When Adele walked into her office she jumped in alarm. There was a man there, standing with his back to her. A large man. He was getting something from the safe. Then she realised it was Glynn and she felt a momentary anguish tinged with relief. At least it wasn’t someone come to attack her again. As she stared at his back, she realised that he wasn’t getting something from the safe; he was putting something inside.

Glynn turned round and glared at her, making her aware of the shocked expression on her face. ‘What’s wrong? It’s only me,’ he said. Then he smiled his usual disarming smile, but it no longer impressed Adele.

‘I suppose you’re banking your dirty money again, are you?’ she asked.

He laughed at her as he shut the safe and made his way across the room. ‘Pete told me you were back. I knew you’d see sense in the end.’ Then he surveyed her through narrowed eyes. ‘I think we need to get something straight, sweetheart,’ he said in a low growl. ‘It’s not my dirty money; it belongs to your brother, which is why I’m putting it inside his safe. So, while you’re having a go, is there anything else you’d like to say?’

‘I’ve got nothing to say to you, so I’d rather you left my office,’ she snapped.

‘Fair enough, but I think you need to remember that your brother is just as fuckin’ crooked as I am. So don’t blame me if you can’t fuckin’ handle what he does for a living.’

She didn’t retaliate. What could she say? Deep down, she knew that she’d been threatened by David because of her brother’s actions. ‘Just go, will you?’ she said, pulling out her chair and slapping the two files on the desk. While Glynn hovered near the door she looked down at her desk and pretended to be immersed in the contents of the first file, the one relating to the sunbed salon.

To her relief she heard the sound of the door shut. Then she looked up again, checking that he had definitely left the room. Once she was satisfied that he had gone, she slid the bottom file out from beneath the one for the sunbed business. It was marked ‘Security’ and inside it was a ledger.

Adele’s rapid heartbeat turned to thunder as she scanned the ledger. It was all there in black and white: names of pubs and clubs, addresses, proprietors’ names, collection dates, amounts, a paid column and even an end column headed ‘Notes’. Most of the names had a tick in the paid column, but where they hadn’t there was a coded message under the notes. Words such as ‘revisit’, ‘action 1’ or ‘action 2’ swam out from the page.