‘No, I’ve never seen them before. But one of them was a tough-looking bastard, almost six foot, I’d say, and he had a good build on him.’

Not wishing to lose face in front of the customer, Glynn said, ‘Right, well, Sam doesn’t work for us anymore. I don’t know what fuckin’ firm you’ve paid but it wasn’t us. So, it’s business as usual, Pat. Get the money.’

‘But that means I’ve paid twice.’

‘I don’t give a shit. That’s your own fault for falling for it. You should have rung me or Pete to check them out.’

‘But, he was one of yours.’

‘Was one of ours!’ said Glynn. ‘He fuckin’ isn’t any more. Now, we’re going to collect what we came for. I suggest you chalk yesterday’s payment down to your own stupidity. And in future, you pay us and only us. OK?’

Pat looked at Mike as though he was weighing up his chances if he had the nerve to refuse. ‘But what if they put the screws on me?’ he asked.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll fuckin’ sort that lot out,’ said Glynn. ‘I doubt if they’ll come round here again once we’ve finished with them. But if they do, you or the missus needs to get straight on the phone to us. OK?’

Pat nodded reluctantly and walked over to the safe where the takings were kept.

‘Good man,’ said Glynn as he took the money and walked away.

‘Fuckin’ hell!’ said Mike, once they were outside the pub. ‘I can’t believe Sam’s stitched us up.’

‘Me neither,’ said Glynn, spitting on the ground.

‘What we gonna do?’

‘Well, first thing is to tell Pete. Then we’re gonna find out just who Sam is fuckin’ working with. But don’t worry, we’ll sort him and his crew out! No one fuckin’ messes with us and gets away with it.’

*

Adele was working late. It was a few days since she had started work for Peter and she was beginning to realise just how much effort it entailed. She’d spent the first two days looking over all the paperwork so she could assess exactly what was involved.

The highest earner by far was the nightclub. Then there were three sunbed salons and a bookmaker’s. To her relief the ledgers had been kept fairly up to date for the sunbed salons and the bookmaker’s, but Max had fallen behind with the accounts for the Golden Bell.

Bringing the accounts for the nightclub up to date was going to be her biggest challenge. She decided the best thing to do was to transfer all the information onto the computer. It was a mammoth task but at least it would make things easier to maintain once everything was on there. She was already working extra hours each evening to bring it all up to date.