Red and Mouth arrived at Ralph Parnaby"s newsagents at the same time on the following morning. They scowled at each other, but didn"t say a word. When they entered the shop through the side door in the alley they found Ralph, plump, chesty and balding, already waiting for them in his slippers and dressing gown. Jack, tense and subdued, was there too, sorting two separate stacks of newspapers on the counter. He glowered at Mouth, but avoided Red"s eye.
Red and Mouth exchanged a warning glance. Red suppressed a sudden upsurge of guilt. He had stolen a lot of cigarettes over the past three months and maybe at last Ralph had noticed.
Ralph beamed at them. Red and Mouth immediately relaxed.
"Morning, lads. Feeling fit?"
Red and Mouth glanced at each other in puzzlement. What the hell was co
