“Sort of. Where I don’t, I know a woman who does. And she’s only a phone call away. Helen, you’ve got to trust me on this. Unless you’ve got any better ideas, I’m your best chance of getting that pair out of your life for good.”

Helen fiddled with a strand of hair, a strangely coy gesture from a woman normally so upfront she made Roseanne look demure. “I just don’t want you getting in too deep,” she said.

“I think I can look after myself,” Lindsay said gruffly. “Now, are you going to show me how this bloody software works, or do I have to work it out for myself?”

An hour later, Helen reluctantly left. She had given Lindsay a swift tutorial in both the accounts and the word-processing packages that Watergaw used as standard on their network of computers. Then Lindsay had insisted she go home. “It’s better you don’t see how I do this,” she said. “That way you can’t let anything slip.”

Left to her own devices, Lindsay spent a couple of hours gaining a thorough grasp of the payments that had been made as part of the production budget of Thirty/Three, taking notes as she went. Then, exploiting her superuser status, she changed the computer’s internal date stamp so that it read a few days after Stella had joined the company. Next she entered Guy’s private directory and created a memo, dated to correspond with the new internal date on the computer. The long document outlined for Stella’s benefit a series of fraudulent practices which “Guy” explained were standard. It also contained a caveat warning Stella not to discuss these procedures with Helen. “Our partner,” Lindsay typed, “has rather old-fashioned views on fiscal matters. I have tried in the past to explain to her how the real world works, but her response hasn’t encouraged me. However, she doesn’t have enough experience of commercial matters to unravel the accounts I prepare for her. When we set up the company, I promised her faithfully I would be fiscally prudent, and she took that to mean I’d stick to the letter of the law. You’ve no idea how liberating it is to be working with someone like you, who understands the realities. It’s a jungle out there, and we need to use whatever weapons come to hand so we can survive. Besides, everybody rips off the taxman and the VATman. It’s the national sport.”