us without any warning.” He abruptly changed the subject and began talking about Middlesex’s chances against Surrey.

I took the hint and entered into a
heated discussion with him. He had always supported
Middlesex, but I fancied Surrey had the edge on them this
year.

It was ten minutes past twelve when we came out of the
club.
We stood on the pavement while we lit cigarettes.
“Well, I’m off home,” Bill said, stifling a yawn. “I was up at half-past one this morning.

Thank goodness I have a day off
tomorrow. Can you see yourself home?”
“Just about. I was wondering about you.”
Bill grinned.

“I can manage on my own steam. If I don’t get into bed
soon I’m going to fall asleep on my feet. See you tomorrow
afternoon.”

We parted at the bottom of Greek Street. I caught a bus
to Oxford Circus and then walked quickly along Oxford Street to Bond Street.

I arrived outside Gloria’s flat about twenty-five minutes
past midnight. The flat was in darkness. I wondered if she had
already got back and had gone to bed. It was unlikely, but to
be on the safe side, I rang the bell. There was no answer so I
decided she hadn’t come back yet. I walked over to a dark
comer of the mews and, leaning against a wall, settled down
to wait.

I waited for some time. It was close on one o’clock when
I heard a car coming. A moment later a taxi slid into the mews
and pulled up outside the flat.

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