‘Don’t even fuckin’ think about it, sis,’ he said.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Glynn, that’s what.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, but even as she spoke, she could feel her cheeks flushing again.

‘It’s fuckin’ obvious you fancy the arse off him but he’s not for you. I know he’s a mate and all that, but you deserve better.’

‘What d’you mean?’

Peter paused and seemed to be choosing his next words carefully. ‘Let’s just say he can be pretty fuckin’ ruthless when he wants to be, especially where the women are concerned.’

‘I’m not interested anyway,’ said Adele, trying to appear blasé.

‘Well, you’ve been warned,’ said Peter. ‘You’d do best to keep away from Mike as well.’

‘I’m not interested in him,’ she snapped. This time her vehemence was more apparent; Mike held no attraction for her at all. Then, she recalled the name. ‘Is he the one that used to go out with Shazza?’ she asked.

‘That’s right,’ he said.

‘Bloody hell, I didn’t fancy him in the first place but, even if I did, I wouldn’t have Shazza’s leftovers,’ she laughed, relieved that the focus of the conversation had shifted from Glynn.

Peter stopped at the door to an office and changed the subject. ‘This one’s mine,’ he said, pushing the door open.

Adele peered inside, noticing the large, old-fashioned desk and leather captain’s chair that dominated the room. While she looked, Peter dashed into the room, plonked himself behind the desk and took a cigar out of the desk drawer. He put it between his lips, still in the wrapper and pretended to draw on it, squaring his shoulders.

‘A quick impersonation of Max,’ he laughed.

‘Is that the guy who owns the business with you?’

‘Yeah, but he doesn’t come in much nowadays. He’s getting a bit past it. Like I told you before, he’s more of a sleeping partner now. I’m hoping that he’ll let me have an even bigger share sooner or later.’

Adele just nodded, taking everything in.

Next they walked down the corridor to another office. ‘This one’s yours,’ said Peter, opening the door and leading her inside. ‘It’s the cash office. There’s the safe I told you about,’ he added, nodding towards a safe that stood on the floor against one of the walls.

The desk inside this office was more modern and had a PC on it. Around the office were shelves full of files. Adele switched the computer on. ‘Let’s have a look where we are with things,’ she said.

‘Oh, the books aren’t all on the computer,’ said Peter. ‘Max was in the middle of transferring those for the nightclub but he only got about halfway then he seemed to give up altogether. I don’t think computers are his strong point.’