SIX
Alice collected her raincoat, tapped Nobby on his shoulder as she passed, they exchanged a smile, and she went to meet Jack in Mandy’s office. Alice Herring was a relatively new Detective Constable and a stunningly beautiful young woman, twenty two and blossoming in different but equally radiant ways in her new pregnancy, soon to marry Nobby, the commander’s son. Alice was the niece of the notorious villain, Alfie Herring, a background incongruous with the police force. Jack, equally incongruously, was fast friends with Alfie Herring, whom he called Kipper, erroneously classifying the vast crime family as Friendly rogues.
Alice knocked on Mandy’s door and went in with her hand over her eyes. The last time she had barged in, Jack and Mandy were well on their way to s****l union; Jack
