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James considered it. “I don’t know how. I was planning to go home afterward, so I had my own car with me, I was obviously in plain clothes and Gabriella was beside me, also in plain clothes, so we could have simply been a couple out together, window shopping.”

“And that’s not what you were?” Layman asked.

James swung to face him, ready to object, and saw he was teasing, grinning broadly at James.

“It’s actually very difficult to make plans,” James said stiffly. “She doesn’t have a phone in her flat, and my hours are hardly regular.”

“So if you see her walking down the road, you take your opportunities where you find them.” Layman chuckled.

“Quite.” James finally smiled. “Besides, it turned out very well for us, given her mother’s Italian.”

“Is that how she speaks it so well? Is her father Australian?”

“Her father’s English. That’s why she’s here in London right now.” James didn’t expand on that. “She was born in Australia, though. She sounds Australian because she is Australian.”

“You met her through the job?” Layman asked.

“Yes. She found two bodies on her route in the summer. It was my case.” James did not want to go into it.

Hartridge pulled in front of them just then, saving him from saying any more.

“Where to?” Hartridge asked when they were all in.

“Back to Garelli’s,” Layman said. “Do you think Garelli knew he was offering the job of apprentice jeweler to the daughter of a notorious safe cracker?”

James had wondered that himself. “Well, the poor girl shouldn’t have to pay for the sins of the father, but it is possible she’s behind the robbery tonight.”

“She could have pretended interest to case the joint,” Layman agreed.

“Except to become a jeweler’s apprentice is probably quite difficult,” Hartridge said. “My cousin’s into graphic design and she had to jump through ever so many hoops to get the apprenticeship she’s in. There’s a lot of competition for those places.”

“So let’s look through the paperwork, and see how she came to his attention. It may give us a clue as to where to find her.” Layman sounded tired, and James guessed he’d been going non-stop since the robbery two days before.

“Another possibility is that Garelli had a deal with Harry Fingers, to reset whatever he steals into new pieces,” James said. “And Sarah was to be the go-between.”

Layman had taken the front passenger seat, and he twisted in it to look at James. “I must be very tired, because that didn’t even occur to me.”

“How will we work out if that’s what’s going on?” Hartridge asked.

“All the gems should have certificates.” Layman faced forward again. “So we go through his office with a fine tooth comb.”

“I panicked, all right!” Pete did not like to be criticized. He sounded defensive, and there was almost no trace of contrition in his voice.

Had he sounded the same when he’d shot her father, Sarah wondered?

“You shot through the window at passersby who couldn’t have done a thing to you, you idiot!” Robby’s voice got deeper the more upset he was, and Sarah would have to be blind not to see that he was very, very upset. “I’m taking that gun off you. You don’t use it from now on.”

“They surprised me.” Pete knew he was on a hiding to nothing, but he couldn’t help making excuses for himself.

“I bet you surprised them more. And that was before you shot at them through a massive glass window.” Robby had been waiting a little way down the road to pick Pete up. “I thought you’d jumped through the window when I heard the glass crashing onto the pavement.”

“I considered grabbing what I could from the front display cases, but there were a lot of jagged shards sticking out. It would have been impossible to grab them without slicing myself to ribbons.” Pete was still furious they’d gotten nothing from the raid.

Not as furious as Robby, though.

“You were supposed to go for the safe first,” Robby said. “Not charge into the front area like a bull in a china shop.”

“Garelli was a fighter.” Pete’s lips twisted in disgust. “When he stepped out into the alley, I shoved him back in, and it was like he thought I was going to kill him or something. He went for me like a wild animal.”