He knew the type. It wouldn’t be long before she asked him what kind of car he drove and whether he owned his own home.

‘I work for a security firm,’ he said.

‘Ooh, are you one of those guys in uniforms?’ asked Janice, flirtatiously.

‘No,’ grinned Peter. ‘I work in the offices. Why, what do you do?’ he asked, although he already knew where she worked.

‘I work over the road,’ she said.

‘Where’s that then?’ asked Peter, keeping up the pretence.

‘Smart and Sons. It’s that cash and carry opposite.’

‘Didn’t notice it. The name rings a bell, though. I think we might collect the cash from them.’

‘Why, what’s the name of your firm?’ she asked.

‘Translucre Security,’ said Peter.

‘No, we don’t use them,’ said Janice. ‘We use another one.’

Janice didn’t divulge the name of the firm and Peter guessed that she wasn’t yet drunk enough to give too much away. Hopefully that would change once he had bought a few more drinks.

‘Yeah, it’s always best to have a firm collecting the cash these days. It’s too risky otherwise,’ said Peter.

Janice shrugged and Peter knew the onus was on him to keep the conversation going. ‘What do you do at Smart and Sons then?’ he asked.

‘I work in the cash office,’ said Janice. ‘That’s how I know that Translucre aren’t our security firm.’

Bingo, thought Peter, but he hid his delight. ‘Ah, right,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I was mistaken. Maybe it’s another firm with a similar name. Anyway, no worries. Can I get you another drink?’ he asked.

Janice eagerly held out her empty glass and Peter went to the bar, suppressing a smirk. He couldn’t believe his luck! Now all he had to do was ply Janice with a few more doubles before getting her to tell him all about her very interesting job in the cash office of Smart and Sons cash and carry.

*

‘Do you wanna cuppa?’ asked Anna, who had been restless for the last fifteen minutes, fiddling with things and jumping from one thing to another as though there was something on her mind.

‘No, thanks,’ said Adele.

‘You sure?’ Anna asked.

‘Yes,’ said Adele, trying to stifle her irritation with Anna. It seemed that every time she got a chance to read a book, Anna started making a nuisance of herself.

‘I’ve got some nice biscuits we can have with it,’ said Anna, lowering her voice. ‘Only, it’s probably best not to tell anyone else.’

‘Go on then,’ smiled Adele.

When Anna had got the drinks ready, Adele jumped down from her bunk and joined Anna, who was sitting on the edge of her bed sipping at her cup of tea. Adele was careful not to get too close, though. They may have made up but Adele still didn’t want to encourage any amorous advances.