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about?’
    Prentice began to swing the schoolyard gate shut.
    â€˜The 4As are organised on a cell basis, with four or five members per group. Each acts independently but to a central timetable. This – whatever it was they planned – was just one of eight incidents across the country on Sunday night. This one came to nothing, but you must have read about the others.’
    â€˜No, I don’t take much notice of newspapers.’
    His look made me feel guilty, though I couldn’t think why it should.
    â€˜We found incendiary bombs in department stores in Leicester and Huddersfield – fortunately before they’d gone off. A chicken farmer in Norfolk had the front of his house sprayed with liquid manure, and a pharmaceutical laboratory was broken into in South Wales and about 50 white mice released.’
    â€˜That means there’ll be a hundred on the run by now.’
    He squared up to me.
    â€˜These people are not funny. 4A is out on a limb compared with any of the animal rights organisations that have gone before. Pretty soon they’re going to kill somebody.’
    â€˜Aw, get out of town. You’re winding me up.’
    He began to unlock his car door.
    â€˜If you won’t help, fair enough. I’ll see you at the inquest.’
    â€˜Help? How the hell can I help? And why should I?’
    He held the Escort door open.
    â€˜Billy came to me because he was in with a bunch of fanatics. That’s what he called them, and he was worried because something big was coming up and it would get out of control. He wouldn’t say any more until he’d had a chance to talk it over with a friend, he said.’
    â€˜And you think that was me?’ I snapped. I was getting ratty, and the rain was going down the back of my neck.
    â€˜Or Lucy Scarrott, or maybe somebody else. You knew Billy. You could find his friends, find out what he was into.’
    â€˜A bit thin, isn’t it?’
    â€˜You’re all I’ve got.’
    â€˜And why should I?’
    He exhaled slowly and rested a forearm on the top of the car door.
    â€˜Billy dropping in on you was a big coincidence, and we don’t like coincidences, so further investigation may be necessary.’ He put his head on one side, but kept a straight face. ‘If I read you right, you’re not the kind who would welcome further investigation much.’
    â€˜You mean really deep, persistent scrutiny and monitoring of my day to day existence? What a less law-abiding, trusting soul might well call harassment, if they were feeling uncharitable?’
    He smiled and climbed into his car.
    â€˜Remember, the Force is with you.’
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    I let him get clear before I turned Armstrong around and cruised down Dwyer Street.
    Nassim’s battered Nissan (Nassim Nassim’s Nissan? Why couldn’t he have a Ford?) was outside No 16 and there was a builder’s flat-backed truck parked in front of it. They would be repairing the skylight, I guessed correctly, and were probably a firm Nassim had shares in, so he could fiddle the invoices for the insurance company.
    I popped in to see what the form was, and to find out if I’d been fired as a house-sitter. That was all I had in mind, but I ended up, five minutes later, knowing something the police and the probation service didn’t know.
    I found out where Lucy Scarrott was living.
    And I should have kept it to myself.
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Chapter Four
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    Of course, I didn’t realise at the time just how deep I’d get in, and I can’t be blamed for not seeing what would happen in the end. As far as I’m concerned, a Tarot card is of no use unless it fits one of those hole-in-the-wall banks, preferably on somebody else’s account. (The bank card I want to get hold of is the one issued by an Arab bank called Watani Express. No kidding, a credit card with a camel instead of a hologram!)
    To be honest, I didn’t give it