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They all turned to look at her.

“Fake bank note plates?” Layman studied the bag with even more interest.

“A joke present my father once got from a friend. He kept them in his safe because he always said most thieves stop at the first big thing they think they’ve found. The only reason I wasn’t killed at the same time as Stephen Boscoe was because I told them I knew how to make counterfeit money.” She sat down on the steps, closed her eyes, and leaned against the wall.

“Right, who else needs looking at?” a medic asked, and Gabriella realized it was Gary, the paramedic she’d ridden with when they’d taken Alessandro Garelli to hospital. They’d already taken Teddy Roe out on a stretcher and she could hear the sirens as the ambulance raced away.

“Hi, Gary,” she said. “Jerry and Miss Bicton need a look. They’ve been held prisoner since last Monday.”

“Hey, Gabriella. You’re in the thick of things again, are you?” He shot her a grin and then knelt in front of Sarah Bicton.

Layman coughed out a laugh.

One of his team appeared in the doorway. “He got away in some fancy sports car,” he said.

“Who?” James asked.

“The third man. He didn’t realize what was happening inside and stumbled across us in the hallway,” Ruby said.

James locked eyes on her for a moment, his expression stark.

“He ran out the back when he heard the sirens,” Gabriella said.

“Do you know who he is?” Layman asked Sarah.

“Ted Jackman,” Sarah said. “The brains of the operation.”

“There’s also Mrs. Jameson,” Gabriella said. “She ran away as soon as Ruby asked her about hostages in her attic. She went in the direction of the high street.”

Layman made a signal to one of his people and they slipped away. “Anything else?” he asked. There was silence. “Good. Then let’s get statements, and everyone can go home.”

chapter

thirty-five

“What have you got for me?” DI Layman asked.

James lowered himself down into a chair at the conference table and closed his eyes for a moment.

He was so tired.

It was only ten o’ clock at night, but he was ready to go home.

Or, not home, but to Gabriella.

“I’ve sent Sarah Bicton to a hotel for the night. She can’t really go back to the house yet. She told me that Stephen Boscoe was staying with her because her father said he’d been forced to go back to his old business and he didn’t trust the men he was working for. Boscoe was supposed to be there to keep her safe in the house.”

“That didn’t go as planned,” Layman said.

“No. She says she doesn’t know what pressure they used to force her father to help them, but somewhere along the line they must have gotten hold of Harry’s keys to the house, or managed to copy them. They killed Harry during the robbery—fortunately for them after he’d opened the safe. According to what Robby Jameson told Sarah, it was an accidental discharge by Pete Harris. Once it was done, though, they decided to use the opportunity to take what they could find in Harry’s office. By the time they were finished, it was first thing in the morning, and Sarah thinks they decided Boscoe might come after them, or she would point the finger at them, when her father turned up dead. She says they thought her father had told her who they were, and they didn’t want to chance her or Boscoe speaking with us.”

“They were right. She isn’t holding anything back,” Layman said. “I’ve dealt with quite a few family members of thieves like Harry, and if they’re in on it, they usually keep their mouths shut, no matter what’s happened.”

“Well, she’s lost her father and her friend, and from what I can see, she’s white hot with rage. Burning up with it. Apparently, they left Harry’s office and came straight to the family home, let themselves in, and snuck up on Boscoe as he was getting dressed. She thought she was going to be killed as well, but they were disappointed with their takings from Harry’s office safe, and they wanted her to tell them where the good stuff was. As soon as she worked out they’d opened Harry’s safe, she told them she knew how to print the counterfeit money, and that saved her life.”

“How much do you think she knew about her father’s illegal activities?” Layman asked.

“She says very little. He apparently tried to shield her and her mother from it, which I can believe, and although she knew he’d skated close to the edge in the past, she was under the impression he’d switched to helping set up security systems for jewelers and other high value businesses, which is actually an excellent legal use of his talents.” James wasn’t completely sure she was telling the truth, but he had nothing to say she wasn’t.