Karel released Irena and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.

‘You think you can pay us off with five hundred poxy quid?’

‘That’s all I’ve got. There’s some jewellery you might be able to get a few quid for, but please don’t take my wife’s wedding ring.’

‘You can shove your jewellery up yer arse,’ Nick said, coming up behind the chair and yanking Frank’s head back. ‘We know how much you’ve got in the bank, matey.’

Unable to move his head because the man had a tight grip on his hair, Frank looked at Irena out of the corner of his eye.

‘You leave detail on computer, so was easy to see,’ she said.

A bitter taste flooded Frank’s mouth as he realized Jo and Evan had been right about her. They’d tried to warn him, but she’d flattered his ego, and – stupid old fool that he was – he’d lost his mind.

‘Come on, now, Granddad, don’t be stressing out and having another heart attack,’ Nick purred down his ear, letting Frank know that they knew about his health problems as well as his account balance. ‘We need you alive and kicking for what we’ve got in mind, so you just sit there and chill while we have some scran, then we’ll bring you up to speed. And if you promise to be good, Reeny’ll make you a nice brew to calm you down – yeah?’

Frank nodded and then held his breath as the three left the room. Chair legs scraped loudly on the kitchen floor tiles, and he could hear Irena taking plates out of the cupboard and cutlery from the drawer. They were going to sit and eat the food she’d been cooking when he’d left that morning – the food Frank had bought at her insistence, because – she’d claimed – she wanted to make this Christmas the most perfect one ever. It had all been a lie, because she’d known all along that these men would be here.

But she’d also lied to them, he realized, when she’d told Karel – if that was even his name – that nothing had happened between her and Frank. So maybe she wasn’t that willing a participant, after all, and was only going along with this because she was terrified they would hurt her if she didn’t?

His mobile phone suddenly started ringing, and he looked around, desperately trying to locate where it had landed. Just as he’d spotted it sticking out from under Maureen’s chair and was about to go for it, Karel walked in holding Frank’s shotgun.