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“Another coffee?”
He nodded. She filled his cup and the kitchen door flew open.
“Someone’s trashed my flat!” It was Simon and he was sweating, profusely.
Nicks looked calmly up at him. “Are you sure it wasn’t just another one of your nutty ex-girlfriends?”
Simon plonked himself down at the table. “I’m pretty certain. They’ve never spray painted ‘Back off or you will die’ on my living room wall before. Nope, this isn’t your average everyday scouse burglary either. Nothing taken, just everything smashed to fuck.” He caught Anca’s eye and pointed to the cafetière.
“Anyway, why are you sweating so much?”
Simon accepted his cup. “I’ve just been chased across the neighbour’s back garden by his bloody dog!”
Nicks looked at him quizzically.
“You told me to make sure I wasn’t followed, so it’s taken me over an hour driving around and up and down, all over the place. When I was happy, I parked in the street at the back and nipped through Walter’s garden while he’s at work. He usually takes it with him but today the little bastard was roaming free and that’s a big fence to climb over. God, that little monster can jump!” He sipped his coffee. “You don’t look too surprised.”
“I’m not. I had the feeling the other day there was someone following me but I couldn’t make them out.”
“Maybe it was that private detective again?”
Nicks shook his head. “No, he was easy to spot. This was professional. Anyway, I did a lot of anti-surveillance shit and either lost them or they got bored.”
“And then they found me. Why do my flat?”
Nicks sat thoughtfully for several moments. “They’ve probably thought or discovered we found something but they don’t know we haven’t got it anymore. They can’t find me, so, you’re the next obvious choice. It’s a good thing.”
Si gave him a sarcastic look. “And how do you make that out?”
Nicks grinned back at him. “It tells us they don’t know everything. It tells us they’re starting to panic and it tells us that when we first meet, they’re unlikely to simply kill us out of hand because they want what we found.”
Simon drained his cup. “Well, that’s really good news. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Hours of unbearable torture followed by certain painful death. You’re a ray of fucking sunshine!” He stood up.
“Where are you off now?” Nicks enquired.
Si waved a dismissive hand. “I haven’t got time to sit around admiring the scenery. I need to speak to someone about sorting the flat out. It’s only two weeks until my tenants move in.” He smiled at Anca. “Nice coffee by the way.”
She smiled back. “You’ll need somewhere to sleep, so I take it you’ll want your room?”
“Good grief, no. I mean, I’ll have to move back in, so I’ll sleep on the couch.” He gave her the most endearing face he could muster in the circumstances. “Or, maybe, you could make me a bed up in the spare room?”
When he’d gone, she sat down opposite Nicks. “Do you really think that?”
“What? That they won’t pop us off the first time? Yeah, I do. It doesn’t make any sense otherwise. They want to find what Don left us. It’s crucial to them, but it gives us an advantage, not a huge one but nevertheless. If I’ve got it wrong it won’t matter.” He smiled softly at her and stood up. “C’mon, we need to go somewhere quiet where you can get used to the Beretta.” He opened the drawer in the table, removed the rounds and the weapon and laid them on the worktop.
She looked at him, reluctance written all over her face. “Do we have to?”
He kissed her forehead and held her in his arms. “Yes. We have to. You have to be able to use it. I need you to know how to use it.”