He took out the radio from his pocket and spoke into it. ‘This is OP Juliet Tango to control, testing… over.’ The transmitter crackled.
‘Receiving you, Juliet Tango… loud and clear… control over.’
‘Juliet Tango, premises safe and secure, over.’ Stanley shook his head at the radio. ‘Piece of crap… it’s one from the Dip Squad’s office. They keep promising we’ll get new ones.’
He suddenly looked properly at Jane for the first time since he had arrived. ‘My God, that’s a bit low at the front, isn’t it?’
‘I need you to do up all the little buttons at the back.’
‘Well, I have to say, Tennison, you’ve got a good pair… just keep them under wraps.’ He smirked and checked his watch. ‘It’s coming up to five o’clock — fingers crossed.’
He sat on a stool as Jane went into her bedroom to collect her evening bag. Inside it she had put her warrant card, lipstick, comb, some folded bank notes, keys and a handkerchief. She needed time alone to digest everything that Stanley had said. What she had not told him was that she knew what it felt like to get on the wrong side of DCI Church. When Church had reprimanded her and told her that they still had not traced Regina Hernandez, he had said that if Regina was subsequently found dead it would be on her head.
Jane heard another radio communication come through. Stanley called out from the kitchen to say that so far all was quiet and that there had been no sign of Natalie yet. She could hear him slurping his tea as she looked at her bedside clock. It was now five past five.
She looked up to see Stanley standing in her bedroom doorway holding a mug of tea.
‘Time’s ticking… She said five to you, didn’t she? It’s after that now?’
‘I said five thirty, and she said she would be here earlier as she would come straight from working at the bank.’
‘Well, we know that’s a lie as she’s not been back to the bank, or to her flat.’
Jane was almost ready for Stanley to do up the buttons on her dress, but the radio transmitter suddenly crackled in the kitchen and he went to find out what the update was.
‘Still no sight of the target,’ he called back to Jane. He finished his tea, washed up the mug and left it on the draining board. When he tried to make contact via the radio again, he just got bad static and no reception.
Jane was becoming nervous. She went out into the hall.
‘She’s not coming. I don’t think she ever intended to.’
‘Then why the phone call? Stay positive,’ said Stanley. ‘She might just be taking her time.’
‘It’s five thirty.’
‘I know… we all know.’ He came over to stand behind her. ‘Now, let me do your buttons up.’
Just then, the doorbell rang. Jane ran into her bedroom and looked look down to the main front door. A large truck was double parked across the road outside the dry cleaners, blocking the undercover officers’ view to her flat. Jane could see Natalie standing below, and spotted the soft top of a blue Triumph Herald driving away from the pavement, passing the parked truck as the driver returned to move it. Jane turned to Stanley, trying not to sound panic-stricken.
‘It’s her! It’s Natalie… she’s here. There’s a truck blocking the undercover SPG officers’ view. I don’t think they’ve seen her!’
‘Let her in. I’ll radio for backup.’
Jane buzzed the front door open and Natalie stepped inside just as the truck moved away. They heard her hurrying up the stairs as Stanley desperately tried to make radio contact, but there was no pickup signal. If Stanley was seen, Natalie would be tipped off — and there was no way he could head down the stairs now. She might be armed.
‘Go into the spare bedroom,’ she hissed at him. ‘The wardrobe’s empty — you can hide in there.’
Stanley hesitated, but Jane pushed him towards the room.
‘She’ll want to look around. She’s never been here before. I’ll keep her talking and take her into my bedroom, then you call for backup.’
Stanley hurried into the spare bedroom just as Natalie knocked on Jane’s flat door.
‘Hi there… it’s me!’ she called out.
With a quick glance to check that Stanley was inside the wardrobe, Jane opened the front door.
Natalie jokingly heaved for breath and laughed. She was carrying a large leather and canvas shoulder bag.
‘My God, those stairs must keep you fit!’
‘They do! Come on in.’
Jane ushered Natalie inside and closed the door.
‘Well, this is it. Just down the hall here is the kitchen—’
‘Let me get my breath back. You sound like a desperate estate agent!’
‘Sorry…’ Jane forced herself to slow down. ‘It’s just that you were a bit late and I have to get ready. Would you like a coffee?’
‘No thanks. It’s very nice and compact…’ Natalie said, looking around the kitchen.
‘The bathroom is in here,’ Jane pushed open the bathroom door.
‘Nice tiles — and you’ve got a shower as well.’
Jane gestured to her bedroom. ‘My bedroom’s in there. I’m so glad you made it. As you can see, I can’t possibly do these buttons up…’
‘You look terrific, though. What’s in that room?’
‘Oh, that’s just my small spare bedroom. The one Pearl had. I’m thinking of making it into a dining and TV room.’
Natalie took a step into the spare bedroom and took a good look round. The single bed was piled high with boxes.
‘Yes, I think that’s a good idea… It’s a bit small but you could get a sort of folding table.’
‘That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’d get rid of the single bed and maybe buy a two-seater sofa.’
Jane’s heart was pounding. She was terrified that Natalie would be able to hear Stanley calling for backup on the radio. In fact, he was crouched down inside the wardrobe, with his back pressed against the door.
Natalie turned and smiled.
‘You’ve got it made, haven’t you? Right, let me do your dress up.’
They walked back into Jane’s bedroom and Natalie went over to the bed to pick up the bolero jacket.
‘This will look really lovely with your dress… it’s fabulous, and it was a real bargain.’
Jane left her bedroom door slightly ajar. As Natalie placed her bag on the bed Jane turned her back towards her so that she could begin doing up the buttons.
‘Gosh, they really are tricky. They’re so small, and some of the buttonholes are really tight.’
Natalie did one button up after another, pulling the velvet top tightly together. In the spare bedroom next door Stanley was still crouched down in the wardrobe, unable to make radio contact. He slowly eased open the wardrobe door and stepped out, moving cautiously into the hall and standing outside Jane’s bedroom door to listen.
‘You’re going to have quite a cleavage, but it makes you look very sexy,’ Natalie said.
‘Did you come on the Underground?’ Jane asked. She was finding it hard to maintain her composure.
‘No, I got a lift from a friend. We’re meeting up later for dinner, and we might go to Fratelli’s — you know, where we had our first dinner together?’
Natalie fastened the last two buttons of her dress and stepped back.
‘You’re shaking! Don’t tell me you’re nervous about tonight? You look gorgeous… Anyway, I’d say that, after what you’ve been through recently, nothing should make you anxious. Do you ever worry about the consequences?’
‘What consequences?’
‘Well, according to what it said in the newspapers about that bombing at Covent Garden, you saw him, didn’t you? I mean, could you recognise him?’